Astra Digital Radio

Last updated
Astra Digital Radio
TypeSystem
IndustryDigital radio
PredecessorDigitales Satellitenradio
Founded1995;28 years ago (1995)
DefunctApril 30, 2012 (2012-04-30)
FateCeased
SuccessorDVB-S

Astra Digital Radio (ADR) was a system used by SES for digital radio transmissions on the early Astra satellites, using the audio subcarrier frequencies of analogue television channels. It was introduced in 1995. As of February 2008, there were still 51 stations transmitting in this format. ADR ceased on 30 April 2012 when analogue broadcasts on Astra 19.2°E ended.

Contents

Details

The format used one mono audio subcarrier, which was normally allocated to an additional audio track or radio station, or one channel of a stereo audio track/station. The carrier was digitally modulated and carried a 192 kbit/s, 48 kHz sampled MPEG-1 Layer II (MP2) encoded signal. 9.6 kbit/s was available for data.

Special receivers were required to listen to ADR stations, although some combined analogue/digital satellite boxes and later standard analogue boxes were equipped to decode it.

ADR was succeeded by DVB-S, with which it is incompatible, despite both being transmitted using MP2 and generally at the same bitrates. As a result, when the final analogue switch-off on the Astra 1 satellites occurred, ADR became obsolete.

The majority of the channels to have been broadcast using ADR were in the German language. [1] Because of this, the system can in a way be seen to have replaced the German Digitales Satellitenradio system, dating from the 1980s, which used an entire satellite transponder to carry 16 NICAM [2] encoded radio stations, and which closed in 1999.

Channel Listing

Related Research Articles

A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio broadcast. There is no physical difference between a carrier and a subcarrier; the "sub" implies that it has been derived from a carrier, which has been amplitude modulated by a steady signal and has a constant frequency relation to it.

Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.

Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex (NICAM) is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks. In the 1980s, broadcasters began to use NICAM compression for transmissions of stereo TV sound to the public.

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References

  1. "Archived copy". www.lyngsat.com. Archived from the original on 2004-05-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Patent DE4234015A1 explicitly mentions DSR as an example for NICAM audio