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Progress
Efforts on Digital Terrestrial
Radio Broadcasting made since 2005 by the Dominican
Administration include different international
workshops or forums, with the main aim of
ascertaining progress made with digital radio, the
current situation of analog radio, and
implementation in the different countries of the
region.
On June 26, 2009, a meeting was
held with the entire broadcasting sector and the
President of the Dominican Republic to present the
most recent progress made in the work of the study
group created to evaluate and recommend the most
suitable standard to the Dominican Administration.
Different digital radio studies
were presented in the Forum, including studies made
by Brazil, and IBIQUITY’s IBOC standard (in-Band
on-Channel). We must highlight the Administration of
Brazil’s important study on digital radio,
considered one of the Region’s best studies.
Implementation
An FM station is now being tested
with IBOC technology. Thus far, no harmful
interference of other stations or other
telecommunication services has been reported. Since
it was launched, the experimental station has had
classical and instrumental music programming on its
analog signal. Now, with digital radio, it is
offering three types of programming, each a
different genre, including entertainment site
programming. More information is available at:
www.teoveras.com.do
Our Administration’s study group
presents below a comparative table of the two most
popular standards at present:
(Data on table is provisional)
|
General factors |
IBOC |
DRM |
|
System approved and tested |
AM
and FM |
AM
and short wave. FM now being tested |
|
Operation |
Hybrid = Analog and digital on the same channel |
Only
digital, needs additional spectrum for tests |
|
Compatibility with existing transmitters |
Compatible during test transmission. The radio
transmitter can hear the analog signal, while
the transmitter with a digital receiver can take
advantage of the sound quality |
Not
compatible with analog transmitters. Digital
produces noise when tuned to DRM |
|
Transmission method |
Analog (AM) and Digital (OFDM) |
Digital (OFDM) only. |
|
Needs more spectrum |
No |
Yes |
|
System robustness |
Time
and frequency redundant, error correcting by
receiver |
Error
correction, variable data. Velocity (determined
by the transmitter, not by the receiver) |
|
Carrier level compared to analog |
-28
dBc core mode; -40 dBc |
-7 to
-16 dBc for the same coverage as analog signal.
Interference with the adjacent channel . At
high power, the signal must be 20 dB or higher. |
|
Levels of
development: |
|
|
|
Stations operating |
2,000
stations operating. Most are commercial. |
100
stations operating in short wave being tested;
only 14 in medium wave. Most stations are not
commercial. |
|
Prices to the public |
Over
100 models available from over 40 different
manufacturers, such as Kenwood, JVC, Panasonic,
Sony, Visteon, and others |
Some
models are available to the public. Some
manufacturers are the same as for U.S. models. |
|
Compatibility in
Region 2: |
|
|
|
Interference coordination by the FCC and the Rio
81 Agreement |
For
the Region 2 countries, interference
coordination is easy. |
Coordination is problematic. Additionally,
Regions 1 and 3 are not parties to the Rio 81
Agreement. |
|
Some AM transmitter costs |
|
|
|
Signal generator: |
$20,000 to $30,000 |
$50,000 to $70,000 |
|
License costs |
$0
outside the U.S. |
$0 |
|
Analog and digital transmission conditions
|
Depending on the case, may be only one
transmitter |
Two
transmitters and two antennas are required |
|
Occupied spectrum in Region 2: |
Analog AM: |
|
|
AM
occupies at spectrum level |
30
kHz |
|
|
Standard (10 kHz audio) |
HD
RADIO: |
DRM: |
|
Mono, audio and digital quality, only digital
|
Not
applicable |
10
kHz |
|
Mono, audio and digital quality, on digital AM |
Hz
(mode MA1) |
20
kHz (experimental only) |
|
Stereo, digital music quality only |
Hz
(mode MA3) |
20
kHz |
|
AM
compatible stereo music |
30 Hz
(extended mode MA1) |
30 Hz |
In the Dominican Republic, over
145 assignments have been made to AM band stations,
over 250 in the FM band, and 20 in short wave,
making it difficult to assign additional spectrum
for digital radio experimental tests. Therefore,
thus far, IBOC is the only known standard offering
the advantage of capacity to share the same segment
assigned for analogue and digital transmissions.
In early 2010, the Administration
expects to have ready the decision on the standard
to be adopted.
To provide further information on
the television and digital television industry,
INDOTEL has created a blog: http://indotel-tvdigital.blogspot.com
Javier García
Instituto Dominicano
de las Telecomunicaciones
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