BADEN, Switzerland � This year�s Digital Radio Mondiale General Assembly reviewed the developments of the past year and set the tone for 2017-2018 with emphasis on receivers and key markets in Asia and Africa.
Using the theme �Digital Radio Mondiale Delivers� the 2017 General Assembly of the DRM Consortium took place on May 10�11 in Baden, Switzerland, being hosted by the key consortium member Ampegon.
The General Assembly meeting for members only on Wednesday reviewed the major developments in DRM, updates on technical developments, receivers, cooperation with international organizations and specific developments, as reported by some of the key members like Fraunhofer IIS, NXP, Radio France International, BBC, Nautel, Ampegon and RFmondial.
Also on the first day of the Assembly it was announced that the DRM Consortium will join public broadcaster Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) in the upcoming demonstration of DRM for local coverage in Batam, May 16-18. One of the existing local FM frequencies and transmitters will be upgraded to DRM mode to present the benefits of digital radio for local coverage: excellent audio, multimedia features including Journaline advanced text and images, good coverage and efficient energy use. Batam Island is situated in the west of Indonesia not far from Singapore.
The open DRM sessions had special addresses from the representatives of RRI and BBC. Two major topics were discussed, the first being key DRM countries. Representatives in India, Pakistan, Germany, Southern Africa and Brazil gave reports from their respective countries. The other major topic was the development of several types of DRM receivers, including on several in-car models launched this year in India. Equally impressive was the presentation of the software-defined multi-standard receiver, Titus II and the latest developments of receivers like Avion and Gospell, as well as the plans of companies in South Korea and the UK.
The available receivers were put to good use on both days when Babcock facilitated a live BBC transmission from the UK. On Thursday participants were linked to the Babcock engineers at the Woofferton transmission site in southwest England while the signals were on-air.
For the coming year, the DRM Consortium will consolidate its work in markets like India, Indonesia, other Asian countries and southern Africa. In parallel, it will vigorously pursue receiver developments, preferably as multi-standard offers, and will pay particular attention to the automobile segment.
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