Next RDS Forum meeting in October 2026 at Geneva

Find us onFacebook LogoTwitter Logo

There are many companies worldwide that offer single FM/RDS radio chips for home receivers, portable devices and/or car radios. The RDS Forum members Skyworks Solutions (who took over the automotive branch of Silicon Labs) and then NXP Semiconductors and ST Microelectronics are the only ones that collaborate within the RDS Forum.

In 2012, the total annual production exceeded one billion ICs.

There are two manufacturers for RDS encoders: Worldcast Systems and 2wcom. Both use the UECP (Universal Encoder Communication Protocol) and thus a mix of these encoders can be used in the same transmitter network.

The same two RDS Forum member companies also manufacture RDS monitoring equipment. Generally the Internet is used to connect this equipment to a monitoring centre.

Likewise and relatively low cost were the RDS tools from RDS Forum member MacBe. However the creator and RDS Forum member Joop Beunders passed away at the end of 2023. The RDS Forum meeting in October 2024 will examine possibilities to continue these products

For RDS receiver measurements Rohde & Schwarz is known for its excellent RDS signal generators. These permit to test all known RDS features and ODAs.

An ODA from the Canadian company e-Radio Inc, the RDS-UMC (Utility Message Channel) is used for electricity power management on water heater devices in Canada and the USA. More recently this technology is also used in France (Fleximax Project) and the USA for Electric Vehicle charging using flexible tariffs.