Silicon Labs Acquires Energy Micro

By Doug Lung
published

In April I reported Silicon Labs Unveils Complete ‘Radio-On-A-Chip’ – New I.C. converts RF input to baseband audio output. Last week the company announced it was acquiring Energy Micro, based in Oslo, Norway. Privately held Energy Micro offers, according to Silicon Labs, has “the industry’s most power-efficient portfolio of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) and is developing multi-protocol wireless RF solutions based on the industry-leading ARM Cortex-M architecture.”

This is a significant development, as most tablets are based on ARM architecture, and Energy Micro's experience in low-power devices will make it easier to include chips that offer broadcast signals such as HD Radio, and perhaps at some point in the future, mobile TV, in portable devices without compromising battery life.

The announcement said that the company intended to use “these complementary embedded technology platforms and expertise to enable the industry’s most energy-efficient solutions” in connection with “the proliferation of battery-powered portable electronics devices.”

I'm sure we'll hear more from Silicon Labs. Let's home one of those announcements benefits consumers using broadcast (radio or TV) technology.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.