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Brazil update

Brazil update

Interest in DRM continues to grow in Brazil. Read more from the DRM webinar moderator, Marcelo Goedert who recently posted this article on the proposed DRM tests on the media site Radio e Negocios.com

English translation

The new digital radio tests, proposed by the Ministry of Communications, were proposed for the reality of Brazilian broadcasting. The idea is to actually test the digital (radio) in all frequency bands within the spectral occupancy In Brazil and the technical viability of existing equipment in Brazil.

In this new situation, the DRM system has already an advantage as it is the only one that covers all frequency bands. The importance of digitizing short and medium waves is ever more important, for the provision of services and information to the country’s population.

Regarding the spectral occupation, a study presented by the regulator, Anatel, specially put together in view of the digital radio implementation, shows for broadcast in simulcast with analog, digital carrier to be positioned in only one sideband of the analog signal.

According to Anatel, if the digital carrier is installed on both sides of the analog, the relationship of co-channel with adjacent channels is not feasible in congested spectrum Brazilian which means that: if we put digital signal on both sides of the analog signal interference from the next station will be inevitable.

Again DRM has an advantage since it has already been engineered to work in only one co-channel and save spectrum. HD Radio now in its traditional modes (MP1, MP2, etc.) works only with redundancy on two co-channels, one on each side of the analog signal. The American company Ibiquity, the owner of the HD Radio system, has proposed to the MC that two modes are used in these new tests, called modes MP8 and MP19, configured to operate in only one co-channel.

It happens that these modes have never been tested in the field, only experimentally in the laboratory, and are not approved by the ITU, ie, Brazil will serve as a laboratory to see if they work. Another detail is that there are no receivers on the market that capture HD Radio prototypes of these modes, the existing receivers only decode mode MP1.

According to sources in Brazil DRM Platform, testing this system will be carried out by the existing national transmitters industry and national experts. As Rafael Diniz tells us: “All the equipment will be installed and configured by experts of the Brazilian industry, already simulating real situations when the digital radio DRM will have been deployed on the radio. “We have not been told who will configure the equipment of HD Radio.”

The tests are scheduled to begin in September and end in late January 2014. After this date, let’s hope that the Mc will quickly assess and define what is the best system for our country.