Frontier Silicon launches world's first DMB-Radio profile one compliant tuner

BERLIN, GERMANY: Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of connected audio technology, will be showing at IFA in Berlin this week the world’'s first mass production receiver module solution for DAB, DAB+ and DMB-Radio, which is fully compliant with the WorldDMB receiver profile 1 standard.

This provides a significant step forward in meeting the needs of manufacturers seeking to deliver a single mass market low power unified digital radio for Europe and Australia thus enabling countries to achieve their plans for digital radio switchover.

The availability of DMB-Radio on Venice 7 is especially significant for France, where the government has mandated that all radio receivers, including car radios, must be equipped with a DMB-Radio tuner by September 2013. As part of the digital radio switchover in France, broadcasters are planning to launch DMB-Radio this year in Paris, Nice and Marseille.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, said: “France is the next major market to drive the switch to digital radio. It is anticipated the French market will represent a sizable opportunity for receiver manufacturers from 2010 with Frontier Silicon’s trusted digital tuner technology at the heart.”

Frontier Silicon was the first company to introduce a mass market solution for DAB+ and is still the only technology provider today shipping DAB+ in volume in Australia and Switzerland.

The Venice 7 module supports DAB, DAB+, DMB-Radio and FM without the additional cost of external SDRAM memory. It includes all interfaces necessary for a fully functional radio, needing only power supply, display, keypad, audio amplifier and speakers to complete a product.

The module is footprint compatible with the world’s best selling DAB/DAB+ solutions Venice 5 and Venice 5.1 – this means radio manufacturers have a fast-to-market upgrade path to offer all major digital radio standards without the need to redesign their product.

The software on Venice 7 provides full flexibility to allow radio manufacturers a high degree of product differentiation through UI customization. Software features include multi-language support, iPod docking with secondary display for artist and track name, power saving features, and an in-the-field firmware upgrade facility via USB.

A fully-qualified radio platform including iPod and iPhone docking support is also available with the Jupiter 7 production-ready reference platform. Compliant with WorldDMB’s Profile 1 specification and low power directives for European and the UK ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ scheme, Jupiter 7 is the leading reference design to drive switchover from FM to digital radio throughout Europe and Australia.

Automotive DMB/DAB will feel heat from Internet radio

BOSTON, USA: Recent DMB and DAB digital radio announcements in France, Germany and the UK finally signal the start of semi-consistent digital radio standards being introduced across Europe, according to the latest report from the Strategy Analytics Global Automotive Practice, "European Automotive Radio: DAB/DMB Faces Competitive Challenges from AM/FM and Internet Radio."

“Commercial interest in DMB/DAB will need to rebuild in what is a very difficult automotive planning climate”, says Joanne Blight, automotive director and report author. “Even with such digital radio progress made in Europe’s Big 3, and a full scale commitment from France from 2010 onward, there is still uncertainty over the automotive opportunity.”

“Positioning and pricing of digital radio and understanding consumers’ full multimedia requirements inside and outside the vehicle will be critical,” commented Peter King, consumer devices director. “DMB and DAB has a lot of work to do. Existing FM stations, and Internet access to radio and podcasts, offer huge, low cost choice benefits for consumers.”

This report also concludes that automotive Internet radio faces significant business model challenges but is likely to be found in vehicle-device interfacing solutions starting in 2011.