Full Digital Radio Mondiale System endorsed by the ITU

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recommended DRM+ as part of the Digital System G for terrestrial sound broadcasting, which already includes DRM30. This heralds the introduction of the full DRM system (DRM 30 and DRM+).

The news was announced at the High Frequency Coordination Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The process began in October 2009 with DRM proposing that DRM+ should be added to the ITU recommendation for sound broadcasting in the frequency range 30 MHz to 3 GHz. DAB, HD-Radio and ISDB-T were already recommended in this document as Digital Systems A, C and F respectively.

The relevant ITU committees  ensured that proper rigour was applied to the proposal and after several meetings and the submission of test reports and other information, the proposal was adopted for consultation in May 2011 along with two further recommendations concerning the planning basis of DRM+ and its use for the hearing impaired.

Lindsay Cornell, Chair of the DRM Technical Committee welcomed the publication: “This is obviously great news for DRM since both the system characteristics and the planning basis for DRM+ are now part of the global regulatory landscape.”

“The DRM Consortium and all DRM supporters”, said Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Consortium Chair, “are delighted that the full DRM standard is recognised and available to broadcasters on all continents.”

(Source: DRM Consortium, RNW)