New planning methods for single frequency networks

For analog broadcast networks the planning parameters for frequency, power and site assignment are well known, for digital audio broadcast networks the research into these criteria just started. This paper presents the derivation of protection ratios and fieldstrength levels under worst case conditions for digital audio broadcast systems from the bit error rate of the unprotected propagation channel. This channel is modeled ray optically as a 3D wave propagation channel, based on digital terrain data. Different terrain types, frequencies and temporal/spatial probabilities are considered.