10 May DRM Receiver Task Group visits China
The Receiver Task Group, represented by Ludo Maes and Mireya Martinez, (TDP) went to China to meet with various radio broadcasting organizations and companies. We had meetings with chipset manufacturers RDA Microelectronics and Silicon Labs, with receiver manufacturers Philips and Tecsun, mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, automotive supplier Continental Corporation and with Chinese government broadcast agencies and organizations including RFT, SARFT, China Radio International, BBEF, ABP and ABS.
We learned that the Chinese government organizations are very interested in DRM, especially for international broadcasting on shortwave and they are awaiting the official decision to be able to start regular digital radio broadcasts. For national and local broadcasting, it has not been decided which standard will be adopted. It could well be a Chinese standard called CDR that is designed to operate in the FM band and likely also on MW. The update on the progress of DRM in markets like India, Russia and Brazil and of receiver development is of great use to them and might trigger some incentive to start digital radio broadcasts soon.
From our observations in China we concluded that the chipset and receiver industry is preparing for mass production of DRM receiving devices for household, automotive and mobile use. The development of smaller and cheaper solutions would help significantly to boost development and sales of DRM receivers.
All in all, a most valuable trip to China for DRM, both for the update we could offer to the Chinese government organizations as well as for the Chinese industry involved manufacturing radio products for the international market.
Report by Ludo Maes