Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer™ R7

The reliable one-box solution to get your content on-air

The Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer™ R7 is a flexible and highly reliable professional broadcasting solution developed for the digital radio standard DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting).

It combines internal audio encoding, support for remote audio encoders, multimedia data management and multiplex generation. A convenient and user-friendly web interface enables configuration and system monitoring via remote access (ContentServer-as-a-Service concept).

The Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer is a complete headend system possessing triple functionality:

• Internal audio encoding and support for remote audio encoders
• Multimedia DataServer
• DAB Ensemble/Service Multiplex Generator

Application and target audience

The system is typically located in the studio, in a playout center, at the transmitter site, or within dedicated network provider premises – with full remote control for administration and data provision. Whether a community station, a local or regional broadcaster, or a network provider, the system's functionality perfectly complements your needs.

For receiver manufacturers the “Developer Edition” achieves close to 100% test coverage for signaling, audio configurations, data services and multiplexing options.

Always up to date

Thanks to continuous development, the ContentServer technology provides broadcasters with the latest standard upgrades and improvements. New features that come with the Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer R7 include, for instance, additional IP-based audio streaming source interfaces, automatic audio loudness normalization and monitoring, and full compliance with the updated DAB 2 standard.

Perfect match

Various versatile interfaces for audio and content provision pave the way for straightforward integration into studio play-out-systems and complex broadcasters’ and network providers’ environments.

The ContentServer enables the implementation of completely new network structures such as "extended STI-C", wherein centralized service multiplexers feed into regionalized DAB networks.

Keeps you on air - at all times

The ContentServer technology has earned a worldwide reputation for the highest reliability and quality. This is further enhanced by powerful redundancy features (even linking remote sites).

Highlight features at a glance

• Convenient, user-friendly web interface for configuration and system monitoring via remote access (ContentServer-as-a-Service concept).
• Powerful Monitoring System controlling all system functions including content provision.
• Internal Audio encoders with AES67-AoIP live audio input (Livewire, Ravenna) and consumer-type streams (Icecast/SHOUTcast), or file upload, as well as advanced support for remote audio encoders.
• Loudness normalization amplifies or attenuates the incoming audio to obtain and maintain the target loudness level specified in Loudness Units relative to Full Scale (LUFS).
• Backup audio encoding makes the ContentServer switch automatically to a pre-defined backup/standby audio source in the event that the primary audio source fails or signal errors – such as silence – are detected.
• Audio Cross-Redundancy: Deploying a new Smart Silence Detection technology, it ensures perfectly valid multiplex outputs from all ContentServers of a redundancy group even if a live audio input source fails.
• Data provision via established protocols such as UECP, FTP/HTTP or XML/JSON RPC API.
• Modern flexible network structures due to full STI-C support and new network structures where all common programs are encoded and scheduled by a central service multiplexer and simultaneously fed to multiple regional ensemble multiplexers ("extended STI-C").
• With its natively included Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) import interface for DAB EWF (Emergency Warning Functionality), the ContentServer automatically creates EWF alarm announcements and EWF program content for DAB transmissions.
• EDI Switch for DAB: this built-in feature ensures that all peers in a ContentServer redundancy group output the identical multiplex data stream to downstream devices via EDI (the IP-based distribution protocol from DAB multiplexers to DAB modulators/transmitters).
• Localized multiplex output: allows multiple small-scale DAB multiplexes to be generated by a single ContentServer to enable low-cost DAB setups, for example.
• Automatic creation of playlists as Journaline pages: the list of recently played songs is derived from the Dynamic Label Plus information and accessible to the listener through Journaline.
• Redundancy Group operation allows two or more ContentServers to be connected locally or even works across remote sites while providing a single configuration and data upload interface, as well as time-aligned reconfigurations with frame-synchronous EDI output.