On Thursday, Oct. 9, Dutch Guild organized a meeting at the media center of regional broadcaster NH Media in Hilversum, the Netherlands. Dutch Guild brings together multimedia professionals and organizes networking events several times a year, each focusing on a current technical topic. The aim is to exchange knowledge and experience by inviting guests who can tell a compelling story. This time, the focus was “Open-Source Broadcast.”
Among the speakers was Yoran Kipping from Red Bee Media in Hilversum, who has also been closely involved with the local broadcaster ZFM in Zoetermeer for many years. He spoke about open-source broadcast in the field of DAB+ and reflected on developments from 2010 to the present, particularly in the Netherlands. The hall was filled with around 120 interested guests.
“Looking back, two paths were actually taken during the implementation of DAB+ in the Netherlands,” said Kipping. “The first was by provider Broadcast Partners, owned by Cellnex, which currently manages about 90 to 95 percent of the market in this area. The second was by several smaller players experimenting with open-source software combined with affordable hardware such as a Raspberry Pi. The first path involved purchasing multiplexers, transmitters and filters abroad and deploying them. Later, Broadcast Partners developed its own encoder and multiplexer, aXemble.”
Experimental path
Several individual enthusiasts, including Kipping himself, took the experimental path. Another name mentioned during his presentation was René Stevens from HFPrints in Lelystad. According to Kipping, “The philosophies of these parties differed. One wanted to go for high-level installations and high power, while another wanted a small-scale network with low-level installations and lower power. The latter solution was chosen because it was technically feasible but mainly because it was cheaper.” In other countries, this approach is known as Small Scale DAB (SSDAB).
Technical experiments with SSDAB revealed that SFN — single-frequency network synchronization — was the most critical factor in achieving a signal that receivers recognized. Using microwave links, or Ubiquity dishes, combined with dedicated IP bandwidth from an internet provider, proved key to success. Runtimes were harmonized by locking to GPS. Similar conclusions were reached in neighboring countries, including the U.K. and Switzerland.
According to Kipping, this led to “a unique product for our organization — a perfectly covering and functioning network consisting of three transmitters, but above all, with much lower costs for participants.” He believes this model could be valuable for many more organizations.
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