2017 6th International Conference on Computer Science and Network Technology (ICCSNT)

A Modified Real Time Dynamic Spectrum

Adjustment Scheme in FM IBOC Broadcasting

Fangfei Hu, Chaoshi Cai, Feng Hu, Yanqiong Zhuang

School of Information Engineering
Communication University of China
Country Beijing, China
e-mail:18901072322@163.com

Abstract—How to improve the quality of transmission and
increase the speed of digital signal transmission is the inevitable
trend of the research of digital broadcasting. IBOCδ δ In-Band
On-Channelεis the best choice of analog broadcasting to digital
analog broadcasting simultaneously and to digital broadcasting.
The real time dynamic spectrum adjustment technology is
introduced into the IBOC broadcasting in this paper, the scheme
is based on the dynamic spectrum IBOC scheme. Just
according to the current frame and the existing audio quality,
with the method of statistical analysis, the digital bandwidth of
the current frame is adjusted by improving NMRref reference
table, which can be adopted to solve the problem of time-varying
interference between digital and analog signal. This algorithm
uses the objective evaluation index based on perceptual
evaluation of audio quality as the evaluation standard of audio
quality and proposes an evaluation system suitable for this IBOC
system project, which takes the time-varying noise and the
subjective feelings into consideration. Finally, the ability of
digital signal transmission will be enhanced, so as to realize real-
time dynamic spectrum adjustment in real sense.
Keywords—digital audio broadcasting; In-Band On-Channel
(IBOC); time-varying noise; Perceptual Evaluation of Audio
Quality (PEAQ); real time dynamic spectrum adjustment
I. INTRODUCTION
Digital audio broadcasting is the inevitable trend of audio
broadcasting development. IBOC In-Band On-Channel [1] is
an important technology to realize the digital broadcasting in
the same band of analog broadcast. Since 2005, our research
group has carried a thorough research on IBOC. We were
getting into a further investigation on the existing problems of
digital audio broadcasting system from 2010 to 2016, which
has laid a solid foundation for our next work: (1) The
necessary data base: the effective bandwidth of the analog
audio signal in IBOC system has been analyzed statistically. It
is observed that the bandwidth can show a large number of
time-varying idle spectrum [2], (2) The basic research
framework: based on the time-varying characteristics of the
effective bandwidth of the analog signal and the modeling of
the RF protection rate demonstrates [3], we introduced the
dynamic spectrum allocation (DS-IBOC) scheme [4-9]; (3)
Truly engineering realization algorithm: we brought out a non-
posterior real time dynamic spectrum allocation (RTDS-IBOC)
algorithm [10].
Due to the complexity of the nonlinear interference
between digital and analog signal, the statistical analysis
method is adopted in the project team. In order to make the
results more representative, RTDS-IBOC algorithm analyzes
pop music, news, opera, symphony, storytelling and rock six
types of stereo programs separately. Adaptive dynamic
algorithm in the RTDS-IBOC adjusts the bandwidth of the
current frame of the digital signal according to the NMRref
reference table, and the NMRref reference table is obtained
from a large number of experimental data. However, the
reference table design is still unreasonable through the
analysis of experimental data, and the transmission capacity of
digital signal still has the potential to improve. In addition,
there is still room for optimization in the algorithm that search
for the position of the digital spectrum by the NMRref table.
In this paper, according to the design of the reference table,
a more reasonable improvement scheme of real-time dynamic
spectrum adjustment will be put forward. Based on the DS-
IBOC system, six types of audio can guarantee the satisfying
and stable quality, at the same time to further enhance the
digital signal transmission capacity, realize the true sense of
the real time analog simulcast. In addition, on the search of the
position of the digital spectrum corresponding to the analog
signal per frame, we put forward a more efficient algorithm.
II. REAL TIME DYNAMIC SPECTRUM ADJUSTMENT
EVALUATION SYSTEM BASED ON HUMAN EAR PERCEPTION
The closer the digital spectrum is to the analog signal, the
wider the transmission bandwidth gets. At the same time, the
interference the digital signal to the analog signal also
increases. Therefore, it requires a dynamic spectrum
adjustment basis--Audio evaluation index. project team
selected the PEAQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Audio Quality)
algorithm, which is proposed by ITU that has the highest
correlation with the subjective evaluation among currently
known objective evaluation algorithms [11]. PEAQ has two
versions, the basic one and the advanced one. This article
requires a good real-time performance so we use the basic
version. The PEAQ algorithm consists of three calculation
modules in the basic version: the psychoacoustic module, the
perception module and the neural network module. The 11
MOVs (Module Output Variable) calculated by first two
modules are mapped into an ODG (Objective Difference

978-1-5386-0493-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 458 Dalian, China•Oct 21-22, 2017

Grade) via the neural network module. The relationship III. MODIFIED REAL-TIME DYNAMIC ALGORITHM
between ODG and SDG(subjective difference grade) and Real time spectrum dynamic adjustment means the digital
audio impairment is shown in Table 1. The project team sets bandwidth of the current frame is adjusted according to the
ODG at -1.0 or above to measure a satisfactory audio quality. current frame and the existing audio quality so as to solve the
problem of time-varying interference between digital and
TABLE I. SUBJECTIVE RATING SCALE TABLE analog signal, enhance the ability of digital signal transmission.
The error range of PEAQ level, ITU pointed out, audio quality
SDG Impairment Description ODG
5.0 Imperceptible 0.0
can be considered to be the same when the grade of ODG is
4.9~4.0 Perceptible, not annoying -0.1~-1.0 within f0.02. The definition of symbols and variables in the
3.9~3.0 Slightly annoying -1.1~-2.0 algorithm process are shown in Table 2.
2.9~2.0 Annoying -2.1~-3.0
1.9~1.0 Very annoying -3.1~-4.0 A. Algorithm Steps
TABLE II. DEFINITIONS OF SYMBOLS AND VARIABLES The detailed steps of the improved real-time dynamic
method are described below.
Variables Definition
Nframe Total framesˈa total of 360 frames 1) STEP 1: The bandwidth of digital signals
i Frame number corresponding to the ith frame analog signals is adjusted
Nframe_num
The number of reference frames of the real-time dynamically in real time, so that NMRi = NMRref, until the
dynamic adjustment of every frameˈ5 frames value of the 30s audio signal is calculated. Bandi’s end is fixed
NMRref The reference value of NMR˄dB˅ at 150kHZ. The bandwidth of the whole IBOC signal can be
When the spectrum position of the digital signal is j , satisfied 300kHz (f 150kHz). Its detailed calculation method
NMRiˈj
the NMR value˄dB˅of the ith frame analog signal
contains the following two steps:
The overall NMR value (dB) of the previous
NMR_numi
Nframe_num frames referenced by the ith frame signal First: Search for the reference audio quality for each frame
The overall ODG level of the previous Nframe_num whose digital signal is dynamically adjusted: NMRref is
ODG_numi
frames referenced by the ith frame signal
determined by the overall sound quality of the current frame
After dynamic adjustmentˈdigital spectrum position
Bandi of the ith frame analog signalˈthe justification range
(the ith frame) and the previous Nframe_num frames. If frame
is 70~150˄kHz˅
i is mute (i.e., NMRi = NAN), the frame is not dynamically
After dynamic adjustmentˈdigital spectrum position
adjusted and jumps to frame i + 1.
Band
˄kHz˅of the whole package of analog signal Table 3 is the reference table of opera in the RTDS-IBOC
Digital spectrum position˄kHz˅of the whole packet algorithm. Through the analysis of the experimental data, it is
Band_numi analog signal of the ith frame and reference frames, a found that the design of the reference table is still
total of (Nframe_num+1) frames
After data rate limitˈdigital spectrum position of the
unreasonable:
Band_datai ith frame analog signalˈthe justification range is a) The range of ODG_numi is too large. It is found that
70~150˄kHz˅ in the adjustment process, the overall ODG value of the
current frame and its previous five frames is centered on (-1.5,
TABLE III. OPERA'S NMR REFERENCE TABLE IN THE RTDS-IBOC -0.5). Therefore, there are a large number of meaningless
ODG_numi NMR_ref segmentation intervals in the table, which causes NMRref to
[-0.5ˈ+] -5 focus only on a few values;
[-1.0ˈ-0.5] -6
b) ODG and NMR are not simple linear relationships.
[-1.5ˈ-1.0] -8
The NMRref is determined only by the ODG value, so that the
[-2.0ˈ-1.5] -10
audio frames with very different audio quality will be
[-2.5ˈ-2.0] -11
equipped with the same NMRref. The audio quality is not
[-3.0ˈ-2.5] -12
stable, although the overall audio quality ODG is roughly -1.0;
[-3.5ˈ-3.0] -13
[-4.0ˈ-3.5] -15 c) The incorrect setting of NMRref makes the overall
sound quality of the adjusted audio excessively low;
In the same program source, the different noise, the ODG
level is consistent with the size of the noise that people feel; d) After the algorithm, most of the digital signals are
but in the different program, the same level of audio ODG can transferred to extremes 70kHZ or 150kHZ, so it's not really
not represent the same quality people feel. When the program dynamic.
source is different and the audio duration is less than or equal
In view of the above problems, this paper has improved the
to 86ms, a parameter in the MOV variable -- the same NMR
NMRref reference table. Take the opera as an example, Figure
value may be found to hear the same perceived quality. This
1 is the scatter diagram of NMR_numi-ODG_numi in the
scheme combines the NMR value with the ODG level. The
adjustment process. As shown in Figure 1, the value of
ODG level is the overall evaluation index of audio output, the
ODG_numi is centered on (-1.6,-0.7), the ODG_numi interval
NMR is used to determine the digital spectrum location of the
can be divided into [-0.7,+), [-1.0, -0.7), [-1.3,-1.0), [-1.6,-1.3),
different frame signals.
(-,-1.6) according to the distribution of ODG_numi. The three
interval[-1.0, -0.7), [-1.3, -1.0), [-1.6, -1.3) of ODG_numi can

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be subdivided into segments for NMR_numi according to the ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref
distribution of NMR_numi. For example, in the interval[-1.0,- [-0.7ˈ+) Ğ -10
0.7) of ODG_numi, NMR_numi can be further subdivided into [-0.8ˈ-0.7)
(-ˈ-12.2) -10.4
(-,-7) and [-7,+). Similar divisions are made for other intervals. [-12.2ˈ+) -10.8
At the same time, it is observed that the values of NMR_numi [-0.9ˈ-0.8)
(-ˈ-12) -11.4
are centered on (-8.5,-5), and the value of NMR_numi is near - [-12ˈ+) -11.8
6.5 when ODG_numi is near -1.0, so the NMRref of the audio (-ˈ-12.2) -12
[-1ˈ-0.9)
frame can be set to -6.5, whose ODG_numi is near -1.0, and [-12.2ˈ+) -12.2
the range of NMRref is set at (-8.5, -5). In order to obtain more (-ˈ-12.4) -12.4
[-1.1ˈ-1)
stable audio quality, when the sound quality is good, the [-12.4ˈ+) -12.6
corresponding NMRref settings are worse; Conversely, the (-,-1.1) Ğ -13
corresponding NMRref settings are better. The complete d.
Symphony - NMRref reference table.
NMRref reference table is thus obtained. The other five types ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref
of audio NMRref adjustments also make similar updates. [-0.6ˈ+) Ğ -9.5
(-ˈ-10) -10
The following Table 4 is improved NMRref reference table [-1ˈ-0.6)
[-10ˈ+) -10.5
of six types audio. (-ˈ-8) -11
[-1.4ˈ-1)
[-8ˈ+) -11.5
[-1.8ˈ-1.4) Ğ -12
(-,-1.8) Ğ -13
e.
Storytelling - NMRref reference table.
ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref
[-0.6ˈ+) Ğ -5
(-ˈ-11.5) -6
[-0.8ˈ-0.6)
[-11.5ˈ+) -7
(-ˈ-11) -8
[-1ˈ-0.8)
Fig. 1. Scatter diagram of NMR_numi-ODG_numi in the adjustment process. [-11ˈ+) -9
(-ˈ-10) -10
[-1.2ˈ-1)
TABLE IV. IMPROVED NMRREF REFERENCE TABLE OF SIX TYPES AUDIO [-10ˈ+) -11
(-,-1.2) Ğ -12
ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref f.
-5 Rock - NMRref reference table.
[-0.4ˈ+) Ğ
(-ˈ-12.5) -5.5
[-0.6ˈ-0.4)
[-12.5ˈ+) -6 Start

(-ˈ-10) -6.5
[-0.8ˈ-0.6)
[-10ˈ+) -7 Bandi=130

[-1ˈ-0.8) Ğ -8 Yes No
[-1.2ˈ-1) Ğ -9 NMRi,130İNMRref

(-,-1.2) Ğ -10 Yes

NMRi,70İNMRref
No
NMRi,150İNMRref
No

a.
Pop - NMRref reference table. Bandi=70 No Yes Bandi=150
|NMRi,70̢NMRref|İ
ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref |NMRi,130̢NMRref|

[-0.8ˈ+) Ğ -12 Yes

(-ˈ-10.5) -12.4 Bandi=130 Bandi=70 Bandi=130
[-1ˈ-0.8)
[-10.5ˈ+) -12.6
(-ˈ-10) -12.8 Bandi=Bandi-1 Bandi=Bandi+1
[-1.2ˈ-1)
[-10ˈ+) -13
(-ˈ-9) -13.2 NMRi˚NMRref NMRiİNMRref
[-1.4ˈ-1.2) Yes Yes
[-9ˈ+) -13.4 No No
(-ˈ-8.5) -13.6
[-1.6ˈ-1.4) OutPut Bandi
[-8.5ˈ+) -13.8
(-,-1.6) Ğ -14 Fig. 2. Bandi search process.
b.
News - NMRref reference table.
ODG_numi NMR_numi NMRref Second: Search for Bandi: Search for the minimum Bandi
[-0.7ˈ+) Ğ -5 value satisfying the discriminant condition NMRref-NMRi = 0,
(-ˈ-7) -5.5 its initial value is 130kHz, 70KHZ ≤ Bandi ≤ 150KHZ. Figure
[-1.0ˈ-0.7)
[-7ˈ+) -6 2 is the Bandi search process. In the search process, a
(-ˈ-6.5) -6.5 dichotomy can be used to speed up audio processing due to the
[-1.3ˈ-1.0)
[-6.5ˈ+) -7 monotonic relation between the NMR value per frame and the
[-1.6ˈ-1.3)
(-ˈ-6) -7.5 position of the frame digital signal band.
[-6ˈ+) -8
(-,-1.6) Ğ -8.5 2) STEP 2: Determine whether each frame of the real-time
c.
Opera - NMRref reference table.
dynamic adjustment conforms to the data rate limit.

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Band_datai = Bandi. When i ≥ 2, judge whether˄Band_datai-1 reference, and the middle is the RTDS-IBOC algorithm as a
+ Band_datai˅ / 2 ≤ 120, if not, every two frames must be contrast, The bellow one is the NMR changes per frame in
readjusted to achieve stable data rate transmission. real-time dynamic method. As can be seen from Figure 3:
3) STEP 3: Determine whether the overall audio quality is a) The HD Radio system has a larger range of changes
qualified after real-time dynamic adjustment. If audio quality in NMR. While in the RTDS-IBOC algorithm and the
meets almost ODG = -1.0, output the corresponding improved real-time dynamic method, when the overall sound
Band_data value, which is the final output of the adaptive quality of the current frame and the previous 5 frames is good,
dynamic method; Otherwise, modify the NMRref adjustment the corresponding NMRref settings are worse, so that audio
table and return to the first step to readjust. quality is lowered; Conversely, the corresponding NMRref
settings are better. Finally, the whole audio quality achieves
4) STEP 4: Calculate the bandwidth of a single side band satisfactory results. As can be seen, each NMR of the six types
of digital signal. If the spectrum of the reference system is of audio also floats dynamically, but it is more stable
300kHz, the average SSBW(ASSBW) of 360 frames is compared to HD Radio system.
obtained by ASSBW = 150 - mean(Band), where mean(Band)
is the arithmetic average of Nframe frames’ Band_datai, i = b) Compared with the RTDS-IBOC algorithm, in the
1,2,...Nframe. improved real-time dynamic method, NMR changes per frame
of pop, opera and rock are similar, they are all relatively stable.
B. Test Result and Analysis But the news, storytelling and symphony are more stable than
RTDS-IBOC algorithm.
1) Whole audio quality: HD Radio MP1 mode and RTDS-
IBOC algorithms are used as contrast experiments, Channel c) For some frames whose NMR are too good, the
noise is not considered. The test uses six types of audio signals: improved real-time dynamic adjustment algorithm does not
pop music, news, opera, symphony, storytelling and rock. make it worse, so the NMR is not stable. Such as pop music,
Each type of the experimental audio is 30s for a total of 360 there are a lot of too good frames after the 150th frame. After
frames.The sampling frequency is 48kHz and there are 4096 the improved real-time dynamic adjustment algorithm, the
sampling points in one audio frame. Thus it is about 86ms per NMR of the good frames after the 150th frame is not
frame. The digital signal power is -17dB of analog signal deteriorated. By observing the spectrum of the digital signal of
power when coupled. Table 5 shows the test results of six these frames, it is found that they have been adjusted to the
types of audio signals in different test method, including audio extreme of 70KHZ, which shows that the digital signal can be
quality evaluated by NMR and ODG and data rate with SSBW further placed in order to obtain higher transmission capacity
as an indicator, as can be seen from Table 5: of digital signals, but the influence of analog signal on digital
signal should be considered.
a) In the RTDS-IBOC algorithm and the improved real-
time dynamic method in this paper, six types of audio signals
can achieve satisfactory listening quality, which is stable in
ODG level of -1.0. When NMR is adjusted according to the
audio quality per frame, the digital single side band bandwidth
can reach above 35kHz. A stereo broadcast can be transmitted.
Pop and rock show more ASSBW after the real time dynamic
method was modified. It can be seen that they have stronger
anti-interference ability and have much potential for digital
audio spectrum placement. Storytelling gets less ASSBW,
because of more mute intervals in storytelling, this algorithm
does not do dynamic processing of the mute frames.
b) As can be seen, the NMR values for each type are
different when the ODG level is almost the same. Opera
corresponds to the worst NMR. Therefore, the NMR per frame
obtained by the improved real-time dynamic method has a
certain threshold fluctuation, which make audio quality stable
and satisfying listening quality ODG = -1.0.
c) Compared with the RTDS-IBOC algorithm, in the
improved real-time dynamic method, the bandwidth of digital
signals of the six types of audio is improved when the whole
audio quality is near ODG = -1.0. Rock and pop music are
more visible after improved real-time dynamics. The digital
single side band bandwidth has risen by more than 10KHZ.
2) NMR changes per frame: NMR changes per frame of
the six types of audio are shown in Figure 3. The top of each
subgraph is the HD Radio MP1 mode which is used as the Fig. 3. NMR changes per frame of the six types of audio.

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 3) ODG changes every 3s: ODG changes every 3s of the the audio signals are more stable. This is because the design of
six types of audio are shown in Figure 4. The top of each the interval in the NMRref reference table is more reasonable,
subgraph is the HD Radio MP1 mode which is used as the NMR_numi and ODG_numi together determine the value of
reference, and the middle is the RTDS-IBOC algorithm as a NMRref, so that the adjustment is more flexible.
contrast, The bellow one is the ODG changes every 3s in real-
time dynamic method. As can be seen from Figure 4: IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the improved real-time dynamic adjustment
algorithm is based on DS-IBOC scheme, which has adjusted
and improved the reference table, and digital bandwidth of the
current frame is adjusted only according to the current frame
and the existing audio quality, so as to solve the problem of
time-varying interference between digital and analog signal,
enhance the ability of digital signal transmission. However, it
still has room for further improvement: First, this algorithm
does not do dynamic processing of the mute frames, so the
improvement for the processing of silent frames is possible;
Second, for the audio of greater tolerance for digital signal, the
corresponding digital signal can be further placed in order to
obtain higher transmission capacity; Third, the six types of
audio are studied and adjusted respectively. However, there is
no research about the correlation between reference tables of
different types of audio, so the six tables can be thoroughly
analyzed and get a general table for greater universality.
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[1] Wikipedia, IBOC, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBOC.
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Information and Computational Science. 11(6), 2014, pp: 2019-2027.
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TABLE V. AUDIO QUALITY AND AVERAGE DIGITAL SINGLE SIDE BAND BANDWIDTH
Test method Parameter Pop News Opera Symphony Storytelling Rock
HD Radio NMR(dB) -11.9706 -10.1582 -3.6167 -13.5961 -14.5575 -11.0287
MP1Mode ODG -0.5841 -1.0026 -1.2592 -0.6813 -2.2101 -0.9183
NMR(dB) -10.9515 -10.7295 -6.9085 -12.2879 -10.4201 -10.8123
RTDS-IBOC ODG -0.7025 -0.9304 -0.9490 -0.9466 -0.8701 -0.9475
algorithm
ASSBW (kHz˅ 60.8222 41.8139 43.7750 53.5083 36.6250 55.2722
NMR(dB) -9.5506 -10.9967 -6.3968 -11.8823 -7.4901 -10.2436
Modified Real time
ODG -0.8509 -1.0093 -1.0587 -1.0117 -0.9630 -1.0157
dynamic method
ASSBW (kHz˅ 70.1972 44.2000 44.9472 59.4722 39.8528 70.4778

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