Abstract

A digital audio broadcasting system that is capable of providing a large number of high quality stereophonic channels to mobile receivers in an environment with severe multipath delay and fading. Optimum combination of frequency and time diversity to guarantee robust performance in the mobile channel, with its multipath delay and frequency-selective fading effects. The system is based upon a dynamic single channel per carrier assignment of each stereo channel to many carriers. Intersymbol interference degradations caused by multipath delay are mitigated via an adaptive equalizer in the receiver. This dynamic single channel per carrier system preserves the simplicity inherent in the single channel per carrier assignment while it incorporates the ability to address frequency-selective fading by providing substantial frequency diversity. The frequency diversity is achieved via a slow frequency hop implementation in which the assignment of a number of stereo channels to an equal number of carrier frequencies is changed periodically. The system offers the simplicity of single channel per carrier assignment of stereo channels while it achieves the powerful performance benefits of frequency diversity and adaptive equalization for the mobile channel.