Ibiquity’s HD Radio system, which encodes FM broadcasts as a digital pulse stream, has completed testing of a conditional access system in Chicago, transmitting traffic data services to radio listeners. “Conditional access” might be considered a euphemism for “pay radio”
According to their press release, Broadcast Electronics, Emmis Communications and NDS conducted the project, with involvement from Ibiquity Digital at the Emmis station WKQX(FM).
NDS RadioGuard enables broadcasters to offer a “pay radio” tier over their “free” HD Radio broadcast as well as offer additional channels such as Radio Reading Services (for the elderly or sight-impaired) and Emergency Provider channel (for police, fire, and paramedics).
Initial testing addressed the ability of broadcasters to allocate bandwidth and protect content for mobile delivery of traffic information. Broadcast Electronics and NDS, a conditional access technology supplier, provided an HD Radio system.
“Test drives in various multipath environments around the Chicago area showed no dropped data packets or loss of service,” BE reported.
The FCC selected Ibiquity’s HD Radio system which is a hybrid system in which digital signals are sent along with the analog carrier. It is the standard for local area broadcast of digital radio signals within the United States. It can, at least with FM stations, offer multiple programs on one channel and works on the same frequencies allocated to analog radio stations.
Digital terrestrial radio was created as a result of direct competition from digital satellite radio providers XM and Sirius Satellite radio which use the 2.3 GHz band (along with terrestrial repeaters) to deliver a signal. Satellite radio delivers some 100 channels and costs around $12.95 a month.
Competing wireless traffic providers include:
- SIRIUS broadcasts traffic data to 30 major U.S. metropolitan areas. It provides real-time information on accidents, traffic flow, construction, and road closures for $3.99/month, when added to your existing SIRIUS Satellite Radio subscription. It has contracted with traffic information service Navteq to provide live traffic data for 30 U.S. metropolitan areas. You need to purchase a compatible navigation system, first, however.
- XM Traffic and Weather is available in 21 major metropolitan markets plus several interstate corridors nationwide.
- Navteq’s Traffic.com also launched a wireless Web site, available at mobi.traffic.com. It’s available free through any handheld wireless device.
In a completely unrelated transportation note, FerryMon (short for “ferry monitoring” program) is the name marine scientists gave to a set of oceanographic instruments installed on ferries in Pamlico Sound. FerryMon allows the ferries to take water samples every three minutes, monitoring changes in environmental conditions as they happen.
On a map, a row of green dots arcs across the sound like a string of pearls. The dots represent the points where the ferries collected data about the sound’ Now efforts are underway to install similar devices on ferries in Long Island Sound, Nantucket Sound, Delaware Bay, San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound.
Related DailyWireless mapping articles include; Mapping Highway Data, Traffic Mapping, Tiny Trackers, Tracking Vehicles: Good to Go, Transportation’s Big Show, Unwired Transportation, WiFi Routers for Cars, Tracking Transit, NintendoDS Lite: $129, Amber Alert Adds Messaging, Mobile Applications/Ad Research, MapMania Goes Crazy, Father of GPS, Satellite Tracking, Electric Bike Tours, Navizon on Blackberry: GPS Not Required, Virtual Earth Adds Cities, Land Warrior Retires, HumaniNet’s Maps 2.0, 3-D Traffic/Weather Maps, Mapping Goes Live, Nokia & Sony: Free WiFi for Webtablets, News Maps and Google Apps on LG Phones.
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