We recently reported that proponents of the Eureka-147 and Digital Radio Mondiale digital radio standards were going to combine efforts. Now, their chip and receiver module developers have the products ready for receiver manufacturers that want to make DRM/Eureka receivers.
Texas Instruments and RadioScape are offering receiver chips and modules, respectively, for the Digital Radio Mondiale standard and for a combined DRM/Eureka-147 receiver. The radios would also support FM, RDS and AM.
“The fact that we can do both on the same chip is significant from a cost perspective,” John Gardner, product manager for digital radio, Texas Instruments, told RW Online. TI expects to see DRM radios in stores by the end of the year. DRM proponents say these would be the first consumer or cost-effective radios for the DRM standard, as what’s on the market now are either high-end or software-based computer radios.
The TI DRM300 supports DRM, while the single-chip DRM350 supports DRM and DAB.
RadioScape software modules are based on the TI silicon. RadioScape says its RS500 module can receive DRM, DAB, FM with RDS, long-, medium- and shortwave.
The company said its design masks transitions between broadcast standards by automatically listing services alphabetically regardless of transmission type. Users select by content and don’t have to switch between bands manually.
DRM/DAB Receivers Anticipated
DRM/DAB Receivers Anticipated