ST introduces the new STAR (ST Advanced Radio) series of silicon tuners

     ST introduced the new STAR (ST Advanced Radio) series of silicon tuner ics to help automotive radio manufacturers maximize product development efficiency and minimize end product costs. The STAR-T (TDA7707, dual channel) and STAR-S (TDA7708, single channel) devices provide a scalable terrestrial radio-receiver platform for vehicle radio manufacturers.

     This is the latest addition to ST's highly acclaimed line of automotive radio tuners, which for the first time allow customers to design multiple products at the same time, eliminating the need to use multiple different hardware and software, and using a single hardware platform to meet the needs of all market segments and regions. The STAR family of products allows customers to develop a wide range of automotive radio products with a single board layout, from the most basic single-channel AM/FM to advanced multi-tuner and multi-standard (DAB/HD-Radio™/DRM-ready) architectures.

     The TDA7707 is a single-chip dual-channel quad-band tuner that supports a variety of radio architectures, including FM Phase Diversity, FM + background FM/AM, and FM/AM + background RDS/TMC. [2] When connected to an external co-processor, the product can still support digital radio broadcasting standards such as HD-Radio™ and DAB. The TDA7708 is a single-channel product in the platform that is fully compatible with the hardware (pin-to-pin) and software of other products and can easily be extended to two-channel systems.

     Both products are available in a QFN64 (9x9x0.85 mm) miniature package with a number of features, including DSP-intensive radio signal processing that provides the highest reception quality in any environment, and minimal external component cost (BOM) and external digital radio decoder interface. In order to minimize time to market, the new product also provides customers with supporting development tools, including evaluation board kits and hardware and software technical data.