MUMBAI: STMicroelectronics which supplies semiconductors to digital consumer and automotive industries, has announced that its complete system solution for Mobile TV will be used in Europe's first implementation of Terrestrial - Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB ) receivers in the car.
The pilot project, done in cooperation with Blaupunkt in Germany has been timed for the ongoing Soccer World Cup.
As part of the trial, World Cup matches will be broadcast over DMB in 12 German cities, including Berlin, Munich and Cologne. Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is a digital transmission system for sending data, radio, and TV to mobile devices, based on the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard. The T-DMB Mobile TV service uses the existing DAB infrastructure, which is operational in Germany and most other European countries.
Connected to the Dab radio receiver inside the car, the T-DMB decoder is based on ST's t Nomadik mobile multimedia processor, the STn8810. ST says that the device emerged as a clear choice for the project, thanks to its video and audio quality, scalable performance, low power consumption, and advanced security features with digital rights management (DRM) support.
Moreover, Nomadik's software platform including video and audio codecs (e.g. MPEG4/H264, BSAC, ACC+) brings key advantages for product implementation and reduces time-to-market constraints. Nomadik's distributed architecture combines a ARM9 processor with smart accelerators for audio and video decoding and an advanced power management unit on a single chip.
The Nomadik SoC also features a set of peripheral interfaces for connection to the external components, including the car radio, digital-to-analogue converters for top-quality audio and video playback, memory cards (SD/MMC), or USB. Associated DMB software includes a Receiver Data Interface (RDI)decoder, error detection and correction software, the latest video (MPEG-4/H264) and audio (AAC) codecs, and software blocks for rendering and synchronizing audio and video data.
The in-car Mobile TV solution is part of ST's hardware and software platform, ready to address the demand for Multimedia convergence in the car. The platform is centered on ST's Nomadik application processor and benefits from ST's leadership in GPS receiver, radio tuner and Bluetooth ICs.
