[bejoy]

Those who own a 2018 or newer Maruti, Toyota, Mahindra or a Hyundai, it is likely that they have a "hidden" radio mode in their factory fitted ICE.


(In Maruti Ciaz)

This is "Digital Radio Mondiale" - DRM for short (mondiale being Italian and French for "worldwide"). Now, this is not a new broadcast technology and it has been there for a while. But as with any new technology, the adoption has been severely lacking, especially when competing technology - like Analog FM, is serving its purpose. Also since the technology is not compatible with the existing receivers, the users need to buy new radio sets to receive the stations. And who will buy new radio unless there are stations available, a kind of chicken and egg problem.

DRM consortium thought the best way to get adoption is to make the receivers available in the vehicles and get the base ready before starting operations. In early 2017, they roped in in Auto and ICE manufacturers to include the receiver in the cars. Now (as of late 2020), it is estimated that around 2.5 million cars in India has DRM receivers.

In 2017,

NXP Semiconductors, the world’s largest supplier of automotive semiconductors and Hyundai Mobis, the world’s leading tier-1 automotive supplier, have announced the successful completion of field trials of MOBIS DRM receivers and NXP chips designed in India. The chips and DRM receivers are now deployed in DRM-fitted car infotainment receivers in a newly launched vehicle in India by a leading carmaker.

Source



In 2019,

The industry has worked very hard to spread DRM receivers. There are already 1.5 million cars with DRM receivers over the past 2 years.

“The car industry has really supported the introduction of DRM. Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra car makers have all begun fitting DRM receivers into their new cars.

Source



In 2020,

The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium has announced the creation of the first DRM Automotive Workgroup for India on November 25th during the second annual NXP India Cockpit and Infotainment Forum organized by NXP Semiconductors. NXP is the number one in automotive infotainment systems and the global market leader for digital car radio solutions. During this event, All India Radio presented recent optimizations of the national DRM coverage as well as upcoming, exclusive service offerings for their listeners on DRM.

Currently, on the Indian roads there are over 2.5 million cars (representing all the big automotive brands) fitted with DRM receivers at no extra cost to consumers.

Source

DRM options in various Maruti cars:
S-Presso


Swift


Wagon-R



Coming to the latest developments, DRM FM transmissions are being tested in Delhi by All India Radio (AIR).





Source




More info about DRM:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Radio_Mondiale
https://www.drm.org/what-can-i-hear/...st-schedule-2/
https://prasarbharati.gov.in/drm-digital-radio-of-air

AIR is already broadcasting on SW and MW bands from many locations. There are standalone radios available for purchase but the cost remains high. Hope the economies of scale brings down the cost. There is criticism that DRM is proprietary in nature that makes the receiver costly. I&B ministry is driving the digitization of the FM band, but not committed on the technology.

Only time will tell whether DRM will be the mainstream radio broadcast standard in India.

[zadoom]

Hi Bejoy,
A few questions that come to my mind, please excuse my complete lack of understanding and so these questions are purely from an user perspective.

1. What are the advantages of this technology? Is it the quality of transmission or something else.
2. Will it mean an absolutely different set of content that will be available on DRM or is it that the user has an option of hearing to the same content (say a Radio Mirchi) either on FM or DRM. Is it something like this.
3. I am not sure if we already have traffic alerts / broadcasts from government agencies already available for automobiles in India now. Eg. In Europe even though you might be playing music through Bluetooth or an USB but the traffic alerts override and still come up. Thought you do have an option of disabling them but at least you know that if there's any major traffic disruption you will be alerted to it. Will the DRM tech enable such features in our cars?

thanks,
Mayank

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the In-Car Entertainment forum. Thanks for sharing!

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by zadoom

1. What are the advantages of this technology? Is it the quality of transmission or something else.

Main advantage is the quality of audio that will be maintained even when the signal strength goes down, especially in the fringe areas of coverage (e.g. going out of city). From user perspective, especially in FM band, there may not be any difference in the audio quality. However there will be marked quality difference in the Medium Wave(MW) or Short Wave (SW) bands - if one remembers the old AM radios giving out all static noise in background - so instead one can hear FM quality audio. And since it is MW and SW bands it will reach out to a broad region hundreds of kms away from the station. In fact the DRM was chosen for the format for SW broadcasts that cuts across continents.

Originally Posted by zadoom

2. Will it mean an absolutely different set of content that will be available on DRM or is it that the user has an option of hearing to the same content (say a Radio Mirchi) either on FM or DRM. Is it something like this.

Mostly it will be the same content. The existing stations will continue to operate in FM Analog mode, but there may be new private stations coming up in future. All the AIR stations are planned for upgrade to digital transmission. There can only be a limited number of stations in the FM band (88Mhz to 108Mhz) in a region (e.g a city) and one solution to increase the number is to convert the stations to digital transmission, which will occupy a narrow bandwidth compared to the analog transmissions. But we are a long way to go before reaching a situation like this.

Originally Posted by zadoom

3. I am not sure if we already have traffic alerts / broadcasts from government agencies already available for automobiles in India now. Eg. In Europe even though you might be playing music through Bluetooth or an USB but the traffic alerts override and still come up. Thought you do have an option of disabling them but at least you know that if there's any major traffic disruption you will be alerted to it. Will the DRM tech enable such features in our cars?

The RDS (Radio Data System) via analog FM is available in most cars, but the actual content for traffic alerts is not broadcasted in India. Most are limited to the Radio station/programme name that will be displayed. At least there is no regulation in place to transmit such information, but the infrastructure is available. DRM offers more text content that is transmitted via the Journaline feature. AIR currently transmits News headlines and brief content via it, so that it will be displayed in the ICE screen.

[EightSix]

Mayank, and other BHPians who would like to know more about this technology — there is an interesting and informative guide by DRM.org that will answer most of your questions. Sharing it here —

[Jeroen]

thanks for sharing, interesting. Whereas DRM is originally an European initiative, I think it is being overtaken by DAB+ technology in many European countries. Currently we have a huge number of stations on DAB+ already. All our local and national stations are on DAB+ and some are pulling out of FM already. Perhaps DAB is preferable for smaller countries?

The big advantage of DRM appears to be it can be transmitted on original AM transmitters. For some countries that never really got into full FM coverage that could be a huge advantage. In Europe we tend to have very comprehensive FM coverage and AM broadcast have all but ceased to exist. Also, the DRM is stronger and carries further. Requiring less transmission infrastructure.

I know there was some thought/work on integrating DRM and DAB more closely. no idea where we are on that. But European cars now tend to offer DAB either standard or as an option on FM. I am sure the radio receiver is already equipped with DAB capability and if an option it is just a simple parameter setting that enables it.

Having a correct antenna is crucial with DAB. Contrary to AM/FM and I think even DRM, DAB either works perfectly or not at all. There is no in between.

Me being a bit of a nerd and always willing to be an early adapter looked into DAB a few years ago. I wanted a proper radio in my garage, whilst fiddling with my cars. At the time, my home WiFI did not cover the garage, so Internet Radio was out. A traditional FM radio was an option, until I read about DAB+. So I went on a search and found a very very simple DAB+ receiver and hooked it up to my Bose Soundbox. Excellent sound. Mind you, DAB reception indoors can be tricky so I needed to hook it up to an antenna. The internet came to the rescue with an article for a DIY DAB antenna.

Since, I listen to DAB+ radio in my garage!





Jeroen

[DigitalOne]

Very useful to know. My 2018 Verna has this but I never bothered to learn what this is. And it is good to see the government's channel (AIR) take the initiative to adopt the latest

[MSC]

Finally I can make out what is meaning of DRM in AVNT of my Venue. When I bought the car even the sales consultant did not had any idea. He too just said it's related to Radio.
But currently its usage is limited to some selected set of cities, if I am not wrong. There does not seems any signal or response, when I switch on ICE with mode selection in DRM. The system just simply goes silent. Even the usual radio noise when in zero signal area is also absent.
I just checked YouTube and going by the videos, there is a massive jump in sound quality. It didn't even felt as if radio is being operated.
There may be 1.5 million cars with DRM capability but it's in trial mode right now. Only people in select list of cities are currently able to experience this. For others it is just a feature which doesn't works. Once the signal strength and coverage increases, I don't think anyone will need a USB drive or phone for music.
Cassette were killed by CDs, which in turn got the boot when AUX and USB drives came. Rapidly updating technology then replaced USB with Bluetooth audio and we already can see the smartphone replacement for audio needs.
Just wondering if it will be a free for all service or will they charge for subscription.
Any further details will surely be helpful.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

thanks for sharing, interesting. Whereas DRM is originally an European initiative, I think it is being overtaken by DAB+ technology in many European countries. Currently we have a huge number of stations on DAB+ already. All our local and national stations are on DAB+ and some are pulling out of FM already. Perhaps DAB is preferable for smaller countries?

Many countries, especially in Europe have plans to stop the analog FM service and go fully digital - DAB+. The original DRM was meant to be the digital format for the AM stations in SW and MW bands, i.e. long distance radio. The one in FM band is actually DRM+

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The big advantage of DRM appears to be it can be transmitted on original AM transmitters. For some countries that never really got into full FM coverage that could be a huge advantage. In Europe we tend to have very comprehensive FM coverage and AM broadcast have all but ceased to exist. Also, the DRM is stronger and carries further. Requiring less transmission infrastructure.

The DRM consortium's selling point to AIR and I&B Ministry was the reuse of existing transmitters in AM/FM bands. Whereas DAB+ infrastructure needs a new spectrum allocation and a transmitter station, but at same time, each transmitter can carry 64 channels (in theory). I believe the Govt doesn't feel that there is such a huge market for digital radio in India, though the sale of spectrum could rake in huge revenue.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I know there was some thought/work on integrating DRM and DAB more closely. no idea where we are on that. But European cars now tend to offer DAB either standard or as an option on FM. I am sure the radio receiver is already equipped with DAB capability and if an option it is just a simple parameter setting that enables it.

There is a huge audience for radio content in US and European countries and most of them listen while in car. But the DRM is not really changing the in-car listening of radio in India, where most cities/towns have FM coverage anyway. And the AIR station content is not welcomed as "entertaining". Any day, the choice is private FM stations

Originally Posted by MSC

Just wondering if it will be a free for all service or will they charge for subscription.
Any further details will surely be helpful.

I really wish the digital radio picks up in India either it is DRM or DAB+ to have some free content while on the move. Till then it is good old FM radio or streaming audio!

For those keen to know more about the competing technologies and the market of digital radio across the world, check out this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI4LAUjl3VE

[subhro1988]

Thank you for the informative thread. My 2017 Dzire has this. In 2017, when I bought the car, I tried a few times to latch on to a station but could not get anything. Thus I did not bother much and left it at that. Now that I know from this thread, I will again try today.

[PaddleShifter]

My S-Cross head unit has got DRM and I disabled DRM and AM on day 1 itself so that I have to press “mode” button fewer times to toggle between FM/USB/BT options for audio source. There is no option to disable FM else I would have done that too. There is zero reception for all 3 here in hills.

Thanks for sharing this and I will try it out once when I visit the bigger cities in plains.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by bejoy

There is a huge audience for radio content in US and European countries and most of them listen while in car. ]

Absolutely, radio is still a big thing both in the US and Europe. There are dozens if not hundreds of public and commercial broadcasting companies.

A tiny country like the Netherlands has 7 national public broadcasters and 13 regional ones. Between them they have some 50 different national and local radio channels, all FM and DAB+. On top of that we have an almost endless number of commercial radiostations as well.

I always listen to the radio in my car. I used to drive 75.000 km annually on business alone. In the morning I always tune in to news and current affair stations. Good way to start the day. In the evening, on my way home I usually listen to various music stations.

We still have many radio DJs here, some very famous celebrities, and they only do radio. We still have some very famous radioprogram, some have been running for decades, literally. And are still hugely popular.

I always have the radio on when I am fiddling with my cars or doing odd jobs in my garage. I have several iPod, iPads and iPhone full with songs and videos (movies, TV series) but I have yet to subscribe to a (paid) streaming service. I guess I am getting old. I prefer to own stuff over just renting/streaming it.

I don’t have a radio in the house. But I do use internet radio. Just about all public and commercial station that broadcast on FM, DAB+ are also available through an internet.

Jeroen

[IP_Man]

WOW! Most welcoming addition to ICE.

Any day I will prefer DRM over analogue FM because it is plagued with too much of noisy ads.

I have Yamaha AV receiver that have digital FM stations, may be hundreds of them, out of which few are dedicated to Indian music. Quality depends upon bitrate but most importantly they are ad free.

[jkrishnakj]

Very informative thread. Just shows that there are many many areas that I’m ignorant of and such things open up a bright new curiosity inside my already grey matter.

I’ll look for DRM in my upcoming new car soon. I am sure that I will be reading up more on this sometime over the weekend. Curiosity gets the better of me.

[ant_vas]

I had seen 2 option in the infotainment system of my Dzire: DRM and DRM-AST

After reading this thread today i tried to search for any channels and surprisingly i did catch 2 channels from AIR Bangalore. One is a News 24x7 (803 KHz) and other "Primary" playing some kannada talk and song show.

While the audio quality was very clear but the reception was spotty and the audio was on and off for few seconds.