Fraunhofer IIS, STMicroelectronics Enable Low-Power ASIC for DRM
April 5, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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STMicroelectronics and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) will jointly develop a dedicated low-power application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) applications such as fixed and portable radios, car receivers, software receivers and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
The ASIC will allow listeners to set their radio using station names; it will offer audio quality and will integrate sound with data and text.
Standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), DRM is a universal, open standard digital radio system with FM-like sound quality available to markets worldwide for long-wave (LW), medium-wave (MW), and short-wave (SW) frequencies.
Unlike digital radio systems that require a new frequency allocation, DRM uses the existing AM broadcast frequency bands (below 30 MHz) more efficiently.
The DRM signal fits into the AM broadcast-band plan and can be carried by existing AM transmitters, resulting in a simple, inexpensive upgrade to the previous transmission infrastructure.
"Radio makers, broadcasters, and listeners can benefit from Fraunhofer's collaboration with an industry-leading company like STMicroelectronics. Using our DRM receiver technology and the audio coding library provided by Coding Technologies, ST can deliver all of the components to produce a complete solution for DRM," said Michael Schlicht, group manager of integrated circuits for communication systems and program manager of digital broadcast systems, Fraunhofer IIS.
"We are pleased that these DRM members have agreed to combine their complementary competencies to develop products that help drive new innovations in technology," said Peter Senger, chairman of the DRM consortium. "DRM's capabilities for both audio and data will give new life to the traditional radio market, opening up the world of wide-area data-casting of news, weather, traffic and other information as well as high-quality audio broadcasting."
Source: STMicroelectronics.