Fraunhofer IIS Audio Decoder in Frontier Silicon’s Radio Module Powers REVO DAB+ Radio

ERLANGEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frontier Silicon has partnered up with REVO to deliver the world’s first radio that combines DAB/DAB+ and Internet streaming. Revo´s Blik Radiostation, containing Frontier Silicon’s Venice 6 multi-standard module, is the first digital radio on the market using Fraunhofer’s DAB+ audio decoder and framework. The Blik offers native DAB+ support without the need for further upgrades.

The HE-AAC v2 codec specified in DAB+ delivers exceptional audio quality at about one third of the sub-channel bitrate used in regular DAB broadcasts. More radio stations broadcasting on one multiplex leads to a greater station choice for consumers, while the more efficient use of the radio spectrum lowers the transmission costs for broadcasters.

Steve Evans, VP, Sales and Marketing, Frontier Silicon said: “Considering the efficient use of the available bandwidth in DAB+ broadcast, Fraunhofer’s decoder offers an amazing sound experience to the consumer. We expect our DAB+ radio modules to have particular appeal in key markets rolling out DAB+ services in the near future such as Australia and Switzerland.”

“We are pleased to see our audio decoder solution help speed the market introduction of DAB+ radios powered by Frontier Silicon chips. That way, both consumers and broadcasters will benefit from receivers available as soon as the first DAB+ station goes on-air,” said Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems department of Fraunhofer IIS.

Fraunhofer offers complete DAB and DAB+ audio decoder implementations on many embedded platforms, including microprocessors or DSPs from ARM, MIPS, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Intel, AMD and IBM. Broadcasters can license Fraunhofer’s DAB+ encoder modules individually or as part of the professional DAB/DAB+/DRM broadcast server solutions.

The uniqueness of the Frontier Silicon DAB+ solution lies in its hardware-assisted DSP core architecture, which coupled with Fraunhofer’s efficient MPEG-4 HE-AAC v2 audio IP, enables complex broadcast streams to be decoded while keeping power consumption low. Venice 6 is the world’s first digital module capable of receiving Internet radio via Wi-Fi, DAB/DAB+, FM and music streamed from a network server.

Visit Fraunhofer IIS this week at NAB Show booth SL7424 in Las Vegas and Frontier Silicon at Hong Kong Show.

About Fraunhofer IIS

Founded in 1985 the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, today with 520 staff members, ranks first among the Fraunhofer Institutes concerning headcount and revenues. As the inventor of mp3 and co-inventor of the MPEG AAC audio coding standard, Fraunhofer IIS has reached worldwide recognition.

It provides research services on contract basis and technology licensing.

The research topics are: Audio and video source coding, multimedia realtime systems, digital radio broadcasting and digital cinema systems, integrated circuits and sensor systems, design automation, wireless, wired and optical networks, localization and navigation, imaging systems and nanofocus X-ray technology, high-speed cameras, medical sensor solutions and communications technology in transport and logistics.

The budget of 61 million Euro is mainly financed by projects from industry, the service sector and public authorities. Less than 20 percent of the budget is subsidized by federal and state funds.

For more information, visit www.iis.fraunhofer.de.

About Frontier Silicon

Frontier Silicon is the leading supplier of digital and RF integrated circuits and modules for digital audio products and mobile digital TV. Established in 2001 as a privately funded fabless semiconductor company, it has over 160 employees and is headquartered in Watford, England, with design centres in Cambridge and Dublin, and branch offices and technical support representatives in Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan. Products include audio processors for digital radio and network streaming, and receiver solutions for mobile TV.

* Fraunhofer USA Digital Media Technologies, a division of Fraunhofer USA, Inc., promotes and supports the products of Fraunhofer IIS in the U.S.