Sep 17 2014
TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader and Global Invacom, a leading innovator and manufacturer of technology to the global satellite industry, announced today the production of a software configurable satellite TV chipset - Romeo & Juliet - for global applications enabled by TowerJazz’s advanced SiGe BiCMOS (SBC18) technologies and design enablement services.
For the first time, the chipset Global Invacom has developed allows satellite equipment makers to design one programmable system for all global markets. Global Invacom's Romeo & Juliet based FibreIRS™ Mk 3 Gateway Termination Units (GTUs) and SwitchBlade Fibre-MultiSwitch (FMS) will be available from Q4/14 and Q1/15 respectively.
The Romeo & Juliet chipset lets OEMs develop their own range of FibreIRS™ compatible products for any satellite TV service frequency plan in the world with a single, programmable design, radically reducing manufacturing proliferation, driving cost reductions and increased ROI (return on investment). Romeo is a wide band LNA (low-noise amplifier), while the programmable Juliet dual-channel down-converter supports all the global frequency plans, avoiding the need for a separate discrete design for each region.
Global Invacom invented the widely used FibreIRS™ technology that distributes satellite TV from a whole-band LNB (low-noise block) or optical LNB around apartment blocks, MDUs (multi-dwelling units) and multiscreen enterprise networks requiring live TV services. The new chipset also supports a modular design so that TV feeds from extra satellites can be added to a base unit sharing a controller and power. This allows property developers to install a scalable network for one satellite and others can easily add new ones to for residents to watch alternative TV services from around the world.
Global Invacom developed the FibreIRS™ architecture and products to allow cost-effective satellite TV service distribution. Resilient, lightweight optical fibre cable backbones are used rather than traditional expensive coaxial cable that is highly susceptible to interference and picture degradation and requires signal amplifiers throughout the building.
“We launched our Romeo & Juliet chipset to dramatically open up the market for more economical products, useable worldwide, for the distribution of multiple satellite TV services over fibre in residential MDUs, hotels and the enterprise,” said Ian Walsh, VP Business Development at Global Invacom.
Malcolm Burrell, Global Invacom’s Technical Director added, “We selected TowerJazz as our manufacturing partner for their ability to produce low-noise, high-gain, wide-band and linear SiGe devices. Also, their design enablement platform complements their sophisticated technology and includes silicon verified, highly scalable device models, robust physical design tools for up front design optimization, and their design support infrastructure, to enable a quick and accurate design cycle.”
“We are pleased that Global Invacom chose our SiGe BiCMOS (SBC18) process platform for their innovative solution for satellite TV services. Our SBC18 family of processes integrate a high performance SiGe HBT device with standard 0.18um CMOS in order to monolithically integrate high performance RF circuit blocks with digital control circuitry. The SiGe HBTs provide excellent RF gain, noise, and linearity characteristics at the satellite communications frequencies used in these products,” said Dr. Marco Racanelli, Sr. VP & GM of RF & High Performance Analog Business Group, TowerJazz.