Frontier Silicon Intros Next-Generation Unified Receiver Module

Frontier Silicon, a supplier of digital radio technology, reportedly has announced its latest generation of unified receiver modules.

 

Fully optimized, according to company officials, the new Venice 7 module ensures the “low levels of cost and power consumption.” In addition, it provides feature enhancements above Frontier’s current Venice 5 DAB solution, Frontier officials say.

 

Venice 7 is compliant with the Europe-wide Profile 1 requirements from WorldDMB and EBU. It’s designed as a drop-in replacement for existing Venice 5-based radios. Officials said that it provides a 50 percent reduction in power consumption to enable the power efficient digital radios.

 

Venice 7 uses Frontier Silicon’s new Kino 3 baseband processor chip, which relies on semiconductor manufacturing process technology. The chip integrates sufficient memory to support DAB, DAB+, DMB-A and FM, and eliminates the need for external SDRAM memory.

 

The Venice 7 module includes all interfaces necessary for a functional radio. To complete a product, this module requires only power supply, display, keypad, audio amplifier and speakers.

 

Also, when configured in master mode, Venice 7 can drive a number of different display options depending on the end product application. Officials said that options range from a 128x64 full graphics display running Frontier’s 4-line user interfaces, to a starburst display with a single line UI.

 

Moreover, Venice 7 can be configured in slave mode under the control of an external microprocessor for more complex audio systems such as AV receivers. For this system integration, full-featured software application interface and host reference software is provided.

 

Additional 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 through USB.

 

“Venice 7 is powered by Frontier’s new leading-edge audio processor IC, Kino 3. This has resulted in the most cost-optimised multi-mode tuner module available today,” said Anthony Sethill, chief executive officer at Frontier Silicon.

 

The company said it expects Venice 7 module to strengthen the growing DAB market in the UK while addressing the emerging digital radio markets including Australia, France, Germany and Italy. These countries are planning major digital radio launches during the next 12 months.