Although initially envisaged for hybrid satellite digital sound broadcasting, consideration is now being given to the use of the 1.5 GHz band for large terrestrial DAB single-frequency networks.

The article examines the self-interference that will occur in such networks by means of computer simulations, and suggests that they may be appropriate in certain circumstances.

Comparison with results obtained in other studies highlights the need for a statistical treatment of prediction calculations.

The EBU plans to operate a digital transmission network for Eurovision, using 34 Mbit/s codecs, from 1995.

This new network will be operated in conjunction with existing analogue sections of the Eurovision network, and this will lead to specific operational constraints and requirements.

In 1988, the first public demonstrations of a new Digital Audio Broadcasting system were given in Geneva. Although this showed the feasibility of digital compression and modulation for digital radio, a lot of work remained to be done in the fields of standardization, frequency allocation, promotion and hardware cost and size reduction.

This article describes the development of current DAB receivers, with special emphasis on the design of the digital signal processor-based channel decoder which has been used in the 3rd-generation Eureka receivers, as well as a prototype decoder based on an application- specific chip-set.