Tuesday 22 February 2011

The Technology Guiding Satellite Radio

By James Skinner


Any song you hear on satellite radio starts as a recording in a certain format on various recording mediums. IN most cases, the recording quality has to be maintained fairly high, normally around 384kb/s, while also being reasonably little sufficient to be transported on CDs and DVDs. The music tracks utilized in satellite radio are cataloged making use of a comparable system to the MP3 cataloging criteria, the ID3 tags. The option for the music tracks which will be played is made by each channel individually. The DJ choosing the tracks generally chooses about 20-30 minutes worth of music. The DJ has to listen to the tracks to make sure they're in correct condition and then simply lets the pc decode the original file. The identical thing is repeated once the initial 20-30 minutes are exhausted and the music playing cycle repeats itself.

Sound encoding in satellite radio.Encoding is one of the key elements of digital radio. Each channel is handled by a different encoder. The encoder basically takes the analog file and turns it into a digital 1. The digitalization method is made in real time along with the music files are transformed into 1's and 0's. This procedure is carried out by powerful computers that analyze sound waves and frequency and break them into binary code. The encoding process is carried out at 128kb/s, 44.1Kh which is in fact CD high quality. After the song is encoded, it's transmitted to a multiplexer where other channels are also present - the multiplexer basically takes all of the channels of the satellite radio provider and combines them into a single broadcast transmission. The data is then sent to a satellite modem device which modulates the information and sends it to the broadcaster's satellites, making use of unique transmission frequencies.

What happens above the Earth.Here is where the satellites are located. They receive the transmission and transmit it to the receivers we have in our homes and cars. The satellites are located at 23,000 miles above us - both Sirius and XM Radio use satellites located at this distance from the Earth. The satellites are located in geo-sync, which indicates that hey orbit above the location they're designated to service at all times. When the satellite receives the transmission encoded at 128kb/s, 44.1 khz it rebroadcasts it to the geographical area it covers. Both Sirius and XM Radio use satellites that cover specific areas of the United states - mostly the East and West coasts. As an example, 1 of XM Radio's satellites covers the western part of USA, probably an region located roughly from Seattle to San Diego on the West and Minneapolis to Houston on the east. The increased sound high quality is possible because the broadcasted information (music tracks, news, sports transmission) don't get sliced up too several times within the decoding process.

The antenna connected to your satellite radio receiver picks up the transmission on L-Band. The recent technological advances have allowed digital radio broadcasters to create receivers modest enough to fit mobile locations. Inside the early days of satellite radio, a big parabolic dish would need to be mounted on the car to be able to receive signal. Also, prior to the much more compact receivers were created, the early satellite radio receivers necessary electronic movements that directed the dish towards the satellite line of sight. Modern flat panel receivers have eliminated all the problems of their predecessors and may be fitted practically anywhere without taking up too a lot space.

The receiver plus the output, the receiver is the device that decodes the data, essentially performing the precise opposite of what the encoding method was like. After receiving the signal from the antenna it amplifies it and converts it to usable sound. The auto or house audio system is then able to play the selected satellite radio channel. The rest of the process is exactly like analog broadcasts would work, with an amplifier and speakers outputting the sound.




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