Analog Devices And Legend Silicon Open Shanghai Design Lab

Collaborative effort to enable the rapid integration of low-power TV solutions in portable media players, mobile PCs and cell phones.

Shanghai, China — Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI), a global leader in high-performance semiconductors for signal processing applications, and Legend Silicon Corp., a leading supplier of silicon solutions for broadband wireless broadcasting, today announced the opening of a joint design laboratory to develop reference designs for China’s emerging mobile TV market. The design lab, which is located in Shanghai, adjacent to the Fudan University campus, will provide complete front-end solutions, from the antenna through the tuner to the demodulator to the MPEG2 TS interface, to allow Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) to quickly equip their mobile terminal products–including portable media players, PDAs, laptop PCs, automotive displays and smart phones–to receive terrestrial digital TV broadcasts.

The design lab is headed by chief technologist, Dr. Xiaolin Wang, from Analog Devices. Dr. Wang works in ADI’s high-speed signal processing business unit and has extensive experience in large-scale digital system and IC development for networking and telecommunications applications, such as wireless LAN and cable modem. Dr. Wang holds an MSEE and a PhD from the University of Arizona at Tucson. He received his BS in physics from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

The collaboration combines Legend’s demodulator technology with ADI’s low-power RF tuners. Legend’s demodulators fully support the GB2006 terrestrial digital TV standard in China. The standard covers both fixed and mobile applications, and the demodulators have the capability to receive this terrestrial digital broadcast in mobile terminal products. The demodulators use a power-scaling technique that matches power consumption to the bit rate of the received broadcast signal to further extend battery life, or reduce battery size, in portable applications. ADI’s tuners allow portable communications, computer, and consumer electronic devices to receive digital TV and digital radio broadcasts. The lab also will support complete system designs developed in collaboration with customers.

“ADI is poised to meet the pent-up market demand for mobile content in China,” said Howard Cheng, vice president for Greater China Operations, Analog Devices. “The opening of this joint lab with Legend Silicon is an important next step to helping our customers in the region prepare for the rapid and substantial deployment of mobile TV services, which we believe are on the cusp of becoming a mass-market opportunity.”

“Legend Silicon’s collaborative efforts with Analog Devices yielded the first silicon tuner receiver solution to meet China’s mobile and fixed digital broadcast requirements,” said Dr. Lin Yang, chairman and chief technology officer, Legend Silicon. “The joint design activities in Shanghai are yet another example of our commitment to bring mobile TV services to China.”

Analog Devices has a portfolio of mobile tuner devices that meet every mobile TV standard, including T-DMB, S-DMB, ISDB-T, DVB-H, FM radio, DAB and China’s emerging GB2006 specification. ADI also provides a full suite of GSM/GPRS/EDGE cell phone chipsets and a line of low-power video encoders and HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface™) interface components to enable video output to external monitors. Additionally, ADI’s high-performance, power-efficient Blackfin® processor can perform MPEG-2 decoding and multimedia processing functions.