Monday, December 04, 2006

Getting Technical: EE Times Comments on Sirius S50

Under the Hood Teardown: Sirius S50 satellite radio tunes up your ride Satellite digital audio radio service in the car requires a complex set of RF, analog, and digital components--and a sophisticated antenna front-end design.
David Carey, President, Portelligent (11/28/2006 12:04 PM EST)

Our love of the automobile is matched only by our love of music. Put them together and you get the rise of satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS), which breaks down the traditional commercial-driven radio model and opens up mobile audio options well beyond the trunk CD changer.
The Sirius S50 receiver, Figure 1, takes the mobility idea to heart in the form of a two-piece design.
In essence, the design splits the overall SDARS receiver into the RF tuner and a mating handheld, which contains the digital processing portion of the receiver along with audio storage and playback circuits. The RF tuner portion is intended to reside in the car, while the handheld unit can be undocked to let you take prerecorded SDARS content with you...read more: here