Digital Radio Mondiale™ (DRM) – One of the Highlights of the International BES Conference and Exhibition in New Delhi
The DRM Consortium highlighted its recent achievements under the overarching theme "DRM for India - Smart Radio for ALL" at the 26th edition of the international BES (Broadcast Engineering Society – www.besindia.co.in) conference and exhibition (BES EXPO 2020) on Broadcast & Media Technology, in Halls 7ABC&E, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India, 13-15 February 2020.
The not-for-profit DRM Consortium (www.drm.org) and some of its Indian and international members and partners (including Fraunhofer IIS, Gospell Digital Technologies, Inntot Technologies, NXP, RFmondial, Starwaves, Dolby etc.) welcomed all visitors at Hall 7A – Booths 61 and 49, a larger and more visible presence than ever before. Visitors could see and experience live AIR broadcasts in pure DRM on the variety of receivers on display. They ranged from very low-cost "tuk-tuk" type receivers to full-feature DRM sets complemented by automotive solutions able to receive locally generated DRM in the FM band with live emergency warning functionality.
The efficiency of DRM digital FM broadcasts was highlighted through a demo that showcased the combination of up to 6 independent DRM signals onto a single FM transmitter – providing 12 to 18 audio services plus multimedia content with shared infrastructure cost. The DRM Digital FM solution for the Indian FM broadcasters is fully compatible with both the existing analogue FM services as well as with AIR's existing DRM AM-band transmissions in India.Visitors could also experience a public display signage demonstration that gives information based on a live DRM Journaline advanced text service. During times of emergency, the public screen becomes a public alert station with full volume audio and visual emergency information.
Another innovation was the online monitoring of the live DRM content of selected transmitters from all over India, allowing both technical and editorial staff to monitor DRM in real time.
For the first time at BES, Nautel, one of the key Consortium members, hosted a DRM event giving an update on DRM latest developments and improvements. This was the ideal opportunity to announce the winner of the DRM Enterprise Award 2019, the Southern Indian company Inntot Technologies, developer of Indian solutions for the automotive and standalone receivers.
The BES conference underlined some of the new things shown in the exhibition hall. They focused on the increased opportunities for enhancing the radio business with DRM, as well as very efficient ways of sharing the DRM transmitter infrastructure. On the last day of the conference DRM led a panel discussion where representatives of AIR and the receiver industry debated the key requirements of a successful and complete DRM rollout in India.
According to Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairman, "India has made tremendous progress on the road to radio digitisation. A public launch date is now necessary to bring the benefits of DRM in all bands to the whole Indian population on receivers in cars and in standalone receivers at prices that are affordable to increasing numbers of listeners. "
(Press Release)