Newglee End-to-End DRM Solution

A strategic transformation for the new era of digital broadcasting

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The Engine Driving the Future of Digital Broadcasting

Newglee is committed to sustained innovation in DRM digital broadcasting, leading the development of the global digital radio industry. Our core strategic focus is to be a pioneer in delivering complete, end-to-end DRM solutions worldwide — providing comprehensive, efficient and reliable technical support for the broadcasting industry’s digital upgrade.

This ’end-to-end’ model is the fundamental advantage of Newglee’s solution. It covers the entire chain from head-end equipment to receivers, including media encoders, modulators, terminal products, transmitter adapters and monitoring receivers — a full product line. By providing the complete, in-house-developed NGA series, Newglee eliminates the interoperability challenges common to traditional multi-vendor integration (such as MDI/DCP stream compatibility and clock synchronization accuracy), minimizing the system-integration risk of digital transformation and dramatically accelerating project deployment.

A Technical Foundation Compliant with Both International and Chinese Standards

Newglee’s solution is built on Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) technology — an open, global international standard for digital broadcasting. DRM holds firm international authority: it has been adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R BS.1114) as a globally recommended standard, with its core specifications published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI ES 201 980).

In the Chinese market, DRM is especially significant. China has formally selected DRM as its mediumwave and shortwave digital broadcasting standard, and in July 2025 issued and implemented GY/T 423-2025, ‘Technical Specifications for Mediumwave and Shortwave Digital Radio Broadcasting.’ Every Newglee product is designed in strict compliance with these international and Chinese standards, ensuring the solution precisely serves the needs of large-scale deployment in the Chinese market.

Core Benefits

The value returned by a strategic investment

HD Audio and a Superior Listening Experience

Using USAC coding, DRM delivers high-fidelity digital audio approaching FM quality at very low data rates, completely resolving the noise inherent to traditional AM broadcasting.

A Revolution in Energy Efficiency

Compared with traditional AM broadcasting, DRM requires only 1/10 to 1/20 of the AM transmit power, dramatically reducing energy and operating costs.

Multi-Service Convergence and Channel Expansion

Leveraging multiplexing, DRM can carry high-quality audio, text, images and other digital information simultaneously within a single transmission channel, while offering more channel choices.

Wide Coverage and High Reliability

Exploiting the long-distance propagation of shortwave, mediumwave and longwave, DRM can deliver signals across regions and even continents, effectively covering remote areas.

Efficient Use of Spectrum Resources

The DRM system follows an ‘in-band operation’ principle, remaining fully compatible with existing AM bands while using spectrum more efficiently through digital modulation.

Global Standardization and Interoperability

As an international standard adopted by the ITU and ETSI, DRM offers broad compatibility and interoperability, ensuring systems can be deployed and operate cooperatively worldwide.

Solution Architecture: A Closed-Loop System from Studio to Receiver

Solution Architecture: A Closed-Loop System from Studio to Receiver

Key Stages of the Architecture Explained

Head-End / Encoding (NGA-101 DRM Media Encoder)

The NGA-101 receives DRM audio and data signals, performs USAC encoding and multimedia service multiplexing, and generates the complete DRM multiplex containing FAC, SDC and MSC. The signal is output over a UDP/IP network in MDI/DCP (Multiplex Distribution Interface / Distribution and Communication Protocol) format.

Modulation / Optimization (NGA-201 DRM Modulator)

The NGA-201 receives the MDI/DCP stream from the NGA-101. At this stage the signal undergoes channel coding and OFDM modulation, along with advanced signal optimization including digital predistortion (DPD) and peak-to-average power ratio reduction (PAPR/CFR). The optimized signal is output as a digital I/Q signal or an amplitude/phase (A/RFP) signal.

Transmission / Drive (Transmitter Adapter and AM Transmitter)

The I/Q signal from the NGA-201 feeds the Newglee transmitter adapter. Designed for EER amplitude-modulation transmitters, the adapter converts the I/Q signal into high-precision envelope and phase signals to efficiently drive the AM transmitter to broadcast the DRM digital signal.

Monitoring / Feedback (DPD Closed Loop and Receiver)

The architecture includes a critical RF feedback path from the AM transmitter back to the NGA-201 modulator. This path drives the digital predistortion (DPD) closed-loop control within the modulator, continuously and adaptively correcting the non-linear distortion of the transmitter amplifier. At the same time, the professional NGA-602 monitoring receiver receives the transmitted signal for real-time broadcast-quality analysis.

A Technical Deep Dive into the NGA Series

Newglee’s NGA product line covers every stage of the DRM broadcast chain, guaranteeing system performance and reliability with professional-grade specifications.

NGA-101 DRM Media Encoder: Front-End Data Aggregation and Transport Assurance

NGA-101 DRM Media Encoder: Front-End Data Aggregation and Transport Assurance

The NGA-101 is a professional digital broadcasting system responsible for audio and data encoding and multiplex generation.

  • Encoding and Service Support The NGA-101 supports multi-stream, real-time audio encoding in USAC (MPEG Extended High Efficiency AAC) and HE-AACv2 formats. It can manage and encode all standardized data services — including DRM text, MOT SlideShow and interactive data — and supports the critical Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF).

  • Robustness and Compatibility The system is compatible with all DRM30 robustness modes (A/B/C/D) and all code rates and protection ratios (EEP/UEP), ensuring flexible configuration and high delivery rates across different propagation environments.

  • IP Transport Security When outputting the MDI/DCP multiplex stream, the NGA-101 supports PFT (Protection, Fragmentation and Transport), applying multi-level error protection to the IP stream to greatly improve resilience against packet loss during network distribution and ensure reliable transport.

  • Interfaces The device supports dual analog inputs (XLR/TRS) and dual digital inputs (AES/EBU), with redundant gigabit network interfaces for system management and data output.

NGA-201 DRM Modulator: The Core of Power Optimization and Channel Processing

NGA-201 DRM Modulator: The Core of Power Optimization and Channel Processing

The NGA-201 is an embedded-platform DRM baseband processing core focused on signal modulation and optimization.

  • Modulation and Bandwidth The NGA-201 broadly supports channel bandwidths of 4.5 kHz, 5 kHz, 9 kHz, 10 kHz, 18 kHz and 20 kHz. It is compatible with DRM30 modes A, B, C and D, and supports standard QAM as well as symmetrical/mixed hierarchical modulation constellation mapping.

  • Signal Precorrection Core functions include peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction, which effectively lowers the PAPR of the OFDM signal to improve transmitter output capability and efficiency. It also provides comprehensive digital baseband predistortion (DPD) to compensate for non-linear distortion (AM/AM, AM/PM) and linear distortion (frequency response and group delay).

  • Networking The modulator supports single-frequency network (SFN) synchronization and dynamic reconfiguration, allowing transmission parameters to be flexibly adjusted in response to changing conditions or emergency needs.

Transmitter Adapter: The Digital Upgrade Engine for Legacy Equipment

Transmitter Adapter: The Digital Upgrade Engine for Legacy Equipment

The Newglee transmitter adapter is designed for the DRM digital upgrade of legacy EER (Envelope Elimination and Restoration) amplitude-modulation broadcast transmitters.

  • Digital Processing The adapter uses a fully digital signal chain to minimize analog-to-digital conversion error. From the input I/Q signal it generates high-precision envelope and phase outputs, and supports precise delay adjustment between the transmitter’s audio and phase paths, efficiently driving PDM, PSM and DX EER transmitters.

  • Adaptive DPD The adapter supports feedback-based adaptive correction predistortion. Its advanced adaptive algorithms, working together with the NGA-201’s DPD computation, ensure high-quality broadcast output and keep out-of-band emissions well below the limits of the DRM spectrum mask.

DRM Receiver Line: Professional Monitoring and Mass-Market Adoption

DRM Receiver Line: Professional Monitoring and Mass-Market Adoption

Newglee’s receiver solutions cover the full spectrum of needs, from professional monitoring to mass-market consumer use.

  • NGA-601 Next-Generation Professional Receiver: Positioned as a professional broadcast monitoring and analysis solution. It supports full-band DRM/AM/FM reception (including mediumwave, shortwave and VHF Band II). Its Expert Mode enables real-time monitoring of key metrics such as MER (Modulation Error Ratio) and RSSI, and it supports geo-tagged reception logs and MDI stream recording — an essential tool for field engineering deployment and regulatory troubleshooting.

  • NGA-602 DRM Monitoring Receiver: Purpose-built for broadcast centers and professional monitoring stations. Its key strength is the ability to decode and display up to 4 DRM services simultaneously. The NGA-602 provides advanced signal analysis with MER and SNR accuracy of up to ±0.5 dB, and supports up to 2 hours of raw IQ signal recording (with 512 GB built-in storage) for offline analysis and fault diagnosis.

  • Consumer and In-Vehicle Terminals: Newglee offers high-performance, cost-effective consumer and in-vehicle receivers. These terminals support multi-band reception and integrate structured text information services and DRM Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF), driving the mass adoption of digital broadcasting.

Typical Use Cases: High-Value Digital Upgrades and Public Service

The Newglee DRM solution demonstrates enormous strategic value in two major areas: cost-effective transmitter upgrades and highly reliable public emergency services.

Case 1: Efficient Digital Upgrade of Legacy Mediumwave/Shortwave Transmitters

For broadcasters, digitizing legacy analog transmitters is a key path to technical upgrade and lower operating costs. Newglee provides the complete front-end — the NGA-101 media encoder, the NGA-201 modulator and the transmitter adapter — ensuring existing EER (PDM, PSM, DX) mediumwave/shortwave AM transmitters can transition seamlessly to high-performance digital broadcasting.

  • Cost Effectiveness: By upgrading existing facilities rather than purchasing new equipment, capital expenditure is significantly reduced.
  • Guaranteed Performance: Upgraded transmitters deliver outstanding performance. In a Newglee success story, a 600 kW carrier upgrade achieved a DRM output power of 350 kW while maintaining both MER and ACPR above 40 dB at high power. Sustaining MER above 40 dB at high output power demonstrates the exceptional accuracy and adaptability of the closed-loop DPD system formed by the NGA-201 and the adapter, effectively linearizing the high-power amplifier — a strong guarantee of long-term stable operation.
  • Long-Term Energy Savings: Because DRM signals require no carrier, the upgraded system can reduce transmit power to 1/10 to 1/20 of analog broadcasting; combined with the NGA-201’s PAPR reduction, this greatly lowers energy consumption and operating costs.

Case 2: EWF-Based National Emergency Broadcasting Solution

With its inherent wide coverage and strong penetration, DRM technology provides an efficient, reliable transmission solution for national emergency broadcasting systems.

  • Emergency Resilience: DRM exploits the long-distance delivery of mediumwave and shortwave signals. When natural disasters damage terrestrial communication infrastructure or cut power, this broadcasting mode — with its low power consumption and strong penetration — can cover remote and mountainous areas, ensuring the reliable delivery of emergency information.
  • Guaranteed-Delivery Mechanism: Newglee’s solution supports the critical Announcement mechanism of the DRM standard. In an emergency it can forcibly activate receivers that are asleep or switched off and automatically switch them to the emergency channel. This forced wake-up ensures the highest possible delivery rate for emergency information — a core requirement of national public-service systems.
  • Multimodal Delivery: The system supports multiple media formats simultaneously, so emergency information can be published in parallel as high-quality audio, data captions and SlideShow images, greatly improving reception efficiency and comprehension. In addition, the Alternative Frequency Switching (AFS) mechanism further ensures continuous reception of emergency information.

Conclusion and Strategic Outlook

Through its integrated product chain and advanced technical optimization, the Newglee End-to-End DRM Solution offers broadcasters worldwide a clear path to a digital future. The solution not only promises outstanding audio quality and powerful multi-service capacity, but also delivers clear strategic value in operational efficiency (significant energy savings) and public-service assurance (a highly reliable, EWF-based emergency system).

By integrating core equipment such as the NGA-101 and NGA-201 with advanced DPD and PAPR optimization, Newglee ensures signal quality in high-power digital upgrades and stability in long-term operation. This combination of technical capability and an end-to-end delivery model makes Newglee a key force in the development of the global digital broadcasting industry, providing a solid digital infrastructure for the continued innovation and sustainable growth of radio.

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