Feasibility study of the digital radio and the digital television in passenger transport telematics

The objective of this preliminary study was to investigate the feasibility of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) in transport telematics applications and services, with emphasis on public transport. The study identified the possible services or pilot services that can be provided during the next few years. The study recognised the advantages and disadvantages of digital broadcast techniques in transport telematic purposes. The study illustrated the state of the art of digital broadcasting techniques and their feasibility in the future. The advantages of digital broadcasting in ITS applications are obvious in areas where the amount of information to be transferred or the number of receivers is large. Possible pilot applications will mainly focus on various information services. In addition to home terminals, public transport vehicles, bus stops and commercial vehicles of large hauling companies are examples of volume of terminals at the moment. Large files to be transferred relate to pictures, video animations or maps. In the future, the number of receivers might increase as a consequence of various integrated in-vehicle systems (e.g. navigation systems) and also personal hybrid receivers might become more common. The lack of applicable receivers limits mass market consumer pilots at this stage. The future of digital broadcast techniques depends on the markets and the market penetration of new receivers. Digital television and radio will sooner or later take over market share from its analogue predecessors. The digital television might even replace the analogue TV. The time scale, however, is difficult to estimate. The following projects were identified as possible pilot applications in the near future: 1. traffic information service in digital television, 2. real-time public transport information in bus stops, terminals and public transport vehicles, 3. mobile DVB-T experiments in co-operation with projects already going on in Finland. The interesting projects and issues to be followed are e.g. those in the EU Sixth Framework Programme and the work of various standardisation and co-operation bodies. Interesting projects related to dynamic updating of digital maps are also ongoing. A small-scale digital television demonstration was also implemented in the project. The demonstration illustrates how the consumer could utilise the possible traffic information service in digital television. At the same time the demonstration concretises the digital television and its possibilities as a new traffic information channel. This report is available at http://www.vtt.fi/rte/projects/fits/ or http://www.mintc.fi