"All You Ever Wanted to Know About

NICAM but were Afraid to Ask"

Copyright (c) 1995,1996,1997 Steven Hosgood BSc, Ph.D

History:

• Version 1.0: 21.Sep.1995.

o Original attempt.
• Version 1.1: 29.Nov.1995.
o A couple of typos fixed.
o Mention made of possible uses of the 11Kbit/sec spare capacity.
o "NICAM" acronym explained !
o Cock up in description of old German A2 system .
• Version 1.2: 8.Mar.1996.
o Cock up in description of US stereo multiplex system .
o Notes on the Japanese and Korean systems added.
o Improvements to the layout of the imbedded diagrams.
• Version 1.3: 2.Apr.1996.
o Disclaimer added.
• Version 1.4: 30.May.1996.
o Fixed some typos.
• Version 1.5: 3.Sep.1997.
o Fixed more errors in description of German "A2" system!
o Added description of British use of 11Kbit/sec "spare channel" .
• Version 1.6: 5.Nov.1997.
o Fixed yet more errors in description of German "A2" system, plus a
description of the ID tones.
o Fixed bug in Range-Bits Table .
o Added note about 3-language support on Brussels Cable TV.

Thanks to the following contributors:

Bevis King , Hany Ferdinando , Hugh Robjohns and Herranen Henrik (proof reading)
Ed Ellers (information about US stereo-multiplex sound)
Otto Peter , Frederic Pauly , Colum Mylod and others (corrections to information about
German "A2" stereo/twin-mono sound)
Steve Edwards (information about British use of the 11Kbit/sec "spare channel")
wernerd@globalxs.nl (spotted bug in table of Range Bits used in companding)
Frederic Pauly (subcarrier and ID tones for mode-switching in German "Zweiton")
Colum Mylod (moan about S/N ratio of Zweiton(!) and info about Brussels Cable TV)
1.0: Introduction:
This file attempts to be a quickly-readable summary of the features and workings of
NICAM digital TV sound, currently the EBU's recommended system for upgrading a
current mono-sound TV service to stereo or dual-language sound. Most of the detail for
this file comes from [BOWE89], a BBC Research Dept. Report. However, [BOWE87]
may be more easily available and contains most of the same text.

DISCLAIMER: This article is just for technical information. I (Steve Hosgood) don't
maintain lists of what NICAM decoder chipsets are available from manufacturers,
have no idea of their relative merits and I don't know the prices, pinouts or suppliers
of such chipsets. I don't know if there are any add-on NICAM decoders available for
your TV, nor do I know if there are plans to introduce a NICAM service in your part
of the world. Dammit - I don't even know when the BBC transmissions from my own
local TV transmitter (Carmel, South Wales) are due to get upgraded.

As far as readers in the UK are concerned, once apon a time Maplin sold a stand-
alone NICAM decoder kit complete with tuner and PSU in a box. Maybe they still do.
Ask them. They also used to sell a decoder chipset. Also, SENDZ Components in the
UK used to sell surplus (but working) NICAM boards which need to be wired into
your TV in order to work - they need wiring to the TV's video demodulator and
access to the TV's power supplies.

I don't maintain the addresses of these companies nor of any others which might sell
similar products. I will admit to having sucessfully used the surplus board that
SENDZ were supplying in 1993, but I cannot speak for whatever they supply now - if
indeed they still do supply such a thing. An article in the UK's "Television" magazine
Feb 1993 entitled "NICAM on a Shoestring" gave some practical do-it-yourself
details of how to use surplus NICAM boards like the SENDZ offering. Also it gave
details of how (if necessary) to modify a system B/G board to work in a system I
country (and vice versa of course).

1.1: Specification (In Brief):

NICAM stands for "Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex" , the "Near
Instantaneous Companding" being due to the fact that 1ms worth of sound data has to be
input before the companding process can do its work. The "Audio Multiplex" term implies
that the system is not limited just to stereo operation (as shown below).

NICAM currently offers the following possibilities, autoselected by the inclusion of a 3-bit
type field in the data-stream:

• One digital stereo sound channel.

• Two completely different digital mono sound channels.
• One digital mono sound channel and a 352Kbit/sec data channel.
• One 704Kbit/sec data channel.
The four other options could be implemented at a later date. Only the first two of the ones
listed are known to be in general use however.

Other facts:

• Sound is digitised to 14 bits accuracy at a sampling rate of 32KHz.

• The upper frequency limit of a sound channel is 15KHz due to anti-aliasing filters
at the encoder.
• The 14 bit original sound samples are companded digitally to 10 bits for
transmission. (Digital compansion ensures that the encoding and decoding
algorithms can track perfectly).

2.0: History:
NICAM (or to give it its full name, NICAM 728) was invented during the early 1980's by
the BBC Research Centre, Kingswood Warren. It was first applied to the British "System
I" 625 line PAL colour TV broadcasting system, and premiered in 1986 on the "First Night
of the Proms" concert programme. Since that time it has been slightly modified by the
Nordic broadcasters to work with the more common System B/G used over much of
continental Europe. It has been demonstrated to work also with System D/K used in some
of eastern Europe, and with System L used in France. Theoretically, it could work with
525-line Systems M and N in the Americas, Canada and Japan.

NICAM is certainly not the first stereo/twin-mono sound system to be used in Europe.
German broadcasters invented a system known as "A2" or "Zweiton" back in about 1975
and have been using it ever since. Other countries have adopted it too, amongst them:
Australia, Austria and Switzerland. Basically it adds an extra FM sound carrier to System
B/G at 5.7421875 Mhz (in addition to the standard one on 5.50MHz). In stereo mode, the
5.50MHz channel carries stereo-sum, and the 5.74MHz extra channel carries stereo-right.
(Yes, really!) This is done so that people with old single sound-channel TVs get a
compatable mono signal on stereo broadcasts, but why they didn't choose to send stereo-
difference on the other carrier is beyond me. In twin-mono mode (a.k.a "Zweiton"), each
channel carries independent services.

So that TVs can automatically tell the difference between a stereo and a "Zweiton"
transmission, the 5.74MHz sound carrier is amplitude-modulated with a 54.6875 Khz (i.e
3.5 times line-timebase frequency) subcarrier. This subcarrier is itself 50% amplitude-
modulated with low frequency "identification" sinewaves: 117.5Hz (line-timebase / 133)
for Stereo Mode or 235.5 (line-timebase / 57) for twin-mono Mode. If the 5.74MHz carrier
is missing, or doesn't have a recognisable ID-tone, the TV reverts to simple-mono mode.

The "A2" system suffers to some extent from multipath distortion effects, has a rather poor
signal-to-noise ratio, plus all the usual troubles with achieving decent linearity with FM
modulators and demodulators. It also exhibits poor utilisation of bandwidth by modern
standards. NICAM offers a totally different approach, providing a completely new all-
digital stereo/twin-mono service in addition to the one provided by the existing FM sound.
Theoretically, a NICAM equipped TV service could offer 3-language support: the FM
sound plus NICAM (in twin-mono mode) all carrying different services. There must be
places in Europe where this would be useful, indeed, according to Colum Mylod, some of
the cable TV services in Brussels use it thus.

Other stereo systems are in use in other parts of the world.

• The US and Canada use a system called BTSC, (for "Broadcast Television System
Committee"). Some people improperly call this system MTS; those initials were
used in a generic sense when the standardization process began in the U.S. in the
early 1980s.

The BTSC system is essentially the same as the Zenith VHF/FM radio stereo
multiplex system where a suppressed-carrier AM subcarrier (with dbx-TV noise
reduction) carries the 'difference' signal. As with US broadcast FM radio, the BTSC
system provides for another subcarrier to carry "Secondary Audio Program" (SAP),
which is a mono audio feed independent of the main signal. Apparently, BTSC is
the only analogue system in the world for terrestrial or cable TV that can provide
stereo audio for the main channel while also carrying a second channel in mono.

Since BTSC's SAP doesn't conflict with main stereo audio, many U.S. broadcasters
and cable operators use it for services other than a second language -- one can often
find either the BBC World Service or the National Weather Service's local radio
transmissions on SAP in many areas.

• Japan uses a system called EIAJ (Electronics Industries Association of Japan)

which is very similar to BTSC except that its subcarrier is FM and may carry either
a difference signal (for stereo) or alternative (mono) audio, but not both.
• South Korea -- which uses the NTSC standard -- has adopted a modified German
A2/Zweiton system, presumably to discourage imports from Japanese
manufacturers.

It seems that Japan is the only NTSC country to adopt the EIAJ system, the others would
have had no reason not to adopt the BTSC system.

3.0: How NICAM works:

A high frequency subcarrier (5.85MHz on System B/G or 6.552MHz on System I) is
digitally modulated with a 728Kbits/sec datastream. The datastream consists of 728bit
NICAM packets transmitted continuously, one packet every millisecond.

3.1: NICAM Packet Format (overall):

Each packet consists of an 8-bit "frame alignment word" (FAW) followed by 5 bits of
Control Information (CI), followed by 11 bits of Additional Data (AD), followed by a
'payload' packet of 704 data bits.
Three of the Control Information (CI) bits are 'mode bits' and tell the NICAM decoder
what mode it should be in (i.e what to do with the payload data bits). Another CI bit tells
the decoder if the FM TV sound can be used as a fallback should the NICAM signal fail.
The other CI bit just toggles high for 8 packets, low for 8 packets and is used (amongst
other things) to allow identification of "odd" and "even" NICAM packets.

In stereo mode the 704 data bits of each NICAM packet's payload carry one millisecond's
worth of sound for both L and R channels. In twin-mono mode, the payload of odd
NICAM packets carry two milliseconds' worth of sound for channel M1 and the even
packets carry two milliseconds' worth of sound for channel M2. In single-mono-plus-data
mode, the odd NICAM packet payloads (as above) carry two milliseconds' worth of sound
for channel M1, but the even packets carry 704 unspecified raw data bits.

The format of the mono or stereo 704 bits of sound data is the same as the "companded,
first-level protected" sound signal used in the C-MAC, D-MAC or D2-MAC systems. This
was intended to permit commonality of decoder circuitry in MAC/NICAM decoders, but in
practice this feature doesn't seem to have been used. NICAM decoders are usually in the
TVs and VCRs, MAC decoders are usually separate units.

3.2: Packet Format:

3.2.1: Audio Packet Payload Format:

If a given NICAM packet carries sound, the payload contains two companding blocks of
sound samples. The arrangement depends on the mode as was tabulated above, but first
let's look at the companding blocks themselves.

3.2.1.1: Companding Blocks:

The first level of audio processing consists of taking 1 millisecond's worth of raw 14-bit
samples (i.e. 32 samples) and reducing them from 14 bits to 10. The ADC supplies a 2's
complement sample, centred about all-zeroes for 0V:
01111111111111 represents positive full-scale

00000000000001
00000000000000 represents 0V
11111111111111

10000000000000 represents negative full-scale

The numerically largest (positive or negative) sample of the 32 is used to choose which 10
bits of all 32 samples in the block will actually be transmitted. This avoids transmitting
redundant bits. There are eight possible decisions tabulated below. So that the decoder can
re-expand the 10 bit samples to 14 bits, three "range bits" are associated with each possible
companding action, and this value is also transmitted in the companding block of course.
Largest Sample Range Bits Bits Transmitted
B13...........B0 R2 R1 R0 B13...........B0
01XXXXXXXXXXXX 1 1 1 YYYYYYYYYYNNNN
001XXXXXXXXXXX 1 1 0 YNYYYYYYYYYNNN
0001XXXXXXXXXX 1 0 1 YNNYYYYYYYYYNN
 00001XXXXXXXXX 0 1 1 YNNNYYYYYYYYYN
000001XXXXXXXX 1 0 1 YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
0000001XXXXXXX 0 1 0 YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
0000000XXXXXXX 0 0 X YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
1111111XXXXXXX 0 0 X YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
1111110XXXXXXX 0 1 0 YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
111110XXXXXXXX 1 0 0 YNNNNYYYYYYYYY
11110XXXXXXXXX 0 1 1 YNNNYYYYYYYYYN
1110XXXXXXXXXX 1 0 1 YNNYYYYYYYYYNN
110XXXXXXXXXXX 1 1 0 YNYYYYYYYYYNNN
10XXXXXXXXXXXX 1 1 1 YYYYYYYYYYNNNN
As can be seen, the "sign bit" of samples is always transmitted, but unused MSBs are
discarded. This means that small-amplitude signals get transmitted effectively to 14 bits
resolution, but large amplitude signals only to 10 bits resolution. The reduction in S/N ratio
on large amplitude signals is (allegedly) masked by the signal of course.

Notice that what gets transmitted for Range Bits 011 -> 000 is always the same. The
differing values of range-bits are used in the decoder to offer a slight increase in error-
protection. More on this later.

Notice also that there is ambiguity about Range Bits 000 and 001. This needn't be the case,
but it was done that way in MAC, and NICAM copies it for compatability. Basically, the
decoder does the same thing in both cases.

Important: Notice that the binary value of the range-bits subtly does not increment
linearly with increasing signal amplitude. I have no idea why this should be so, but thanks
to "wernerd@globalxs.nl" for spotting it! ( Werner found this bug the hard way - he
actually built a NICAM encoder based on this page and an article in the May 1997 issue of
Dutch magazine "Elektuur" [ELEC97]. )

One bit of parity protection is added to each sample, and the 3 bits of "range bits" (which
convey to the decoder what companding factor was used so that the companding can be
reversed) are cunningly added too by twiddling some of the parity bits.

Details of this "signalling in parity" procedure, which conveys the range bits are left to
later! Suffice to say that the process slightly weakens the protection offered by the parity
bits, but passes 3 bits of information without adding any bits to the data stream. Very
clever...

So a companding block carries 1ms of sound in 352 bits.

3.2.1.2: Transmission of Companding Blocks:

How the companding blocks are fitted into the NICAM payload depends on the system
mode:
 • In stereo mode, the 704 bit payload of each NICAM packet consists of a
companding block of L-channel data interleaved word-for-word with a
companding block of R-channel data.
• In twin-mono mode, odd-numbered NICAM packet payloads contain two
companding blocks in succession, each of M1 sound channel data. Similarly, even-
numbered packet payloads contain two companding blocks in succession, each of
M2 sound channel data.
• In single-mono-plus-data mode, odd-numbered packet payloads contain two
companding blocks in succession, each of M1 sound channel data as before. Even-
numbered packets contain 704 bits of raw data (format unspecified).

Thus: the decoder's processing of sound packets depends primarily on whether they are
stereo or not. The reason for word-interleaving L and R channels in stereo mode is to make
sure that noise-bursts affect both channels fairly symmetrically and simultaneously.

Notice that the companding process operates independently on the L and R channels in
stereo-mode. This prevents loud signals in one channel introducing "pumping" effects in
the other.

3.2.1: Data Packet Payload Format:

None specified as yet. The 704 bits are application specific.

3.3: Transmission of Sound or Data Payloads:

Once a sound or data payload has been constructed (see above), one more thing is done
before it is tagged onto the FAW, CI bits and Additional Information bits. A final bit-
interleave is performed in that the 704 bits are effectively written into a 44 by 16 array on
the 'long' dimension and read out from the 'short' dimension.

So originally-adjacent bits from the raw original payload end up 44 bits apart in the
NICAM packet. This is done to try to spread the effects of short noise bursts, which (if the
noise burst lasts for less than 44 bits duration) will drop a single error into many words,
which in turn ought to be detectable by means of the parity bit on each word.

3.4: Transmission of NICAM Packets:

The whole NICAM packet body, consisting of the CI bits, AI bits and data is xor-ed with
the output of a nine-bit pseudo-random bit-generator:
The topology of this pseudo-random generator yields a bitstream with a repetition period
of 511 bits, and is used to make the NICAM bitstream look more like white noise so that
the final modulated NICAM signal has less chance of producing patterning on an adjacent-
channel vision signal.

Notice that the FAW is not subject to this scrambling - this is to aid the resynchronisation
of the receiver. At the start of each NICAM packet (i.e while the FAW is being sent) the
pseudo-random bit generator's shift-register is reset to all-ones.

4.0: Details:
4.1: Pre-emphasis:

Before sampling, the sound signals are pre-emphasised to the CCITT "J.17" curve:

This process is course reversed at the decoder, and its purpose is to reduce the effects of
noise modulation which occur as a result of the companding procedure's block-by-block
processing.

4.2: Control Information Bits:

Bit CI[0] just toggles between '0' for 8 frames and '1' for 8 frames. Its purpose is partly to
identify which frames are "odd" or "even". When the bit changes from '0' to '1', the frame
in which it happens is frame 1 (odd). Odd/even identification has importance in twin-mono
mode and single-mono-plus-data mode.

The other purpose of this toggling action is to aid identification of the FAW. The idea is
that the FAW (being only 8 bits long) has a high chance of appearing spuriously in the
datastream. However, the chance of a spurious occurance of a fake FAW followed by a bit
toggling 8 frames high followed by 8 frames low is astronomically remote. The result is to
permit a decoder to aquire sync within a few frames of losing lock (or on changing
channel).

4.3: Parity

In order to strengthen parity protection for the sound samples, the parity bit is calculated
on only the top six bits of each sample, not all ten. This is because tests showed that
uncorrected errors in the least significant four bits were preferable to the reduced overall
protection offered by parity-protecting all ten bits.

4.4: Signalling in Parity:

Three "range bits" must be sent for each companding block, and they must be heavily
protected against errors. Errors in the range bits would result in a large-amplitude error
affecting all 32 samples in the companding block.

A range bit of '0' is sent by calculating even parity on a given set of 9 samples in the
payload, for a range bit of '1', odd parity is calculated on that sample-set.

It does however pose a problem in decoding. What happens at the decoder is that (for a
given range bit) the odd/even parity of its associated samples in the payload are found and
a majority vote taken. If the majority parity vote is "even" in a sample-set, then the
associated range bit must have been '0', and any data samples whose received parity was
odd are deemed to be in error. Likewise if the majority parity is "odd" in a sample set, the
associated range bit is '1', and any even-parity samples in that set are deemed to be in error.

So each range bit is effectively protected by 8 backup bits, more than half of which have to
be wrong to cause the range bit to come out wrong.

4.5: Spare capacity.

Within a payload block, the parity of samples 54 thru 63 are not involved in the signalling-
in-parity system conveying the range bits. There is however a capability of using
signalling-in-parity on samples 54 thru 58 and 59 thru 63 to convey two bits (known as
CIB[0] and CIB[1] respectively) with moderate robustness.

Currently (in Britain) these are not used for anything, though decoders are required to do
the parity vote anyway in case they come into use sometime. So, NICAM has a 2Kbit/sec
ruggedly protected spare data channel available in stereo or twin-mono mode, and
1Kbit/sec in single-mono-plus-data mode (only payloads carrying sound use signalling-in-
parity).

Amongst the header of every NICAM packet (regardless of payload) are 11 bits of
Additional Data, again currently not officially used in Britain. So that's another
11Kbits/sec available bandwidth - though unprotected this time.

There was mention in IBC94 of using this 11Kbit/sec channel for carrying a 9.6Kbit/sec
audio channel of extra descriptive voice-over for visually impaired viewers (see
[LODG94]). ( Some US TV stations apparently carry a "Descriptive Video Service" on the
Secondary Audio Program subcarrier. )

It would seem that Channel 4 in Britain uses it for carrying a studio voice channel for
cueing purposes during sports programmes. Steve.edwards@pipemedia.co.uk (Steve
Edwards) wrote to me saying: I recall reading an article in PCW some time ago about the
use of data compression in encoding audio. Apparantly it's possible to achieve "telephony
quality speech" using only 5k (or so) bits/s. The article said that channel 4 were using
some of the spare bits in broadcast NICAM to control outside broadcast of sports
meetings, especially channel 4 racing. Basically, so the article said, the OB points a
suitable aerial at the relevant transmitter to receive spoken instructions from their OB
control centre.

5.0: A Walkthrough:
It is sometimes easier to look at a signal processing sequence from the point of view of
being the sound samples themselves, and listing what happens to them on their travels
from encoder to decoder.

5.1: Adventures of a Stereo Pair:

• Programme material is fed to the encoder and both channels are pre-emphasised to
the CCITT "J.17" curve. An anti-aliasing filter limits the bandwidth of the audio
signals to 15KHz.
• A pair of 14-bit ADCs digitise the signals at a sampling rate of 32KHz.
• 32 samples from one of the channels are read into a buffer.
o The biggest absolute sample is found and sets the range bits (R0l, R1l and
R2l).
o The range bits determine which bits of all samples in the buffer get
transmitted.
o Even-parity protection for each sample is calculated on the top six bits
actually transmitted.

That's constructed one companding block. Now the same procedure is performed
on the matching 32 samples of the other channel yielding another companding
block and the range bits R0r, R1r and R2r.
 • The first 11-bit word of the payload is word 0 of the left channel companding
block, this is followed by word 0 of the right channel companding block, then word
1(L), 1(R), 2(L) ... etc to word 31(R).
• The signalling-in-parity is performed to convey range-bits and CIB[0] and CIB[1].
o If range bit R2l is '1', the parity bit of samples 0, 6, 12, 18 ... 48 are inverted.
o If range bit R2r is '1', the parity bit of samples 1, 7, 13, 19 ... 49 are
inverted.
o If range bit R1l is '1', the parity bit of samples 2, 8, 14, 20 ... 50 are inverted.
o If range bit R1r is '1', the parity bit of samples 3, 9, 15, 21 ... 51 are
inverted.
o If range bit R0l is '1', the parity bit of samples 4, 10, 16, 22 ... 52 are
inverted.
o If range bit R0r is '1', the parity bit of samples 5, 11, 17, 23 ... 53 are
inverted.
o If extra bit CIB[0] is '1', the parity bit of samples 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 are
inverted.
o If extra bit CIB[1] is '1', the parity bit of samples 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 are
inverted.
• The payload is bit-interleaved so that if the bits of the raw payload were numbered
0, 1 ... 703, they get transmitted in the order 0, 44, 88, ..... 659, 703.
• The FAW (8 bits: 01001110), CI (one toggling bit, 3 mode bits: 000, and a 'mono
fallback' bit), and the AD word (11 bits: all zeros currently) are prepended to the
interleaved payload.
• The FAW is transmitted as-is, but the rest of the bits are exclusive-ored with the
output of a 511 bit pseudo random bit generator.
• Actual transmission consists of taking bits in pairs from the 728Kbit/sec
datastream, thus generating 356Ksymbols/sec.
o If a symbol is '00', the phase of the NICAM carrier is left unchanged from
its previous value.
o If a symbol is '01', the phase of the NICAM carrier is retarded 90 degrees.
o If a symbol is '11', the phase of the NICAM carrier is inverted.
o If a symbol is '10', the phase of the NICAM carrier is advanced 90 degrees.

This modulation method is known as DQPSK, or Differential Quadrature Phase-

Shift Keying.

• Finally, the spectrum of the modulated NICAM signal is shaped by filters. In

system I it is bandlimited to about 700KHz at the -30dB points, in System B/G
(having a narrower transmission channel) it is limited to about 500KHz.

The shaped-spectrum NICAM signal is added to all the other components of the TV signal
(i.e the baseband video and the FM mono sound carrier).

In the receiver, the NICAM signal is separated from the other components by a bandpass
filter with characteristics matching the transmitter's filter. Then is is processed as follows:
• A phase-locked loop tuned to the NICAM carrier frequency recovers the phase-
changes which represent the encoded symbols of the bitstream.
• The symbols give rise to the 728Kbits/sec raw datastream.
• Instances of the FAW are found and the following bit is examined to test for the
giveaway 8 frames high / 8 frames low behaviour. Also, a true FAW re-occurs
every 728 bits. Between them, this allows the decoder to lock and the bitstream to
be split into its 728 bit NICAM packets.
• The bits of each raw NICAM packet are exclusive-ored with a locally generated
version of the pseudo-random sequence, which recovers the real NICAM packets.
• NICAM packets are split into FAW, CI bits, AD bits and payload. The middle 3 CI
bits carry the mode information (in this case 000 which indicates stereo sound). If
bit CI[4] is high, then the FM TV sound is a fallback stereo-sum signal, should we
lose lock.
• The payload bit interleaving is reversed by writing the payload bits into a 44 by 16
matrix on the long axis and reading them out on the short axis.
• The signalling-in-parity is decoded:
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 0, 6, 12 .. 48. If even then
range bit R2l is '0', if odd then R2l is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 1, 7, 13 .. 49. If even then
range bit R2r is '0', if odd then R2r is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 2, 8, 14 .. 50. If even then
range bit R1l is '0', if odd then R1l is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 3, 9, 15 .. 51. If even then
range bit R1r is '0', if odd then R1r is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 4, 10, 16 .. 52. If even then
range bit R0l is '0', if odd then R0l is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 5, 11, 17 .. 53. If even then
range bit R0l is '0', if odd then R0l is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 54, 55, 56, 57, 58. If even
then extra bit CIB[0] is '0', if odd then CIB[0] is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 59, 60, 61, 62, 63. If even
then extra bit CIB[1] is '0', if odd then CIB[1] is '1'.
• Because we are in stereo-sound mode, the L and R companding blocks are
recovered by reversing the word-interleave in the payload.
• The left channel companding block, together with its R0l, R1l, R2l range bits are
now subjected to the following activities:
o Any samples with whose parity disagreed with the vote for their signalling-
in-parity group are ignored and are replaced with a simple linear
interpolation based on the nearest adjacent correct values.
o The range bits tell the decoder how many bits below the sign bit went
missing in encoding. They are easily reconstructed by merely duplicating
the sign bit into those positions.

This means we now have the 32 left channel samples de-companded to their correct
14-bit accuracy. The right channel companding block is treated in exactly the same
way, accompanied by its R0r, R1r and R2r range bits.
 • Left and Right samples are passed to a pair of 14-bit DACs, and the signal is finally
back in the analogue domain.
• Both signals are de-emphasised according to the CCITT "J.17" curve.

And that's all folks! What happens next is up to your TV.

5.1: Adventures of a Mono Signal:

• Programme material is fed to the encoder and is pre-emphasised to the CCITT

"J.17" curve. An anti-aliasing filter limits the bandwidth of the audio to 15KHz.
• A 14-bit ADC digitises the signal at a sampling rate of 32KHz.
• 32 samples are read into a buffer.
o The biggest absolute sample is found and sets the range bits (R0a, R1a and
R2a).
o The range bits determine which bits of all samples in the buffer get
transmitted.
o Even-parity protection for each sample is calculated on the top six bits
actually transmitted.

That's constructed one companding block. Now the same procedure is performed
on the next 32 samples of the channel yielding another companding block and the
range bits R0b, R1b and R2b.

• The payload is consists of the words of the first companding block followed by the
second companding block.
• The signaling-in-parity is performed to convey range-bits and CIB[0] and CIB[1].
o If range bit R2a is '1', the parity bit of samples 0, 3, 6, 9 ... 24 are inverted.
o If range bit R1a is '1', the parity bit of samples 1, 4, 7, 10 ... 25 are inverted.
o If range bit R0a is '1', the parity bit of samples 2, 5, 8, 11 ... 26 are inverted.
o If range bit R2b is '1', the parity bit of samples 27, 30, 33 ... 51 are inverted.
o If range bit R1b is '1', the parity bit of samples 28, 31, 34 ... 52 are inverted.
o If range bit R0b is '1', the parity bit of samples 29, 32, 35 ... 53 are inverted.
o If extra bit CIB[0] is '1', the parity bit of samples 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 are
inverted.
o If extra bit CIB[1] is '1', the parity bit of samples 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 are
inverted.
• The payload is bit-interleaved so that if the bits of the raw payload were numbered
0, 1 ... 703, they get transmitted in the order 0, 44, 88, ..... 659, 703.
• The payload must appear in the correct NICAM packet for its channel, i.e. odd
packets for channel M1, even packets for M2. The FAW (8 bits: 01001110), CI
(one toggling bit, 3 mode bits: 000, and a 'mono fallback' bit), and the AD word (11
bits: all zeros currently) are prepended to the interleaved payload.
• The FAW is transmitted as-is, but the rest of the bits are exclusive-ored with the
output of a 511 bit pseudo random bit generator.
• Actual transmission consists of taking bits in pairs from the 728Kbit/sec
datastream, thus generating 356Ksymbols/sec.
 o If a symbol is '00', the phase of the NICAM carrier is left unchanged from
its previous value.
o If a symbol is '01', the phase of the NICAM carrier is retarded 90 degrees.
o If a symbol is '11', the phase of the NICAM carrier is inverted.
o If a symbol is '10', the phase of the NICAM carrier is advanced 90 degrees.

This modulation method is known as DQPSK, or Differential Quadrature Phase-

Shift Keying.

• Finally, the spectrum of the modulated NICAM signal is shaped by filters. In

system I it is bandlimited to about 700KHz at the -30dB points, in System B/G
(having a narrower transmission channel) it is limited to about 500KHz.

The shaped-spectrum NICAM signal is added to all the other components of the TV signal
(i.e the baseband video and the FM mono sound carrier).

In the receiver, the NICAM signal is separated from the other components by a bandpass
filter with characteristics matching the transmitter's filter. Then is is processed as follows:

• A phase-locked loop tuned to the NICAM carrier frequency recovers the phase-
changes which represent the encoded symbols of the bitstream.
• The symbols give rise to the 728Kbits/sec raw datastream.
• Instances of the FAW are found and the following bit is examined to test for the
giveaway 8 frames high / 8 frames low behaviour. Also, a true FAW re-occurs
every 728 bits. Between them, this allows the decoder to lock and the bitstream to
be split into its 728 bit NICAM packets.
• The bits of each raw NICAM packet are exclusive-ored with a locally generated
version of the pseudo-random sequence, which recovers the real NICAM packets.
• NICAM packets are split into FAW, CI bits, AD bits and payload. The middle 3 CI
bits carry the mode information (in this case 001 which indicates twin-mono
sound). If bit CI[4] is high, then the FM TV sound is a fallback M1 signal, should
we lose lock. No backup is available for the M2 channel. We can tell which mono
channel is which by knowing if this is an odd NICAM packet (i.e. channel M1) or
even (i.e. channel M2).
• The payload bit interleaving is reversed by writing the payload bits into a 44 by 16
matrix on the long axis and reading them out on the short axis.
• The signalling-in-parity is decoded:
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 0, 3, 6 .. 24. If even then
range bit R2a is '0', if odd then R2a is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 1, 4, 7 .. 25. If even then
range bit R1a is '0', if odd then R1a is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 2, 5, 6 .. 26. If even then
range bit R0a is '0', if odd then R0a is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 27, 30, 33 .. 51. If even
then range bit R2b is '0', if odd then R2b is '1'.
 o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 28, 31, 34 .. 52. If even
then range bit R1b is '0', if odd then R1b is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 29, 32, 35 .. 53. If even
then range bit R0b is '0', if odd then R0b is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 54, 55, 56, 57, 58. If even
then extra bit CIB[0] is '0', if odd then CIB[0] is '1'.
o A majority vote is taken on the parity of samples 59, 60, 61, 62, 63. If even
then extra bit CIB[1] is '0', if odd then CIB[1] is '1'.
• The first companding block, together with its R0a, R1a, R2a range bits are now
subjected to the following activities:
o Any samples with whose parity disagreed with the vote for their signalling-
in-parity group are ignored and are replaced with a simple linear
interpolation based on the nearest adjacent correct values.
o The range bits tell the decoder how many bits below the sign bit went
missing in encoding. They are easily reconstructed by merely duplicating
the sign bit into those positions.

This means we now have the first 32 samples de-companded to their correct 14-bit
accuracy. The second companding block is treated in exactly the same way,
accompanied by its R0b, R1b and R2b range bits.

• All 64 samples are passed to a 14-bit DAC, and the signal is finally back in the
analogue domain.
• The signal is de-emphasised according to the CCITT "J.17" curve.

And that's all folks! What happens next is up to your TV.

6.0: Bibliography:
BOWE87: Bower A.J: "NICAM 728 - Digital Two-Channel Sound for Terrestial
Television", IEEE Trans. Consumer Electronics, Aug 1987 page 286
et al.
BOWE89: Bower A.J: "NICAM 728 - Digital Two-Channel Sound for Terrestial
Television", BBC Research Dept. Report, 8/89.
ELEC97: Elektuur magazine, May 1997, pages 48-51. (Dutch Version). This
reference is presumably also true of the English version
"Elektor"
LODG94: Lodge N.K, Green N.W, Nunn J,P: "AUDETEL: Audio Described
Television -
the Launch of National Test Transmissions", Proceedings of IBC
94,
pages 140-145.