Product category:
Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: SiGe Semiconductor | Subject: StreamCharger
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 07 November 2001
Silicon platform cuts tuner parts count
StreamCharger from SiGe is a silicon platform that enables the world's lowest power, most integrated downstream tuners for DOCSIS cable telephony equipment, cable modems and digital set-top boxes.
StreamCharger from SiGe is a silicon platform that enables the world's lowest power, most integrated downstream tuners for DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) cable telephony equipment, cable modems and digital set-top boxes Based on advanced silicon germanium process technology, the StreamCharger silicon platform cuts power consumption by 50% compared with currently available solutions, and shrinks the bill of materials for a typical tuner module from 300 to less than 30 components
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 24 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The StreamCharger silicon platform has been proven through the development of a tuner IC for outdoor cable telephony equipment, which is currently sampling to SiGe's lead customer.
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The technology forms the base for SiGe's emerging family of standard tuner products, including DOCSIS indoor cable modems, DOCSIS outdoor customer premise equipment (CPE), and cable and terrestrial wireless digital set-top boxes.
Scheduled for launch in early 2002, these tuners are very competitively positioned through best-in-class performance, attractive pricing, and availability.
"The first product based on StreamCharger was designed in concert with our lead customer and major broadband service providers to ensure a solution that addresses the critical equipment requirements", said Cormac O'Connell, vice president, broadband cable, SiGe Semiconductor.
"The innovative use of our silicon germanium process technology has enabled breakthroughs in integration with superior performance that will secure us a leading position among broadband tuner providers with our first entry into this market".
StreamCharger offers a highly linear architecture that integrates all of the major components in the RF receive chain, including the low noise amplifier, mixer, IF amplifiers, crystal oscillators, phased locked loops, and IC interfaces.
The architecture serves as a complete end-to-end solution between the diplexer and the baseband, and is optimised to interface with and directly drive all major baseband processors and demodulator.
This eliminates the requirement for matching and intermediate amplifiers, thereby minimizing the bill of materials, manufacturing and inventory to substantially lower the cost of broadband hardware.
The highly integrated architecture reduces the number of components typically required in a front-end module from 300 to less than 30.
The StreamCharger silicon platform enables tuner IC solutions with 50% less power consumption than other tuners on the market.
The technology consumes 500mW of power, operates on a single-supply voltage of 3.3V, and incorporates programmable multiple power down modes.
Minimising power consumption is critical for both indoor and outdoor broadband access equipment.
For indoor units, such as cable modems and set-top boxes, which often contain multiple tuners, excess heat degrades performance and reliability, which increases provider costs associated with equipment repairs and returns.
StreamCharger's low power consumption and extended indoor temperature range solves this challenge, and reduces the need for larger boxes or expensive fans for heat dissipation.
For outdoor equipment, low power is essential to the remote powering infrastructure for lifeline telephony services.
Most MSOs specify a power budget between 3 and 4W.
StreamCharger enables tuners that account for less than 15% of the total power budget.
This is substantially lower than most tuners today, which have power consumption of 1-1.9W, consuming approximately 25-50% of the power budget.
StreamCharger has superior RF performance with industry leading noise figure, phase noise and distortion specifications.
Able to support both analogue and digital signals plus 256-QAM digital formats, StreamCharger enhances the capacity and use of bandwidth into the home, increasing the reliability of interactive, simultaneous data streams that are required for emerging bundled applications.
Extreme temperature range variants, operating over -40 to +85C, will provide StreamCharger's superior RF performance for rugged outdoor applications.
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