Digitali e multistandard, il silicio si fa in tre

Una salva di ben tre diversi comunicati, tutti sul silicio per ricevitori digital radio multistandard, ha invaso la mia mailbox e il mio schermo in questi giorni. In rigoroso ordine alfabetico, ecco i press release di Atmel, Frontier Silicon e Mirics. Eppur si muove, in particolare con Atmel e Mirics. L'offerta di quest'ultima sembra molto interessante con la sua compatibilità con integrati per demodulazioni legacy, ma anche Frontier non scherza. Il suo comunicato su Sirius si aggiunge, al CES di Las Vegas, alla notizia relativa all'accordo con RealNetworks per l'integrazione della piattaforma di vendita di musica digitale Rhapsody nei devices basati su tecnologia Venice 6.

Atmel's Highly Flexible Multi-standard Broadcast Radio Front End IC Provides Excellent Reception Performance
January 07, 2008: 08:00 AM EST

HEILBRONN, Germany, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel(R) Corporation announced today the availability of the highly integrated broadcast radio front end IC ATR4262, which enables outstanding car-radio reception. The new IC is designed for high performance applications, in particular for mobile systems such as car radios. The ATR4262 is compatible with the major radio standards including HD Radio, DRM, and AM/FM.
The ATR4262 is a world tuner device covering all AM/FM frequencies worldwide. Its FM section handles the frequency range from 70 MHz to 166 MHz, including weather band and HD Radio in the US. The AM path covers the entire broadcasting frequency range from 150 kHz up to 30 MHz, including modern DRM systems.
While providing maximum flexibility and high performance, the ATR4262's optimized BOM reduces costs. The weather band functionality, for example, can be realized without additional components. Furthermore, no external crystals are needed as the ATR4262 features flexible clock generation enabling the use of any external clock signal.
The ATR4262's flexible AGC system enables matching to all reception conditions. The IF amplifier has 3 different inputs, which can be tailored to different filters. This allows the support of multiple radio standards such as AM/FM; HD Radio, or DRM. In addition, the ATR4262 provides several control possibilities, thus allowing connection to various baseband processors.

Availability and Pricing

Samples of the ATR4262 are now available in very small QFN packages for small and miniature tuner solutions. Pricing starts at US $2.00 for 100k piece quantities. Sample design demo boards are also available.
Product information on Atmel's highly flexible broadcast radio front end IC ATR4262 may be retrieved here.

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Frontier Silicon Brings Sirius Radio Home
Mon Jan 7, 2008 8:03am EST


LAS VEGAS, Nevada, January 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Frontier Silicon, the leading manufacturer of digital audio semiconductors and modules, today announced that it will be supporting the popular Sirius Internet Radio service on its Venice 6 multistandard receiver module. According to market research from Bridge Ratings, Sirius Radio is currently listened to by around six million US-based subscribers via satellite, mainly in their cars. The Sirius Internet Radio service gives subscribers access to numerous channels of music as well as talk, news, comedy and sport programming.
Frontier's Venice 6 allows audio manufacturers to add the capability to connect to the Sirius Internet radio service to a wide range of audio devices such as tabletop radios, clock radios and micro CD systems without requiring a rooftop satellite antenna, thereby making the Sirius service easily accessible in the home environment.
Frontier Silicon's modules and ICs are already at the heart of 80 percent of DAB digital radios used today, and the Venice 6 module is the latest addition to its product range, adding Wi-Fi connectivity to the DAB/DAB+/FM capabilities offered on earlier modules. The Wi-Fi connectivity gives Venice 6-based radios access to over 10,000 internet radio stations and a massive array of free online content such as podcasts and "Listen Again". The module, which also plays audio streamed from a network server and music-on-demand, is opening up vast new markets for the company. By enabling Venice 6 to receive Sirius Internet Radio, consumer electronics manufacturers will be able to produce familiar tabletop radios, microsystems and clock radios that also have access to the Sirius' commercial-free channels for a monthly
subscription fee.
Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon said: "The Sirius radio service is already very popular with consumers in the USA, with millions of subscribers regularly enjoying it. Implementing Sirius on Venice 6 is going to let our customers quickly bring to market new easy-to-install home audio products that will bring this high quality Sirius content into the home."
Venice 6 is a truly global radio module, being the world's only multistandard radio capable of receiving Internet radio, DAB/DAB+, FM and music streamed from a network server. It is based on Frontier Silicon's Chorus 2 processor and streams radio stations and music files in a variety of formats and protocols including MP3, WMA, and RealAudio.

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Mirics expands broadcast tuner product family for portable consumer electronics and handset applications
MSi002 device features I2C control interface to support legacy demodulators

Fleet, UK, 7th January 2008: Mirics Semiconductor, a UK based provider of innovative reconfigurable RF solutions for terrestrial broadcast reception, today announced the addition of the MSi002 poly-band tuner IC to its product family. The MSi002 tuner features an industry standard I2C control interface to provide support for legacy single and multi standard demodulators ICs. By using innovative design techniques Mirics has engineered the MSi002 to deliver high performance broadcast receiver solutions for consumer electronics applications, including cellular handsets, portable radios, PMPs, notebook PCs, and USB TV dongles. The device complements Mirics' ground breaking MSi001 tuner which targeted new and next generation demodulator ICs, which typically feature an SPI 3-wire control interface.
Designed in a mature, low cost SiGe process, the MSi002 tuner offers high performance across the entire terrestrial broadcast spectrum, from 150KHz (LW) to 1.9GHz (L-band). It delivers global digital and analogue reception of multiple standards, including DVB-H, ISDB-T (1, 3 & 13 seg), T-DMB, MediaFLO, DAB, DRM, AM and FM. The MSi002's Fleximode architecture also allows multiband, multi-mode products to be developed, meaning OEMs can leverage the cost benefits of a platform-based product strategy by only requiring a single tuner for multiple product applications. Additionally, since all Mirics' tuners are designed with a detailed understanding of the challenges of 'real world' signal reception, product developers are assured ample margin to the key standards-based RF specifications, thereby delivering OEM production margin and also ensuring a positive consumer experience.
Ralph Weir, VP marketing, Mirics commented: "With the introduction of the MSi002, Mirics provides high performance multi-band tuner support for current and next-generation demodulator products. This performance is delivered without sacrificing the key requirements for portable consumer electronics devices: low power consumption, small solution footprint and low solution cost."
The MSi002 is available now for partner and customer evaluation and system integration, and will be production released in the first quarter of 2008. The device is supplied with an evaluation board and control software for performance testing, and detailed driver support is available for demodulator vendors. Reference designs with select demodulator ICs are also available for detailed system evaluation.