UK company Frontier Silicon has secured over ten design wins to date for its Venice 6 Wi-Fi radio solution with leading brands including Roberts Radio and Grundig, marking a significant entry into the emerging stand-alone Internet radio receiver market. Radios using the company’s receiver chip module will be able to receive both internet radio via WiFi and Digital Radio (both DAB and DAB+).
Designs using the module include portable and alarm clock radios, CD micro systems, and HiFi tuners, and are expected in British shops in November to take advantage of the Christmas rush.
Frontier Silicon CEO Anthony Sethill has told radioinfo: “This year we have expanded our audio business into the emerging Wi-Fi/Internet radio arena and have led the industry in introducing Venice 6, which is the only complete module for Wi-Fi/DAB/DAB+/FM available on the market today. Already over 72 million people in the US alone listen to the radio using the Internet, mainly through their PC, so the prospects for stand-alone Wi-Fi radios are extremely positive.”
Venice 6 is the world’s first digital receiver module capable of receiving Internet radio via Wi-Fi, DAB/DAB+, FM and music streamed from a network server. Based around Frontier Silicon’s powerful Chorus 2i processor, it streams radio stations and music files in a variety of formats and protocols including MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Real Audio. Venice 6 can access over 15,000 Internet radio stations and podcasts with just a few key presses. Each end-user radio is also configurable through the Frontier Silicon/vTuner web portal which manages all available stations to ensure quality and reliability of content.
Latest enhancements to Venice 6 include the availability of multi-language support and the addition of UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) enabling standardized compatibility for music streaming from PCs. The module has Internet Software Upgrade (ISU) functionality, allowing firmware to be easily updated over Wi-Fi, ensuring ‘future-proofed’ radios.
Venice 6 is supported by a range of platforms including Jupiter 6, which powers iPod’s docking functionality, playback, control and charging.
Frontier Silicon supplies digital and RF integrated circuits and modules for mobile digital TV and digital audio products. Established in 2001 as a privately funded fabless semiconductor company, it now has over 200 employees and is headquartered in Watford, England, with design centres in Cambridge and Dublin, and branch offices around the world. Products include audio processors for digital radio and network streaming, and receiver solutions for mobile TV, supporting multiple broadcast standards including DVB-H, DVB-T, T-DMB and DAB-IP.