ABSTRACT
This chapter looks into consumer products by examining a simple block diagram of a typical Radio Data System (RDS) receiver. To receive RDS broadcasts, an RDS receiver must be purchased. The following types of receivers are available for purchase by the consumer: OEM automotive, after-market automotive, home-stereo tuners and receivers, home-theater receivers, personal-computer-based receivers, portable receivers, and low-cost receivers and such as clock radios. A large portion of the RDS features have been designed for listener convenience. These listener features can be incorporated into a receiver in a variety of ways. The frequency diversity aspect of RDS is one of its most appealing attributes to the listener, since manual tuning or frequency memorization is eliminated. There are wide variations in the features of RDS receivers. The International Electrotechnical Committee has published a set of standards for evaluating the parametric performance of RDS receivers. Most receivers allow the user to preset the volume level to be used during a traffic announcement.
