ABU – ASBU – WorldDAB Technical Workshop

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Speakers

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Dave Cherry, Radio Broadcast Consultant
Dave Cherry Consulting 

Cherry has 40 years of experience in the Radio and TV industry in Southern Africa. He has vast experience ranging from broadcast studios to transmitter signal distribution. He has been involved with various DAB trials in South Africa spanning from 1997 till present. He took early retirement from Classic FM in South Africa to form his own independent radio consulting business. Chairperson of the Joint SADIBA/NAB DAB+ Trial Working Group which is working towards the commercial introduction of DAB+ in South Africa.

Lindsay Cornell, Principal Systems Architect
BBC Digital
WorldDAB Technical Committee (Chair)

Cornell has worked for the BBC for more than 20 years, in a variety of engineering, editorial and leadership roles spanning radio, TV, and spectrum regulation. He has considerable experience in leading collaborative projects through his roles as Chairman of CEPT FM PT51, dealing with spectrum issues for programme-making, and as Chairman of the WorldDAB and DRM Technical Committees, managing the stability and development of the respective standards.

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Andreas Gorsak, Project Consultant, Emergency Warning Systems
Digitalradio Deutschland e.V.

Gorsak is a freelance project consultant for Digitalradio Deutschland e.V. In this function he is moderating the technical conversation in the German community and creating technical specifications towards the creation of a functional eco-system for public warnings over DAB in Germany and beyond. He is serving as a representative of Deutschland Radio at the World DAB Technical Committee. Gorsak has long term experience as Senior Engineer in broadcast development for Europe in the Automotive and After-market product domains for JVCKENWOOD. In that function he has been overseeing product development and testing for Europe. He has served as representative of JVCKENWOOD at the World DAB Steering Board and Technical Committee many years.

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Kamel Haj Ammar, Director of Commercial Affairs
ONT

Haj Ammar is a graduate of the International Academy of Broadcasting (IAB), Switzerland, where he obtained his Diploma in the Sciences of Technical arts in TV and Radio Production performance, and of the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, where he graduated with a Master Degree in Telecommunications. He is the Director of Commercial Affairs in the National Broadcast Network Operator in Tunisia (ONT). He is an expert in digital television, satellite communications, IP-based multimedia services and telecommunications. He was actively involved in the transition phase from analog to digital TV broadcasting in Tunisia. Currently he is responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of the ongoing roll-out of Tunisia’s DAB network and all issues related to the creation, distribution, and transmission of the multiplex. He is the President of the national committee for the rollout of the DAB+ network in Tunisia. He is the Director of Commercial Affairs in ONT and is a member of the steering board of the Tunisian Public Radio and the President of the technical committee “D” dealing with ASBU satellite platforms exchanges and developments. 

Dr Lawrie Hallett, Operations Director
Future Digital Norfolk

Dr Hallett is based at the University of Bedfordshire, where he teaches and researches, radio, audio and international development. He is also the Operations Director of Future Digital Norfolk Limited, which has been broadcasting a Small-Scale DAB service to the Greater Norwich area of East Anglia since 2015. With a background in broadcast journalism and later broadcast engineering, he is also a former Senior Radio Executive at Ofcom in London. He continues to work as an independent consultant and has been writing about the broadcast radio industry since the 1990s.

Patrick Hannon, Vice President Corporate Development
Frontier Smart Technologies
President, WorldDAB

Hannon is Vice President Corporate Development at Frontier Smart Technologies. Frontier is a leading supplier of chips, modules and software for digital radio. Patrick’s remit encompasses strategy, communications and encouraging the successful roll-out of digital radio around the world. Patrick has been President of WorldDAB since November 2013. During this period, DAB digital radio has made significant progress across Europe – with growing signs of interest in the rest of the world. In his role as President, Patrick plays an active role in shaping WorldDAB’s strategy and ensuring that the organisation is fully focused on its core objectives. He has spoken at events in over 20 countries and has worked with DAB advocates to ensure the successful launch and development of new DAB markets.

 Jérôme Hirigoyen, Head of Radio Business Development & Intl Broadcasting,
Audiovisual Business Unit
TDF

Hirigoyen works for TDF, the main transmission network operator in France. He graduated from an engineering school in Electronics and worked 20 years in various departments of TDF (Research, Marketing/sales/business, operations…). Since 2007, he’s been appointed the Head of the Digital Radio project of the company. Since 2007 he has been dealing with the French public and private radio broadcasters, regulation authority, and manufacturers. In 2013 he was nominated as the CEO of Rmux a new TDF subsidiary company founded to support Radio Broadcast to start Digital Radio on Paris, Marseille and Nice. In 2014 Hirigoyen’s teams designed and launched 7 new DAB networks for the first phase of the French Digital Radio roll out. Today he is managing with TDF 12 out of the 14 DAB multiplexes on air in Paris, Marseille and Nice and preparing the roll out of new cities. Hirigoyen has been an active member of WorldDAB for many years and was a Steering Board member from 2013 to 2015. As the main representative of TDF within WorldDAB, he brought information and analysis on the French situation to the Board.

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Alexander Kurz, Sales Director–DACH & CEE
GatesAir

Kurz is GatesAir’s Regional Sales Manager for the DACH, CEE, Russia and CIS regions. With a career spanning over two decades, he has held international roles across Europe and Asia in the broadcast, telecommunications, and consumer electronics industries. Based in Vienna, Austria, he specialises in sales of broadcast transmitters and codecs for A/V delivery, though he is also well-versed in OTT, IPTV, and cable TV solutions. Prior to joining GatesAir in January 2019, he worked at companies like Endeavor Streaming (formerly NeuLion), Sencore, DTS, and IneoQuest Technologies, where he gained extensive sales, marketing, and business development expertise.

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Bernie O’Neill, Project Director
WorldDAB

O’Neill joined WorldDAB in 2011 and leads the WorldDAB Project team in delivering information and advice on all aspects of deploying DAB digital radio.  Working with WorldDAB’s member organisations, regional broadcast associations and industry partners, WorldDAB collects and shares best practice on all aspects of DAB digital radio. Advice and information is delivered through factsheets and case studies, tailored briefings, conferences, workshops, and seminars (both in-person and online).  O’Neill has a degree in international business and has a strong background in international industry forum management.

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Wolfgang Peters, Managing Director
AVT Audio Video Technologies GmbH

Peters completed his studies in electrical engineering, specialising in communications, at RWTH Aachen University in 1991. He then started at Philips, where he was involved in the development of audio codecs. In cooperation with Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in Erlangen, he developed the first MP3 ISDN hardware codec. As team leader of codec development, he started working on DAB systems in 1995, collaborating with Deutsche Telekom, Rohde & Schwarz and Fraunhofer. In October 1996, AVT GmbH was founded as a spin-off from Philips. There he moved into sales without giving up his passion for technology. In 2011, he was responsible as project manager for the system integration of the digital radio relaunch at almost all ARD broadcasters. Since January 2021, he took over the management of the company.

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Dr Les Sabel
WorldDAB APAC Technical Group (Chair)

Dr Sabel has over 30 years of experience in communications systems, including broadcast digital radio (DAB/DAB+ and DRM), mobile communications, wireless broadband, and satellite communications. A technical expert on DAB+, he provides independent engineering consultancy to WorldDAB, the ITU and broadcasters, regulators, network operators and equipment suppliers in Australia, Southeast Asia and around the globe. The Asia-Pacific Technical Group meets 2-3 times a year and gives guidance on the technical aspects of implementing DAB+ digital radio, with help and advice that is tailored specifically to the needs of the APAC region.

Dr Adnan Salhab, Head of Technical Training Department
Arab States Broadcasting Union Academy (ASBU)

Dr Salhab holds a Diploma in Radio Engineering & a PhD in TV Transmission via Satellites. He is has been Head of the Technical Training Department at the ASBU Training Centre in Damascus and ASBU Academy in Tunis for the last 15 years. He has been a trainer in the field of satellite TV Transmission for 30 years. A director of engineering in Syrian Radio and TV Authority for 10 years, and director of studies for a further 10 years. He studies, manages, and operates many areas of engineering projects within the radio and TV sphere.

Kenny Skillen, Head of Engineering - Media & Broadcast Platforms
Arqiva

Skillen is currently Head of Engineering for Media & Broadcast Platforms at Arqiva. He is responsible for the 24/7/365 performance and investment of technology systems that enable Television, Radio & Satellite Broadcast services within the UK as well as global media distribution technologies and services. He has overseen the launch of Arqplex, a global media distribution product and is driving the delivery expansion programme. He specialises in leading business critical technology operations comprised of multi-disciplined technology groups including Security, Networks, Software, Media and Cloud teams. He graduated in Electronic Engineering from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Radio has always been a passion for Skillen ever since his first role in commercial radio over 25 years ago.

Orasri Srirasa, Division Director
The Office of National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)

Srirasa has 27 years of experience in telecommunications, satellite, and digital broadcasting.  She has professional experience in the transition from analog to Digital Terrestrial TV in Thailand, developing a Digital Radio Broadcasting roadmap and roll-out plan, leading on the Community TV policy and regulatory framework development project and initiating a Community TV prototype project, along with working on the Digital Radio DAB+ Trial in Thailand. Her background includes telecommunication engineering in mobile networks and fixed-line network planning and operation, service quality management, telecom applications and software development. Prior joining the Office of NBTC, she worked for ITU, ITU/NBTC joint projects on digital broadcasting and telecom operators.

Christian Strøm, Broadcast System Architect
Telenor Norge AS

Strøm has been working in broadcasting since 1988. He was involved in the first DAB test transmitions in Norway back in 1995. He is a Member of the WorldDAB Technical Committee and the WorldDAB Marketing Group. For the last 10 years he has been involved in network planning and field measurements of DAB networks.

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Hanns Wolter, Technical Director
DAB Italia
WorldDAB Spectrum & Network Implementation Committee (Chair)

Wolter has been working in the DAB world since 2000 as a Product Manager and has, in these years worked on all issues regarding DAB, at both a national and international level, including the introduction of DAB+ in 2007. He is involved in network planning and spectrum issues and works closely with hardware manufacturers for the deployment of a comprehensive DAB environment. Currently, he is responsible for the planning and management of the ongoing roll-out of DAB Italia’s network and all issues related to the creation, distribution, and transmission of the multiplex.

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Carsten Zorger, Director
Digitalradio Büro Deutschland

Zorger is the Director of the German DAB+ digital radio marketing body - Digitalradio Büro Deutschland which oversees the marketing and promotion of DAB+ digital radio in Germany. Prior to this, he was head of marketing and communications at the German national radio broadcaster, Deutschlandradio. Previously, he was head of public relations at the Berlin-Brandenburg branch of ADAC, the German automobile association. He was responsible for corporate communications at ISP Strato AG, one of the world's largest web-hosting companies. He has extensive experience in the radio industry, having been chief editor and director of audio and internet at SWR3 Börsenman and managing editor at BLR in Bavaria.

18.07.2023

Day 1 - Programme (158 KB)

Opening remarks - Dr Adnan Salhab, Arab State Broadcasting Union (ASBU) (263 KB)

Economics, environment, emergency – the business case for DAB+ Patrick Hannon, President WorldDAB (1.31 MB)

DAB+ technical update - Lindsay Cornell, BBC (Chair, WorldDAB Technical Committee) (1.15 MB)

Distributing radio: Broadcast, IP or 5G? - Dr Les Sabel, Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group (781 KB)

Use case: DAB+ for national emergency warning - Carsten Zorger, Digitalradio Büro Deutschland & Andreas Gorsak, Digitalradio Deutschland e.V. (2.19 MB)

19.07.2023

Day 2 - Programme (158 KB)

DAB+ system features - Dr Les Sabel, Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group (2.61 MB)

DAB+ headend systems - Wolfgang Peters, Wolfgang Peters, Managing Director, Audio Video Technologies (AVT), Germany (1.53 MB)

DAB+ transmission - Alexander Kurz, GatesAir (1.69 MB)

Initial DAB+ steps - Dave Cherry, Dave Cherry Consulting, South Africa (401 KB)

Initial DAB+ steps - Orasri Srirasa, NBTC, Thailand (2.93 MB)

Initial DAB+ steps - Kamel Haj Ammar, ONT, Tunisia (7.15 MB)

20.07.2023

Day 3 - Programme (158 KB)

DAB+ network design - Jerome Hirigoyen, TDF (3.36 MB)

DAB+ network implementation - Hanns Wolter, DAB Italia (Chair, WorldDAB Spectrum & Network Implementation Committee) (3.18 MB)

Small-scale DAB - Dr Lawrie Hallett, Future Digital Norfolk (PPT to follow)

DAB+ measurements and monitoring - Hanns Wolter, DAB Italia (Chair, WorldDAB Spectrum & Network Implementation Committee) (1.02 MB)

DAB+ measurements and monitoring - Christian Strøm, Telenor Norge AS, Norway (2.17 MB)

DAB+ measurements and monitoring - Kenny Skillen, Arqiva, UK (742 KB)