Legit Reviews

AUSTIN, Texas -- Jan. 14, 2008 Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today announced the industry's first fully integrated AM/FM radio receivers with weather band (WB) coverage. In addition to receiving AM/FM bands, the Si4736 family covers the frequencies between 162.40 and 162.55 MHz used to broadcast continuous, 24-hour weather warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information, as well as national security and public safety alerts throughout the United States and Canada. The Si4736 receiver family reduces component count of existing solutions by more than 90 percent, providing the industry's smallest and first fully integrated AM/FM/WB radio in a tiny 3- x 3-mm package, enabling equipment makers to cost-effectively replace existing solutions as well as add WB functionality in a number of portable devices such as cell phones, navigation devices, and media and MP3 players for the first time.

The Si4736 family is the first to integrate AM/FM with weather band from antenna input to audio output into a single IC, including 1050 Hz alert tone detection, which enables the radio to automatically turn on the receiver to play incoming warning alerts. Silicon Labs' patented digital low-IF architecture enables industry-leading integration, offering feature and performance enhancements over traditional analog-based solutions. By applying this advanced and proven architecture, the Silicon Labs' AM/FM/WB solution provides better audio in strong signal environments and excellent sensitivity in weak signal environments. In addition, the Si4737 and Si4739 family members integrate FM RDS/RBDS decoding to provide station and song identification to listeners, further improving the consumer experience.

"A heightened awareness of the benefits of improved reaction time in environmental hazard situations has spurred an increased interest in weather band radios," said Mark Thompson, general manager of broadcast audio products. "The Si4736 family dramatically simplifies the design of weather band radios, ultimately giving more consumers access to hazardous weather and other important security alert information, potentially enabling faster reaction times to dangerous situations."

The Si4736 family is footprint compatible to Silicon Labs' existing radio portfolio, offering customers a cost-effective solution to add WB functionality to their products. A full reference board with complete schematics, layout files and a robust software development environment is available to customers to facilitate evaluation and design. Devices supporting Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), a standard that incorporates digital data into the weather broadcasts for localized hazard alerts, will be available later in the year. -0-

Si4736 Family
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Product AM FM WB RDS/RBDS Package
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Si4736 X X X 3 x 3 mm QFN
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Si4737 X X X X 3 x 3 mm QFN
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Si4738 X X 3 x 3 mm QFN
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Si4739 X X X 3 x 3 mm QFN
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Pricing and Availability

Samples of the Si4736/37/38/39 are available now in a compact 3- x 3-mm, 20-pin quad flat no-lead (QFN) package. Pricing for the Si4736/37/38/39 family starts at $3.06 in quantities of 10K. An evaluation board is available for $150.

Silicon Laboratories Inc.

Silicon Laboratories is an industry leader in the innovation of high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs. Developed by a world-class engineering team with unsurpassed expertise in mixed-signal design, Silicon Labs' diverse portfolio of highly integrated, easy-to-use products offers customers significant advantages in performance, size and power consumption. These patented solutions serve a broad set of markets and applications including consumer, communications, computing, industrial and automotive.

Headquartered in Austin, TX, Silicon Labs is a global enterprise with operations, sales and design activities worldwide. The company is committed to contributing to our customers' success by recruiting the highest quality talent to create industry-changing innovations. For more information about Silicon Labs, please visit http://www.silabs.com.