MILPITAS, CA – April 15, 2010 – Linear Technology Corporation announces the LT4180, a Virtual Remote Sense™ DC/DC controller that eliminates the remote sense wires required to compensate for the voltage drop in cables, wires and circuit board trace runs. Voltage drops in wiring and cables that cause load regulation errors are usually corrected by an additional set of sensing wires. The LT4180 continuously interrogates the line impedance and corrects the regulator’s output voltage. The device maintains a corrected regulated voltage at the load regardless of current or line impedance. The 3V to 50V input voltage range address a variety of applications, including remote instrumentation, battery charging, wall adaptors, notebook power, surveillance equipment and halogen lighting.

The LT4180 operates with any topology regulator in either isolated or non-isolated power supplies. The output correction is obtained by modulating the output and measuring the incremental change in voltage that occurs with a change in current. Any modulation noise is eliminated by the supply bypass capacitor located at the load.

According to Robert Dobkin, vice president of engineering and CTO for Linear Technology. “The LT4180 provides a new function for power supply designers. Excellent regulation is obtained without sense wires, eliminating the need for point-of-load regulators. Difficult regulation problems such as long wire runs or system retrofits can be accommodated. With halogen lights, the light output drops more quickly than power, so keeping the correct voltage more than compensates for any additional cost of the power supply.”

Three temperature grades are available: an extended grade version from -40ºC to 85ºC, an industrial grade version from -40ºC to 125ºC and a military grade option from -55ºC to 125ºC. The 1,000-piece price starts at $2.95 each. The LT4180 is offered in an SSOP-24 package. All versions are available from stock. For more information, visit www.linear.com.

Summary of Features: LT4180

• Tight Load Regulation without Remote Sense Wires
• Compatible with Isolated & Non-Isolated Power Supplies
• Works with any Topology
• VIN Range from 3V to 50V
• Ability to Drive Opto-Coupler
• Low Turn-On Transients
• Undervoltage & Overvoltage Protection
• Spread Spectrum Modulation Dither
• ±1% Internal Reference Voltage Over Temperature
• SSOP-24 Package

About Linear Technology

Linear Technology Corporation, a manufacturer of high performance linear integrated circuits, was founded in 1981, became a public company in 1986 and joined the S&P 500 index of major public companies in 2000. Linear Technology products include high performance amplifiers, comparators, voltage references, monolithic filters, linear regulators, DC-DC converters, battery chargers, data converters, communications interface circuits, RF signal conditioning circuits, µModule® products, and many other analog functions. Applications for Linear Technology’s high performance circuits include telecommunications, cellular telephones, networking products such as optical switches, notebook and desktop computers, computer peripherals, video/multimedia, industrial instrumentation, security monitoring devices, high-end consumer products such as digital cameras and MP3 players, complex medical devices, automotive electronics, factory automation, process control, and military and space systems.

Hong Kong – April 13^th, 2010:  Frontier Silicon, the market-leading supplier of digital radio technology worldwide will be demonstrating at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair the Verona tuner module. Verona has been designed to meet the exacting demands of entry level price point radios.  In this high volume market segment, it is vital to remove every aspect of cost while maintaining good quality, long battery life and excellent receiver sensitivity.  Frontier Silicon has managed to achieve this by utilizing its world leading Kino 3 baseband IC (integrated circuit) which includes enough on-chip memory to demodulate and decode all three WorldDMB standards in one.  Further cost savings have been achieved by reducing the module size to just 48 x 28 mm.  This amounts to a 65 percent size reduction resulting in the world’s smallest FM, DAB, DAB+, DMB-Radio combined module.

Radio manufacturers are able to enjoy the economy-of-scales afforded by low cost DAB, DAB+, DMB-Radio (collectively known as WorldDMB Profile 1) as markets around the world begin the migration from FM to digital radio.  The UK is leading this charge with the governments “Digital Britain” report sighting sub twenty pound radios as one of the key requirements for switching to digital.  France is expected to begin digital migration this year with all receivers requiring a DMB-Radio tuner by 2013.  Italy and Germany are also scheduled to launch DAB+ this year joining established markets in Switzerland and Australia.

Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, said “Digital Radio UK is working hard with retailers and receiver manufacturers to ensure the successful migration to digital radio in the UK.  Quality radios at affordable prices are a key factor to mass market adoption and so we welcome the introduction of this latest tuner technology from Frontier with the cost savings it will bring to consumers.”

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, added, “Verona enables receiver manufacturers and retailers to make radios even more affordable, which will drive mass consumer uptake and provide the catalyst for digital radio migration across Europe during the next five years.”

Frontier Silicon was the first company to introduce a mass market solution for DAB, DAB+ and DMB-Radio and is the only technology provider today shipping DAB+ in volume.  Verona includes all interfaces necessary for a fully functional radio, needing only power supply, display, keypad, audio amplifier and speaker to complete a product.  A complete hardware and software reference design (called Venus) is available providing receiver manufacturers with a turn-key design for a mains and battery powered kitchen radio.

Verona enters mass production this month with products appearing on the shelves from July in good time for sports fans who want to follow the soccer world cup in digital quality audio on their radios.

About Frontier Silicon Limited

Frontier Silicon is the world’s leading supplier of integrated circuits and modules for digital audio receiver products and mobile digital TV. Established in 2001 as a privately funded fabless semiconductor company, Frontier Silicon has over 120 employees. The company is based in London, England, with design centres in Cambridge and Shannon. Frontier Silicon also has branch offices and technical support representation in France, Germany, Hong Kong, China and Japan. Products include complete solutions for digital audio systems including DAB, Internet radio and mobile TV, from silicon through software to production-ready platform designs.