Product category:
Optoelectronic Sensors, Switches and Receivers
News Release from: Zarlink Semiconductor | Subject: ZL60012 and ZL60013
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 17 December 2003
Optical receivers take more onboard
The ZL60012 and ZL60013 are the industry's first integrated optical receivers for highly specialised digital television optical broadcast systems.
Zarlink Semiconductor has developed the industry's first integrated optical receivers for highly specialised DTV (digital television) optical broadcast systems Zarlink's ZL60012 and ZL60013 optical receivers are designed specifically for optical transmission systems and subsystems used by production houses and television studios to transport and process broadcast-quality, uncompressed SDTV (standard digital television) and HDTV (high-definition digital television) signals at distances and speeds beyond the reach of copper cabling
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 7 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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As the television industry adopts DTV and HDTV systems, broadcasters and production houses require high-quality digital signals throughout the production, postproduction and transmission stages.
For example, broadcast-quality signals need to be transferred from a digital camera to a remote broadcast facility, or between studios within a production complex.
However, at standard DTV speeds of 270Mbit/s, copper-based transmission of DTV signals is typically limited to distances less than 500m; at HDTV speeds of 1.48Gbit/s, this distance is even shorter.
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In comparison, optical transmission systems permit the transmission of DTV signals up to 70km.
"With the drive towards HDTV, production houses and broadcasters require end-to-end digital systems", said Marco Ghisoni, Business Development Manager, Optical Components, Zarlink Semiconductor.
"Zarlink's new family of optical receivers meets customer needs for cost-effective, fully integrated components".
As the first integrated optical receivers for SDTV and HDTV transmission systems, the ZL60012/13 devices help simplify the design, reduce the cost and improve the performance of DTV optical broadcast systems.
The receivers are already in use with several customers worldwide.
Traditional DTV optical transmission systems rely on two devices - a photodiode detector and an electrical amplifier - to perform the receive function.
However, using separate components demands additional wiring that consumes board space, while establishing connection paths between the components increases the design effort.
Zarlink's receivers integrate an InGaAs photodiode and a transimpedance amplifier into a compact, integrated package that saves up to 30% of board space and significantly reduces design time.
Integration can also result in performance advantages, including reduced signal noise and data errors.
Zarlink's optical receivers handle the specific characteristics of SDI (serial digital interface) DTV signals.
These DC-unbalanced signals, also called pathological signals, require specialised devices capable of handling this data, largely because of the distinct, unequal distribution of zeros and ones in the bitstream.
Optical devices in traditional telecommunications systems are standardised to handle a DC-balanced signal with an equal distribution of zeros and ones in the bitstream.
The ZL60012 receiver operates at up to 270Mbit/s, meeting the specifications of the 259M SDTV standard defined by ANSI and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
The ZL60013 receiver operates at up to 1.5Gbit/s, and meets the ANSI/SMPTE 292M standard for HDTV.
The devices operate at wavelengths between 1000 and 1600nm, over both single- and multimode fibre.
The ZL60012/13 receivers are available in a variety of housings, including pigtail.
The standard ZL60013 is packaged with an SC compatible housing, according to ANSI/SMPTE specifications.
In volumes of 1000, pricing ranges from US $25.00 to $50, depending on device type and housing option.
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