Dedicated single-chip processor for HD radio
PHILIPS Electronics has unveiled a highly integrated dedicated HD radio processor to meet the growing demand for automotive HD radio sets.
HD radio technology enables digital radio signals to ride the same airwaves as analogue AM/FM radio signals.
Philips’ new HD radio processor, the SAF3550, is a highly integrated digital integrated circuit (IC) that uses fewer components to demodulate and process HD radio signals in automotive applications compared to existing solutions in the market.
The SAF3550 adds HD radio’s enhanced digital capability to Philips’ line of existing digital signal processing products for car radios (CarDSP).
For stations broadcasting HD radio signals, an SAF3550-equipped radio provides listeners with high-quality digital AM/FM music experience.
To date, 15 radio set makers have licensed iBiquity Digital's HD radio technology while more than 280 broadcast stations in the United States have licensed this technology.
According to the Yankee Group, approximately 20 million HD radio sets will be shipped in the next five years.
Philips' SAF3550, along with iBiquity's HD radio technology, lets listeners enjoy the full experience of static-free high-quality digital sound in the car.
It also enables listeners to receive wireless data services such as song title, artist and album name, while delivering potential for advertisers as well.
In addition, Philips' SAF3550 is designed to support future functionalities such as a second audio program channel, several minutes of replay functionality for a message or song that was missed, and increased data services to enable a variety of consumer applications like customised station and program content, stock and news information, local traffic and weather and more.
Philips' CarDSPs deliver more than 650 million instructions per second (MIPS) of processing power used to digitally process and enhance both the IF and the audio signal of current AM/FM car radios.
For HD radio processing, the SAF3550 adds more than 100 MIPS to the system.
The SAF3550 is designed to complement Philips' existing high performance automotive AM/FM radio receiver chipset.
15-Oct-2003