Product category: Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: Frontier Silicon | Subject: Chorus 2i
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 8 January 2007
Baseband receiver SoC
targets Wi-Fi radios
The Chorus 2i baseband receiver SoC, bringing over 10,000 Internet radio stations and network audio streaming capability to sub-$99 Wi-Fi radios
CES in Las Vegas sees Frontier Silicon launch its Chorus 2i baseband receiver SoC, bringing over 10,000 Internet radio stations and network audio streaming capability to sub-$99 Wi-Fi radios. It is the first multimode IC to combine analogue and digital broadcast reception with complete IP connectivity enabling manufacturers to easily design and produce radios capable of receiving Internet, DAB and FM radio stations, with the addition of network audio streaming through existing home Wi-Fi and Internet connections.
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 January 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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The chip, along with a complete software development kit, module, and reference platforms, is sampling to customers this month, with radios expected in the shops by summer.
'With audio content increasingly becoming available online, audio receivers must embrace Wi-Fi connectivity to avoid obsolescence within a few years', said Steve Evans, Frontier Silicon's VP for digital audio.
'While the majority of audio products today rely on broadcast technology, we are now in the transition decade where consumers will increasingly demand access to digital content from the Internet'.
'This chip will accelerate the introduction of the new generation of home audio systems by bringing Internet radio and streaming into mass market radios and audio systems'.
Millions of people are already regularly listening to their favourite radio programmes over the Internet through PCs, but as broadband and Wi-Fi penetration grows in the home, it is expected that listeners will want to migrate to more traditional and easier-to-use entertainment products for their Internet radio services.
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Design platform puts Wi-Fi/DAB/FM module to work
Low-cost Wi-Fi radio reference platform for 'four-in-one' module helps designers build portable and clock radio products incorporating Internet radio, DAB, FM and music streaming capabilities
Applications will include a wide range of audio products, from portable and alarm clock radios to CD microsystems, boomboxes and hi-fi tuners.
Also, as more consumers use PCs as central music file servers, streaming playback capability will become a sought after feature, enabling audio files to be played through the Wi-Fi radio when connected to a Wi-Fi front-end.
'We believe that it is essential for the manufacturing community to ensure that their products are scalable to meet the evolving demands in both broadcast and IP radio', added Evans.
'It's already happening in TV and it's going to happen in radio on a global scale'.
Measuring a compact 13 x 13mm, the new advanced Chorus 2i SoC has a flexible DSP architecture which ensures that the chip has sufficient capacity to run all the streaming protocols and audio decoders necessary for a Wi-Fi radio application, along with spare resources to provide DAB and FM functionality.
Unique to Chorus 2i is the integration of peripheral features on-chip, such as the USB 2.0 OTG interface for music download/playback and software upgrade, support for TFT and LCD displays, ATA/ATAPI interface for hard-disk storage, NAND Flash, memory stick and SD interfaces.
Chorus 2i streams radio stations and music files in a variety of formats and protocols including MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), Real Audio, AU, WAV and AIFF.
The chip integrates an intuitive user interface which enables setup, search and browse of over 10,000 Internet radio stations plus a wide selection of podcasts with only a few key presses.
The radio stations and podcasts are accessed through the vTuner Internet portal, which manages all the stations to ensure the quality and reliability of the available content.
Unlike other broadcasting standards which vary from country to country, Internet radio products are not constrained by geographic location.
According to an independent report from Lehman Brothers, the worldwide broadband market will account for approximately 350 million connections by 2009, with 60% of connections made through a Wi-Fi link.
The report suggests a potential total available market of over 10 million Wi-Fi radio units by 2009.
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