DAB DAB+ FM Digital Radio Development Board
Specifications
Overview
Designed in Australia, the DAB+ FM Digital Radio Development Board provides a platform for developing and evaluating DAB+ and FM receiver. The board contains a Keystone T1_L4A_8290C DAB/FM module and a Microchip PIC18F14K50 microcontroller. The T1_L4A_8290C module is an ultra low power DAB/FM receiver module with the following features:
- ETSI EN 300 401 compliant receiver
- DAB/DAB+ sensitivity to -99dBm (typical)
- Decodes multiple audio services up to 256kbps without external RAM
- FM with RDS (*** RDS reception only available for station name, station text and genre and is subjected to certain condition of power level and frequency deviation)
- Combined antenna input for FM / Band3
- Support DAB L-Band reception (*** Although the Keystone module supports L-Band, the SMA connector has no connection to the L-Band pin, customer will need to solder a separate antenna and other passive components to make it work.)
- Serial control interface
- RoHS compliant
The Microchip PIC18F14K50 provides a USB to Serial interface for the T1_L4A_8290C module to communicate with the host PC. Despite the sample code provided in this Development Board for communicating with the board is based on serial communication, user can analyse the serial communication and implements a driverless HID protocol by rewriting the firmware on the PIC18F14K50.
Board Dimension
78mm x 45mm
What can you do with it?
- Build a PC controlled DAB+ FM Digital Radio
- Build a CAR PC DAB+ FM Digital Radio
- Build a standalone DAB+ FM Digital Radio (requires external microcontroller)
Feature Summary
- KeyStone T1_L4A_8290C DAB/DAB+/FM radio module
- Microchip PIC18F14K50 USB Flash Microcontroller
- 12 Mhz crystal
- standard ICSP programming port for programming the PIC18F14K50
- EXT port logic signal for controlling external audio chip power and mute
- status LED, RX (orange) and TX (green)
- power LED (red)
- Bootloader push button
- 1.2VDC, 1.8VDC, 3.3VDC LDO
- 3.5mm stereo jack
- SMA antenna connector
- Dimensions : 78mm x 45mm
HARDWARE DESCRIPTIONS
Power Supply Circuit
The board is typically powered by 5VDC from USB. The PIC18F14K50 is drawing power directly from the USB. From the USB’s 5VDC, the power is further distributed into 1.2VDC, 1.8VDC and 3.3VDC LDO to the KeyStone T1_L4A_8290C module. The power of these three LDO is controlled by the SHDN pin.
Microchip PIC18F14K50
This microcontroller is used to provide a Virtual Serial Port to the KeyStone module. It is flashed with a customised CDC RS-232 Emulation Demo firmware. Other than performing the standard serial emulation, it also control the power, reset and audio shunt of the KeyStone module.
Reset Circuit
Reset of the module is performed by RESET pin emulated by DTR of the virtual serial port.
ICSP
The ICSP programming port is the standard Microchip’s In-Circuit Serial Programming port and is compatible with Microchip’s PICkit.
EXT
EXT port has two 5V logic signals, ˉSHDN and ˉSHNT. They are used to control external audio circuitry’s power and mute.
Push Button (SW1)
This button, when pressed during a power-up, will trigger the PIC18F14K50’s USB HID bootloader in programming mode.
Packing List
- 1 unit of DAB+ FM Digital Radio Development Board
- 1 unit of retractable antenna
Pre-installed Software
- Microchip's USB bootloader (programming the board using a normal USB cable)
- Microchip's CDC RS-232 emulation firmware
Customers' Projects
Product developed by Customers
Mickz's customised Frontend
Mickz from Australia brought new life to this product with his customised frontend. Desired features that were not in the original demo had been added and developed by Mickz. Other than great features, the app and its source code in Visual Studio 2010 are provided free to MP3CAR forum members. Below are some screenshots of Mickz's frontend, for details features, discussion and development status, please follow this MP3CAR forum thread
. 
CdRsKuLL's FreeICE DAB Plugin
CdRsKuLL from FreeICE UK is currently working on a plugin for this radio and has done a great job developing a simple test app for user to easily start playing with this radio without needing to understand complexity of the current demo program. Below are the screenshots FreeICE DAB plugin and for the release of this plugin, please follow his development logs on this FreeICE forum's thread
. 
John Jore's Centrafuse Plugin
John from Australia has been working really hard coding his DAB plugin for Centrafuse and it is now officially on Centrafuse's store for FREE!! John also came out with a very innovative idea to auto detect the board and this concept is now also used by other developers for auto port detection. Below are the screenshots of John's Centrafuse plugin and for release of this plugin, please head to Centrafuse development forum and Centrafuse DAB plugin store
.
Driveline by ClockWork
Driveline an opensource CarPC software that does almost everything a commercial software does has released a latest build with support of this DAB development kit. Driveline has a clean and easy to navigate user interface and radio port configuration is fully GUI driven. The coder behind Driveline literally code the DAB support in a country without DAB reception! Well done! Below are the screenshots of Driveline and to download the full version please head to Driveline's forum at MP3Car
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Walter's Android Bluetooth App
DAB Stations
DAB Stations received around the World.
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NOTE: Reception is location dependent.
Downloads
Source code, demo software, schematics and PCB files.
Standard Documents
- User manual (updated 4th December 2012)
- VB.NET demo software source code (updated 17th November 2013 fixed Win 8.1 font not showing on certain theme)
NOTE: Please install Ozone.ttf and scoreboard.ttf fonts included for the demo software to show text correctly.