Silicon Labs provides cost-saving AM/FM/SW receiver solution for Tecsun multi-band radio

AUSTIN, USA & DONGGUAN, CHINA: Silicon Laboratories Inc. announced that it is providing its latest digital multi-band receiver technology to Tecsun, a leading Chinese manufacturer of portable radios.

Tecsun has chosen Silicon Labs’ Si483x AM/FM receiver ICs for its new R-2010 multi-band portable radio. Designed for the worldwide market, the 12-band R-2010 radio is a wheel-tuned DSP radio, which offers FM stereo, medium-wave (MW) and shortwave (SW) reception.

Silicon Labs’ Si483x receivers are the industry’s first wheel-tuned CMOS AM/FM/SW radio DSP ICs offering a full radio solution from antenna input to audio output in a single chip. Based on a patented design, the Si483x AM/FM receivers eliminate the need for external microcontrollers, adjustable capacitors, AM/FM IF filters and other discrete components, and as a result they reduce development time, component count and labor costs.

The Si483x family supports a wide range of radio products such as portable radios, boom boxes, clock and lamp radios, toy radios and give-away radios.

China produces more than 100 million wheel-tuned radio units per year for the global market, making it the world’s manufacturing center for mechanically tuned AM/FM radios. These analog-intensive radio designs typically require dozens of discrete components and costly manual adjustment during manufacturing and assembly. It is also difficult to guarantee the consistency of product performance due to component quality and complex manufacturing.

Prior to the introduction of the Si483x AM/FM receiver family, manufacturers of wheel-tuned radios had no viable alternative to the labor-intensive, discrete method of manufacturing economical radios. The Si483x family addresses this challenge by making advanced digital radio technology available to the wheel-tuned or mechanically-tuned radio market, enabling radio makers to reduce assembly cost, improve performance and add FM/MW/SW radio functionality to virtually any consumer electronics products.

“Silicon Labs’ Si483x AM/FM receivers are an ideal solution for our new R-2010 radio,” said Wei Liang, chairman of Tecsun. “The Si483x chip’s high integration enables an 80 percent BOM cost reduction compared to current legacy solutions. Furthermore, its innovative design requires no manual alignment in the manufacturing process, greatly reducing labor costs and enhancing performance. The Si483x also helps Tecsun provide our customers with excellent digital-radio quality performance such as higher sensitivity, selectivity and overload resistance than ever before.”

“The Si483x family gives radio makers like Tecsun a competitive edge in global markets by providing them with a cost-effective platform for achieving the benefits of digital integration,” said James Stansberry, general manager of broadcast audio products at Silicon Labs.

“With Si483x IC-based radio designs, developers only need to add an antenna, tuning and volume wheels, an amplifier and two AAA batteries to create a fully functional radio within a compact, single-side board. This small footprint and compact board design significantly reduce BOM and manufacturing costs and provide a substantial improvement in radio performance over traditional solutions.”