TI Introduces Industry's First Open Software and DSP-Based Solution for Eureka DAB Digital Radio Receivers
New Solution Costs 40% Less, Consumes 60% Less Power and Enables Feature-Rich, Integrated Products
HOUSTON (January 15, 2001) - Transforming the face of radio technology, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today unveiled the industry's most cost-effective reference design and lowest power, single-chip digital baseband for Eureka digital audio broadcast (DAB) radios. TI is the first vendor to offer a digital signal processor (DSP)-based, open software solution that will empower manufacturers to deliver feature-rich products such as integrated digital radios and Internet audio players. The offering targets all segments of the digital radio market, including automotive, portable and home. www.ti.com/sc/digitalradio
 TI's first digital baseband for digital radio, the TMS320DRE200, includes TI's programmable DSP technology and RadioScape Ltd. software. The reference design contains all components necessary to design a receiver including the DRE200 baseband, analog parts and RF circuitry.
"We utilize TI technology in our WaveFinder™ product because it allows us to deliver some of the advanced capabilities of digital radio such as real-time MP3 transcoding and broadcast data services," said Ken McAlpine, Managing Director at Psion Infomedia, Ltd. "TI's solution will facilitate low power, easy to use systems which can be upgraded as digital radio technology evolves. We are also very encouraged by TI's drive to reduce system costs which will help to accelerate the adoption of digital radio in the consumer market."
TI will provide its reference design for 40 percent less than existing solutions, which exceed $100. By offering a low cost digital baseband and eliminating the need for hardware such as external memory and microcontrollers, TI gives manufacturers dramatic system cost savings.
TI's DRE200 consumes less than 200 milliwatts (mW) -- 60 percent lower than all existing basebands, which drain power in excess of 450 mW. By leveraging the power-efficient TMS320C5000™ DSP platform, TI will make portable digital radios a reality.
Using TI's open software platform, customers can quickly add applications on top of the DRE200 digital baseband. For example, a customer can cost-effectively integrate MP3 decoding with digital radio on a single chip. Future applications such as data decoding, recording, interactive two-way communication and AM/FM radio are a software download away. This allows manufacturers to easily move from basic introductory units to feature-rich radios.
"In the past, digital radio has suffered from negative perceptions about its viability as a mass market product," said Naresh Coppisetti, general manager of TI's digital radio business unit. "We are confident that our endeavors to drive down the system power and to make development as simple as possible will have a significant impact on the deployment of this technology."
DRE200 evaluation boards will be available in February and can be ordered today. See www.ti.com/sc/digitalradio for contact information. Samples of the DRE200 will be available in early March, with production quantities expected in April. The reference design will be available in April.
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