ITU-ABU REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON

DIGITAL RADIO IMPLEMENTATION

FOR DEVELOPING BROADCASTERS
3-6 August 2009, Malaysia

The ABU, as a continuation of its efforts to provide members with the information
and expertise required to implement digital radio broadcasting services, conducted a
four-day workshop on digital radio implementation for developing broadcasters from
3-6 August 2009 in Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
The workshop that was organised by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in collaboration
with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) provided a platform for
developing broadcasters to present and discuss technical information as well as
sharing of practices and experiences on assessing human resources and required
infrastructure for implementing digital services and marshalling the required
resources and assist regulators, policy makers, broadcasters and industry players in
the Asia-Pacific Region to make decisions on how best the countries could transit to
digital radio services and how they need to prepare themselves for digital radio
implementation.
The objective of the workshop was to provide adequate information to broadcasters
in the developing countries and to assist them to make decisions how effectively
they could perform a frequency planning and implementation exercise for digital
radio in their country.
Istvan Bozsoki, Senior Telecommunication Engineer of ITU/BDT, in his opening
address underlined the diverse advantages of digital broadcasting and justified the
importance of establishing new best practice principles and actively fosters the
regional and global harmonisation of technical, regulatory and economic issues in
this new broadcasting age.
Sharad Sadhu, Director, Technical Department of the ABU said the ITU and the ABU
have been holding workshops on digital broadcasting for the past years and have
been contributing to information-sharing and training of engineers and policy
makers.
He said the ITU and the ABU have joint hands in assisting the broadcasters on their
initiatives for migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, enhancing their
knowledge and skills in new digital production and broadcasting technologies and
providing platform to share experience among broadcasters in digital
implementation.

The workshop has attracted more than 30 senior engineers, planners, spectrum
regulators and other decision makers associated with planning and implementation
of digital services, from Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordon, Kiribati,
Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
The workshop included a basic overview of frequency and coverage planning for
digital radio networks, RF propagation models, role of spectrum planning and
approach to digital radio system selection, technical standards and
policies,
parameters, digital radio transmission implementation, MPEG surround and its
transmission on DAB+ and DRM+, HD radio field trials in Vietnam, digital radio for
local broadcasting in 26 MHz band, DRM simulcast technology and trials, digital radio
network planning, implementation and analysis, modern radio digital radio
production equipment, automation systems and archival storage systems.
Participants were presented with techniques for providing instruction in their various
professional specialisations.
The first few sessions of the workshop provided insight into a high level overview of
the benefits of moving to digital radio, as well as a comparison of standards for
delivering digital radio. It was recommended taking a holistic approach to
implementing new services, starting with the end in mind the consumer
expectations namely high quality audio, new content, additional text and graphic
services and a wide range of user-friendly receivers. A holistic approach includes
liaising with all key stakeholders including policy makers, regulators, technical
experts, manufacturers, marketing/researchers, retailers and consumers. It was also
emphasised that each country needs to determine what is best and most
appropriate for its market that is not to assume that a solution for one country will
necessarily be the optimal solution for another country.
One of the main areas of focus was the sessions on approach to digital radio system
selection. The key features of DAB+, DRM+ and HD-Radio were presented in details.
The topics included DAB+, DRM+ and HD-Radio system overview, applications,
conversion of digital-ready/analogue transmitters digital operation, commercial
issues, coverage and signal availability, measuring equipment set-up and software
and measurement results obtained in other countries.
Participants were exposed to the background information on digital transition as well
as practical elements concerning digital services implementation in the existing
environment.
The participants were told to take their own initiatives for migration from Analogue
to Digital broadcasting, improving their understanding of new technologies,
enhancing their staff skills in digital production and broadcasting technologies. The
experiences gained in digital TV planning in several countries in the region were also
imparted.

As an important part of the workshop, each broadcaster was asked to prepare an

assessment of the status of their own preparedness for transition to digital
environment and plans for digital services for their own countries.
The presentations by renowned experts from Broadcast Australia, Leibniz UniversityHannover, iBiquity, AFS Engineering-Malaysia, and Rohde & Schwarz were
complemented by open forum discussions on selection of radio standards with
relevant parameters, planning and implementation issue of digital radio in respective
countries.
In the open forum discussions, participants had ample opportunity to discuss various
technical issues with the relevant resource persons. These included digital radio
standards and technologies; digital radio system selection; reach; frequency
planning; SFN; MFN; coverage prediction methods and planning; and interference.
Special emphasis was given to the right choice of the digital radio system and the
related digital parameters to achieve the digital dividends.
At the plenary session, participants expressed their valued suggestions regarding
the way forward to enhance their capacity and skills in the digital transition and
implementation. Participants further raised the issues related to the capital
expenditure and digital receiver cost.
The event was sponsored by the Development Bureau of the International
Telecommunication Union (BDT-ITU) through a grant.

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