'World's first' high-symbol-rate satellite demodulator chip

Compliant with DVB-S2, DVB-S2X and DVB-S2 Annex-M, this chip has been designed as part of the French Space Agency (CNES) THD-SAT programme, fostering the development of cost-efficient, fast broadband internet access via high throughput satellite at a performance equivalent to fiber-optic, ADSL and 4G networks.

“The Digital Divide has been clearly identified as an important-to-address societal problem by national and regional studies such as the European Union’s ‘Digital Agenda’,” said Eric Benoit, Head of Product Line, Headed Platforms, Consumer Product Division, STMicroelectronics. “A fruit of our collaboration with CNES, the satellite demodulator chip can deliver useful data throughput of up to 600Mb per second in the Ka band. This represents a valuable step change to what has been available, while simultaneously optimising the bandwidth efficiency that can be achieved in the lower-frequency Ku band. Together, this will help pave the way towards our common goal of ‘broadband for all’.”

“With THD-SAT our ambition is to bring a 10 times cost reduction of bandwidth with high-throughput Ka-band satellite to distribute fast Internet services at 100/10Mb/s downlink/uplink that would complement, in a cost-efficient way, Fiber To The Home deployment outside densely populated areas,” commented Jean-Philippe Taisant, Telecommunication Senior Project Manager, CNES. “The availability of STMicroelectronics’ STiD135 demodulator chip is key to enabling the development of affordable satellite broadband modems.”

The STiD135 is currently sampling and will be demonstrated during SES-Astra Industry Days, which takes place from 6^th to 7^th May in Luxembourg.