Field measurement based performance analysis of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) reception in mobile channels

This paper analyzes the reception of terrestrial digital audio broadcasting (T-DAB) signals at L-band in mobile channels, where multipath fading, Doppler spread and noise effects degrade the received signal. Receiver power levels and DAB base-band parameters have been recorded in order to study real performance of DAB signals in mobile propagation channels, with different vehicle speeds and with different multipath levels, considering environment types with different degrees of building density. The degradation of the received signal is presented in curve showing relationships between the pseudo-channel BER and the carrier to noise ratio. Threshold values for these two parameters are presented, considering different channel conditions (vehicle speed and environment type). The results presented in this paper contribute to a detailed characterization of the DAB signal degradation and the required C/N threshold values in mobile channels.