Traffic Alerts Over HD Radio

A small but significant step happened in May that may just change how you use a GPS in the future. In May there was a trial of sending traffic reports over an HD radio station, which a significant step in the making of higher bandwidth delivery channels to your GPS. This higher bandwidth will allow for delivery of richer data and more relevant data than is available today. I believe that this is the third of three steps to improve traffic capabilities on your GPS. We already see TeleAtlas adding Inrix historical average speed data to their mapset, we are seeing broader coverage with fleet vehicle tracking of GPS speeds to report back realtime conditions, and finally better bandwidth to get you this data so that you can make better decisions. (Read More on the future of Traffic Reporting). Thanks Jim for sending this in.

Press Release Follows...

Broadcast Electronics (BE), Emmis Communications Corporation and NDS, along with iBiquity Digital Corp., jointly announced the successful conclusion of initial HD Radio conditional-access field testing of traffic data services at Emmis station WKQX-FM (Q101) in Chicago. Pilot testing occurred May 23 and 24 and was the first conditional-access test for broadcasting real-time traffic information over the HD Radio system to vehicle navigational systems.

"Our goal was to establish a foundation for HD Radio conditional access that would provide additional revenue opportunities for broadcasters beyond audio programming. We're very pleased with the results," said Ray Miklius, Vice President Studio Systems for BE, which supplied the digital broadcast equipment for the test.

Initial testing at Q101 addressed the ability of broadcasters to allocate bandwidth and protect content for mobile delivery of traffic information.

BE, a leading HD Radio equipment manufacturer, and NDS, which specializes in conditional access (CA) technology, provided the end-to-end HD Radio solution that included NDS encryption and bandwidth provisioning by BE's IDi 20 HD Radio importer unit. A primary global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and Traffic.com, a leading provider of personalized traffic information for drivers coast-to-coast, provided the real-time traffic content.

"Participating in HD Radio technology pilot tests is an important step for us in understanding how radio broadcasters can develop business models for their new HD signals," said Paul Brenner, Vice President of Integrated Technologies for Emmis Communications.

The trial included authorization and de-authorization of the receiver for the data service, testing of end-to-end system functionality, successful reception/decryption of the traffic data at the receiver and the recording and logging of data to determine latency and data stability in the encrypted channel. Test drives in various multipath environments around the Chicago area showed no dropped data packets or loss of service.

"This pilot program has provided valuable insights into the operational requirements and delivery of protected data content," commented Joe D'Angelo, Vice President of Advanced Services for iBiquity Digital Corporation. "This has been an important milestone in expanding the functionality of the HD Radio system and providing broadcasters with the capabilities they'll need to compete in the digital age."
About NDS

NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), a majority owned subsidiary of News Corporation, supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers.

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June 26, 2007

Traffic Alerts Over HD Radio