Digital Radio. DAB,DAB+,DMB Radio

At a time when digital is replacing analog in all image and sound capture-editing-distribution technologies, the sound broadcasting sector is an exception, insofar as experience to date shows that digital radio broadcasting will not replace FM broadcasting in the short or medium term. Analog and digital radio broadcasting therefore seem likely to coexist in the long term.

This dossier, concerning only the last segment of the radio production-distribution chain, from a point of transmission to the receiving terminal, is made up of 5 articles.

After a brief history of radio, the article [TE 6 140] reviews the technical platforms and networks that can be used for analog and then digital radio. It then presents a brief overview of the technical systems developed for broadcasting or transmitting digital radio, and compares their different uses depending on the distribution platform.

The article [TE 6 142] is devoted to the main techniques common to the various digital radio systems: audio source coding (in particular MPEG-4 HE-AAC), frame formatting and multiplexing, data protection provided by error detection-correction and interleaving.

The associated article [TE 6 143] presents OFDM digital modulation.

This article [TE 6 150] details the first broadcast standard developed, DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) and its 2nd generation, DAB+, as well as DMB Radio (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), derived from DAB but extended to broadcast video to mobiles.

The [TE 6 154] article describes other digital radio broadcasting systems via various technical platforms...