RFmondial, a leading manufacturer of Digital Radio Mondiale transmitter and receiver equipment, integrates Fraunhofer’s DRM MultimediaPlayer technology into its RF-SE range of professional DRM monitoring receivers. Thirty-six RF-SE units are currently being delivered and will be ready for use by mid 2014.

The RFmondial RF-SE professional monitoring receiver for DRM and AM transmissions allows the operator not only to verify that the electrical and logical characteristics of the transmission are valid, but, thanks to the integration of Fraunhofer’s DRM MultimediaPlayer technology, the operator can also confirm that the digital audio, multimedia content and overall service signaling are functioning properly. This is especially valuable in the case of a natural catastrophe, when the emergency warning functionality (EWF) of the DRM system is activated to pre-alert and inform the population of an imminent disaster. In this case, the RF-SE allows live monitoring of the automatic service switching, announcement activation and Journaline multi-lingual, detailed text information.

The DRM MultimediaPlayer component enables the site operator to exploit the full potential of digital radio directly on site at the monitoring receiver as well as remotely from the operator’s office via streaming through a standard web browser deploying the latest HTML5 technology. Along with decoding radio programs in stereo and 5.1 surround sound, the Fraunhofer MultimediaPlayer supports all added-value DRM features, including the parallel transmission of text messages, Journaline advanced text with on-demand news, weather forecasts, sports results, and album cover images, all of which are displayed directly on the player.

About DRM
Digital Radio MondialeTM (DRM) is the universal, openly standardized digital broadcasting system for all broadcasting frequencies below and above 30 MHz, including LW, MW, SW, band I, II (FM band) and band III.
DRM provides digital sound quality and the ease-of-use that comes from digital radio, combined with a wealth of enhanced features: Surround Sound, Journaline text information, Slideshow, Emergency Warning, EPG, and other data services.
DRM on short, medium and long wave for broadcasting bands up to 30 MHz (called 'DRM30') provides large coverage areas and low power consumption. The enhancement of the DRM standard for broadcast frequencies above 30 MHz ('DRM+') uses the same audio coding, data services, multiplexing and signaling schemes as DRM30 but introduces an additional transmission mode optimized for those bands.

About Fraunhofer
The Audio and Multimedia division of Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, based in Erlangen, Germany, has been working in compressed audio technology for more than 25 years and remains a leading innovator of technologies for cutting-edge multimedia systems. Fraunhofer IIS is universally credited with the development of mp3 and co-development of the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding).

Through the course of more than two decades, Fraunhofer IIS has licensed its audio codec software and application-specific customizations to at least 1,000 companies. Fraunhofer estimates that it has enabled more than 6 billion commercial products worldwide using its mp3, AAC and other media technologies.

The Fraunhofer IIS organization is part of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Munich, Germany. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest applied research organization and is partly funded by the German government. With 22,000 employees worldwide, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is composed of 66 Institutes and independent research units conducting research in a broad range of areas. 

About RFmondial
RFmondial offers professional products and services for digital broadcasters and network operators as well as chip and radio manufacturers. RFmondial possesses a wide record of experience and know-how in the field of digital audio broadcasting. Research, development and prototype implementation for transmitter and receiver technology as well as services in the field of digital radio broadcasting are part of the core business of RFmondial. Current products comprise DRM transmitter and professional receiver products, monitoring and archiving solutions for DAB, DRM, FM, AM as well as IP licensing.

Contact:
RFmondial GmbH | Dr. Jens Schroeder | Managing Director | Tel: +49 (511) 76219714 | schroeder@rfmondial.de 
Appelstr. 9A | 30167 Hannover | Germany |