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1.
Introduction
DARC Data Radio Channel, is a broadcasting system based on the already existing FM infrastructure. It
allows information providers to transmit data to any place within the coverage of the FM radio network. This
use of existing infrastructure leads to low expansion costs.
The DARC signal is a sub-carrier, like RDS, that is inserted in the multiplex signal. The DARC signal does
not interfere with the RDS signal or the audio signals.
Information providers send data to a network server, which distributes the data to the transmitter stations in
the network. At the transmitter station, the modulated signal is created by a transmitter station equipment,
TSE.
The transmitted data is received by DARC receivers and sent, depending on the type of service, to
applications on computers or to other equipment such as GPS receivers.
This document refers to SWIFT-DARC, a European DARC standard controlled by ETSI. See [1] for more
information.
1.1
Overview
DARC is a data broadcasting system, using ordinary FM transmitters. The technique that is used in DARC is
similar to the technique that is used in RDS. The digital signals are modulated onto a FM carrier.
1.1.1 DARC sub-carrier
In a sub-carrier system the sub-carrier is modulated with the data. Then the modulated sub-carrier is added to
the FM multiplex signal, MPX (that may contain audio and RDS). The MPX signal is then modulated onto a
FM carrier.
The sub-carrier that is modulated in DARC is 76 kHz locked in phase to the forth overtone of the pilot tone
(19 kHz). The frequency tolerance is 76 kHz 7.6 Hz (100 ppm) and the phase difference shall not exceed
5 degrees from the pilot tone.
1.1.2 Modulation
DARC specifies that L-MSK (level controlled minimum shift keying) should be used as the modulation method.
L-MSK is a form of MSK in which the level of the stereo signal, L-R (left minus right), controls the level of
the modulated sub-carrier. The frequency 76+4 kHz is used when the input data is 1 and 76-4 kHz when
input data is 0. The deviation of the main FM carrier caused by the DARC signal is allowed to vary in the
range from 4 % to 10 %. In the normal case the deviation of the DARC signal is set to 10 % (7.5 kHz).
If the level of the stereo signal (L-R) becomes low, the DARC deviation is decreased to 4 % (3 kHz).
Even if the DARC specification specifies a level control of the DARC deviation, it is also common to use
static DARC deviation. In the static deviation case the DARC deviation is set to 10 % independent of the
level of the stereo signal level.
1.1.3 Bit Rate
The gross bit rate in the DARC system is 16000 bit/s 1.6 bit/s.
As a comparison the gross bit rate in the RDS system is 1187.5 bit/s 0.125 bit/s.
1.1.4
RDS
DARC
53 60
76
Stereo
L-R
L-R
kHz
15
23
38
19
94
57
1.2
DARC is a data channel with the purpose of broadcasting data from service providers to customers. The data
might be dependent of location and therefore it is possible to direct the data to specific areas. The DARC
channel is a multiplexed channel due to the fact that the service provider may have different kind of data
and that there might be several service providers.
The network has some identification parameters: Country identification (CID), Extended country code (ECC),
Network identification (NID) and TSE identification (TSEID). The receiver can use these parameters to identify if
the receiver is tuned to the right network. The parameters are mostly used when the receiver shall search for
a DARC channel automatically.
If the receiver is placed close to the boarder and there are DARC networks in adjacent countries, ECC and
CID can be used for identification of which country the network belongs to. See [2] for more information about
ECC and CID. There can be a number of different networks even within a country and the user of a
receiver might just want the receiver to tune into one of these networks. The NID identifies networks within a
country. All of the transmitter station equipments within a network are uniquely defined by a TSEID. The
TSEID can be used if the receiver must only lock on a certain transmitter.
Transmitter/
TSE 1
Transmitter/
TSE 2
Service
Provider A
NWS
Transmitter/
TSE 3
xxyyzzww
zzz xxx
xwwweswe
Pager/
Receiver
Transmitter/
TSE 4
Receiver
Service
Provider B
2.
DARC Protocol
2.1
Services
The purpose of DARC is to transmit data. Since there can be several service providers and each of the
service providers can generate different data for many applications, data can be grouped into what is called
services. These services are identified with unique service identities, SID. The range of SID is 1-16383.
DARC also supports conditional access, CA, based on SID. With this system it is possible for the service
provider to restrict which receivers that shall be able receive the services.
2.1.1 Standard Service
In most applications the arrival time of the data is not essential. It is more important that the data is
received reliably. In DARC there are four methods, A0, A1, B and C with different capabilities. With different
error correction strategies, the possible time delay of data varies.
2.1.2 Real-time Service
Even if most of the services are of standard type, there can be some services for which delay cannot be
tolerated. An example is an RTK service. A time delay of a few seconds is enough for making the
information worthless. Real-time data is therefore not protected with the same strength of error correction
possibilities as standard services. Data that cannot be delayed more than 1 second should be sent as a realtime service.
2.2
The DARC protocol is specified with a layer model. In this document only layer 1 to layer 4 is considered.
2.2.1 Layer 1, Physical Layer
In layer 1, the modulation is taken care of. The modulation is described in section 1.1.2.
2.2.2 Layer 2, Data Link Layer
This layer handles DARC methods (framing) and error correction. After handling layer 2, error correction
information is removed and the data is sent to layer 3 handling. See section 2.3 for more information about
layer 2.
2.2.3 Layer 3, Network Layer
This layer together with layer 4 handles the multiplexing of channels. In layer 3 is data divided into blocks.
The blocks in layer 3 are sorted into logical channels. There are 16 logical channels defined, 4 of them are
reserved for SWIFT-DARC. One of these channels is the service channel.
2.2.4 Layer 4, Transport Layer
In this layer the service identity is considered. The data that was sent by the service provider is available at
this layer. The data from the service providers are received as messages. The layer 4 messages are built of
layer 3 blocks.
2.3
Layer 2
There are four methods in DARC. Each of them has a special framing method. The selection of method
depends on the needs of the applications.
A0
A1
Normal format.
Normal format with possibility to send some real-time information.
The frames are built of information blocks and parity blocks. Each block consists of 288 bits. All blocks starts
with a 16 bits block identification code, BIC.
2.3.1
Information Block
16
BIC
176
Information
14
82
CRC
Parity
Parity Block
16
272
BIC
Parity
2.3.3 A0
The A0 frame consists of 190 information blocks and 82 parity blocks.
Information
B
I
C
C
R
C
190 blocks
Horizontal
Parity
Vertical parity
82 blocks
2.3.4 A1
In the A0 frame there are 82 parity blocks in the end of the frame. This means that there is a time delay
of data when the parity blocks are transmitted. In order to suppress the delay in the A1 method, additional
real-time information blocks are inserted between the parity blocks. This gives a possibility to have some realtime services. 12 blocks are inserted, 3 groups with 4 blocks each. Since the inserted blocks are not part of
the product code they are removed after the horizontal correction (before the vertical error correction) and the
information in those blocks are sent to the handling of layer 3. The vertical error correction can then be
performed (if necessary) on the rest of the blocks. Standard services use blocks in the information part of the
frame. Real-time services use blocks in the information part of the frame and the inserted blocks in the
vertical parity but use only the horizontal error correction. An A1 frame consists of 284 blocks.
190
Information
B
I
C
C
R
C
Horizontal
Parity
Real-time
blocks
(4 per group)
Vertical parity
82+12
Figure 6 The A1 frame format.
The A1 method is very similar to the A0 method, but it provides a possibility to have some real-time services
in the system. When there are no real-time services, this method will have lower net bit rate than A0 since
the inserted blocks cannot be used for standard services.
10
2.3.5 B
The frame B spreads the parity almost uniform in the frame. The parity blocks are interleaved with the
information. Since a parity block is sent before all information blocks are sent (all information blocks are
needed for calculation of the parity blocks), there is a constant time delay at the transmitter side of one
frame (5 seconds). This implies that this frame type cannot be used when there are real-time services. The
frame consists of 272 blocks.
Parity blocks
(1 per group)
15
2
2
.
.
.
136 blocks
B
I
C
.
.
.
Information
C
R
C
Horizontal
Parity
15
2
2
.
.
.
136 blocks
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
11
2.3.6 C
The C frame contains only information blocks. In other words, no vertical error correction can be made. The
C frame increases the net bit rate since no parity blocks are transmitted.
B
I
C
Information
C
R
C
Horizontal
Parity
272 blocks
A0
6.8 kbit/s
0 kbit/s
6.8 kbit/s
A1
7.0 kbit/s
7.0 kbit/s
6.5 kbit/s
6.8 kbit/s
0 kbit/s
6.8 kbit/s
9.8 kbit/s
9.8 kbit/s
9.8 kbit/s
Error correction
The error correction used in DARC can correct almost 100 % up to 3 % bit error rate. At 7 % bit error
rate the error correction performance is still good. When the product code is used (vertical error correction)
the capability of correcting burst errors is appreciably increased.
12
0 1.5 s
1.5 6.4 s
A1
0 1.7 s
1.7 5.6 s
4.9 s
4.9 9.8 s
0 s
0 0.4 s
Note: If the vertical error correction is performed in the receiver (method A0, A1 and B), there is a delay
caused by the product code of 5 seconds, except for real-time blocks in method A1. Method C does not use
vertical error correction.
2.4
Layer 3
In layer three the message multiplexing begins. Layer 3 is divided into 16 logical channels (SI/LCh). In Europe
(SWIFT-DARC), 4 of these channels are used (SI/LCh 8-11).
Layer 3 Channels
SI/LCh
Description
8
Service channel
10
11
13
Channel
RFA
7-15
COT
The COT is a list of all services (SID) that are available on current transmitter. The receiver can use this
information in automatic search.
AFT
Contains information about the frequencies of DARC transmitters that are close to current transmitter. The
alternative frequencies are used for channel switching if the receiver loses contact with the transmitter.
The AFT contains more than one alternative frequency list if the transmitter has associated repeater stations.
The AFT then contains one list for the main transmitter and one for every repeater station frequency.
SAFT
Contains information for helping the receiver build a more specific alternative frequency list depending on which
services the receiver wants. For every service in the COT the SAFT can give information about on which
transmitter in the AFT the service is not transmitted. The SAFT also contains information for every service in
the COT about other transmitters that are not in the AFT but is transmitting the service.
TDPNT
Contains information about time, date, position and the network name. This message contains either time
information or date information.
SNT
Contains information about what kind of data that is transmitted on a service, e.g. file transmission. It contains
names (text strings) of the services. This service channel message is still a proposal.
TDT
Contains information about time, date, position and the network name. It also contains quality information for
the time information. This service channel message is still a proposal but will replace the TDPNT message.
SCOT
The SCOT is a list of all synchronous services (SID) that are available on current transmitter. It contains
information about SID, transmit cycle and cycle offset. With this information, together with a frame message
see 2.6.1, a receiver can figure out when to wake up and go to sleep.
2.4.3 Short Message Channel
The short message channel builds layer 4 data messages up to 127 bytes. This channel is suitable for realtime services and message services.
14
2.5
Layer 4
Layer 4 is the transport layer or the service layer. At this layer, the service messages are available. The
messages at layer 4 can be sorted according to SID and the receiver can output messages from the desired
SID.
Layer 4 is in a way the only layer that the user, and the service provider, has to be concerned about. The
service provider sends layer 4 messages to the NWS and the user receives layer 4 messages from the
receiver.
2.6
Synchronous DARC
The main purpose of synchronous services is to support low power applications. The receiver can synchronize
to the transmitted data in order to save battery in mobile receivers.
The time is split up into 24 slots (one slot is one frame) and every synchronous service has a transmit cycle
and a cycle offset.
Service
Transmit Cycle
Delay
SID1
SID2
SID3
Slot
9 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
SID1
SID2
SID3
15
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