At CES in Las Vegas, Frontier Silicon has launched its Chorus 2i baseband receiver system-on-chip device which it claimed will support the development of sub-$99 WiFi Internet radios.

The company is responding to what it sees as a change in the radio market which is set to become dominated by Internet access. "With audio content increasingly becoming available on-line, audio receivers must embrace WiFi connectivity to avoid obsolescence within a few years," said Steve Evans, Frontier Silicon's v-p for digital audio. 

It is the supplier’s first IC to support analogue and digital broadcast reception with IP connectivity.

"While the majority of audio products today rely on broadcast technology, we are now in the transition decade where consumers will increasingly demand access to digital content from the Internet,” said Evans.

The chip, along with a complete software development kit, module, and reference platforms, is sampling to customers this month, with radios expected in the shops by summer.

Applications are expected to range from portable and alarm clock radios to CD micro systems, boomboxes and HiFi tuners.  “Also, as more consumers use PCs as central music file servers, streaming playback capability will become a sought after feature, enabling audio files to be played through the WiFi radio when connected to a WiFi front-end,” said the firm.
 
Measuring a compact 13mm x 13mm, the chip includes peripherals such as the USB 2.0 OTG interface for music download/playback and software upgrade, support for TFT and LCD displays, ATA/ATAPI interface for hard-disk storage, NAND flash, memory stick and SD interfaces.
 
According to an independent report from Lehman Brothers, the potential total available market for WiFi radios is over 10 million units by 2009.