DRE200PGE160 Single Chip Radio

The DRE200PGE160, also known as "DRE200" is a digital signal processor (DSP) IC manufactured by the Texas Instruments Corporation. It was one of the first lowest cost single chip digital radio solutions, referred to as "Eureka DAB Digital Radio Solution". TI announced this DAB solution in 2001, which provided a viable and cost effective means for manufacturers to make digital radios for their customers. At the time of introduction, the total estimated cost for a pocket radio utilising this chipset was $40.00. The turnkey package that TI provided cost $5000 USD, which included an evaluation board and technical support.

The DRE200 has an exceptionally low power consumption of less than 175 mW, whilst operating on just 1.6 V. It became feasible through a clever design of the IC, which controls its functions through software thus reducing the number of internal circuits and therefore the transistor count. The result is that a pair of AA size dry cells can power the IC for more than 8 hours. With an integrated baseband, microcontroller, and memory, the IC requires very few external components thus also lowering the cost of the design.

Perstel DR101 PCB

As you can see from the printed circuit board (PCB), the batteries leave very little room for the digital radio circuit as they occupy a large proportion of the space. Consequently, in this design, they have stacked the tuner board above this board. The IC package appears to be a TQFP on a multi-layered PCB.

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