DRM for FM India trial at ABU DBS this week

The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium will bring new information at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Digital Broadcasting Symposium (DBS), 5-8 April (www.abu.org.my/dbsymposium)

The international, not-for-profit DRM Consortium has just concluded the successful trial of the DRM digital radio standard in the FM band (VHF band-II) in New Delhi and Jaipur.

The Consortium will detail for the first time in its presentation called “DRM – Some Findings after the Recent DRM FM Trial in India” to be held on April 6 (Session 7, 1500-1600 MYT) the achievements recorded recently during this trial in India.

Your guides will be Yogendra Pal, Hon. Chairman, DRM India Chapter and Alexander Zink, Senior Business Development Manager, Digital Radio & Streaming Applications, Fraunhofer IIS.

The DBS presentation will detail how the DRM Consortium, its international and Indian members and supporters, demonstrated extensive DRM features allowing radio innovation for broadcasters and listeners, excellent coverage, flexibility, spectrum and power efficiency, and proven CTI spectrum compliance.

In Delhi, the trial recorded very good results when transmitting a single DRM signal, multiple pure digital DRM signals side-by-side from the same transmitter (“Multi-DRM” configuration), and also using DRM’s simulcast option by putting on air both an analogue FM and a digital DRM signal from a single transmitter with no interferences.

In Jaipur, the DRM Consortium showed on a separate antenna on the same tower for the first time in a live on-air environment, how Multi-DRM configurations with 5 DRM blocks (each capable of carrying up to 3 audio services and one multimedia service like Journaline), can perfectly and efficiently use the white-spaces in-between two existing analogue FM services, without any interference.

The presenters will detail how DRM clearly showcased that the DRM standard, used in the FM band, is backward compatible and the receiver ecosystem for both AM and FM band services is ready for India’s mass market.

The presenters will also introduce the DRM receivers in operation during the trial, all supporting DRM in both AM and FM bands. These were standalone and car receivers (line-fit and customer installed receiver upgrades). DRM reception on mobile phones and tablets, portable and desktop radios, as well as professional monitoring receivers were also showcased.

For the future deployment in India, native support of DRM FM-band reception is easily possible on all phones supporting analogue FM reception today by way of a simple firmware upgrade, without requiring manufacturers to add hardware components or carry out costly re‑designs.

The main point of the DBS presentation is that, once DRM is adopted, in AM for example, like in India, extending the same global, open, non-proprietary DRM standard to the FM-band will not only save manufacturers enormous cost (as there is NO additional IP royalties) but also lead to more affordable receivers produced much faster due to the use of the same open standard.

Once deployed, DRM can be used for excellent audio but also for information, emergency warning, entertainment and education. Asia Radio Today