Topography based design of the T-DAB SFN for a mountainous area

A method for designing a terrestrial digital audio broadcasting single frequency network (T-DAB SFN) for a mountainous region is proposed. A computer database and the digital terrain elevation data are used in designing the network. Two fundamental approaches are compared; first, utilization of the existing transmitter sites is maximized by applying the initial cost constraint; then, the coverage percent of the service is forced to approach to 100% by applying the coverage efficiency constraint. Finally, a T-DAB SFN hybrid design procedure optimizing both constraints is proposed. The three design approaches are illustrated on the coverage of the mountainous Istanbul-Ankara highway. The results are compared using a reference cost look up table. The hybrid approach is shown to optimize the initial cost and the coverage efficiency, and can be applied to similar networking problems.