The DRM Digital Radio standard took centre stage at the China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) exhibition, an annual event held at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing.
CCBN is a premier event organised by the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) and National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA). It covers a wide range of fields, including broadcasting and television, technological integration, information-based audiovisual, consumer electronics, telecommunications, IT and more.
As China is working towards the national mandate and rollout of the DRM and CDR digital radio standards for domestic coverage, the benefits of DRM – such as the Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) –, the new modules and receiver solutions recently unveiled and the performance of DRM in cars were also part of the DRM Consortium members’ contribution to CCBN 2026.
A consortium of domestic and international industry leaders – including Beijing BBEF Science & Technology, Fraunhofer IIS, RFmondial, and SimReal Technology – presented a comprehensive set of professional DRM solutions encompassing the entire broadcast chain for the DRM standard and China’s GY/T 423-2025 specification. These solutions ranged from professional DRM ContentServer head-end systems and multichannel DRM modulators to monitoring and measurement receivers, as well as consumer-, mobile phone-, and automotive-ready SDR-based radio implementations.
DRM shortwave also showcased its versatile data-carrying capacity. ABRS demonstrated a high-precision positioning system that uses shortwave frequencies to carry BeiDou satellite data (DGNSS). ABRS presented both a standard-compliant DRM data service and a proprietary lab demo, proving how shortwave can serve as a reliable backup or primary link for positioning data.
The opening of the Multi-Channel Network Collaborative Development Forum on 24 April saw the launch of the Shortwave Broadcasting Innovation Initiative, led by the Radio Station Administration Bureau of China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), together with Communication University of China and other industry partners.
On the exhibition floor, among transmitter manufacturers, China’s three principal medium- and shortwave players each used CCBN to launch new DRM-capable product lines.
Chengdu Newglee Technology presented an end-to-end DRM portfolio spanning the entire signal chain. On the headend side, the company showed a DRM media encoder, a DRM modulator, and a digital retrofit solution for upgrading existing analogue transmitters. Downstream, it presented integrated receiver, monitoring and emergency-broadcasting solutions, together with its new in-vehicle software-defined radio platform.
One of the new products was the DRM and CDR Milan module of Elements Innovation, the only one in mass production for all Chinese Broadcasting companies and ready to become part of key monitoring receivers, used in the provinces and nationwide. Its variants ES006, ES007, ES326 CAR RADIO, etc. can deliver digital receivers for consumer as well as digital broadcasting monitoring tools. The Chinese automotive market is in the process of testing these solutions.