Development of a compact DAB receiver design for the consumer market

Digital audio broadcasting, DAB, service is now available in the UK and elsewhere, but today's receivers are still bulky and expensive. For DAB to emulate the success of other European digital radio standards such as GSM cellular and achieve its global mass market potential, low cost compact receivers are essential. This goal motivated Ensigma and Roke Manor Research to join forces in 1995 to develop a low cost technology approach to enable such products. We describe the process by which this goal is becoming a reality. A three board prototype DAB receiver has been constructed which will shrink to a single board OEM DAB receiver. The paper describes the development process, the receiver functionality and the current status of development.