Esslinger - Industrial DAB Applications: Advantages

Why using DAB for industrial control?
Simply because it helps you save costs. In particular this is the case with point-to-multipoint applications. Even with fixed applications you can reduce installation costs and installation time when using DAB instead of wires. When addressing a higher number of receivers, DAB datacasting becomes an unbeatable economical solution. See the example below from Munich:
An 8 kbit/s packet data channel in the Munich L band covers the entire city. Availability is 24h on 365 days. Transmission costs for the channel amount to approximately € 18 per day ). Following, we're assuming to send 1 megabyte per day to a group of receivers. With DAB, transmission costs remain the same no matter how many receivers there are: it's always 18 Euros per day. With GPRS *), a typical point-to-point transfer, the situation is quite different. With this technology we reach the DAB transmission costs with as few as just seven receivers.
) Bayern Digital Radio (€ 6,700 per year, September 2003). *) T-Mobile "Data 5" rate, 1 MB daily transfer volume assumed (September 2003). All prices excluding VAT, device costs and possible network access costs.

DAB allows for easy multiplexing of different data applications. This enables you to perfectly exploit the transmission system.

Pictured on the right is an example on how multiple applications from the public transportation share a single packet data channel.

Resource sharing is not only possible for the channel but also for the equipment, like e.g. the receivers.

The more receivers are being addressed, the more economic broadcasting becomes for the operator. The diagram on the right shows the daily DAB transmission costs per receiver for the exemplaric Munich channel mentioned above (vertical=Euros, horizontal=number of receivers participating in the service). Essence: For each application there's a certain tradeoff where transmission costs just become neglectable.

[ Some industrial DAB examples... ]