Single car radio tuner IC for multiple geographical regions

Manufacturers of car radios will be able to maximize their product-development efficiency and minimize their final product cost with the new STAR (ST Advanced Radio)IC-tuner family from STMicroelectronics, a world leader in car radio and car infotainment devices[1]. The STAR-T (TDA7707, Two-channel) and STAR-S (TDA7708, Single-channel) devices provide a uniquely scalable terrestrial radio-receiver platform for car-radio applications. This latest evolution of ST’s successful car-radio tuner portfolio allows customers, for the first time, to develop a single hardware platform that addresses all car-radio segments and geographical regions, instead of designing multiple products that use different hardware and software combinations. The STAR family enables customers to produce car radios that range from the simplest single-channel AM/FM to multi-tuner, multi-standard (DAB/HD-Radio/DRM-ready) architectures with a single PCB layout. The TDA7707 is a monolithic dual-channel quad-band tuner that supports a variety of radio-receiver architectures including FM Phase Diversity, FM + Background FM/AM, and FM/AM + Background RDS/TMC. In association with an external co-processor, it also supports the reception of digital-radio broadcasting standards such as HD-Radio and DAB. The TDA7708 is the single-channel member of the platform, with full hardware (pin-to-pin) and software compatib...