Another DSP company weighs in:
- Source: Analog Devices, Inc.
Analog Devices' New DBS Receiver Chipset Features Variable Rate Capability
Chipset Integrates Analog and Digital Components For Low-Cost Receiver Solution
NORWOOD, Mass., April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE:ADI) today announced SATCOM2, a highly integrated chipset that combines all the necessary mixed-signal functions needed to capture and process high quality audio/video signals in direct broadcast satellite (DBS) equipment. Its small footprint and state-of-the-art feature-set, including variable data rate capability, make the SATCOM2 chipset the best possible solution for next- generation DBS systems. SATCOM2 is a complete receiver front-end, including demodulator, baseband filter, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital receiver.
Features and Benefits
SATCOM2's built-in variable rate capability is unique among competitive designs.Variable rate decoding? Now what gave them this idea? Have they given up on wavelets?. It demodulates quadrature phase shift-keying (QPSK) signals ranging from 1O to 85 Mbps and is compliant with open DVB standards for satellite video transmission. Competitive digital receivers accommodate different rates of data transmission by externally switching surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters and/or discrete baseband filters. But SATCOM2 performs this function in the analog domain -- with active circuitry in the AD6461 -- to implement a true variable-rate receiver and reduce board space.
Complete Two-Chip Solution
The AD6461 analog signal processor accepts 480 MHz intermediate frequencies from commercially available L-band tuners and demodulates QPSK components. A pair of onboard "tunable bandwidth" filters optimize bit error rate and reduce noise and distortion. In contrast, competitive solutions need multiple external filters or a complex digital core which complicates designs, increases space requirements, and raises overall costs. Filtered analog signals are passed to the AD6462, where they are digitized, error corrected and formatted as an MPEG-2 transport data stream. SATCOM2's small footprint and low price will simplify the design, improve efficiency and lower the overall cost of DBS systems.
The resulting signal output is in a format that conforms with the open transmission and coding protocol specified by the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB-S) launch group, standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and adopted worldwide.
"SATCOM2 demonstrates our ability to solve complex signal processing problems involving the combination of high-speed analog and digital technology," says Russ Johnsen, vice president and general manager of Analog Devices' Communications Division. "SATCOM2 improves manufacturing efficiencies by helping DBS system designers meet the cost and design flexibility needed in this challenging market. SATCOM2 provides a complete variable rate solution that cuts total system cost for manufacturers, while delivering superior processing technology."
Pricing
The SATCOM2 chipset solution is priced at less than $18 in consumer volume and replaces competitive products comprising three or four chips. The SATCOM2 reference design features a 480 MHz output tuner rather than the I&Q tuner found in similar offerings. The use of the 480 MHz tuner lowers the cost of the SATCOM2 reference design, making it among the least expensive on the market. Analog Devices plans to continue to increase the functionality in future generations of the SATCOM line while simultaneously reducing costs.
About Analog Devices
With sales of $1.19 billion for fiscal 1996, Analog Devices is a leading manufacturer of precision high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications. Analog's Communications Division focuses on products for wireless and broadband wired communications applications. Headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, the company employs approximately 6,900 people worldwide and has manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Ireland, the Philippines and Taiwan. |
