Texas Instruments (TI) and RadioScape have signed an agreement to develop technology which can bring Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) to the mass market by reducing the price of the radio receivers.

Nigel Oakley

DRM is a digital broadcasting system operating in the AM bands below 30MHz. It can broadcast over distances of thousands of kilometres which means signals can span several countries.

The BBC has devoted R&D effort to DRM and is one of 65 broadcasters already transmitting programmes.

The company has said it hoped "radio manufacturers will take note of our commitment to DRM, and produce exciting and attractive digital radios which make best use of all services which are now being broadcast, be they analogue or digital".

According to Oakley, RadioScape and TI's aim is to address this. "The goal is to produce multi-band radio that'll be DRM and all flavours of DAB, FM and AM in one device," he said.

TI will supply the DSP-based digital radio silicon while RadioScape will provide the software. The first product should be available this year.

www.radioscape.com
www.ti.com