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Radio... What images does that word conjure up in your mind?  For me it’s Robert’s Radios, BB4, local adverts and jingles.  It’s not a technology I find myself talking about and it’s certainly not headline news; that’s reserved for 4K TVs and VR headsets. The future’s visual, immersive.  We all know video killed the radio star thirty years ago.

 

But did it? Certainly not for those who attended the Conference, better known as Radio TechCon.

 

Radio technology is as important now as it ever was, and is an exciting engineering industry with world wide appeal and growth. This year, the IET’s Multimedia Communications Network jumped at the opportunity to be one of the conference sponsors and so that’s where myself and fellow Network Executive member Tilly Casson found ourselves being warmly welcomed for the day at the Arts Theatre, London on Monday 28th November.

 

And there in the 90 year old theatre, seated on the opulent red velvet chairs we found ourselves learning about the importance and challenges of radio in the 21st century. The charismatic David Lloyd - who was greeted with whoops and cheers from the audience - opened and chaired the conference.  

 

With speakers from hugely varied backgrounds such as the BBC and Arqiva, the conference kicked off with an insight from Nicky Birch into how the British Library is future-proofing their audio library whilst asking some thought-provoking questions: what will happen to in-car radios if autonomous vehicles become the norm? If you can watch a film of your own choice whilst the car drives itself why listen to the radio?

Not being a tech-savvy person myself, the idea of radio and the move to IP hadn’t really crossed my mind until Dave Walters (Head of Product Systems and Services, BBC Design & Engineering) took to the stage to talk about how the BBC is approaching the need for radio to be “internet-fit”. A new BBC project could transform how we access BBC radio content.


Equally fascinating was The Radio Community’s Issa Kassimu delivering a presentation on solar powered radio transmissions from South Sudan, a region where electricity is unreliable, illiteracy is high and a significant proportion of residents have never used a device or had access to news, so radio is an incredibly important source of information and communication. Radio stations in the region had traditionally relied upon generators to power the stations, but this was costly and limited the amount of hours a station could broadcast for. The idea of solar-power came into play and three stations implemented a hybrid generator/solar-power system with success. With the evidence in hand, the project was able to invest in the Turalei project, a fully solar-powered station. Although upfront costs were high, the station has managed to generate enough energy to double the amount of time it spends on-air - from 8 hours to 16 hours – and running costs have been cut by 90% to $2,100 with no downtime. The project is expecting to break even after five years, and the system has been designed to last for 15-25 years. We hope to hear about many more of these fantastic projects in the future.



 

 

 


 

 

What really struck me was the multidisciplinary nature of the conference. The impact of RF, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, the move to IP and working with disruptors are all hot topics for other sectors. Radio isn’t just for the morning commute, and its engineers face the same challenges as many others – and in some countries the radio still offers communities a much needed lifeline.