In-car digital radio transformed with 'Saturn' platform

22nd January 2014

Staff Reporter

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With digital radio gaining momentum in key markets around the world, a growing number of car OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers are offering in-car digital radio systems. NXP is set to accelerate this trend, with the introduction of a multi-standard software-defined radio co-processor capable of decoding all three major digital terrestrial radio standards including DRM, HD Radio and DAB/DAB+/T-DMB.

Offering best-in-class reception, the new SAF360x series significantly enhances digital audio quality via advanced features such as Maximum Ratio Combining for DAB and HD Radio, and scalability for single, dual and triple tuner use cases. The SAF360x platform also offers an unprecedented level of integration, replacing up to six chips with a single IC and reducing the footprint of the automotive digital radio application by over 75% for considerable cost savings.

"The SAF360x series -- code-named 'Saturn' -- is the culmination of more than a decade of developing in-car digital radio solutions and finally offers the all-in-one integration, true multi-standard support, and breakthrough reception performance that leading car infotainment system suppliers have been waiting for," said Torsten Lehmann, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Car Entertainment Solutions, NXP Semiconductors. "By dramatically reducing the total cost of designing and manufacturing in-car digital radio systems, we expect the SAF360x series will help to boost the availability and adoption of digital radio worldwide -- in parallel with the rapidly growing availability of broadcast content and other add-on services such as traffic information, weather forecasts and interactive news updates that are becoming fundamental features in the connected car."