28 Sep Successful 3rd DRM India Automotive Forum
The 3rd DRM Digital Radio Consortium, its many members and partners in India and the world, together with one of its key members, NXP Semiconductors, held their third annual joint event on September 28th. This unique forum for major car OEMs, Tier 1’s, automotive ecosystem partners and Indian broadcasters and regulator, was created three years ago and has continued to grow significantly since.
This very successful Symposium was a great opportunity to explore the most recent DRM developments globally, like the successful DRM FM trial in India, the recently concluded DRM AM and FM trials and demonstrations in Australia, the ongoing developments in South Africa, the continuing DRM FM trial in Denmark, etc. Participants also learned about the extra applications and benefits of DRM digital radio, particularly relevant for the automotive environment, such as DRM Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF).
Participants from the automotive industry were encouraged to support the ongoing momentum in India and beyond by enabling DRM reception for even more car models as a line-fit feature, and also to consider rounding out their existing DRM receiver solutions with the complete core DRM feature set including all-band digital radio reception and native DRM-EWF functionality.
Seasoned technical experts and ecosystem partners offered information on the latest trends and innovations for radio and audio in the car, new solutions for reducing noise and making voice offering available in the car. Several NXP partners and Consortium members, like Gospell and OptM, also presented their latest DRM developments and future plans. Innovatively, the forum included live demonstrations on NXP solutions for DRM FM band and robustness improvement solutions for uninterrupted radio experience in electric and hybrid cars particularly in the AM bands.
Ruxandra Obreja, the DRM Chairman, summarises some of the ideas emerging during the forum: “With over 5 million new cars line-fitted with DRM receivers on Indian roads, the Indian automotive industry has clearly embraced DRM digital radio. During our automotive forum questions were raised on how best to act to support a quick governmental decision in favour of extending DRM radio services adopted in India already for the AM bands to the FM band. This can only be a collective effort and action plan to engage the governmental organizations in the interest of the automotive and the whole Indian broadcast industry. A parallel way forward is also to get governmental decision to mandate digital DRM radios in cars, as it was done in the EU space. The discussions also focused on the importance of developing solutions for DRM AM, still required in the cars. To this some members of the group also mentioned improvements linked to quality of content, publicity for DRM, i.e., making DRM and its benefits known through advertising and extensive marketing. The ultimate message is that the automotive industry in India is thriving and DRM can enhance the performance of the many cars that an increasing number of Indians desire and will own.”