The National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC), co-sponsored
by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA), released a Request for Proposals (RFP) on location-based
services technologies for terrestrial radio data broadcasting that could form
the basis for future NRSC standards and/or guidelines.

The NRSC hopes to identify new and innovative services
using geo-location data that will benefit broadcasters and radio listeners
alike.

Local radio offers an ideal platform for the delivery of
location-based services. This investigation by the NRSC will help to identify
new opportunities for broadcasters to serve their communities and potential new
sources of data broadcasting revenue,” said Kevin Gage, executive vice
president and chief technology officer of NAB.
 

Digital radio technologies, specifically HD Radio
in-band/on-channel digital radio, and the FM subcarrier-based Radio Data System
(RDS), are already being used to disseminate traffic information, which is one
type of location-based service.

Location-based services are increasingly popular and
useful for consumers across many platforms, and through this RFP, this
committee hopes to bring consumers more location-based options over radio
broadcasts,” said Dave Wilson, director of technology and standards, CEA.
 

The RFP, Location-based Services Protocols for Broadcast
Radio Transmission, is being released by the Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRB)
Subcommittee, which is co-chaired by Andy Laird, vice president and chief
technology officer, Journal Broadcast Group, and Mike Bergman, vice president
of new digital technologies, Kenwood USA.

It was developed by the subcommittee’s Geo-coding Usage
Task Group (GUTG), which is chaired by Mike Starling, vice president, chief
technology officer and executive director, NPR Labs.

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]