Asia was in the focus during the 23rd General Assembly of Digital Radio Mondiale held for the first time in Malaysia with the support of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union. At this annual meeting of the Consortium, members from around the world discussed reports on all the DRM activities undertaken during the past year and agreed on strategy and plans for the year 2011-12.India remains the main focus of DRM activity in the region. Several other markets were discussed including Russia and Korea. Russia is on the brink of launching a massive digitisation program using DRM technology. A report from Voice of Russia shed light on their plans of converting a vast transmitter network to digital. New DRM member KETI (Korea Electronics Technology Institute) released its positive findings from the recent DRM+ assessment in that country.
Members also heard reports from the Asia Sub Group which had success with the Sri Lanka DRM+ trial and is focusing on facilitating the DRM process in India. The extensive work done by the DRM Receiver Group in bringing information and DRM equipment manufacturing companies together was also presented to the members.
The annual General Assembly also welcomed new members Frontier Silicon, Silicon Laboratories Inc. and KETI. The General Assembly was an opportunity for members to learn more about DRM trials in Brazil and the progress made in the DRM+ trials currently on-going in Scotland. A special event to be held in Edinburgh on 29 March will give a full view of the measurements and positive findings of the most comprehensive DRM+ trial to-date.
The General Assembly rounds off a month of successful events in Asia, including Broadcast Engineering Society annual conference and Radio Asia in India, where DRM was showcased and important DRM issues were addressed.
(Source: DRM Consortium/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)