Triband module is basis of global DAB receiver

A RadioScape product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Feb 20, 2004

The new RadioScape RS250H is the world's first, fully integrated, triband micromodule, supporting FM, RDS, Band III DAB and L-Band DAB.

The new RadioScape RS250H is the world's first, fully integrated, triband micromodule, supporting FM, RDS, Band III DAB and L-Band DAB, that enables handheld radio receivers to be made and used anywhere in the world.

The tiny form factor of the micromodule measures only 52 x 37 x 7mm so that a whole new generation of truly global, handheld portable DAB receivers can be created.

The battery life has also been extended as its power consumption is less than 500mW providing up to 15h of use from three AA cells or 10h from two AA cells but without compromising the high sensitivity of the receiver.

"This module is a breakthrough in DAB miniaturisation", said Nigel Oakley, VP of Marketing at RadioScape.

"The module is smaller than a box of matches and will enable a portable DAB receiver to be made that is less than the footprint of a business card.

The size determining factors are now the display and the batteries.

2003 was the year that DAB took off with kitchen radio designs being the main driver - 2004 will be the year that handheld designs take off.

This small form factor also demonstrates that integrating into mobile phones will soon be possible using RadioScape-based technology, especially as most mobile phones are also based on Texas Instruments DSPs".

RadioScape has used the same design philosophy behind the RS200 and RS200L and designed the RS250H using readily available components to ensure high volume production runs can be easily achieved to meet the growing demand for DAB receivers.

And, as with the other modules, the RS250H uses the popular and readily available DRE200 DAB receiver chip from Texas Instruments.

This consists of a high performance DSP that runs RadioScape's DAB software stack and other software as required, giving the ability to quickly and easily add new features and updates via software uploads.

The RS250H includes the ability to support a large, multiline character or full graphical display (128 x 64 pixel) and has a fully featured and highly intuitive graphical user interface as a standard option making it very easy to operate.

Its small size and low power consumption also makes it ideal for other applications requiring DAB capability but where space and/or power are at a premium, such as multifunction devices, micro hi-fi, MP3 players, automotive or mobile media devices.

"RadioScape has done an amazing piece of design work to shrink a complete triband DAB receiver into such as a small form factor without compromising the quality and sensitivity of the receiver", said Les Mable, Business Development Manager for Digital Radio at Texas Instruments.

The RadioScape RS250H module is priced at around $49 in volume quantities, enabling digital radio manufacturers to quickly and easily bring feature rich products to market at very competitive prices.

RadioScape's unique software defined module approach means that manufacturers simply have to add a case, aerial, display, buttons and battery compartment to have a finished product.