DS (Radio Data System) is a communication protocol standard used for embedding small amounts of digital information in traditional FM radio broadcasts. It enables radio stations to transmit data such as station identification, program information, and traffic updates.

To capture and decode RDS data, one method involves using a Software Defined Radio (SDR) along with GNU Radio and RFtap. GNU Radio provides a framework for creating software radios, while RFtap acts as a bridge between GNU Radio and conventional network monitoring and packet analysis tools like Wireshark.

Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, RFtap is no longer being maintained and does not work with the latest version of GNU Radio (version 3.10.10).

Dilshan Jayakody offers guidelines for rebuild and using RFtap with the new GNU Radio release. See more in his post here.