NXP (ex Philips), ecco i chip per radio digitali universali

A Las Vegas inizia il celebre salone della Consumer Electronics e già fioccano i comunicati sulle novità riguardanti la radio digitale. Comincerei dalle fondamenta, cioè dalla componentistica progettata per affrontare l'annosa questione del ricevitori universale. NXP, fino al 2006 una divisione Philips, sembra aver centrato l'obiettivo di un chipset capace di assicurare tutte le funzionalità di sintonia, demodulazione e postprocesso audio necessarie in un ricevitore di nuova generazione compatibile con modulazioni analogiche e digitali AM/FM, HD Radio (NXP ha una lunga esperienza in materia), DAB/DMB e DRM/DRM+. NXP accoglierà i visitatori del suo stand al CES con una "concept radio" che illustra tutte queste possibilità, promettendo livelli di "mass production" entro il 2011. Il chipset è rivolto in particolare all'industria dell'intrattenimento a bordo dell'automobile. Qualche dettaglio in più si trova sul data sheet dedicato al SAF3560-DS e su questa pagina.

Insieme alle notizie che ho riportato dalla Corea qualche settimana fa, questo annuncio NXP dice che almeno sul piano dei componenti siamo arrivati ad avere condizioni favorevoli alla produzione di quei ricevitori universali che potrebbero imprimere al mondo della radio digitale una svolta decesiva. E' significativo che tutto questo trovi spazio in un evento così focalizzato sull'elettronica di consumo.

First All-in-One Digital One-Chip for Automotive Radio

Innovative low power solution integrates AM/FM radio and audio signal post-processing in a single chip

Eindhoven, Netherlands, December 13, 15 2010 – Today NXP Semiconductors announced the industry’s first RFCMOS-based, all-in-one digital chip for automotive radio applications. The TEF663x integrates AM/FM radio and audio signal post-processing functions in a single integrated circuit (IC). Until now, the tuner, radio DSP and audio post-processing DSP cores were separate ICs. NXP’s TEF663x will be on demonstration during the International CES 2011 at NXP’s showcase, located at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The TEF663x will be showcased along with the SAF356x multi-standard baseband processor for digital terrestrial radio systems and other automotive infotainment products, integrated into a complete stand-alone system Concept Radio Demonstrator.

Facts/Highlights:

• NXP’s RFCMOS-based Digital One-Chip Receiver TEF663x, includes tuner front-end, radio and audio processing with support of HD radio, DRM and single or dual tuner DAB/DAB+/T-DMB via NXP’s SAF356x.
• By combining the RFCMOS front-end with mixed signal PLL and audio codecs, the TEF663x offers more than 30 percent improvement in power consumption for equivalent system functions based on previous generation ICs.
• With advanced radio and audio algorithms for signal processing, the automotive qualified TEF663x meets key car OEM radio and audio performance requirements, as well as the AEC-Q100 standard, and supports all major analog radio and terrestrial digital radio standards, with the companion chip SAF356x.
• The only solution where the radio receiver integrates AM/FM RF front-end with radio and audio baseband processing on a single die, the TEF663x offers automotive infotainment engineers a simple way to reduce PCB space, RF design risk and R&D costs.
• The audio signal processing contains basic functionality such as tone-volume-mutecontrol as well as advanced digital audio processing such as audio equalization, chimes, etc. Additionally, the TEF663x offers a rich selection of digital and analog inputs and outputs to allow flexible integration of multiple audio sources and outputs.

SAF356x features software to support HD Radio, DAB, DAB+ and T-DMB standards

NXP Semiconductors today announced the availability of the SAF356x series, a flexible digital radio co-processor for car entertainment systems supporting DAB, DAB+ and T-DMB reception, as well as HD Radio. All standards are supported for both single- and dual-tuner applications. The SAF356x is the market’s first multi-standard baseband processor for digital terrestrial radio systems, with software that can be modified to support additional features in the future, including standards such as DRM or DRM+. [il corsivo è mio]

As a multi-standard processor which can replace multiple ICs used in car entertainment systems today allowing future-proof design and software upgrade flexibility, the NXP SAF356x enables car OEMs and Tier One suppliers to reduce their total cost of ownership for digital reception systems.

“The SAF356x has impressed us with its high versatility - its support of HD Radio and various DAB standards, its scalability from single- to dual-tuner applications, and additional features such as timeshift and DAB-FM blending,” said Michael Görtler, development manager at Fujitsu-Ten Europe GmbH. “This means we only have to invest in one hardware platform and still have the flexibility we need to fulfill the different demands of our many customers. What NXP offers as a package is also unique in the market, as the company is able to support not only the chip, but the complete application including its own DAB software.”

The SAF356x is a digital radio processor that demodulates and processes digital terrestrial radio signals and outputs the decoded audio and data. For HD Radio, it uses the AM/FM signals from NXP's leading radio/audio DSPs such as SAF7741 or its newest RFCMOS-based digital one-chip TEF663x. As the leading baseband processor for HD radio in cars, the SAF356x series makes it easy for customers to also build DAB systems based on the same hardware, with the addition of a DAB tuner module and application of new automotive-grade NXP software for DAB, DAB+ and T-DMB for single- and dual-tuner applications with one baseband processor.

“We're helping our customers lower the cost of ownership for digital radio by offering an innovative software defined radio solution for multiple standards. This approach also enables customers to benefit from our continuous innovation adding features such as seamless blending of DAB and FM signals, and unique algorithms to increase the reception area,” said Sebastian Schreuder, product marketing manager, NXP Semiconductors. “We will also be ready to support additional standards in emerging markets like DRM in India and Russia.”

Major benefits of terrestrial radio processor systems using the SAF356x:

• Lower cost of ownership for digital terrestrial radio by supporting multiple standards and tuner configurations with one IC
• HD Radio (SAF3560)
• DAB, DAB+, T-DMB (SAF3561)
• Single- as well as dual-tuner applications with audio plus data
• Facilitated system design
• Modular approach with easy to use co-processor to AM/FM radio/audio DSPs
• High-level API and automotive-grade software reducing development effort
• Full feature set including audio source decoding to reduce load on the application and host processor
• Differentiating features of NXP’s DAB software enabled by scaling external SDRAM
• DAB-FM blending
• Timeshift for pausing radio playback and resuming listening later
• Reception improvement algorithms