NOMAD HDR/FM ANALYZER 3

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The only intelligent HD Radio / FM mobile receiver-analyzer

Featuring recording with real-time service quality, propagation analysis, antenna pattern verification and Maxxcasting™ synchronization for up to 12 channels simultaneously, designed for smart HD Radio™ / Analog FM mobile measurement.

Nomad in Detailed View

Nomad in Summary View

Nomad Lite

Nomad HDR Front Panel Ultra Nomad HDR Front Panel Standard Nomad HDR Front Panel Lite

Documentation and Specifications

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Licensing

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In the past few years, Octave offered three levels of Nomad licenses: Lite, Standard and Ultra. Each license levels had their own application with their own feature sets. To mainstream future efforts, Octave merged all three license levels into one application, which dynamically adapts to the user's license.

1 Propagation model support can be purchased for Nomad Lite as an optional component

2 Using Nomad Lite with the Inovonics 551 or 552 provides extra functionality not available with other receivers, including spectral graphs, HD and first adjacent power levels.

Note: unlike in previous versions, report generation now requires the Nomad USB license key to be plugged in. The Campaign Player is and will always be available without a license key.

User Interface

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The Nomad HDR/FM Analyzer measures the RF level of HD Radio sideband ratios to analog and interferer carriers along with analog FM RF level recording of each station for the entire FM band. It utilizes highly accurate GPS monitoring using WAAS/EGNOS satellites and supports logging of up to 12 simultaneous channels (HD Radio or analog). Real-time propagation analysis reports on unexpected RF drops, presence of interferers, HD Radio sideband power ratio mismatches and other features. Reporting is available via Excel-friendly CSV, Google Earth KML formats or OpenStreetMap PDF outputs.

The unique real-time propagation analysis is possible by pre-computing the “spectrum picture” of the surrounding measurement campaign area by uploading the propagation files from the Octave Propagation Model Cloud Service, which connects and analyzes the data from the FCC or ISED (Canada) broadcasting database. This allows a single user to drive into his/her measurement campaign while receiving audible notification when the system detects reception problems, potential interference issues, etc. This enables the user to quickly decide to make more measurements in critical areas during the drive tests to gather to most relevant information.

What's new in Version 3:

  • New View menu to quickly customize the interface
  • Channel Summary View is included, which provides a different way to monitor many channels while maximizing the map size. Use the View menu to toggle it
  • VU level meters show whether FM or HD data is being recorded for left and right channels
  • A Campaign description can be written for each campaign file and is being displayed when hovering on the past filenames in the MRU list
  • Most metrics can be selected in the main Map or in the Quick Map representation
  • Custom markers can be added via the circled + button at the top right of the map control, or by simply clicking on the spacebar when the map has focus
  • The Recording button is now flashing red to show the campaign is under way
  • Each data line in metric graphs can be toggled on and off by clicking on the label in the legend
  • Most metrics can be overlayed on top of the power graphs via the right-click context menu
  • Bar power graphs are colored individually to show alert states. Yellow for warnings and red for errors

New Campaign Player

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  • Model, Protected Contour and Previous Campaign overlays can be toggled on and off the map control via the right-click context menu
  • Audio playback can be switched from the current and previous campaign via the A/B playback button on the right of the volume slider
  • Recorded audio track being played can also be selected via the right-click context menu of the mute button at the top left of the dialog. This is the way to switch from the receiver audio tracks and the AUX track for that channel
  • Double-clicking on a data point on the map seeks to and selects it on the timeline

New Report Generation

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  • Each report can be fully customized and new reports can be created in the Report Template Editor
  • Color range presets can be applied and saved from the Report Template Editor
  • Generating Reports dialog settings can also be applied and saved as presets
  • Measurement points used to generate maps and graphs can now be filtered by metric values in the Channel Settings tab of the Generate Reports dialog
  • Measurement data used in each report can also be exported to CSV spreadsheets

New Hardware Support

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  • Inovonics 551/552:
    • Provides recording for 15 new metrics, including: total modulation, HD loudness, stereo separation and HD1 alignment metrics
    • For Nomad Lite users: enables HD and first adjacent power levels and spectral graphs without the use of a dedicated spectral analyzer
    • Ability to record analog and up to 4 programs concurrently for each HD Radio channel in HE-AACv2 (aka FM, HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4)
    • Note: FM/HD1 split and blend playback and recording modes are not available on 551/552
  • Signal Hound BB60C/D:
    • Provides higher accuracy to spectral graphs and RF power levels
    • Recommended for Ultra licenses using most of the FM band
  • Support for AUX audio input devices:
    • Enables the recording of the in-car HD tuner output alongside the receiver’s audio stream
    • Can be enabled in the HD/FM Receivers tab of the Settings dialog
    • Currently tested on limited devices. Octave recommends the Behringer U-Control UCA222

Other Nomad Features (existing in version 2 or recently upgraded):

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  • Record simultaneously up to 12 channels (see Licensing above) UPDATED
  • Real time propagation analysis with prediction models (based on FCC, ISED and Mexico broadcasting databases)
  • Real time audible alarm feedback, reporting on: system status, propagation detected issues, other configuration alarms
    • 4 new Metric-based Alerts: SNR, CDNO, Multipath and RDS-PI change UPDATED
    • Ability to disable groups of Data-based alerts UPDATED
  • Real time audio recording (HD, FM analog or AUX input) and geotag playback UPDATED
  • Time-based or distance-based data acquisition
  • High accuracy GPS positioning
  • Full campaign offline player
  • Model metadata editor and model converter
  • Spectrum analyzer-only mode for radiocom measurements
  • Spectrum graph / power bar graph mode
  • Export graph to CSV
  • Support model KML overlay on OSM maps
  • Audio playback/record control (HDR only / split / blend / analog)
  • HD Radio™ metrics recording including1 :
    • HD Signal Acquired
    • HD Digital Audio Acquired
    • HD Available Programs
    • SIS Acquired
    • Program QI
    • Program DAAI
    • CD/NO
    • HD Artist
    • HD Title
    • Current Image Status
    • Current Image Name
    • Logo Image Interval
    • Album Image Name
    • Album Image Interval
    • Realtime audio recording (right channel analog and left channel digital) and geotagging for later analysis or playback
  • FM/RBDS metrics recording including1:
    • Multipath
    • SNR
    • RDS Loss
    • RDS PI
    • Stereo Indicator
    • RSSI
    • Left channel level
    • Right channel level
    • RDS PS
    • RDS RT
    • Realtime audio recording and geotagging for later analysis or playback
  • Spectrum Analyzer metrics:
    • Main channel power
    • HD Radio™ side band power (MP1, MP2, MP3 or MP11 modes)
    • 1st adjacent channel power
    • 2nd adjacent channel power
    • Ability to save spectrum graph for later analysis
  • Direct post-processing output:
    • One-click campaign summary report in OpenXML(docs), HTML5 or RTF format
    • Each individual metrics is recorded as CSV File
    • Google Earth KML report generation available for most metrics
    • Also support generating map reports to PNG via Open Street Map
    • Detailed analysis such as analog to HD sideband carrier ratios and model comparison
    • Unique antenna pattern validation analysis now with csv, polar graph and heat map

1 Metrics varies depending on the optional receiver used

Legal Notices

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  • Nomad HDR/FM Analyzer™ is a proprietary trademark of Octave Communications
  • HD Radio™ is a proprietary trademark of Xperi Corp
  • Maxxcasting™ is a proprietary trademark of Geobroadcast Solutions
  • Excel is a trademark of Microsoft
  • Google Earth is a trademark of Google
  • INOmini HD Radio Site Streamer models 635, 638 and SOFIA HD Radio Site Streamer Model 565 and 568, HD Radio Modulation Monitor 551/552 are trademarks of Inovonics Broadcast
  • USA Patent: #10,805,025 B2
  • Patent process subsidized by the Ministry of Économie et Innovation du Québec (Canada)

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