While successful standards are in use by the few people who helped develop them, all is likely to be well because they know what they intended when draft- ing the documents! But once a wider group of users has a need for a standard, the intentions that are not specified fully or well, can be misunderstood or mis- interpreted. Furthermore, field experience of implementing standards tends to throw up many new issues.
Recognising a need for more information about RDS, the EBU published the document, “Tech 3260, Guidelines for the implementation of the RDS sys- tem,” which was intended to encapsulate and transfer some of that knowledge to other workers in RDS technology before it was lost [25].
With all the developments that have taken place over recent years, it is now necessary to prepare another edition of the RDS guidelines document, and the RDS Forum proposes to undertake that work with the support of many workers in the RDS field. It will have a slightly differently focus as to imple- mentations and the system approach needed to achieve a full set of RDS serv- ices, including non-programme-related data services multiplexed with radio programme-related data services, and the commercial and technical issues asso- ciated with managing and billing in such a system.
22 RDS: The Radio Data System
1.5.1 RDS Forum: a Worldwide Association of RDS Users
The RDS Forum has existed since 1993. Membership is open to all profession- als involved in using RDS technology. The RDS Forum has held two plenary meetings per year, and a large proportion of the more than 100 members worldwide attend.
In 1997, the RDS Forum had four working groups concerned with main- taining the RDS standard, developing accepted guidelines for RDS system operation, upgrading the Universal Encoder Communications Protocol (UECP), and dealing with RDS/DAB cross-referencing together with the objective of implementing plans for DAB transmissions and receivers that offer a compatible user interface.
The operational expenses of the association are shared among all the membership. Members pay an annual fee for each registered representative.
More detailed information about the RDS Forum is available on the Internet.
The Internet address for the RDS Forum Web site is: www.rds.org.uk.
1.5.2 The United States: NAB and EIA/CEMA
RDS is promoted in the United States through the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Electronic Manufacturers Association (CEMA), a branch of the Electronics Industry Association (EIA). Both the NAB and CEMA organise very significant annual conventions, with a major technical exhibition where RDS technology is presented at various occasions.
The EBU was also invited to participate in these presentations. In addition, both the NAB and CEMA participate in the RDS Forum, which is coordinated by the EBU. Hence, there is a continuous exchange of experiences with regard to the implementation of RDS in Europe and the United States.
CEMA sponsored an RDS promotional effort in 1995–96. While there are some 5,000 FM radio stations operating in the United States, after that campaign, 750 of them had RDS implemented. The campaign concentrated on the 26 metropolitan areas with the largest population in the United States and was aimed at raising the awareness of radio broadcasters about RDS. At the same time, the NAB published a 98-page booklet explaining RDS applications to broadcasters [26].
One particular problem that existed at that time in the United States was that there were not many RDS receivers on the market, and therefore dealers and consumers were largely unaware of RDS and what benefits it could offer.
In addition, many broadcast station owners were confused about RDS because the NAB was of the opinion that the United States needed a high-speed data
RDS System and Applications Overview 23
system (HSDS) on a subcarrier around 76 kHz, in addition to RDS. Many broadcasters understood that this was because RDS had too many limitations (670 usable bits per second versus 10-16 kbps) with respect to the number of additional data services that it could support. They also thought that once agreement was reached about a high-speed data system, this would make RDS redundant. But this is a misperception, since the HSDS subcommittee of the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) is seeking a system that is com- plementary to RDS, in full recognition of the RBDS voluntary industry stan- dard. Figure 1.7 depicts the RDS promotional event sponsored in 1989 by the NAB. This major U.S. convention is where the EBU helped to promote RDS in the United States.
Promotion of the RDS technology in the United States is further initiated through the RDS Advisory Group, a kind of counterpart to the European RDS Forum but without the task to coordinate the further development of the RDS technology. The RDS Advisory Group is an institution of CEMA. Mem- bership is open to all manufacturers, broadcasters, and data service providers interested in the RDS technology. There is no membership fee to be paid and
24 RDS: The Radio Data System
Figure 1.7 NAB’89 (Source: EBU.)
meetings take place during major conventions (on average, four times a year). A quarterly newsletter distributed through CEMA and NAB provides updates on new developments and products in the U.S. market. The activity is financed through voluntary contributions from interested consumer electronic manufac- turers. The companies that were most active in the years 1995–97 were Delco, Denon, and Pioneer.
The following Web sites provide more information and updates about RDS in the United States:
• CEMA: www.cemacity.org/rds/
• NAB: www.nab.org./SciTech/