In-band on-channel (IBOC) is a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency. The name refers to the new digital signals being broadcast in the same AM or FM band (in-band), and associated with an existing radio channel (on-channel). By utilizing additional digital subcarriers or sidebands, digital information is multiplexed on existing signals, thus avoiding re-allocation of the broadcast bands. IBOC relies on unused areas of the existing spectrum to send its signals. This is particularly useful in North America style FM, where channels are widely spaced at 200 kHz but use only about 50 kHz of that bandwidth for the audio signal. In most countries, FM channel spacing may be as close as 100 kHz, and on AM it is only 10 kHz. While these all offer some room for additional digital broadcasts, most attention on IBOC is in the FM band in North American systems; in Europe and many other countries, entirely new bands were allocated for all-digital systems. Digital radio standards generally allow multiple program channels to be multiplexed into a single digital stream. In North American FM, this normally allows two or three high-fidelity signals combined in one channel, or one high-fidelity signal plus several additional channels at medium-fidelity levels that are much higher quality than AM. For even greater capacity, some existing subcarriers can be taken off the air to provide additional bandwidth in the modulation baseband. On FM for instance, this might mean removing stereo from the analog signal, relying on the digital signal to provide stereo where desired, thus making room for another digital channel. Due to the reduced bandwidth in AM, IBOC is incompatible with analog stereo, although that is rarely implemented, and additional channels are limited to highly compressed voice such as traffic and weather. Eventually, stations can go from digital/analog-hybrid mode to all-digital, by eliminating the baseband monophonic audio.
FM methods On FM there are three methods of IBOC broadcasting in use, primarily in the United States.
HD Radio Broadcasting The first, and only, digital technology approved for use on AM and FM broadcast frequencies by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, is the proprietary HD Radio system developed by iBiquity Digital Corporation, which transmits energy beyond the allotted ±100 kHz FM channel. This creates potential interference issues with adjacent channels. This is the most widely used system, with approximately 1,560 stations transmitting HD radio in the US, plus over 800 new multicast channels (as of Jan 2010). There is a one-time license fee to iBiquity Digital, for the use of its intellectual property, as well as costs for new equipment which range from $50,000 to $100,000 US (2010) per station.
FMeXtra The other system is FMeXtra by Digital Radio Express, which instead uses subcarriers within the existing signal. This system was introduced more recently. The FMeXtra is compatible with HD Radio in hybrid mode, but not in all-digital mode, and with RBDS. The stereo subcarrier can be removed to make more space available for FMeXtra in the modulation baseband. However, the system is not compatible with other existing 67–92 kHz subcarriers which have mostly fallen into disuse. The system is far less expensive and less complicated to implement, needing only to be plugged into the existing exciter, and requiring no licensing fees. FMeXtra has generally all the user features of HD Radio, including multicast capability, the ability to broadcast several different audio programs simultaneously. It uses the aacPlus (HE-AAC) codec. FMeXtra can restrict listening with conditional access and encryption.
DRM Digital Radio Mondiale allows for simultaneous transmission of multiple data streams alongside an audio signal. The DRM mode for VHF provides bandwidths from between 35 kbit/s to 185 kbit/s and up to four simultaneous data streams, allowing 5.1 surround DVD quality audio to be broadcast alongside other multimedia content - images, video or HTML content are typical examples. Like HD Radio, it can be backwards compatible with existing FM receiver equipment receiving the analog signal, with side-band broadcasts digitally encoded using HE-AAC or xHE-AAC received on compatible devices, this ability to operate within the internationally agreed FM spectrum of 88-108 MHz makes DRM a viable candidate for future adoption if countries begin to eliminate their analog broadcasts.
AM methods
HD Radio Broadcasting iBiquity also created a mediumwave HD Radio system for AM, which is the only system approved by the Federal Communications Commission for digital AM broadcasting in the United States. The HD Radio system employs use of injected digital sidebands above and below the audible portion of the analog audio on the primary carrier. This system also phase modulates the carrier in quadrature and injects more digital information on this phase-modulated portion of the carrier. It is based on the principle of AM stereo where it puts a digital signal where the C-QUAM system would put the analog stereo decoding information.
DRM Digital Radio Mondiale has had much more success in creating an AM system, and one that could be much less expensive to implement than any proprietary HD Radio system, although it requires new frequency. It is the only one to have been accepted mediumwave but also shortwave (and possibly longwave) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for use in regions I and III, but not yet in region II, the Americas. The HD Radio system has also been approved by International Telecommunication Union.
CAM-D CAM-D is yet another method, though it is more of an extension of the current system. Developed by AM stereo pioneer Leonard R. Kahn, It encodes the treble on very small digital sidebands which do not cause interference to adjacent channels, and mixes it back with the analog baseband. Unlike the other two, it is not intended to be capable of multichannel, opting for quality over quantity. Unlike the HD system iBiquity calls "hybrid digital" the CAM-D system truly is a direct hybrid of both analog and digital. Some engineers believe that CAM-D may be compatible with analog AM stereo with the right engineering. Critics of CAM-D point to several drawbacks:
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