RadioScape Extends Software Defined Radio Solutions to Additional DSP Platforms
Share:
London, UK - 12 March 2007 - RadioScape announced today that it plans to extend the range of programmable semiconductor platforms that will support its proven software radio solutions. Having already had significant success in developing a broad range of software, module and subsystem solutions for the DAB digital radio market based on Texas Instruments DSP's, the company believes that in emerging digital radio segments there will be demand for its proven stacks and applications for DAB, DMB, DAB-IP, DRM, FM and AM on other platforms. The first of these will be the Analog Devices Blackfin® BF52x series of processors, announced today.
John Hall, RadioScape's CEO, commented: "A significant strength of the Company, since inception 10 years ago, has been our ability through our Software Defined Radio (SDR) approach to quickly incorporate new standards as well as the embedded applications that make these standards user friendly in a consumer device. As digital radio finds its way in to all manner of consumer products such as cell phones, PCs, personal media players, in car entertainment systems, in addition to the more traditional radio products we see today, device manufacturers are looking for much more innovative solutions. In some cases this will simply be a software load for an embedded processor already in the consumer device, and in some cases it will be for the entire broadcast receiver subsystem. By extending our support for new platforms we will be able to satisfy a broader range of radio and mobile TV applications."
In conjunction with the announcement by Analog Devices (ADI) today of its new BF52x family, RadioScape has announced that it has developed a highly integrated software implementation of its DAB baseband decoder and audio video decoder for this new platform to address the emerging mobile TV market. This has already been demonstrated to potential customers and initial products will be available later this year. (See separate release). This work paves the way to include the ADI platform across the range of RadioScape's digital radio solutions in the future.
Hall added: "Our selection of additional platform partners is driven by two key considerations. First there has to be a great fit in terms of feature set and price against our roadmap requirements. Second, there has to be a strong alignment in strategic market focus between the two companies - we want our partners to be as committed to growing the digital radio and mobile TV sectors as we are. That means they will continue to invest in developing optimised silicon platforms for the future."
Andrew Dewhurst, RadioScape's Product Manager for Receiver Solutions, added: "The radio of the future will increasingly be part of a multi-standard, multi-media device. The challenges of supporting such broad functionality as well as the integration of the radio with other device features is significantly reduced through the SDR approach. We now have a highly portable code base and this gives us the opportunity to engage with other semiconductor partners as we develop our roadmap. This enables us to increasingly focus our resources on new applications and solutions for system level integration of digital radio."
RadioScape's SDR approach
Radio is enjoying a renaissance with increased listening figures according to RAJAR as new ways to listen to radio become available such as cell phones, TVs via Set Top Boxes, Internet, Home Cinema, Personal Media Players, etc. This is opening up new business opportunities for RadioScape plc to add Digital Radio functionality to these devices by using its unique Software Defined Radio (SDR) approach, which it has pioneered so successfully to create a range of award winning, DAB and DRM radio receiver solutions.
RadioScape was founded over ten years ago on the principle of using software to create Digital Radio solutions. This unique SDR approach has enabled the company to pioneer the development of both broadcast and receiver technology where upgrades and enhancements are often made simply through software uploads. This allows future proofing of both existing and new designs.
The use of SDR allows receiver solutions to be quickly tailored to individual customer and product requirements. This ensures that products can have differentiating features while also reaching the marketplace in the minimum time.
About RadioScape®
RadioScape plc. is the world's only developer of end-to-end digital audio broadcasting solutions giving RadioScape unmatched systems knowledge and enabling it to ensure that customers receive the highest levels of quality, robustness and reception at all stages.
Its Digital Radio Broadcast Suite is used extensively throughout the world including the largest DAB installation to date -- the UK's commercial DAB network. This is also being used to roll out Mobile TV services using Digital Multimedia Broadcasting in many countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific region where there are already many installations in China.
RadioScape's innovative Software Defined Digital Radio approach has made it a leader in DAB and DMB technology with its DAB receiver modules being extensively used by many of the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers. The company has recently begun shipping its first generation of DRM/DAB modules, enabling multi-standard consumer receivers to reach retail this year.
Founded in 1996, RadioScape's investors include Atlas Ventures, Royal Bank Ventures Investments, Scottish Equity Partners, JAFCO, Texas Instruments, Yasuda Enterprise Development, iGlobe Partners, Psion and Arqiva. RadioScape is headquartered in London, England with offices in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.radioscape.com
For RadioScape images, please go to radioscape.com/Resource_Library/Images
For more information, please contact:
Caroline Skipworth
RadioScape plc +44 20 7317 1996
Caroline.Skipworth@radioscape.com
Nigel Robson
Vortex PR
Island House, Forest Road, Forest, Guernsey GY8 0AB, Great Britain
Tel +44 1481 233080, Fax +44 1481 233082
