Siano Launches 2nd Generation Micro Antenna Chip for Mobile TV

New Antenna Chip Provides Record MDTV Reception Levels to Help Drive Mass-Market Adoption of Mobile TV

NETANYA, Israel — Leading mobile TV chipmaker Siano Mobile Silicon announced today the launch of its second-generation antenna-chip product, labeled the SMS8022, designed for high-performing mobile applications. Without any compromise in area, but with significant increase in performance, the SMS8022 further pushes the bar of mobile TV innovation, enabling increased MDTV reception in deep indoor locations and when traveling at high speeds. The SMS8022 is a joint development from the continued cooperation between Siano and USA based Vishay LLC, a world leader in discrete electronic components.

In 2007 Europe and Asia witnessed a rise in mobile TV applications supporting the terrestrial broadcasting standards, with DVB-T taking the lion’s share. Coverage in rural or extremely dense urban (with high concentration of high-risers) areas has proved problematic in the past. The SMS8022 offers the industry’s first compact and high performing solution, extremely small size yet with wide and deep reception.

Only 35mm x 5mm x 1mm in size, the miniature omni-directional antenna chip eliminates the need for long “telescopic” or “rod” external antennas, whilst enabling mobile digital TV on applications such as mobile phones, portable multimedia players, notebooks, UMPCs, and accessory cards. Covering the entire UHF spectrum, from 470 to 870 MHz, the SMS8022 supports digital TV technologies such as DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T, FLO, and ATSC.

The new member of Siano’s antenna chip family offers improved performance of more than 3dB with respect to its predecessor, the SMS8021, setting a new industry record for internal antennae performance, eliminating practically every advantage of external antennae.

“The launch of the world’s smallest UHF antenna chip for MDTV in 2007 created a lot of excitement in the industry, and the product was successfully adopted by a number of reputable device makers worldwide,” said Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano. “The new, higher-performance SMS8022 further cements Siano’s leadership in the industry, offering both the highest performance receiver chip as well as the highest performance antenna chip.”

Like the CES award winning SMS8021, the new SMS8022 is attached to any Printed Circuit Board using common SMT assembly technologies, thus also eliminating from handheld device maker the hassle involved with special assembly of the external antenna.

Compliant with industry specifications such as MBRAI 2.0 and NORDIG, the SMS8022 is a complementary solution to Siano’s newly launched 2nd generation mobile TV receiver, the SMS1100, which offers global MDTV coverage at the highest mobility and sensitivity rates in the industry.

Siano will be demonstrating the SMS8022 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 11th-14th February 2008, at hospitality suite (4.5 HS_44 Hall 4).