Zarlink expands digital satellite TV RF chips

Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. has expanded its family of RF chips for digital satellite TV systems with the releases of the ZL 10312 channel demodulator. The device, combined with the company's SL1925 and SL1935 tuner chips, offers manufacturers a complete RF subsystem for tuning, scanning, decoding, and demodulating digital satellite TV signals.

The demodulator automatically scans the complete satellite broadcast band in minutes while competing demodulator chips can take hours to perform the function, and require consumers to input variables such as frequency, code rate, and symbol rate.

Consuming 300mW of power, the product minimizes heat generation, improving RF performance and field reliability. It supports QPSK (quaternary phase shift keying) and BPSK (bipolar phase shift keying) modulation schemes, and uses digital filters to detect and decode symbol rates from 1MSps to 45MSps.

Offered in a 64-pin LQFP, the demodulator measures 7-by-7mm, and is priced at $3.85 for 1,000-unit quantities.