Frontier Silicon, 10 milioni di dollari sul DAB/DMB

Dieci milioni di dollari di investimenti. E' questa l'entità del coinvolgimento finanziario su cui Frontier Silicon intende impegnarsi per lo sviluppo di Chorus 3, nuova famiglia di chip per la realizzazione di ricevitori digitali DAB/DAB+/DMB. Impegno annunciato espressamente dopo che il governo britannico si è a sua volta impegnato sul passaggio a una radiofonia completamente digitale. Dieci milioni di dollari per l'industria del silicio non sono una somma così considerevole. E un investimento del genere non comporterà automaticamente il coinvolgimento di chi le radio le deve costruire. Ma è ovviamente un passo importante. Una descrizione del chip si trova a questo indirizzo, si tratterà fondamentalmente di un baseband processor RISC a 166 MHz da utilizzare a valle di un tuner RF. Servirà per la realizzazione di apparecchi DAB/DMB (non si parla di DRM) e per l'implementazione di codec e interfacce per la radio via Internet.

Frontier Silicon initiates $10m investment in new DAB technology following Digital Britain report

London, 2 February 2009: Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of DAB radio chips, today announces the initiation of a $10m investment in a new advanced chip for digital radios. The technology, known as Chorus 3, delivers an ultra low-cost and lower-power device that will help drive the successful migration to DAB digital radio over the course of the next ten years.
This investment builds on the constructive proposals contained in last week’s interim Digital Britain report, including the Government’s endorsement of the digital migration of radio and commitment to DAB as the primary distribution network for future radio broadcasting.
With a 50 per cent saving on cost and a 50 per cent saving on power consumption, the chip is a greener form of technology and the first of its kind to support all types of DAB radio, which means that it is particularly suited to the car industry’s plan for pan-European design. The company, which supplies the technology for the majority of digital radios sold in Britain, anticipates that the new chip will be shipping to receiver manufacturers by early 2010.
Anthony Sethill, Chief Executive of Frontier Silicon, said: “The cost structure and performance of the new DAB chip will assist the Government’s aim to achieve the necessary criteria for a digital migration of radio by 2015. We now look forward to harnessing the success of this advanced DAB technology as we develop a concrete Digital Migration Plan with the Digital Radio Delivery Group.”