NEW DELHI: NXP Semiconductors and Hyundai Mobis have successfully completed field trials of MOBIS DRM receivers and NXP chips designed in India.

NXP said that the company worked together with DRM Consortium, All India Radio and Mobis India to launch DRM receivers and chips designed in India for the Indian automotive market.

The chips and DRM receivers are now deployed in DRM-fitted car infotainment receivers in a recently-launched vehicle in India by a leading carmaker.

DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) provides FM-comparable, or better audio quality on the AM radio band. This technology provides additional data services such as traffic updates, natural disaster warnings and news. This standard is suitable for India since AM radio covers over 98 per cent of the population in India, and only 37 per cent of listeners can currently receive the FM signal.

DRM Consortium chairman Ruxandra Obreja said, “All India Radio is about to complete the nationwide installations of DRM transmitters, and the availability of DRM receivers in vehicles will enable digital music and value added services. She also said that this will give All India Radio reasons to increase the transmission power of the DRM transmitters and provide world-class content to the listeners.”

Mobis Technical Centre India’s Multimedia Division head Bob Paul Raj said, “The company has been working with NXP on the design of this radio entertainment system with DRM functions. The two companies have cooperated on comprehensive field trials from design stage to final product to ensure the solution meets the requirements of the Indian market.”

The work and tests carried out highlight that DRM in India is a reality and that the automotive industry is at the forefront of the Indian digital radio roll-out, noted Raj.

NXP Semiconductors South Asia Pacific senior director Ashok Chandak said, “NXP is one of the first semiconductor companies to demonstrate digital audio across all three global standards from the same car radio co-processor.”

The company’s R&D centre in India was instrumental in developing the chip (SATURN – SAF360X) and software for this technology.