As product managers and product developers know well, bringing to market new consumer audio products is increasingly complex. The number of streaming services and connectivity options that consumers expect keeps increasing, as do all the complexities of certifications and regulatory compliance that any radio frequency-based electronics require. That is why Frontier is an established supplier for connected audio solutions, with its range of fully certified reference platforms and a full range of chips and modules for every design, not relying simply on demonstration boards.
Frontier is recognized internationally as a supplier of DAB digital radio solutions, having shipped over 80 million modules and chips to more than 500 brands over more than 20 years. A position that enabled the company to expand its solutions to digital audio and connected audio designs, as consumers increasingly embraced streaming services and wireless audio.
As Frontier demonstrated over the past years, its range of product development tools allow brands and manufacturers to meet the latest technologies and services and bring exclusive designs to market faster. Frontier's range of silicon devices, modules, and software solutions are complemented with reference product designs, usually housed in high-quality Perspex (a premium branded version of acrylic, manufactured to the highest industry standard).
Those fully functional reference designs enable developers to expand and rigorously test features in actual field conditions and even with real users, significantly enhancing the quality of the final offering. Frontier conducts all certifications and compliance testing, including CE, FCC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, and AirPlay. This ensures a seamless path to certification for end products, with the added benefit of some certifications (e.g. FCC) being directly transferable to the final product.
Frontier reference designs with the transparent Perspex housings never fail to captivate visitors at trade shows and are recognized by the developers as an ideal way to assess solutions and plan a product roadmap for brands and manufacturers. The complete hardware design empowers developers to build upon a proven platform and deliver a refined solution.
Frontier's latest version of these reference designs for the AURIA wireless audio module will be demonstrated at IFA 2025, now supporting a larger (4-inch) MIPI display that is able to captivate consumers with high-res album art graphics and a quick and responsive user interface. The reference design offers support for all the expected streaming services, including Internet Radio and Podcast support.
As always from Frontier, developers working on designs for countries and regions served by DAB/DAB+ digital radio can add Frontier's flagship Kino 4 chip, which is an optional-fit component on AURIA. This also adds standard FM radio support, which many consumers still expect, together with standard clock, dual alarm clock, and sleep functionality.
Among the new AURIA features that Frontier is introducing with the new CA1.2 software at IFA are additional options to define the user interface for Auracast, availability of which is now starting to be rolled out as further Bluetooth LE audio solutions are starting to be activated and deployed. The user interface for Auracast is critical for adoption and should allow for easy discovery and selection of available services, easy sharing of audio, and configuration of party modes with other wireless speakers. Frontier now offers local or app UI for Bluetooth LE Auracast setup to allow a device to broadcast or receive audio from selected devices. A new shared preset menu also allows a user to simply select from the range of sources.
Frontier's AURIA pre-certified, production-ready module is an extremely versatile solution for connected audio products, enabling high-quality designs to be manufactured with minimal cost and fast time to market. The new CA1.2 software for AURIA builds upon the possibilities using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, meeting the requirements for advanced connected speakers, soundbars, micro systems, and streaming adapters with minimal engineering overhead.
The development platform supports onboard or external DAC and I/O options, as well as headless UI or display designs. Frontier’s turnkey solution includes embedded software and an available companion app, OKTIV (iOS/Android), that allows for device setup, content browsing, and control. Developers already working with AURIA reference platforms will receive the software update automatically over the air via the Frontier Internet Upgrade service.
Frontier predicts that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE Audio connectivity will be standard in new audio product designs targeting prices above $99, in the same way that most of today’s TVs include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. With dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ax (2.4/5GHz) allowing up to 114Mbps at 20MHz channel bandwidth and support for Bluetooth LE Audio, enabling low power performance at high quality with the latest LC3 codec as well as Auracast (party mode, easy audio sharing), Frontier's latest solution, AURIA, responds to those market trends.
With its R&D center in Cambridge (UK) and manufacturing and sales offices in Shenzhen (China), Frontier is able to support development projects for clients in Europe and Asia.
AURIA CA 1.2 will be demoed at IFA 2025 on the Frontier booth (Hall 11.2 booth 281). At IFA 2025, Frontier will also demonstrate its latest reference design for soundbars, created in partnership with Sunplus, a leading supplier of Dolby Atmos and HDMI connectivity solutions and also integrated with the AURIA module.
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