Improving the performance of digital radio mondiale plus (DRM+) by LDPC channel coding

The performance of a DRM+ broadcast system using a modified Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T2/S2) Low Density Parity-Check (LDPC) code is compared against the standardized system, which uses convolutional coding. By using this modified LDPC code the datarate can be increased by 33 % at a similar bit error rate (BER) performance. Alternatively, the broadcast coverage can be increased. For the purpose of integration, a signaling scheme is proposed, which enables the broadcaster to decide between convolutional coding and LDPC coding without affecting the compatibility of the system. The presented approach allows for using existing DVB-T2/S2 LDPC codec implementations inside a DRM+ broadcast chain.