Skyworks Solutions, Inc. introduced the Si469xx family of automotive digital radio coprocessors for future in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems. With its combination of integration, flexibility, and low cost, the Si469xx family of coprocessors is optimized to operate with Skyworks’ Si479xx Hybrid Software Defined Radio (SDR) Tuners to achieve a cost-effective digital radio receiver. The new Si469xx product family can demodulate and decode up to four digital radio channels supporting HD Radio, DAB/DAB+, DRM (for AM and FM), and CDR, providing high performance and unmatched scalability.
The Si469xx product family supports advanced capabilities such as Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) and seamless linking of digital radio, analog radio, and Internet Protocol content. With its integrated customer-programmable microcontroller (MCU), the Si469xx can significantly reduce bill of materials (BOM) costs by eliminating the need for an external MCU and its support components. Software design is simplified through several improvements, including a Demod/Tuner Manager that relieves system developers from having to program low-level radio control functions.
As of June 2022, over 59% of all new vehicles delivered in the U.S. contain a factory-installed HD Radio receiver as reported by Inside Radio1. While WorldDAB2, the international association promoting the global adoption of this digital radio transmission standard, notes that in 2022, 96% of new cars sold within the European Union were equipped with DAB+.
Radios in automobiles have historically been implemented in the head unit (HU) or cockpit system located in the dashboard. However, increasingly radio tuners are implemented in a separate module, often as a remote tuner module (RTM). The RTM offers benefits including reduced cable weight and the ability to design and qualify the radio for use across car models, which decouples it from the evolution of the HU/cockpit system. The cable weight reductions are a result of replacing RF coaxial cabling to the HU with a much lighter twisted pair cabling, typically accomplished with ADI A2B™ technology, which is optimized for automotive digital audio applications, or ethernet.
By leveraging separate tuner and coprocessor ICs, Skyworks offers an optimal balance between partitioning and integration, which helps solve thermal challenges associated with RTM applications. This also provides robust scalability and configurability to address multiple regions and performance points. System designers can create a single board design that can be populated with different pin/package and software API compatible devices.
More information about the Si469xx family of digital radio coprocessors can be found here. Contact your local Skyworks sales or distributor for samples. The production release is expected in 1H2024.
While the world of radio processing and peristaltic pumps may seem worlds apart, there’s a common thread that ties them together – precision and efficiency. Just as digital radio processors demodulate and decode multiple channels with remarkable accuracy, peristaltic pumps efficiently and precisely move fluids, often in critical applications like medical devices and scientific instruments. The ability to handle up to four channels simultaneously in digital radio processing reflects the demand for multitasking and optimized performance in today’s technology.