Part 7a-1

Broadcast Engineering:
Digital AM and FM Broadcasting
(Supplemental)

Digital Audio Broadcasting

(DAB)
Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

z DigitalAudio Broadcasting (DAB) is a

system developed in the late 80s
originally aimed at improving the current
FM audio broadcasting system by:
z Providing CD-quality audio
z Improving in-car (mobile) reception
z Improving spectrum use
z Allowing data (such as text) to be sent

z DAB is also known as Eureka 147

How does DAB work?

z DAB depends on several digital

technologies in order to accomplish its
objectives:
z Audio compression (MPEG-1, Layer 2)
z Digital multiplexing (TDM)

z Digital radio transmission (OFDM/DQPSK)

z Error correction coding (convolution coding)

MPEG-1 Layer 2 Audio Compression

z DAB uses MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 (MP2, not to be

confused with MPEG-2), also called MUSICAM
z It is a perceptual coding technique using
psychoacoustic modeling which provides for high-
quality lossy signal compression.
z Psychoacoustics is based heavily on human anatomy,
especially the ear's limitations in perceiving sound.
These are:
z High frequency limit
z Absolute threshold of hearing
z Temporal masking
z Simultaneous masking

MPEG-1 Layer 2 Audio Compression

z Given that the ear will not be at peak perceptive

capacity when dealing with these limitations, a
compression algorithm can assign a lower priority to
sounds outside the range of human hearing
z By carefully shifting bits away from the unimportant
components and toward the important ones, the
algorithm ensures that the sounds a listener can hear
most clearly are of the highest quality.
z With this, certain parts of a given digital audio signal
can be removed (or aggressively compressed) safely -
that is, without significant losses in the (consciously)
perceived quality of the sound .
Multiplexing
z DAB combines multiple audio streams onto a single
broadcast frequency called a DAB ensemble.
z The total bandwidth can divided into a number of
channels, and can either be stereophonic or
monophonic, each channel having different bit rates.
z The number of channels can be increased or
decreased by varying the bit rate per channel.
z Adding error correction coding (ECC) adds robustness
to the ensemble, but reduces the total bandwidth
available for the channels

Eld 3  2 4 3 3 3 3 3 3
Stereo Stereo J. Stereo J. Stereo Mono Mono Dual Packet Stream
IV TII
LSF LSF Channel Data Data

Typical DAB Ensemble

Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing (OFDM)
z Essentially identical to Coded Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM), it is
a digital transmission technique to combat the
effects of multipath fading.
z OFDM uses a large number of closely-spaced
orthogonal subcarriers.
z Each subcarrier is modulated using
conventional digital techniques (e.g. BPSK,
QAM)
Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM)
z To increase the error
correction capabilities of
DAB, it uses frequency and
time interleaving on the
bitstream.
z After interleaving, the Symbol Interleaving
symbols are modulated onto
the subcarriers using
differential quaternary
phase shift keying (DQPSK)
z DAB uses 1,536 subcarriers
spaced 1 kHz apart

COFDM Transmitter / Receiver

Ideal COFDM Transmitter Block Diagram

Ideal COFDM Receiver Block Diagram

The Discrete Fourier Transform
Revisited
z The Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) calculates the
discrete frequency spectrum from a block of discrete
time samples of the signal. Therefore, the inverse DFT
calculates the discrete time samples from a discrete
frequency spectrum.
z This means that the frequency spectrum of the
transmitted signal is given by the values of the
complex data symbols on the subcarriers.
z The DFT however is computationally inefficient. An n-
point DFT would require n2 complex multiplications.
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT ), as the name
suggests, is a faster way of computing the DFT.

OFDM/DAB Spectrum
Orthogonal subcarrier Channel carrier
Orthogonal subcarrier

1.537 MHz
Frequency Allocations

z DAB has been allocated by the ITU for use in

Band III (174-240 MHz) and L-Band (1459-
1492 MHz).
z Regional frequency allocations however
restrict its use in the United States since the L-
Band is reserved for use by the military.
z The United Kingdom and most of Europe have
been using DAB since 2002. Australia and
Korea have followed since.

DAB vs. FM
z DAB promises near-CD quality audio when the audio
is encoded at 256 kbps.
z Broadcasters however, in order to maximize
bandwidth, try to put in as much stations as possible
by using lower bit rates.
z 192 kbps is the lower limit, which provides near-FM
quality sound, provided that bit error rates (BER) are
well below 10-4.
z Furthermore, ECC is not as robust as it should be in
order to minimize BER.
z 98% of stations in the UK use 128 kbps, resulting in
poor quality sound. Most listeners report that DAB
sounds worse than FM.
Enter DAB+
z The implementation of DAB used technologies
which are old by todays standards.
z DAB+ is an upgrade to DAB, making use of
newer technologies.
z Audio is encoded using HE-AAC (High Efficiency
Advanced Audio Coding), also known as AAC+.
z A second layer of error correction coding on the
bitstream in the form of Reed-Solomon encoding.
z DAB+ however, is not backward-compatible
with DAB.
z DAB+ will be launched in the UK in 2008.

Does that mean that analog

broadcasting is dead?
z No! Not yet anyway.
z History tells us that AM has been in use for more than
a century now and little has changed with it.
z FM was developed in the 1930s and found
widespread use only by the 1960s. It is still going
strong today.
z Adoption takes time, and there should be a period of
gradual changeover from the old system to the new.
z There is therefore a need for a hybrid system, a
system that works with the old analog system, and at
the same time transmits digital broadcasts.
In-Band On-Channel (IBOC)

In-Band On-Channel (IBOC)

z IBOC is a method of transmitting digital radio and
analog radio broadcasts simultaneously on the same
channel.
z It is unlike DAB which uses a separate band altogether.
z However like DAB, it utilizes COFDM by adding
sidebands orthogonal to the analog carrier to
piggyback the digital information.
z In hybrid mode (both analog and digital), receivers have
a fallback mechanism that switches to analog mode
when the digital signal encounters a significant level of
error.
z Eventually, stations can go from hybrid mode to all-
digital, by eliminating the baseband monophonic audio
altogether.
In-Band On-Channel (IBOC)

z IBOC is available for both AM and FM

broadcast bands with several standards
available:
z For AM
z Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)
z HD Radio

z For FM
z HD Radio
z FMeXtra

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)

z DRM can provide FM-quality sound on

frequencies below 30 MHz (long-, medium-,
and short-wave)
z Similar to DAB, audio is encoded using
perceptual coding MPEG-4.
z Also, the signal is modulated using COFDM,
but uses a fewer number of sidebands than
DAB.
z It is also the name of the non-profit consortium
that developed the platform.

MPEG-4

z MPEG-4 is a standard used primarily to

compress audio and visual (AV) digital
data.
z MPEG-4 Part 3 specifies audio coding
methods in the standard.
z It is a more efficient coding algorithm,
allowing for CD-quality audio at much
lower bit rates (as low as 64 kbps).
Audio Source Coding

z Depending on the source material, the audio

can be encoded using any of the following
MPEG-4 flavors:
z HE-AAC: a perceptual coder suited for voice and
music.
z CELP: Code Excited Linear Predictive Encoder.
Suited for voice only (vocoder), and uses a very low
bit rate.
z HVXC: Harmonic Vector eXcitation Coder. Also a
speech coder that uses a much lower bit rate than
CELP.

Bandwidth

z DRM can be done on different bandwidths:

z 4.5 kHz or 5 kHz
z These are half channels used in hybrid mode.
z By using a 10 kHz channel for AM, plus a 5 kHz half-
channel sideband for DRM, a broadcaster has the option
to simulcast.
z However the resulting bit rate and audio quality is less
(approximately 8-16 kbps).
z 9 kHz or 10 kHz
z These are the standard bandwidth of an AM broadcasting
channel so the existing frequency plan can be reused.
z Bit rate is approximately 17-35 kbps.
Bandwidth
z 18 kHz or 20 kHz
z This correspond to a coupling of two adjacent channels.
z It offers the possibility to offer a better audio quality or to
multiplex audio channels in the same transmitter.
z Uses a bit rate of approximately 31-72 kbps.

Modulation

z DRM uses COFDM, with every subcarrier

encoded in either 64-QAM, 16-QAM, or 4-
QAM.
z There are also 4 profiles for different
propagation conditions.
A. Gaussian channel with very little multipath
propagation and Doppler effect. This profile is
suited for local or regional broadcasting.
B. Multipath propagation channel. This mode is suited
for medium range transmission. It is nowadays
frequently used.
Modulation
C. Similar to mode B, but with better robustness to
Doppler (more carrier spacing). This mode is
suited for long distance transmission.
D. Similar to mode B, but with a resistance to large
delay spread and Doppler spread. This case
exists with adverse propagation conditions on
very long distance transmissions. The useful bit
rate for this profile is decreased.

Modulation

Carrier spacing Number of carriers

Mode
(Hz) 9 kHz 10 kHz 18 kHz 20 kHz

A 41.66 204 228 412 460

B 46.88 182 206 366 410

C 68.18 - 138 - 280

D 107.14 - 88 - 178

Carrier Spacing and Number of Subcarriers per Mode

Error Correction Coding

z DRM uses a more robust ECC, and the

bit rate can be adjusted depending on
the propagation profile.
A 9 kHz B 9 kHz B 10 kHz C 10 kHz D 10 kHz
Protection
Class
64-QAM 16-QAM 16-QAM 64-QAM 16-QAM 64-QAM 16-QAM 64-QAM

0 19.6 kbps 7.6 8.7 17.4 6.8 13.7 4.5 9.1

1 23.5 10.2 11.6 20.9 9.1 16.4 6.0 10.9

2 27.8 - - 24.7 - 19.4 - 12.9

3 30.8 - - 27.4 - 21.5 - 14.3

DRM+
z In 2005, the DRM Consortium decided to
extend the DRM system to operate in all the
broadcasting bands below 120 MHz.
z This range includes:
z 47 MHz to 68 MHz (Band I): allocated to analogue
television broadcasting
z 65.8 MHz to 74 MHz: OIRT (Organisation
Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Tlvision)
FM band
z 76 MHz to 90 MHz: Japanese FM band
z 87.5 MHz to 107.9 MHz (Band II): allocated to FM
radio broadcasting.
HD Radio

HD Radio
z HD Radio (short for High-Definition) is the
trademark of iBiquity Digital Corporation that
developed the IBOC platform for hybrid FM
broadcasts.
z It was selected by the FCC for digital audio
broadcasting in the United States in 2002.
z The audio is also encoded in some form of
perceptual audio coding iBiquitys proprietary
codec.
z HD Radio also provides data services like radiotext,
song information, etc.
z The digital data stream is modulated using COFDM,
adding sidebands to the original FM carrier.
Audio Coding

z Originally, HD Radio employed PAC

(perceptual audio coding).
z Later, it was changed to HDC (high-
definition coding), which is based on
MPEG-4 HE-AAC.

Modulation

z HD Radio uses COFDM, employing

several bit rates for hybrid analog/digital
and all-digital transmissions.
z FM hybrid digital/analog mode offers four
options which can carry approximately 100,
112, 125, or 150 kbps of data.
z In pure digital modes, broadcasts can be
made at 270 or 300 kbps maximum, thus
enabling extra features like surround sound
(with perceived CD-quality audio).
Modulation

z In pure digital stations the bandwidth can be

divided, allowing as many as 3 full-power
channels and 4 low-power channels (7 total)
analogous to a DAB Ensemble.
z As defined by iBiquity, these channels could
be sub-divided into:
z CD-quality (100 kbps)
z FM-quality (25-50 kbps)

z AM-quality (12 kbps)

z Talk-quality (5 kbps)

Bandwidth and Power

z Normally, analog FM stations are licensed to
operate with 75 kHz of modulation.
z But additional services like subcarrier services
(like SCA) and RBDS (radio broadcast data
service) increase this value to 130 kHz.
z In regular hybrid mode, an additional 70 kHz of
digital signal is added onto the analog
modulation.
z In order to use extended hybrid modes, some
subcarrier services may be discontinued to
allow additional digital bandwidth.
Bandwidth and Power

z Separate exciters are used to modulate the

different signals and may be combined either
before, or after amplification.
z A single transmitting antenna can be used, or
in the case of separate transmitters, a different
antenna for the digital signal.
z In any case, the ratio of the analog signal
power over the digital signal power is
standardized at 100:1.

FM / HD Radio Spectral Analysis

Regular FM Broadcast Station Spectrum

FM / HD Radio Spectral Analysis

HD Radio
sidebands

FM Broadcast Station Spectrum with HD Radio

HD Radio for AM
z iBiquity also created a mediumwave HD Radio system
for AM, which is the only system approved by the FCC
for digital AM broadcasting in the United States.
z The HD Radio system employs use of injecting digital
sidebands above and below the audible portion of the
analog audio on the primary carrier.
z This system also phase modulates the carrier in
quadrature and injects more digital information on this
phase-modulated portion of the carrier.
z It is based on the principle of AM stereo where it puts
a digital signal where the C-QUAM system would put
the analog stereo decoding information.
The others

Competitors to the throne

FMeXtra
z FMeXtra is an IBOC technology created by
Digital Radio Express.
z Unlike iBiquity's HD Radio system, it uses any
FM radio station's existing equipment to
transmit digital audio data on subcarriers
instead of sidebands.
z The method is similar to other subcarrier
services like SCA and RBDS.
z To minimize bandwidth requirements, the audio
is encoded in AAC and AAC+.
z It also requires no royalties for its use, which
run thousands of dollars per year for HD Radio
CAM-D
z CAM-D stands for Compatible AM Digital.
z It is a true hybrid system, transmitting both
analog and digital signals of the same program
material.
z It works by encoding treble information on very
narrow digital sidebands to augment the mid-
and bass frequencies already present in a
standard AM signal.
z This digital treble signal is then mixed together
with the analog bass/mid-frequency signal at
the receiver end.

Digital Radio Broadcasting in

the Philippines
Where are we now and where
were going
Digital Radio Broadcasting in the
Philippines
z The first HD Radio in the Philippines was installed for
limited testing on November 29, 2006 in Baguio City by
Radio Mindanao Networks (RMN).
z RMN officially commenced broadcasting in digital on May
24, 2007, via its flagship FM station - iFM 93.9 DWKC.
z As for AM, there have been plans of adopting DRM as a
viable platform.[1]
z As of July 2006, guidelines for digital FM broadcasts have
been finalized by the NTC.
z No announcement has been made when the guidelines will
be implemented.
z No official memoraranda have also been issued by the
NTC with regard to the continued operation of analog radio
broadcasts.
[1] http://www.apb-news.com/index.php?option=com_magazine&func=show_article&id=54&Itemid=1