Alexander Zink, the Vice President of the DRM Association, delivered a workshop on Digital Radio Mondiale during the Radio Asia conference in Bangladesh.

“Nobody owns DRM, so there is no licence fee,” he told delegates.

Features of DRM include the ability to broadcast up to 3 DRM services on a single AM/FM frequency.

DRM also delivers multimedia applications, emergency warnings and automatic tuning with excellent audio quality.

It can operate on a single frequency network, reducing planning considerations for regulators and broadcasters.

Zink played a range of audio samples in various bands, showing how analog transmissions are subject to low quality or interference, while digital transmissions do not experience the interference.

DRM has adopted the MPEG xHE-AAC codec which delivers multiple high quality services on any band. “This is due to band coding efficiency, it is also the standard for mobile phone manufacturers.”

DRM can broadcast simple text messages via the DRM text messaging option, and can deliver more text via its Journaline services, and, where good bandwidth is available, a slideshow can be delivered along with the audio.

In a room filled with engineers, there were questions about bit rate and the way DRM is carried on various frequencies such as shortwave, medium wave and FM.

“In digital we can reduce the transmission power but still get the same good quality coverage as analog because of the digital encoding,” he said in response to questions. “Eventually the goal is to have pure digital on air, where you can make most use of the additional services. If there is a simulcast then the power overall is slightly higher.”