Danish TV broadcaster Open Channel has received permission to trial a DVB-T2-Lite radio service to the Greater Copenhagen area.
Using a 1.7 MHz channel within VHF Channel 9D, Open Channel plans to carry 16 digital radio stations each in its own physical pipe layer (PLP) within the stream. By 2012, it plans to extend the trial to 48 PLPs, each carrying one digital radio station. As many as 60 digital radio stations could be carried in a DVB-T2 mux on a VHF frequency, according to Open Channel CEO Kenneth Wenzel, project manager for the field trials.
Wenzel argues that DVB-T2-Lite would allow for a greater increase in capacity than DAB+ with more robust error correction.
DVB-T2-Lite is a subset of the DVB-T2 is a digital terrestrial television standard designed for low-capacity applications such as digital radio and mobile broadcasting. It was introduced in July 2011, and it was designed to be able to be retrofitted into existing DVB-T2 infrastructure.
Open Channel has been conducting DVB-T2 trials since May 2010 in Copenhagen, covering about 28% of Danish households.
Denmark currently uses the original Eureka-147 DAB format for digital radio, although tests of DAB+ are on the air in Nivå, Nordsjælland. According to Statistics Denmark, as of 2011, some 32% of Danish households have at least one DAB radio.
For the Copenhagen DVB-T2-Lite trials, Open Channel is using a T-VIPS CP560 DVB-T2 Gateway and a ProTelevision Technologies PT2082 DVB-T2 modulator to generate the signals. The setup was demonstrated in Amsterdam during IBC2011.
Consumer receivers are not yet available for DVB-T2-Lite reception.
DVB-T2-Lite has also been experimented with by the BBC as part of a validation of the standard.
