ABU-ASBU-WorldDAB Technical Workshop

Organised by WorldDAB Event

Date: 23rd - 25th July 2024

Location: ONLINE

Types: Workshop


New developments in DAB+ systems 2024

DAB+ Digital Radio - Technical Workshop - organised in collaboration with ABU, ASBU and WorldDAB took place on 23-25 July.
The technical workshop provided broadcasters and other media professionals with an update on the latest DAB+ developments. It took place online, over three days.

Day 1 - The business case for DAB+

Day 2 - Getting started

Day 3 - Building out the network - international updates

View the full workshop programme here 

Session recordings are now available via the WorldDAB YouTube channel, along with speakers' presentations.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B

Mr Roberto Di Bari, CEO Aldena Telecomunicazioni SRL

Roberto joined Aldena in 2005, today he is the CEO and President of the Company.

Roberto has worked in the telecommunications market since 1988.  In different companies such as GEC Marconi, Lucent AT&T, or SIRTI in various roles, from technical to marketing and finally sales, around digital communications.

He has gained experience in conceiving, developing, and taking new products and services to market, especially on the customs solutions for specific needs.

Ms Jacqueline Bierhorst, Project Director, Digital Radio NL and WorldDAB President

Jacqueline Bierhorst has been a pioneer in commercial radio since 1987, specialised in distribution, marketing, and content. She has a strong track record in launching and leading successful commercial television and radio channels in The Netherlands and Belgium. From 2011 until 2015 she was project leader on the roll out of the DAB+ network in The Netherlands and since 2015 she is project director Digital Radio NL, a collaboration between public and commercial broadcasters and the Ministry of Economic Affairs coordinating involvement of all stakeholders and joint marketing of Digital Radio. Bierhorst is owner of Jacky B Entertainment Solutions, Vice President of WorldDAB, a member of the WorldDAB Steering Board and an active ambassador of digital radio throughout Europe. She is also a consultant to the Flemish Government, Department of Culture, Youth and Media for the introduction of DAB+ in Flanders, initiating collaboration throughout the Flemish stakeholders on digital radio and country manager Radioplayer Netherlands.

  

Dr Veysel Binbay, Director of ABU Technology & Innovation, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)

Dr Binbay is Director of ABU Technology and Innovation and joined ABU in 2019 as Senior Engineer – Broadcast Systems. He brought a wealth of experience and expertise to the Technology Department and was instrumental in setting up ABU's virtual training and webinar delivery system during the pandemic. He holds a Ph.D. in Science and has a remarkable track record in the technical field. He has over 20 years of experience working as a broadcast engineer at Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) in various roles and capacities.

C

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

Lindsay 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.

G

Mohsen Ghomman, Engineer, Head of Transmission Department, ASBU

Mr Mohsen Ghommam, Engineer, Head of Transmission Department, ASBU

Mohsen Ghommam Malek is a graduate of the Higher School of Telecommunications in Tunis Sup Com and holds a master's degree in Telecommunications. He has the rank of General Engineer in Telecommunications from the Tunisian Administration. He is currently the head of the radio and television transmission department in ASBU, and has experience of about 27 years in the field of radio and television transmission networks technologies, especially Digital Broadcasting T-DAB/DVB-T and Telecommunications. He has participated and contributed in many international conferences, workshops and seminars, especially the Radiocommunication Conferences of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

H

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.

Mr Oscar Hu, APAC Sales Manager, GatesAir

Oscar Hu joined GatesAir’s APAC team in 2020 as Regional Sales Manager, Southeast Asia. Hu’s focus is on raising GatesAir’s visibility and market share across most of Southeast Asia (and parts of East Asia and Pacific Island), including Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Hu’s background of almost 20 years in the over-the-air broadcast industry, where he has been active in most of the advanced DVB and ATSC digital transmission standards development. Prior to GatesAir he was Sales Manager for many other European Broadcast Manufactures transmitter companies.

K

Mr Gabriel Kwofie, Head of the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre, National Communications Authority, Ghana

Gabriel Kwofie is the Head of the Broadcasting Monitoring Center at National Communications Authority (NCA) in Ghana. He has undergraduate degrees in Systems Engineering and Economics. His Master’s degree is in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Gabriel has spent over twelve years working at NCA. He served as a QoS Engineer ensuring that Mobile Network Operators meet set KPIs. He was the Regional Manager overseeing all 27 districts of the Ashanti Region. He became the Coordinator for the Communications Monitoring Center which oversees monitoring facilities for TV, FM Radio, Billing Verification, Cybersecurity and Network Monitoring of the Telcos.

L

Mr Lars-Peder Lundgren, CEO Paneda Sweden

Lars-Peder Lundgren has been involved in DAB from the beginning, with 25 years in the DAB business. He brings wide experience across several technical business areas including telecoms, radio communications and broadcasting. He joined Paneda as Sales Director in 2014 and has been CEO since 2020. Prior to joining Paneda, he oversaw international technical sales at Factum Electronics. Paneda develops and sells DAB related technology, including DAB head-end systems with multiplexers and audio encoders, road tunnel break-in system and related DAB systems. 

O

Ms Bernie O’Neill, Project Director, WorldDAB

An experienced people connector within the digital radio industry, Bernie has headed WorldDAB since 2011, with overall responsibility for the direction and management of WorldDAB activities. Together with her team and the global network of WorldDAB members she works to further the adoption and implementation of DAB+, the digital successor of FM radio.  With a background in leadership of international trade associations for over 25 years, her career expands over several industries including radio, ICT, water and education. She is an expert at driving business development, delivering value to stakeholders, strategically aligning teams, and developing effective marketing communications. Trained in international business, she has held postings in London, Brussels, and The Hague.

S

Dr Les Sabel, S-Comm Technologies (Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group)

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 the Technical Training Department, 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.

Z

Mr 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.

July 23rd, 08:00-09:30 UTC
- DAB+ Digital Radio - Technical Workshop New developments for DAB+ systems 2024

*NB: timings are indicated in UTC*

- Day 1 - THE BUSINESS CASE
08:00 - 08:10 Opening remarks

Ms Bernie O’Neill, Project Director, WorldDAB
Dr Veysel Binbay, Director of Technology and Innovation, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)
Dr Adnan Salhab, Head of the Technical Training Department, Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU)

08:10 - 08:25 Economics, environment, emergency – the business case for DAB+

Ms Jacqueline Bierhorst, President, WorldDAB

08:25 - 08:45 DAB+ technical update

Updates to the DAB+ standards for ABU and ASBU regions including Emergency Warning System enhancements

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

08:45 - 09:05 Use case: DAB+ for national emergency warning

Case study:  EWS implementation in Germany

  • EWS system testing
  • EWS implementation planning in Germany

 Mr Carsten Zorger, Director, Digitalradio Büro Deutschland

09:05 - 09:20 Using 5G mobile networks in radio

Using 5G in content production and delivery including an update on 5G broadcast

Dr Les Sabel, S-Comm Technologies (Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group)

09:20 - 24th 09:30 Q&A

 
CLOSE OF DAY 1

July 24th, 08:00-09:30 UTC
08:00 - 09:30 DAY 2 - GETTING STARTED
08:00 - 08:05 Introduction
08:05 - 08:15 DAB+ system features
  • Basic and advanced features
  • Receivers
  • Hybrid radio

 Dr Les Sabel, Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group

08:15 - 08:40 DAB+ headend systems

Focus on metadata delivery and new features

Mr Lars-Peder Lundgren, CEO Paneda Sweden

08:40 - 09:05 DAB+ transmission

How to transmit multiple ensembles with a single transmitter

Mr Oscar Hu, APAC Sales Manager, GatesAir

09:05 - 09:20 Antenna systems for DAB+ deployments

Characteristics of modern antennas to support DAB+ networks

Mr Roberto Di Bari, CEO Aldena

09:20 - 09:30 Q&A


CLOSE OF DAY 2

July 25th, 08:00-09:30 UTC
08:00 - 09:30 Day 3 - Building out the network – International updates
08:00 - 08:05 Introduction
08:05 - 08:20 New approaches to DAB+

Developments in DAB+ delivery technology and techniques

Dr Lawrie Hallett, Operations Director, Future Digital Norfolk

08:20 - 08:40 New activities in automotive DAB+

Recent developments and activities moving DAB+ forward in cars

Ms Bernie O’Neill, Project Director, WorldDAB

08:30 - 08:40 Update on DAB+ in the Asia Pacific

Dr Les Sabel, Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group

08:40 - 08:50 Update on DAB+ in the Middle East and North Africa

Mr Mohsen Ghommam, Engineer, Head of Transmission Department, ASBU

08:50 - 09:05 Update on Africa

Ghana trials progress

Mr Gabriel Kwofie, Head of the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre, National Communications Authority, Ghana

09:05 - 09:20 Panel session on DAB+ planning and rollout and final Q&A

Discussion on the DAB+ rollout process and current observations

Moderator: Dr Les Sabel, Chair, WorldDAB APAC Technical Group

09:20 - 09:30 Workshop closing remarks

Ms Bernie O’Neill, Project Director, WorldDAB
Dr Veysel Binbay, Director of Technology and Innovation, ABU
Dr Adnan Salhab, Head of the Technical Training Department, ASBU

09:30 - 09:30 CLOSE OF WORKSHOP