DiBcom brings Digital TV to VDO Dayton Portable Navigation Devices

PARIS — DiBcom, a fabless semiconductor company and undisputed world leader of Mobile TV solutions, is pleased to announce that its technology has been integrated into the VDO Dayton brand of portable navigation devices (PND’s) by Continental formerly Siemens VDO.

VDO Dayton’s two new portable navigators, the PN4000 and the PN6000 exemplify the sophistication of multimedia devices for the automotive industry with their large screens and entertainment functions. Not only can drivers rely on the high quality display of map graphics, routing and traffic information, but passengers can be entertained with music and videos, in addition to watching their preferred programmes on digital terrestrial TV.

DiBcom was the first company to market DVB-T technology for the automotive sector. The company’s optimised chipsets for digital Mobile TV reception are already employed in high-end and mid-range vehicles as well as in taxis. Now, DiBcom’s new generation of highly integrated DVB-T front-end receivers (RF tuner and demodulator in one chip) have proven to be suitable for portable GPS navigators, due to their small size and low power consumption.

Since PND’s are mostly used in moving vehicles and at relatively high speeds, the same challenges as for in-car systems had to be resolved. Thanks to DiBcom’s continuous innovation, these portable devices are also able to benefit from the same advanced techniques such as diversity-2 reception (dual antenna), and Doppler effect compensation to offer a reliable reception and an excellent TV viewing experience at any speed.

Yannick Lévy, CEO of DiBcom said, “Watching TV in cars is becoming more and more popular and we are very happy that our technology has been selected for VDO Dayton portable devices. As much as the navigation function made PND’s a useful tool, the addition of digital TV will make them more valuable and fun to have!”