NPR analizza le interferenze della radio digitale IBOC

Anche la NPR National Public Radio americana si mette a fare ricerca software e sforna alcune interessanti applicazioni per iPhone e un sito musicale orientato alla music discovery. Trovate tutti i link nel seguente post del blog Inside NPR

Inside NPR.org

A sneak peek at new products and services being developed by the NPR Digital Media team

July 24, 2008
More Cowbell: Brainstorming an NPR Music iPhone App

Have you seen the new iPhone application "More Cowbell?" Simply download the free app to add glorious clanking cowbell sounds to any song playing on your iPhone. Simple, clean, and oh-so entertaining.
My cowbell affections aside, the creativity and usefulness of iPhone music applications is astonishing. The Pandora application, for example, offers instant music exploration and purchasing with just a few taps on your screen.
NPR Music offers an abundance of content to encourage music discovery--exclusive live concerts, intimate studio sessions and interviews with artists and popular programs such as All Songs Considered and Song of the Day. Working within the rights and permissions that artists and labels have generously allowed us to feature their music, we are planning to create iPhone applications that not only highlight our content, but also help users wade through the material to discover music that matters to them. It is also our goal to create something that capitalizes on the unique features of the iPhone.
Is it a program that reminds you to tune in to our live concerts as the artist takes the stage? Or a recommendation system to guide you through our thousands of artist pages? Do you want the Song of the Day delivered automatically, or the ability to find local public radio music programming wherever you are?
One of our resident music experts, All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton, posted his Top 5 iPhone Music Applications on the All Songs Considered Blog. See if you agree with him and tell us how an NPR Music iPhone app could be added to the list.

Ma il pezzo forte di queste attività di ricerca è lo studio molto approfondito dei tracciati di interferenza della stazioni HD Radio, che per la prima volta prende in considerazione le reciproche interferenze tra stazioni nell'ipotesi di passaggio globale alla trasmissione ibrida analogico-digitale. Nello stesso studio NPR analizza gli effetti della proposta di incrementare dell'1% la potenza del segnale digitale nella forma d'onda di IBOC. Fino a oggi la potenza non consente di erogare in modo efficace un segnale digitale perfettamente utilizzabile alla periferia dei contorni di copertura.
Non ho letto le conclusioni perché qui in trasferta col portatile non sono collegato a Internet in permanenza e ho scaricato solo ora l'Executive Summary. Vi saprò dire, ma bisogna sottolineare che NPR è molto convinta del potenziale di HD Radio.

In July, 2008, NPR Labs completed a monumental 18-month study projecting the consequences of interference between HD Radio and station analog broadcast signals, as well as HD Radio’s overall success in meeting coverage expectations and needs.
The CPB-funded study, “Digital Radio Coverage and Interference Analysis” (or “DR. CIA” for James Bond fans), produced the first field-validated HD Radio FM coverage prediction model, which allowed us to create – for the first time – maps showing what each station’s interference-limited coverage area would be if it were broadcasting in both analog and digital. The study also reached important conclusions about the effects of raising HD Radio’s current 1% power level to the 10% power level, a proposal that several commercial broadcast groups, the NAB and others have recommended to the FCC.
Download the executive summary
Download the full report