Digital Radio
Frontier Silicon is the world’s leading provider of chips, modules and software for digital radios. Customers include Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Pure, Roberts, Grundig and several major retailer own-brands. Since it was founded in 2001, Frontier has shipped over 30 million digital radio solutions worldwide.
Markets
The first countries to adopt digital radio successfully were the UK, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia. Norway and Switzerland are the first to confirm dates for Digital Switchover (DSO) - respectively 2017 and 2020-24.
In the UK, the Government has set out a clear vision for a digital future for radio. In December 2013, it announced the roll-out of 360 new national and local DAB transmitters, plans for a second national commercial multiplex and the introduction of a Digital Tick scheme for domestic and automotive receivers. Coverage is nearly completed, the new national multiplex launched in March 2016 and the Digital tick scheme has been running since 2015.
Across Europe and beyond, the footprint of digital radio is poised for rapid expansion. August 2011 saw the launch of DAB+ services in Germany; The Netherlands launched national DAB+ in Sept 2013 and Italy launched a second national commercial multiplex in 2014. France has launched services in Paris, Nice and Marseille - and has published a timetable for roll-out across a further 20+ cities in the coming years. Several other territories are emerging as potential new markets, including Belgium, Czech Republic and Poland.
Products
In 2015, Frontier Silicon introduced its 4th generation Kino 4 chip. This chip delivers significant cost and power consumption savings. Now in mass production as part of the Verona 2 module.(Find out more)
Smart Audio
Frontier sees smart audio as a key component of its medium term growth strategy. Market volumes for smart audio devices, including voice enabled devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, are forecast to grow from 14 million units in 2016 to 51 million units in 2020. The Group already has significant technology expertise in this sphere and in 2016 launched its new Smart Audio solution, Minuet, incorporating Google's Chromecast platform. The company has secured several design wins for this solution, including from Harman JBL and Zound Industries. Frontier is one of a small number of system integrators working with Google on this technology and is currently working on a new voice enabled solution which will be targeted at third party brands. This is expected to reach mass production in 2018.
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Our latest smart audio module is Minuet, offering a complete hardware, software and services solution for the next generation smart audio device.
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