The FS1030 multi-standard digital TV baseband IC, the first chip designed
specifically for receiving mobile TV, video, audio and data services over
multiple standards, has been launched by Frontier Silicon. The new
highly-integrated chip supports DVB-H, DVB-T, T-DMB, DAB-IP and enhanced
packet mode DAB and is now sampling to lead customers, says the company.
The Paradiso chip has been developed to address the myriad of mobile TV
handset receiver standards resulting from differing regional deployment and
spectrum regulation plans. It is designed to allow mobile handset and
portable device manufacturers to achieve economies of scale by delivering a
single mobile TV platform that addresses multiple market segments and
standards. Furthermore, Frontier is working with a number of leading
protocol stack developers to enable Paradiso to be optimised for specific
standards.
"We started the development of Paradiso from a strong position in T-DMB
handsets where we have already shipped over 1 million units," said Matthew
Hatch, VP marketing and business development, Frontier. "One of the
benefits is that our multi-standard solution has negligible cost overhead
compared to competing single standard receiver solutions - providing a very
compelling complete mobile TV solution for handset manufacturers."
The level of flexibility offered by the new multi-standard IC is not
available in competing solutions - with features such as integrated 2Mbit
MPE-FEC memory and Reed Solomon decoding for advanced Doppler and multi-path
channel algorithms; enhanced packet and data group modes for T-DMB/DAB-IP;
multiple PID, section and IP stream filters; and an extensive set of
peripherals including SPI, SDIO and USB interfaces. The interface to the
host application processor offers IP datagram, MPEG-2 Transport System (TS),
Fast Information Channel (FIC) or Main Service Channel (MSC) output streams
with control and boot mechanisms. The programmable nature of Paradiso
allows this interface to be optimised to facilitate host processors with
non-standard communication protocols.
Paradiso's comprehensive firmware ensures optimised hardware and software
interfacing to the host application processor, minimising the MIPS and
real-time requirements of the host and thus saving power. It is designed in
a compact 8 x 8 x 1 mm VFBGA package for slim-phones and low profile
portable devices, and offers low power operation using advanced power
management and power saving algorithms - delivering 50mW typical power
consumption in T-DMB and typically 16mW in DVB-H mode. The new baseband
receiver IC has been designed with an open RF interface to provide the
capability of operating with a wide range of RF tuners. Paradiso's DSP-based
software architecture allows tracking of evolving requirements and is
crafted not to compromise on power consumption, says the company.
