Micronas Launches Digital Terrestrial TV Demodulator for Standard- and High-Definition Broadcast TV in China

The DRX 398yZ conforms to China’s DTMB standard, offering automatic detection and superior reception for both single-carrier and multi-carrier modes

FREIBURG, Germany — Micronas (SWX Swiss Exchange: MASN), a leading supplier of innovative application-specific IC system solutions for consumer electronics, today announced the DRX 398yZ family of digital terrestrial demodulators targeted at the rapidly growing digital television market in China. The DRX 398yZ demodulates high-definition and standard-definition television signals according to China’s GB20600-2006 standard which is also known as DTMB (Digital Television Multimedia Broadcast). The chip is highly integrated and is optimal for applications including set-top boxes, PVRs, IDTVs, Network Interface Modules (NIMs), USB-TV sticks and PC-TV cards.

In August 2006, China released its own digital television terrestrial broadcast transmission standard, GB20600-2006, which includes both single-carrier and multi-carrier modulation. Micronas’ DRX 398yZ DTMB demodulator supports automatic detection of single-carrier and multi-carrier modes and offers excellent reception performance for both modes. In a single-carrier system, this is achieved via the integrated time-domain equalizer implementing an adaptive decision-feedback algorithm. In a multi-carrier system, this is done via the frequency domain equalizer in cooperation with the advanced channel estimator.

“DTMB is one of the most complex broadcast transmission standards,” says Zhenning Zhang, Marketing Manager at Micronas Shanghai. “Our experience in developing advanced demodulator systems for ATSC and DVB allowed us to develop a device that exceeds all DTMB requirements and enables robust and reliable reception performance.”

The DRX 398yZ offers a high-level of integration, allowing TV makers to reduce parts cost and simplify their designs. The device requires only a single 8 MHz SAW filter, and includes PWM RF-AGC and IF-AGC outputs. It integrates a high-speed 10-bit A/D converter, a high-quality PLL which allows the use of a simple crystal as clock reference, and SDRAM for de-interleaving.

The DRX 398yZ offers exceptional digital reception performance. It offers robust synchronization in the presence of phase and frequency offsets up to 500 kHz, and robust timing recovery up to 100 ppm of sampling offset. An on-chip microprocessor performs autonomous detection and operation of all possible DTMB modes without burdening the host processor.

Customers can choose between three versions of the device to meet their specific design requirements. There is a single-carrier version, a multi-carrier version, and one that supports both modes. All versions come in a QFN64 package and are pin and driver compatible with the other products in the DRX-series.

The DRX 398yZ includes a range of software modules to control the device, including integrated tuner support. All modules share a common API. This approach ensures accelerated design times for a quick time-to-market which is essential in today’s competitive environment.

Prototypes are available to selected OEMs now. Volume production is planned for the first quarter of 2009.