RadioMAX - FM, AM, WB, RDS USB Car PC Radio + DAB/DAB+, HD Radio, GPS Loger

Ok so i moved threat form Centrafuse to a more competitive battleground :)
We are currently developing TempGP RadioMAX - a universal radio platform specifically designed for CarPC use.
The idea of the project is to create main motherboard that can have plugin modules suitable for specific user needs. Main communication to CarPC is achived via USB 2.0

So far here the specks of main board that we will release shortly.

USB Radio

• FM
• AM
• WB - Weather
• RDS

Unlike many other radio units we decided to do more work and get AM +WB working. Why? Because those bands are used for announcement of traffic condition or in case of emergency at least in US, the WB band is the only one that can be relied upon :) So if we really have pimped out cars this should be required.

Next, after min RadioMAX board is released we will manufacture 2 add on radio chips that will enable following functionality:

• DAB, DAB+ (All but USA)
• HD Radio (USA)

Those are separate clip on modules that can be used based on your country.

On the main board audio will be delivered to CarPC either USB Audio or analog audio (headphone jack) so device can work in different scenarios.

GPS
Next besides Radio as Audio receivers we will have other radio modules available. Foe example more advanced board will have GPS + GLONASS on it so you can get good navigation even in Russia :) We will also add AUX battery to device to we can have hot start to reduce GPS seek time to 0 sec :) Basically GPS will be always on, no need to wait till we find satellites.

GPS Loger
We will have SD card port on the main board so if you hvae GPS module you can enable login feature. This can be used to prove where you have been and what speed you drive with. Of cause logging can be disabled or erased if need. Oh and yes loger can work without car PC as we have independent battery you can just turn log on and drop device to the car you want to spy on :eyebrows:

WiFi + Bluetooth
Module will be available to add support for WiFi and bluetooth. In most cases you don't really need it but if WiFi configured to automatically connect to any open network then you can have reasonably steady Internet connection on PC without figuring out how to do auto connect. With conjunction to GPS you can technically view your car location, just in case you forgot where you have parked. Or it can be used as lowjack ...but no insurance form us :)

EDGE / GPRS / 3G
Same as WiFi but more reliable option to connect your box to Internet.

GPIO - Relay Board + Remote Start + Sensors
Biggest toy of the project is to control your car remotely even when carPC is off. Well you turn on your carPC remotely. The board has low power consumption so it can run off our independent battery. So we can use EDGE/3G or WiFi network to send commands to the car. Ex trigger the relay and remote start your car + carpc. Or maybe sound horn or what ever you can come up with. We will have 4 independent relays they can be triggered remotely or locally through USB just like regular relay board. We might add few sensors or anything that is requested by a community to this add on part. Technically possibilities are limitless

Seams to be lots of text so let me recap road map:
1. Motherboard w/ FM, AM, WB, RDS [End of 2011]
2. Motherbard with Radio + GPS + SD Card [End of 2011]
3. DAB+ Module [Q1 2012]
4. HD Radio Module [Q2 2012]
5. WiFi + BT Module [Q3 2012]
6. EDGE / 3G Module [Q3 2012]
7. GPIO Module [Q4 2012]

If you want to hear sample audio that we did while testing dev board you can hear it on our website.
http://www.tempgp.com/dynamic/?page=24

If you want to speed up the development we will probably start selling preorders once design is finalized.

As to software, it will be GPL Open Source. We will write general windows program to control radio and we will do Centrafuse plugin. All will be open source so if you are developer you will be able to edit or modify or create your own plugins for different front ends.

Drivers: we are planing to release drivers for Win XP, Win 7, Linux, Mac ... maybe Win CE

Rough Price estimates:
RadioMAX basic AM/FM board ~$150-200 USD
RadioMAX GPS Loger borad ~ $250 UDS
RadioMAX DAB/DAB+ Module ~$50

I thin i described project well so if you have any questions comments, donations then let me know ;)

Here is diagram of device concept.
Attachment 64072

Sounds like an all in one solution if you can make it all work.

yep working on execution :) the harder it is the more interesting it is to make device like this :)

Well I am in Australia, I voted too expensive simply because it is probably a little bit tooo overkill in the features department for me especially by the time it gets to me.
My requirements would be:
FM radio
DAB+ radio (same stations just digital and better quality in the capital cities - would be awesome if it could switch between this and FM automatically)
AM - used for talkback and emergency broadcasts in Australia

GPS would be optional for me (I can get a BU 353 for $50 which would do me)
Logging would be a nice addition but not necessary so not something I would pay much extra for.
One feature you might be able to add is adding a sim card and allowing a user to locate their car via a text message or web app. If stolen they can track it.

Something like that in the $100+ range would be very interesting. Not sure if that is at all possible though. Currently playing with a $30 DAB+ tuner which cna't do AM but does the rest.

Hope that helps with ideas and feedback.

well prices are high that's true :) but i hope if there is demand i can manufacture more and get price down :) its like manufacturing 100 and 1000 has same assembly cost and that's 50% saving down here already :)

As to option to locate the car, it will be available if you have EDGE/GRPRS/3G module .. it is SIM card based modem, you will need data plan but we can use SMS too. you if all goes well you will be able to see your car position on the map with that. Alternatively if WiFi module is installed then same thing can be archived.

As to GPS yep,i can buy Chinese GPS unit for $30 USD, but i hate them, it takes about 2 min to pick up signal in Mahattan :) so I added battery to keep GPS on all the time and that eliminates wait time :) Expansive yes, but at the end if it is new carpc install then much money invested anyway and i think its better to have one good automotive grade product then bunch of cheap consumer devices that fail time to time :)

That all makes sense.
Will be interested to see how it pans out then :)
Keep us all updated.

yep will post back progress once we have 1st set of boards manufactured. Hopefully we send them for production by the end of the month

shame ya cant through XM or Sirius on via add-on too lol

XM has some administrative complication as they afraid we will steal their stream w/o subscriptions. :)
Yet if XM decides to remove heavy restrictions on their network we can build add on card that can be installed in place of DAB or HD Radio

Hi Fella, put me down for Dev support for FreeICE please :-) always good to support up and coming hardware.

Good luck with the project it sounds very interesting.

CdR