Digital Radio Broadcasting (fwd)

From: David Andrews (dandrews@visi.com)
Date: Wed Apr 23 1997 - 14:17:06 PDT


Here is a report on some issues that we will ultimately have to deal with
in the U.S.
David Andrews

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 21:54:06 +1000
From: Steve Pattison <pattist@JOLT.MPX.COM.AU>
To: Multiple recipients of list BLIND-L <BLIND-L@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU>
Subject: Digital Radio Broadcasting

The following article is taken from the March 1997 issue of NFBCA News.
This is the newsletter of the National Federation of Blind Citizens of
Australia. While the article is written from an Australian perspective I
think it has relevance in other countries as well.

Steve,
Internet: pattist@mpx.com.au

    DIGITAL RADIO: UNIVERSAL ACCESS OR INFORMATION BARRIER
    John Simpson

    Within the mix of new technologies that are fast becoming part of
    Australian life, the introduction of Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRB)
    within the next five years, has the potential to be of major value to
    people who are blind or otherwise "print handicapped".

    DRB will deliver a range of voice, data and visual material to
    portable, mobile and home receivers, virtually anywhere in Australia.
    The signal will not be subject to fading or the interference that
    plagues current AM and FM broadcasting. While the sound quality for
    music, drama or other live programming will be indistinguishable from
    that of a Compact Disk, a digital radio channel can be split to
    provide up to six discreet high quality voice programs at any one
    time. In this way program providers will be able to deliver a vast
    range of material, including services designed to meet the particular
    needs of small sectors of the community such as people who are blind
    or otherwise print handicapped.

    On this basis it is anticipated that Digital Radio Broadcasting may
    offer many solutions to the information deprivation experienced by
    people who now cannot access the printed word.

    On the other hand, there is an inherent danger that the system itself
    might incorporate features and functions that deny or limit its
    useability by people with a print disability. For example, text and
    pictorial information will be transmitted as part of the total digital
    signal. Some information may be presented visually so as to free up
    airtime for the delivery of additional music, drama, or whatever else
    programmers see as essential audio material.

    For people with a print disability such a migration of essential
    information to a visual presentation could constitute yet another
    access barrier. Similarly, it is expected that, as with modern
    television receivers and video recorders, much of the operation of the
    sophisticated receivers will be dependent on visual cues and menu
    choices.

    For these reasons NFBCA, in association with the Australian Council
    for Radio for the Print Handicapped (RPH Australia), is undertaking a
    research project which seeks to ensure that:
    * print handicapped consumers and their advocates have an adequate
    opportunity to monitor and assess the development of this
    important new information delivery system; and
    * systems and product developers, and regulators, have the benefit
    of appropriate and well articulated information about the access
    needs of this sector of the community.

    Through this action we hope to create an environment in which the
    needs of people who are print handicapped can be addressed as part of
    the development and implementation process rather than as costly
    afterthoughts. Such a strategy will ensure that we are better placed
    to maximise our use of a technology that is particularly suited to
    addressing our information needs.

    This project is funded through the Office of Disability Research
    Grants Program. I am undertaking the project work, supported by a
    Project Advisory Committee which comprises: Bill Jolley, as Project
    Manager; Stephen Jolley, Chairman of RPH Australia; Glen Mahoney, who
    until recently has been Manager Information Services with the
    Association for the Blind; Frank Nowlan, Manager Privacy, with Austel;
    Peter Simpson, Systems Planning Engineer with the Seven TV Network;
    and, David Sice who is a Consultant Broadcast Engineer and a member of
    the Digital Radio Advisory Committee.

    Monitoring developments toward DRB implementation

    During June and July last year I had discussions with many of those
    who are central to the development of DRB in Australia. Among these,
    meetings with Colin Knowles, General Manager Planning with the
    Australian Broadcasting Authority; David Soothill, Director of
    Planning and Communications with the Special Broadcasting Service; and
    David Sice, from the Community Broadcasting Association; were of
    particular value.

    These people are members of the Digital Radio Advisory Committee which
    was established by the Minister for Communications to develop
    recommendations on the policy and practical implications of
    introducing Digital Radio to Australia. In September the DRAC released
    a discussion paper "Digital Radio Broadcasting in Australia". This
    summarises developments toward the introduction of DRB. It explores a
    number of implementation models and identifies issues that need
    consideration before the Advisory Committee can make recommendations
    on a service development and delivery strategy.

    Our response to the discussion paper was finalised in October. In this
    we identified some of the opportunities and threats that might result
    from the introduction of DRB. We reminded the Committee of broader
    Government policy and legislative considerations such as the
    Disability Discrimination Act and Disability Strategy and pointed out
    how these will need to be complied with in order to ensure Universal
    Access to DRB. We also addressed a number of the technical issues
    raised both from the perspective of print handicapped users and on
    behalf of our RPH Services.

    Overseas Visits

    In association with my attendance at the World Blind Union General
    Assembly in Toronto, in August, I was able to meet with key people
    involved with Digital Radio and information access in both the UK and
    North America.

    In the United Kingdom I met with both Technical Research staff and
    Service Managers with the Royal National Institute for the Blind. RNIB
    staff had assembled a lot of material relating to DRB implementation
    by the BBC, and DRB developments under the Euro-DAB project across the
    European Community. It was however clear that prior to my contact
    neither RNIB's Chief Scientist nor Broadcasting Policy Officer had
    explored in detail the potential impact of DRB for blind and print
    disabled people. Nonetheless, our meetings were most productive in
    exploring potential problems and opportunities and resulted in
    agreement to work co- operatively in this area in the future.

    Unfortunately, despite our direct approach and supportive contact from
    RNIB, it was not possible to meet with those officers within the BBC
    who carry policy management responsibility for its DRB implementation
    work.

    The BBC has been transmitting several program services on a continuing
    basis, via a DRB transmitter in the London area, since September 1995.
    Work is underway to expand coverage of this "ensemble" of radio
    channels, so that within two years they will have coverage for 60% of
    the population. The delivery system being introduced is the Eureka 147
    System. This is the solution proposed for Australia, although the
    British Authorities have allocated frequencies in the VHF band (around
    TV channel 12) rather than the L Band frequencies (1452-1492 Mhz)
    proposed for this country.

    For some years data transmission services have been offered in the UK
    (and elsewhere in Europe) in association with FM broadcasting
    services. Use of these Radio Data Services (RDS) has centred on
    station identification with some limited applications for weather,
    traffic and news information. In the main the display facilities built
    into radio receivers have been limited to one or two short lines of
    LCD characters, often as part of the receiver's status information
    display.

    While consumer take-up of this information service has not been
    strong, it is clear that the BBC is building its DRB data provision
    protocols on to those existing for RDS. From our perspective this
    approach is concerning as the RDI authoring system that is used is a
    proprietary one and does not appear to lend itself to conversion to
    standardised interfacing protocols.

    Given their advanced state of development, the size of the UK market
    for receivers and their proximity to the European equipment
    manufacturers, the protocols that are being developed in the UK for
    data transmission services, both as discreet channels and associated
    with audio broadcasting, will no doubt directly influence European
    receiver design and thereby the parameters that are applied in
    Australia.

    In Canada meetings were held with:
    * broadcasting policy officers within Canadian Heritage, the Federal
    Department with oversight of radio and television broadcasting
    policy;
    * representatives from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the
    consortium of Commercial Broadcasters with a commitment to DRB;
    * the Chairman and senior management from "Voiceprint" the
    organisation providing Radio Reading and Descriptive Video
    Services across Canada; and
    * senior technical and policy staff with the Canadian National
    Institute for the Blind.

    Canada has been the leading country developing DRB services using the
    transmission techniques and broadcast frequencies likely to be adopted
    in Australia. It is estimated that Canadian development is eighteen
    months ahead of Australia as transition licences are now being issued.

    While Government and Broadcasting Industry representatives had not
    given thought to the issues addressed by this project, they readily
    understood our concerns and were most helpful in suggesting
    international avenues for our advocacy on these matters.

    Officers from the Canadian Government also provided much written
    information on their policy development work. Among the publications
    produced for their "Taskforce on the Introduction of Digital Radio",
    two will have particular value during later stages of this project:
    * Digital Radio's Place in the Information Highway; and
    * An Assessment of the Datacasting Market for Radio.

    Again when meeting with Disability Sector representatives it was clear
    that action had not been taken on issues related to this project,
    prior to our contact on the matter. Voiceprint is a new and relatively
    small organisation. However, its Chief Executive and other senior
    officers are very active in their advocacy on the needs of people with
    a disability so were keen to learn details of the project and our
    conclusions to date. As a sister organisation to RPH Australia,
    Voiceprint is also keen to explore avenues for future co-operation on
    this and other policy issues.

    Meetings with senior personnel from the Canadian National Institute
    for the Blind were also most productive as, while they had not
    specifically addressed the issues of this project, the organisation
    has an ongoing substantial involvement in matters relating to
    information access and has applied its resources to solving
    information access problems in the past.

    At the time of our meetings, CNIB was hosting the WBU General
    Assembly, with the result that the organisation currently has a very
    high profile in the Canadian community and with Government. As a
    result CNIB's interest and support for our project was well timed,
    both in the Canadian context where Senior Officers were able to draw
    attention to our project in their discussion with Government
    Officials, but also as the World Blind Union meeting provided a forum
    for direct contact with blindness advocacy, disability service and
    adaptive technology specialists from various parts of the world. These
    contacts stimulated much international interest in the project and its
    potential impact, with the result that delegates from several
    countries have offered their support in disseminating the final report
    as an advocacy tool for use at the international level.

    The USA situation is however significantly different. While much of
    the early experimental work on DRB occurred in the USA, development
    there is well behind that of Canada, the UK and several other European
    countries. This is largely because of a fundamental difference in
    approach between policy makers in USA and elsewhere.

    In Canada and European countries where DRB is currently being
    implemented or trialled a policy decision has been taken to develop
    services on new broadcasting band frequencies so that broadcasters
    might simulcast their programs on new DRB channels while maintaining
    their existing FM or AM coverage. The Eureka 147 delivery system has
    been developed for use in such circumstances and this has now been
    accepted as the international standard for such transmissions.

    In the USA however, competition from other users of the L Band
    frequencies and a desire on the part of existing powerful commercial
    broadcasters that they should not loose their competitive advantage,
    has meant that an "In-Band" approach has been agreed to. The In-Band
    system will provide for the new technology to be superimposed on
    current transmissions much in the way that coloured television was
    introduced in Australia and elsewhere.

    While this approach has certain commercial advantages for those who
    already have favourable transmission conditions, US developers have
    not yet overcome substantial technical difficulties and so in
    practical terms development is well behind that of Canada, the UK and
    Australia.

    One of the consequences of this situation is that, while datacasting
    is technically feasible within the In-Band system matters around the
    broadcast of data services have not yet been adequately addressed in
    the USA.

    Current Project activities

    The next phase of this project was the conduct of a DRB focus group
    involving a number of NFBCA members. On November 18 & 19 we held an
    Information Access Seminar which looked at a number of policy issues
    around Information Access. This workshop involved around twenty blind
    and vision-impaired people with expertise in technology or knowledge
    and experience in information services. As part of this exercise we
    provided a detailed briefing on DRB development and sought feedback on
    opportunities and threats that might result for blind and other print
    handicapped people.

    Following this, we have been seeking meetings with members of the
    Digital Radio Advisory Committee to formally brief them on our work
    and to test their reaction to our research to date.

    All of this will then be drawn together into the final project report,
    to go to the Office of Disability at the end of March. Once this
    report has been cleared for publication our task will be to use this
    document as a key tool in an Australian and international advocacy
    exercise.

    During discussion, both within Australia and in Canada, those involved
    with DRB implementation have stressed the significance of this year's
    Euro-DAB meeting and the Consumer Trade Shows to be held in Germany.

    It is expected that major European electronics product manufacturers
    will release their consumer model Digital Radio Receivers at trade
    shows to be held in September. In order to meet this deadline
    decisions about such things as software protocols for data
    transmission and display will need to be agreed to by members of the
    Euro-DAB project during the first half of this year. If our project is
    to have some influence on these decisions we will need to submit our
    final report to Euro-DAB in April.



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