Opinion: Forget HD Radio. Use ATSC 3.0 and xHE-AAC Instead.
TL;DR: Since ATSC 3.0 is IP-based and uses incredibly advanced modulation, radio is better off using ATSC 3.0.
xHE-AAC, the audio codec that makes streaming decent sounding music on 2G networks possible, is an incredibly efficient audio codec that is the perfect match with ATSC 3.0’s incredibly efficient physical layer. Honestly, AAC in general should be used for TV broadcasts instead of AC-4, but that’s a different article. Factor that with ATSC 3.0 being IP-based, and the sky’s the limit. Theoretically, a Spotify equivalent, with on-demand and live music streams, is possible with ATSC 3.0. A station could have a specific genre of music—a radio station could broadcast their live stream and on-demand copies of a certain genre—their on demand music being the catalog of songs that they regularly play, for a free, ad supported experience, similar to YouTube Music’s free tier, but more personalized. Factor that with all of the stations, and you’ve got a mix of all of the main music genres available live and on-demand, without internet, available nearly anywhere (especially where internet is impractical or otherwise too costly to deploy), all in an app that has an experience no different than what someone with an LTE or 5G connection was used to. This keeps the relevancy of traditional radio broadcasts with the user experience that is expected.
With ATSC 3.0, I hope there’s the eureka moment in the future where consumers realize that a lot of what they’re already doing using an internet connection is available without the internet, and gives them piece of mind about connectivity, like a Tesla being self sufficient on only built in solar, and not worrying about finding a charging station.
HD Radio is too old.
HD Radio simply lags behind. It’s also over two decades old. HD Radio just simply does not have the physical layer capabilities that are possible with ATSC 3.0. Low code rate QPSK would allow for successful Hi-VHF TV and even Lo-VHF TV reception of ATSC 3.0 services on mobile devices within a decent coverage range. In comparison, HD Radio simply doesn’t have the capability to be robust enough on FM and MW (AM) bands. Why would we continue to use a non-IP based digital standard with nearly no upgradability? HD radio is frozen in time with radios that are stuck with decoding outdated audio codecs using a less efficient modulation for their transport.
ATSC 3.0 is the closest wireless transmission standard to the Shannon limit. The physical layer is so advanced and modern, that in terms of the theoretical limit, there’s little room for improvement. ATSC 3.0 being IP-based is a huge win in the coding front. ATSC 3.0 is literally as upgradable as the internet. It can directly compete with the internet. When the internet improves, ATSC 3.0 can implement those same improvements. Apps can upgrade with changing UI preferences over time and types of data transmission can change over time. ATSC 3.0 can undoubtably maintain the freshness of the internet.
We have a low frequency problem. ATSC 3.0 can help.
We are stuck with the “undesirable” bandwidth, that, due to the preferred size of mobile devices and physics, just simply doesn’t work well. This is why there should be more focus on still utilizing those frequency bands, but using the most modern, sophisticated modulation, in combination with the most modern, sophisticated coding, to make these low frequencies usable. If you have an FM antenna on your roof 100 miles from the transmitter, good for you. You’ll still receive a decodable signal. Have a phone 15 miles away from the transmitter? Good for you, you’re still receiving a usable signal with your itty bitty antenna. This just simply makes sense. Stop using analog, start using advanced modulation and advanced digital coding. I share this opinion on shortwave radio. Receiving IP data from Asia to North America at the speed of light, without internet (no undersea cables, no satellites bouncing data) is insanely cool. You’re listening to the song or talk show at the exact same time as someone on the other side of the world, in the same quality. This will work if broadcasters choose reach over number of bits. Shouldn’t this be what they want? One transmitter that reaches the world? It’d be stupid and wasteful not to implement the most robust modulation in a scenario like this. 6kbps xHE-AAC mono has incredible quality for only 6,000 bits per second, and would easily work alongside other transmitted data. This would be the closest to Nikola Tesla’s completely wireless data transmission vision that we’ve ever had. Because of how efficient ATSC 3.0’s physical layer is, the ATSC should create a standard for incredibly low bandwidth environments. For the meantime, using the television broadcast frequencies to transmit a region’s FM and AM stations using ATSC 3.0 is a no-brainer.
ATSC 3.0 simply isn’t just broadcast TV.
ATSC 3.0 is known as the next generation in TV broadcasting. Even CES created the NextGen TV moniker. In reality, calling ATSC 3.0 a TV broadcast standard is belittling it. It would be like calling the internet cable TV. A better name for ATSC 3.0 is the next evolution in IP data delivery. ATSC 3.0 is a version of the internet, but without internet. Literally anything can be sent using ATSC 3.0, since it is IP-based. The best use case for ATSC 3.0 is utilizing it for internet services that simply require a request to access something. It turns out, this constitutes a decent portion of the upload traffic a typical user sends. Not only is this data trackable, other data, like personal data, is often uploaded and sold to data brokers. If a company really does care about data privacy, the company wouldn’t care that they can literally not receive any information back, if a user decides to use the OTA broadcast instead of unicast over the internet. The problem is companies are used to personalized ads and statistics so much that the use of something this privacy conscious would seem frightening and sound like financial suicide. If you’re worried that your traditional linear TV experience is going away, don’t be. ATSC 3.0 will still carry legacy linear TV services, but ATSC 3.0 simply isn’t the linear TV of 1970. We live in a different world now.
