Wireless Digital Audio Reference Design from STMicroelectronics and Infra-Com

STMicroelectronics (ST) and Infra-Com Ltd announced a reference design for a high-bit-rate wireless audio solution for consumer electronic products. The Drum and Violin designs combine Infra-Com's receiver side IrGate IC with the ST’s digital power amplifier and signal processor. The result is a high quality remote audio amplification system. Possible applications of this audio solution includes surround-sound, home theater systems,  gaming speakers, portable music player and DTV speakers.

Audio signals using Infra-Com's IrGate wireless infrared protocol are processed by an IrGT801ADR Modem and Interface IC, which receives data from the infrared sensors in the optical/analog front-end via an Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) interface and drives the ST's full digital amplifier through an Inter-IC Sound (I2S) serial digital audio interface.

Andrea Onetti,  Audio Division, ST,  said:

The Drum and similar designs will complement other interfaces such as Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), WiFi and UWB (Ultra-WideBand) in the Sound Terminal family, and we look forward to introducing a single-package DIR and digital amplification solution in the future…

The Drum solution embeds ST’s STA326 provides hi-fi audio quality, with an uncompressed 24-bit 48kHz PCM  wireless link, and almost zero latency for perfect lip-sync. Amplifier efficiency is up to 92 percent, need onlu small and heatsink. The digital audio stream maintains full audio quality and 100dB of SNR. The Violin solution embeds ST’s STA333ML, a digital IC amplifier that is able to deliver 2×20W without the need additional  heatsink.

About Infra-Com
Infra-Com Ltd. focuses on the development and commercialization of innovative semiconductor chipsets for indoor, short-range wireless applications. The company has achieved a technological breakthrough by enabling non-line-of-sight and high bit rate optical communications using the Diffused Infrared (DIR) approach.

The STA326 single-chip audio system integrates digital audio processing, digital amplifier control and a DDX digital power output stage. It can be configured easily via digital control to operate in one of several different output modes, and offers a full range of processing and equalization options, including up to 4 programmable 28-bit biquads per channel, and bass and treble tone control. The device is one of a range of single-chip and single-package audio products in ST’s Sound Terminal family; other amplifiers in the family can be used with the Drum design to satisfy different audio power requirements, from 2×1W up to 2×80W.

Source: STMicroelectronics