DAB and FM unite in tiny slimline module

The Naples FS2011 is billed as the industry's first miniature, highly advanced and integrated stand-alone dual-band DAB/FM radio module for handheld battery powered products.New from Frontier Silicon, the Naples FS2011 is billed as the industry's first miniature, highly advanced and integrated stand-alone dual-band DAB/FM radio module for handheld battery powered products. The compact low-cost low-power high-performance unit is available now and is also incorporated in two new portable DAB/FM radios from leading manufacturers Bush and Ministry of Sound. The Naples FS2011 is a complete DAB module operating in both master and slave modes and incorporating Frontier Silicon's Apollo RF front-end, Chorus DAB baseband processor and NXP Semiconductor's TEA 5764 FM radio IC.

Naples is unique in that it combines both DAB and FM in a very small slimline module measuring just 35 x 38 x 2.7mm on a highly compact single-sided PCB.

The module is an ideal low cost route to market for manufacturers needing to quickly incorporate both DAB and FM radio functions in next generation handheld radio enabled devices such as DAB/FM portable radios and multimedia-enhanced PDAs.

The module also enables personal DAB radio and internet audio devices when used within a suitable product such as Frontier Silicon's Atlas 2 platform.

The DAB signal processing functions and protocol stack are implemented in firmware running on the Chorus processor, which also runs the control interface to Naples.

The Naples module offers simple and flexible integration, configurable in both master and slave modes.

In a master configuration the module requires a power source, antenna, LCD and keypad to create a fully featured digital radio.

Alternatively, the module can be controlled by an existing microcontroller as a slave module via a serial port or SCB (serial control bus) compliant device allowing it to be integrated into larger audio systems like CD micro hi-fi or home cinema systems.

The module also supports various software features such as DAB dynamic DLS radio service text, 256Kbit/s decode capacity, stored presets and manual tuning when configured in system applications.