A DAB+ workshop held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week saw a diverse mix of countries working together to take the next steps in establishing DAB+ digital radio.

The event was hosted by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcast Development in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Arab States Broadcasting Union and WorldDAB. The intensive 5-day technical workshop was attended by 35 representatives from 17 countries from Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and the Pacific.

The workshop covered a wide range of topics, from the business case for DAB+ through to technical standards and systems operations and RF planning.

All sessions were well supported by the digital radio industry, with representatives from Paneda, Gates Air, R&S, ATDI and All In Media, along with presentations provided by receiver manufacturers VQ, Pure and Richter. In addition, Aaron Alphonso, CTO at Macquarie Media provided an insightful presentation on how the radio industry is moving forward in an increasingly connected world, with examples of why their radio stations are moving listeners to DAB+.

Delegates were also hosted by Radio Television Malaysia for an afternoon tour of their radio and television studios. RTM is currently undergoing substantial upgrades in facilities as they move forward to full digital infrastructure.

The workshop was led by Dr Les Sabel, who was particularly impressed with the way the delegates worked together. “The delegates were challenged to a rapid design exercise to provide DAB+ in an area of their choice,” he said. “The groups were very multicultural and the four teams worked well together, demonstrating their newly found skills to provide rollout plans for a number of scenarios.”