This article first looks at the merits of exploiting FM RDS data in mobile devices which contain other functionalities, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). It then explores details of RDS transmission along with traditional receiver processing. It also looks at factors influencing RDS performance and discusses why it is important to improve the receiver performance. Finally, it presents the optimized receiver which enables improved user experiences.

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About the authors
Aravind Ganesan is a senior systems engineer for wireless connectivity solutions within the Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) wireless business unit. In this role, he is responsible for developing algorithms for communication systems in the wireless connectivity segment for mobile devices at TI.

Ganesan joined the TI family in 2004 as a Digital Signal Processing engineer at TI Bangalore. In this role, he worked on implementing PHY layer enhancements for the next generation DRP-based GSM-GPRS chipset. Ganesan received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 2000. In addition, he received a Master of Science degree in Electrical and Communications Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2003.

Jaiganesh Balakrishnan is a senior systems engineer for wireless connectivity solutions within the Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) wireless business unit in Bangalore. In this role, he focuses on the design of highly integrated, power efficient and high performance connectivity transceiver cores for the mobile segment at TI. In recognition of great technical achievements and impact at TI, Balakrishnan was elected as Senior Member Technical Staff (SMTS), a group composed of TI's top six percent of technical achievers company wide.

In 2002, Balakrishnan joined TI's Digital Signal Processing Solutions R&D Center in Dallas where he co-developed the multi-band orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing ultra wideband communication system and worked on the design of digital video broadcast receivers. In 2005, he moved to TI Bangalore where he was placed in his current role.

Balakrishnan received a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in 1997. In addition, he received a Master of Science degree and his Ph.D. from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University in 1999 and 2002.