At Monday’s World DAB technical consultation in Kuala Lumpur, a range of speakers discussed digital radio and compared it with new technologies such as 5G.
With this session, WorldDAB’s technical team offered an opportunity to have a one on one discussion about 5G, AI, Voice control and what these new systems will offer broadcasters, along with a chance to discuss spectrum planning, system design, build and operation for a DAB+ trial or full roll out.
Other topics included:
- 5G mobile network rollout progress and how 5G can help broadcasters using DAB+
- DAB+ system design and coverage planning
- How manufacturers can support DAB+ rollout
- WorldDAB Technical Committee – update on activities and projects
- Hybrid radio – the best of broadcast and IP
- DAB + receivers – Automotive and in-home
Les Sabel tackled the question of whether 5G will take over from free to air terrestrial broadcasting.
“The promises are big, such as data rates up to 10Gb per sec and total coverage… but remember what 5G is, it’s just a marketing term.”
“No doubt it will provide increased performance in mobile service coverage and more applications… and give higher speeds by using higher bandwidth… but will it support the equivalent of radio and tv transmission?”
“5G “has a lot of great capabilities, but we need a “reality check” when we talk about the broadcasting space,” said Sabel.
5G is trying to deliver lots of services, but you can’t have everything all the time. You might have high bit rates but not low latency for example.
“To get the same transmission coverage as live to air radio, we need lots more transmission sites… it will probably not be economically viable to telcos to use it for broadcasting, they are likely to prioritise other services that give them a better return.”
Nick Piggott spoke about the need for radio broadcasters and car operators to keep discussing their customers’ needs so that RadioDNS services can adapt and give the consumers what they want. “Hybrid Radio works with DNS, the address book of the internet, we leverage that functionality to link broadcast radio with the internet.” Open standards and interoperability allow RadioDNS services to enhance the car radio experience for users as they move in and out of poor reception areas and also to bring them enhanced services such as album art, links and other meta data related to the radio content.
“DAB+ was incredibly robust in Australia during the recent fires,” said Kath Brown, giving some examples of the robustness of Australia’s DAB+ transmissions.
Lindsay Cornel from the BBC described a 5G Radio Trial by the BBC in the Orkney Islands, where there is very little broadcast and internet capacity. The project is called 5G Rural First and was a pilot to determine whether hybrid transmission and 5G technology can deliver live streaming radio and internet services.
It is one of 6 projects funded under the UK Government’s 5G Phase 1 testbeds and trials programme.
In the 5G Broadcast trial, thirteen radio stations, including BBC Radio Orkney, were broadcast live over the 4G/5G system to demonstrate the benefits of broadcast for live services alongside normal Internet access for catch-up services.