Major features of
Sony's demodulator ICs
 Worldwide Demodulator Line-up
Shared package and pin assignment
simplifies placement on common board
chassis
Sophisticated error correction engine
offers performance close to the
theoretical limit (Viterbi, LDPC)
Excellent multipath performance thanks
to Sony's unique channel estimation
algorithm
Fast channel switching
Low power consumption
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 We are Confident of Our Competitive Edge
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Yasushi Ono
Senior Manager
System Solution Section
Tuner Department
System LSI Business Division
Semiconductor Business Group
Professional, Device & Solutions Group
Sony Corporation |
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Kazuhiro Shimizu
System Solution Section
Tuner Department
System LSI Business Division
Semiconductor Business
Group
Professional, Device & Solutions
Group
Sony Corporation
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Battling for the
Broadcasting Systems of
Europe, USA, China and Japan
Ono: When friends ask me what I do for
a living I find it hard to answer. Instead, I
counter by saying that in Japan people are
making much ado about terrestrial digital
broadcasting and ask them if they know
that the rest of the world is also introducing
digital broadcasting. Most people do not
know. There are, in fact, four terrestrial
digital broadcasting systems. Japan's
ISDB-T broadcasting system is peculiar
to Japan and not used much anywhere
else. Well, thanks to government level
promotion, ISDB-T is being chosen by
many South American countries (see Figure 1 in the Featuring section).
Shimizu: The objective of introducing
our terrestrial broadcasting system
overseas is to stimulate our industry.
Like promoting the Shinkansen
abroad, systems that are used
by a broadcast ing station is big
business. I think that South America's
acceptance of the Japanese system will
have a significant impact especially as the
terrestrial digital market is growing. I think
the Japanese government has done a lot
to promote the system.
Ono: DVB-T, the European system,
is globally predominant and as some
countries in South America had chosen
it, I thought it was only a matter of time
before other countries would follow suit. It
was Brazil, which adopted the Japanese
system early on that encouraged other
countries to follow this example. The USA
and the Republic of Korea share the same
system while China developed their own
system since they did not want a system
developed by another country.
Shimizu: China is also promoting their
system overseas not only in Cambodia,
Laos and other neighboring countries but
also in Africa where they are now investing
vast sums of money.
Ono: Yes, many African countries still
have to decide which system they should choose and the continent could turn into a
battleground between the European and
Chinese systems.
Shimizu : The Ministry of Public
Management, Home Affairs, Posts and
Telecommunications must have worked
hard to promote the system in fact, Angola
has just decided to adopt the Japanese
system.
Ono: The Japanese terrestrial digital
broadcasting system is in some respects
not quite as good as DVB-T2, the second
generation European system. For
example, DVB-T2 offers a higher data rate
than the Japanese system, an advantage
that enables multiple high-definition
broadcasts in a single frequency range.
Shimizu: One reason why South American
countries have chosen the Japanese
system is said to be its one seg capability
(terrestrial digital broadcasts for cellular
phones and mobile devices). I think this
differentiation of the Japanese system is
interesting.
Ono: Indeed. In Europe, DVB-H, a
terrestrial digital standard for mobile
devices, was created but has failed to
gain popularity. It seems that there was
little interest in watching TV on a cellular
phone.
Shimizu: There are cultural differences,
as well. But even in Europe the winds
are changing and new efforts to bring
about mobile TV are afoot. Probably the
increasing use of smart phones have
brought this change.
Ono: That is a change working in our
favor. I would like to develop tuners
that consume less power to create an
environment that allows us to enjoy TV on
smart phones and tablets, too.
The Reason for
the
World's No. 1
Demodulator Manufacturer
Ono: The major difference between
each broadcasting system is how they
combine the demodulator system and
error correction. Upgrading the system is
basically a matter of tweaking these two
mechanisms. Sony can offer demodulator
ICs for all broadcasting system because
we possess all the required technology. So
when the next generation of the system is
released, we can soon deliver compatible
products. Sony was able to commercialize
the world's first demodulator IC for
DVB-T2, Europe's second generation
broadcasting system, and will also
manage to quickly release a demodulator
for DVB-C2, a second generation CATV
system. The manufacturer with the No. 1
shipments of demodulator ICs dominates
mainly the market for old systems, so Sony
is expected to soon become the world's
No. 1 shipper of demodulator ICs.
Shimizu: Our capability to quickly respond
to the trends in the world's broadcasting
systems is because we have managed to
unify demodulator IC packages and pin
assignment. The major TV components
are installed on a common board and by
replacing the demodulator IC it can be
made compatible with any of the world's
TV broadcasting systems. This approach
streamlines TV manufacturing processes
and the use of common evaluation boards
is also an advantage at the development
stage. This reduces development time
when a customer that has developed a TV
model for one broadcasting system wants
a mode for another system.
Ono: Our use of common boards is not
merely an adjustment but aims at sharing
components at the highest possible
level. As a look at the broadcasting
system table (above) shows, in 2011 we
managed to make common packages
that are compatible with all the world's
broadcasting systems. This trend will
continue in 2012. What differs is that the
current Sony product is an 80-pin LQFP
common to all systems, while the new IC
that will soon go into mass-production is a
48-pin VQFN package. The size has also
been reduced from 14 mm square to 7 mm
square.
Shimizu: That is 1/4 of the area of the
current product.
Ono: Although some broadcasting systems
were extremely difficult to fit into a 48-pin
package, the effor ts of Mr. Shimizu's
team made it possible to place them in
the smallest package. Each of the ICs
represents the best possible solution for
each broadcasting system and is delivered
in the same type of package the world
over; a double win, in other words! |
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 Overall Set Design and Manufacture
Have Yielded Global Unification |
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See
all articles with figures and tables.  |
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Vol.66 |
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