Data Radio Channel (DARC) is a high-rate (16 kbit/s) standard for encoding data in a subcarrier over FM radio broadcasts. It uses a frequency of 76kHz, the fourth harmonic of the FM radio pilot tone. DARC was approved as the All-European standard ETS 300 751 in 1997.

Applications

DARC is well-suited to distributing traffic information because of its higher speed. In Japan, the VICS (

Vehicle Information and Communication System Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS) is a technology used in Japan for delivering traffic and travel information to road vehicle drivers. It provides simple maps showing information about traffic jams, travel time, and road work - ...

) service has operated since 1996 in the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

metropolitan areas. In

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, DARC has been tested for traffic message channel services. In the United States, it was used to deliver stock market quotations by Digital DJ beginning in 1998. In

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, DARC is used to transmit public transport data to battery-powered signs in bus and tram stations.

Similar technologies

Other data broadcasting technologies include RDS and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

's DirectBand.

References

*Dietmar Kopitz, Bev Marks, ''RDS: The Radio Data System''. Artech House Publishers, 1999. Sections 7.6.2 and 13.3.2.2. *''Data Radio Channel (DARC) System'', Electronic Industries Alliance, 1999. 41 pages :''This article includes text from the corresponding article on the French Wikipedia.''

External links

*
Broadcast messages on the DARC side

The DARC side of Munich - Hunting FM broadcasts for bus and tram display information
{{Audio broadcasting Radio technology Data transmission Telecommunications-related introductions in 1996