Releases > 2004 >

Frontier Silicon launches first low power system-on-chip for new Korean mobile TV Service (T-DMB) at international forum

Seoul, Korea, 15th June 2004: As one of the key sponsors at the International Forum on Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) being held on 15-16 June in Seoul, South Korea, Frontier Silicon - the leading fabless manufacturer of semiconductors for digital TV/radio and consumer multimedia products - will this week present its product development plans for T-DMB. This includes the introduction of T-DMB solutions - based on the market leading Chorus multimedia processor - for mobile TV products to be launched in Korea in 2005.

At the conference, Frontier Silicon will outline how its well established Chorus multimedia processor, the lowest power T-DMB baseband processor on the market today, will address the requirements of products set to support T-DMB services such as standalone mobile TV terminals, mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) with TV, and car infotainment and navigations systems. The power consumption of Chorus is up to 50 percent less than other solutions currently on the market, which makes it ideal for portable T-DMB devices.

Anthony Sethill, chief executive officer of Frontier Silicon said, "T-DMB will offer exciting opportunities for manufacturers as well as content service providers. That's why we are working on an aggressive development plan on several different projects with major electronics manufacturers to introduce products in Korea in 2005. The flexibility of Frontier Silicon's highly integrated system-on-chip solution has enabled us to quickly offer an optimized solution for first generation T-DMB devices"

Sethill added, "We expect mobile TV to be a major growth market in Korea and other major worldwide markets over the next five years, and Frontier intends to be one of the major semiconductor suppliers into this market."

Key features of Frontier Silicon's T-DMB solution to be outlined at the forum include the ability to support decoding at the full data rate specified in the Eureka 147 specification (data at better than 1.5Mbps), plus integrated peripherals which increase utility in a T-DMB product. Low power consumption and excellent sensitivity are major characteristics that make Frontier's solution ideal for T-DMB; sensitivity of up to -100dBm for Band III and -98dBm for L Band can be achieved.

The international forum being held in Korea this week is organised by the Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA), Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers (KOSBE), and Next Generation Digital Broadcasting Forum. It is part of the Republic of Korea's progression towards launching multimedia services over the Eureka 147 system in the VHF band. At the forum, on-air field trials of high quality and robust mobile video reception will take place, and demonstrations of data broadcasting services such as traffic information and web broadcasting will also be given.

The event is hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communication, and other key sponsors include Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Personal Telecom, Digital Sky Net, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

Ends

Editor's notes: About Frontier Silicon

Frontier Silicon, winner of the PricewaterhouseCoopers hottest technology company of 2004 award, is at the forefront of the digital revolution with a range of semiconductor solutions for digital TV, digital radio and other emerging consumer multimedia products. As a fabless semiconductor business, Frontier Silicon’s core products include complete DAB modules, DVB-T solutions and the underlying system-on-chip (SoC) devices. Key customers for these products include consumer electronic, automotive entertainment and PDA/mobile phone manufacturers. In digital radio (DAB), the company’s chips are found in the world’s leading brands including Bush, Cambridge Audio, Goodmans, Grundig, Hitachi, Ministry of Sound, Philips, PURE Digital, Roberts Radio, Sharp, Sony and TEAC.