General

The DAB452 is not available anymore. A successor is available which complies fully to  ETSI EN 300 402 2th edition.

Look for the DAB752.

The DAB452 with its user interface

Properties of the DAB452

• Test receiver for the Eureka 147 Digital Audio Broadcasting system
• Supports all DAB frequency bands and all DAB modes
• Specified and tested for automotive conditions
• Functionality and interfacing optimized for use in professional environments
• Based on Philips'  JESSI DAB chip-set
• Ready to use, necessary accessories included
• Pre-eminently suitable for DAB field measurements and DAB promotion

Philips' DAB452 is a test receiver for the Eureka 147 Digital Audio Broadcasting system. Use in professional environment, flexible interconnection and operation, ease-of-use and high reliability were the key considerations in the development. By using the programming functions, this receiver is ideally suited as a development platform for DAB receiver developments. The kernel of the DAB452 test receiver is Philips' DAB chip-set, making the DAB452 the worlds first DAB receiver implementation fully in accordance with the Eu147 DAB 1995 standard.

In conjunction with the MMI bus protocol ideally suited as a development platform, the DAB452 supports service selection based on the system information carried in the Fast Information Channel and can simultaneously decode more than one service component. In order to maintain compatibility with existing equipment, the receiver is backwards compatible with third generation Eureka 147 encoding equipment. Together with the PDE452 real-time DAB test encoder, it is an ideal couple for receiver development, laboratory experiments and field tests. The DAB452 test receiver supports all main features of the EU 147 DAB system as standardized in the ETSI specification ETS 300 401(1995).

The Eureka 147 broadcast system

DAB: Potential benefits for listeners

• Listeners will always have constant excellent reception, even from car- and portable radios. Signal fading will be a thing of the past. The Audio quality corresponds to the highest requirements (CD quality).  DAB will permit perfect reception using a simple antenna throughout the entire service area.
• Receivers will be more user friendly.  There will no longer be any need for station finding which is so annoying today.  Program selection has become extremely simple. Data accompanying the audio signal will provide additional information on the program (e.g. music,/ speech identification, program type identification, station name, etc.)
• Powerful data channels will permit the transmission of additional information (traffic information and control systems, data transmission to closed user groups, etc.) and "data broadcasting" services in addition to audio broadcasts.

DAB: Potential benefits for broadcasters

• Listeners are entitled to receive terrestrial broadcast programs (via cable or wireless) in the best possible technical quality.  DAB broadcast programs will have the same quality as digital storage media (CD, DAT). There will then be no competitive disadvantages for terrestrial DAB radio.
• The DAB single frequency network will exploit the resources of wireless transmission with extraordinary efficiency.  This applies in particular to programs that are broadcast nation wide or for large service areas.  Compared to FM, DAB at least doubles the spectrum efficiency.
• DAB permits a whole range of new (data) services besides audio broadcasts.  All these services can include Conditional Access facilities ('Pay-Radio")
• DAB transmitters can carry 5 or more 'CD-quality' radio programs at once, meaning that the cost of transmission can be shared among several stations.  And, because the power requirements are considerably lower for generating DAB transmissions, the operating costs should be substantially reduced in comparison with FM transmissions

The radio system for the future, now

At the end of 1994 the specification of Eureka 147 DAB, as laid down in the ETSI document ETS 300 40 1, was accepted. Public authorities, broadcasters, network providers and equipment manufacturers are now gearing up for the next step towards the introduction of DAB. Ongoing field trials, to optimise transmitter power and transmitter site density, are being extended to pilot projects with many transmitters and thousands of receivers.  These pilot projects are seen as a transition phase preceding the subsequent regular DAB services.

Eureka 147 DAB has proved to be the state-of-the-art digital radio system offering a future-proof combination of performance and features.  This, combined with the availability of a cost-effective receiver chip set, has created a rapidly growing interest in DAB world wide.

DAB452

The worlds first compact DAB receiver providing support for equipment manufacturers and broadcasters wishing to develop their DAB capabilities, Philips is offering the DAB452 Test Receiver for a wide range of product development, technical evaluation, lab or field testing and demonstration purposes. The kernel of the DAB452 is Philips' DAB chip-set.  This unique set of IC's is the basis for the receiver's compactness and versatility.

The set consists of FADIC 123 (FFTprocessing), SIVIC (De-interleaving and Viterbi decoding) and SAA2501 (MPEG Audio layer I & 11 decoding).  Simultaneous decoding of several services (audio and data at different protection levels) and service selection which is based on the service information in the FIC is made possible by using this set of dedicated DAB lCs

The DAB452 handles all DAB transmission modes, and allows DAB reception in bands 1, 11, Ill and L-band. An L-band down-converter and antenna are included, allowing experimentation with all DAB transmission types

The receiver is delivered with a full set of accessories.  The package includes the actual receiver box, a hand held user interface terminal, an L-band down converter & antenna, an external power supply, a VHF antenna, a manual and mounting materials.

Featuring

A  key consideration in the design of the DAB452 was user-friendly operation, with the aim of allowing DAB to move to a wide public, while still providing a set of features for experimenting with advanced DAB services.

The DAB452 was designed to be operated stationary or in a car. The user interface of the receiver is implemented in an intelligent hand-held terminal that provides the user with a simple, intuitive user interface for all basic tuning and service selection functions

Platform for experimentation

The hand-held user interface terminal provides the user with basic tuning and selection functions.  The receiver itself however supports a much wider set of functions that are available via the user interface bus. Advanced users can develop on a PC hardware platform a proprietary user interface to experiment with special features of the DAB system.  The description of the user interface bus protocol is available as an option.

All channel decoder output data is available on an external interface, including the PAD of the selected audio service. This makes the DAB452 a superb platform for experimentation with data broadcast applications.