Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer R8 Technology

The reliable one-box solution to get your content on-air

The Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer™ R8 technology is a flexible and highly reliable professional broadcasting solution developed for the digital radio standard DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting).

It combines internal audio encoding, support for remote audio encoders, multimedia data management and multiplex generation. A convenient and user-friendly web interface enables configuration and system monitoring via remote access (ContentServer-as-a-Service concept).

The Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer is a complete head-end system possessing triple functionality:

• Internal audio encoding and support for remote audio encoders
• Multimedia DataServer for data service management
• DAB Ensemble/Service Multiplex Generator

Application and target audience

The system is typically located in the studio, in a playout center, at the transmitter site, or within dedicated network provider premises – with full remote control for administration and data provision. Whether a community station, a local or regional broadcaster, or a network provider, the system's functionality perfectly complements your needs.

For receiver manufacturers the “Developer Edition” achieves close to 100% test coverage for signaling, audio configurations, data services and multiplexing options.

Always up to date

Thanks to continuous development, the ContentServer technology provides broadcasters with the latest standard upgrades and improvements, fully compliant with the latest DAB standard.

The DAB ContentServer is the market-leader to implement full support for the new DAB+ standard ASA/EWS for advanced alert signaling, a part of EWFplus.

Additional new features introduced with the Fraunhofer DAB ContentServer R8 include:

• Support of EWS/ASA (new DAB standard for emergency warning)
• Convenient overview of the current on-air multiplex, including live content previews and source status
• Automatic loudness normalization and limiting
• Input and output of EDI/DCP and MuxEnc/DCP streams via SRT - Secure Reliable Transport
• A new Journaline encoder and XML documentation developed from ground up for streamlined content management
• Full support for all regional text profiles including Arabic right-to-left and bidirectional scripts as well as Thai and African profiles
• Additional secure contribution interfaces such as SFTP
• Improved support for virtual machine environments

Perfect match

The system meets any broadcaster‘s requirements – from local station to international network provider. Multiple versatile interfaces for audio and content provision allow straightforward integration into broadcasters’ and network providers’ environments.

The ContentServer enables innovative network structures such as DAB xSTI-C, where centralized service multiplexers feed into multiple regionalized DAB networks.

The ContentServer “Developer Edition” makes possible a nearly complete feature coverage of the respective digital radio standards and the associated specifications, such as audio encoding and data services. 

Keeps you on air - at all times

The ContentServer technology has earned a worldwide reputation for the highest reliability and quality. This is further enhanced by powerful redundancy features, which even includes redundancy groups across distant head-end locations.

Highlight features at a glance

• Convenient, user-friendly web interface for configuration and system monitoring via remote access (ContentServer-as-a-Service concept), with an instant quick-help box for every parameter and direct links to the relevant documentation sections.
• Powerful Monitoring System controlling all system functions including content provision.
• Internal audio encoders with AES67-AoIP live audio input (Livewire, Ravenna) and consumer-type streams (Icecast/SHOUTcast), internal soundcards (with optional adaptive resampling, SRC) or file upload, as well as advanced support for remote audio encoders.
• Loudness normalization amplifies or attenuates the incoming audio to obtain and maintain the target loudness level specified in Loudness Units relative to Full Scale (LUFS).
• Backup audio encoding makes the ContentServer switch automatically to a pre-defined backup/standby audio source in the event that the primary audio source fails or signal errors – such as silence – are detected.
• Audio Cross-Redundancy: Deploying a new Smart Silence Detection technology, it ensures perfectly valid multiplex outputs from all ContentServers of a redundancy group even if a live audio input source fails.
• Data provision via established protocols such as UECP, FTP/HTTP or XML/JSON RPC API.
• Modern flexible network structures due to full STI-C support and new network structures where all common programs are encoded and scheduled by a central service multiplexer and simultaneously fed to multiple regional ensemble multiplexers ("extended STI-C").
• Support of EWS/ASA to allow geo-fenced alerting of the general public in case of emergencies.
• EDI Switch for DAB: this built-in feature ensures that all peers in a ContentServer redundancy group output the identical multiplex data stream to downstream devices via EDI (the IP-based distribution protocol from DAB multiplexers to DAB modulators/transmitters).
• Localized multiplex output: allows multiple small-scale DAB multiplexes to be generated by a single ContentServer to enable low-cost DAB setups, for example.
• Automatic creation of playlists as Journaline pages: the list of recently played songs is derived from the Dynamic Label Plus information and accessible to the listener through Journaline.
• Redundancy Group operation allows two or more ContentServers to be connected locally or even works across remote sites while providing a single configuration and data upload interface, as well as time-aligned reconfigurations with frame-synchronous EDI output.