RadioScape has created its first, software-controlled all-in-one radio front end module that can handle six frequency bands for DAB digital, AM and FM radios.

According to the firm, this is the first time that a single, front end RF chip has been implemented to handle these six, very different, frequency bands. The aim is to remove the need to create separate RF front ends for each of the different frequency bands in multi-band digital radios.

The RF device is designed to support Band III and L-Band for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), medium wave, long wave and short wave for AM and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), and Band II for FM. 

“This new RF IC is a breakthrough technology that will revolutionise multi-standard, multi-band digital radio,” said John Hall, RadioScape’s CEO. 

The firm is offering a multi-band radio module based on a two chip design which combines the RF chip with a DSP device running the baseband digital radio software.

According to Dave Hawkins, v-p of business development at RadioScape: “Dynamic configuration of the RF path on the RF IC is controlled by the DSP using software algorithms to ensure the optimisation of both performance and power consumption.  The result is a multi-frequency RF device that requires less than half the power used by the equivalent circuits in our current generation of multi-standard modules.”

The chip uses both zero-IF and super-heterodyne methods to support the RF requirements of the various standards and frequencies.

RadioScape