[opendtv] Re: Oldest claim to have solved multipath

Tom Barry wrote:

>On a lazy Sunday afternoon I've taken up a crusade to collect old press 
>releases from Zenith and others of how they have solved the multipath 
>problems.
>
>The oldest Zenith claim I've found so far is from Electronics Weekly 
>back in April 1997, see  <http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Article7552.htm>
>
>Can anyone provide others?
>
>- Tom
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Friday 4 April 1997
>
>Zenith claims first with ICs for US HDTV system
>Simon Parry
>Zenith Electronics claims it has developed the industry's first ICs for 
>the digital HDTV terrestrial broadcast transmission system adopted by 
>the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
>The two ICs will demodulate the digital television signal transmitted by 
>broadcasters. Zenith invented the FCC approved VSB (vestigial sideband) 
>digital transmission technology at the heart of the ATSC DTV standard. 
>The chips are expected to be available later this year.
>Laboratory testing of first-generation chips shows compatibility with 
>the FCC-adopted VSB transmission system, according to Paul Snopko, 
>Zenith's R&D director.
>The VSB chip-set, manufactured by LG Semicon, includes two Asics, one 
>for synchronisation and equalisation and one for channel decoding. The 
>sync/equaliser chip locks the receiver to the VSB signal and removes 
>NTSC co-channel interference and multipath distortion (ghosts) from the 
>received signal. The channel decoder chip corrects errors in the 
>received signal using Reed-Solomon and trellis coding error correction 
>methods.
>  
>

Here is ATI's (NxtWave) of 1999. There was one at the same time from 
Motorola that I can not find. Later when they both were exposed as 
"inaccurate", especially the quote from below, "With the NXT2000 we've 
cracked the code for indoor and mobile reception, shown that VSB is a 
robust and commercially viable standard, and paved the way for mass 
market deployment of error-free digital TV,"said Matt Miller, president 
and CEO of NxtWave Communications Inc." it was postulated that it was 
not only inaccurate but was purposefully inaccurate for the purpose of 
derailing Sinclair's questioning of 8-VSB.

Never understood the reason since ATI (NxtWave) did COFDM as well as 
8-VSB chips at the time and still do I believe. I guess NxtWave felt 
that they would dominate 8-VSB which they could not do with COFDM and 
according to them today, ATI that is, they do dominate 8-VSB for what 
that is worth.

NxtWave Communications' Breakthrough Receiver Chip Makes Mobile and 
Indoor Reception of Broadcast Digital Television Possible

NXT2000 Provides Increased Performance and Reduces Costs through On-Chip 
Advanced Blind Adaptive Equalization

NxtWave Communications Inc., (nxtwavecomm.com) a developer of broadband 
communications integrated circuits (ICs), today introduced the first 
multimode VSB/QAM receiver chip that delivers error-free indoor and 
mobile reception of broadcast digital signals to digital televisions 
(DTVs), PCs and digital set-top boxes. Designated the NXT2000, the 
physical layer (PHY) device overcomes static and dynamic multipath 
interference typical in broadcast transmissions and provides the highest 
reliability and performance available.

"With the NXT2000 we've cracked the code for indoor and mobile 
reception, shown that VSB is a robust and commercially viable standard, 
and paved the way for mass market deployment of error-free digital 
TV,"said Matt Miller, president and CEO of NxtWave Communications Inc.

The high-performance, multimode integrated circuit is Advanced 
Television Systems Committee (ATSC) compliant and performs in either 
8VSB mode for terrestrial broadcasting or in 64 QAM, 256 QAM or 16VSB 
modes for cable TV. The exceptional performance of the NXT2000 cancels 
transmission channel impairments such as static and dynamic multipath, 
phase noise, adjacent or co-channel NTSC interference and impulse noise. 
It also greatly exceeds the performance demonstrated by the Grand 
Alliance reference system at the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). 
In addition to reliable reception, the device has important features for 
consumers. Such features include a built in signal quality indicator to 
ease antenna alignment and an ultra-fast signal acquisition (50 
milliseconds or less) that allows rapid channel surfing capability, 
which to date, has not been possible with other digital receivers.

"We designed a completely new equalizer architecture that not only 
overcomes the severe impairments in broadcast channels, but also 
provides shorter acquisition times and reduces silicon cost. These 
features enable us to eliminate any barriers surrounding large-scale 
deployment of digital transmission for both terrestrial broadcast and 
cable applications. It is one of those rare cases in which increased 
performance and cost reduction come hand in hand," according to Mike 
Neshat, vice president, marketing and sales for

NxtWave Communications Inc.

The on-chip carrier recovery of the NXT2000 together with the advanced 
equalization scheme provides robust and dependable demodulation even 
when the VSB pilot is destroyed due to severe channel conditions. The 
equalizer range extends from -4.5 usec to 44.5 usec, nsuring reliable 
signal recovery in the harshest multipath conditions typical of 
terrestrial broadcast channels. The NXT2000 decodes 8 VSB terrestrial 
and cable signals such as SCTE DVS-031, ITU-J.83B, and MCNS 
DOCSIS-compliant 64/256 QAM. Other features include a "direct IF 
sampling" integrated analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and integrated 
FEC that greatly reduces the bill-of -materials (BOM) cost for set-top 
box and DTV manufacturers. The internal A/D converter also accepts a 
"low IF" input signal to enable integration into existing set-top box 
and DTV chassis designs. The programmable symbol rate allows for 
different VSB/QAM modes without requiring any VCXOs to drive the A/D 
converter.

<>The NXT2000 achieves power savings by operating the internal core at 
2.5V and the I/O ring at 3.3V to enable seamless interconnection with 
existing ICs. Packaged in a 100-pin thin quad flat pack  TQFP), samples 
of the device currently are available; production quantities are 
scheduled for Q4'99. The price of the NXT2000 is $22.00 each in 
10,000unit quantities.

Langhorne, PA, -- August 24, 1999 -  ####

About NxtWave Communications Inc.

NxtWave Communications Inc develops broadband communications integrated 
circuits (ICs) for use in multiple mass markets. Using efficient and 
robust modulation and demodulation techniques, the Company's IC 
solutions satisfy the requirements of manufacturers of cable modems, 
interactive set-top boxes, digital

TVs and PC video products. NxtWave

Communications leverages proprietary algorithms in its receiver 
implementations of industry standard transmission formats including QAM, 
VSB, QPSK and NTSC. NxtWave Communications is headquartered in 
Langhorne, Pennsylvania with worldwide marketing and sales headquartered 
in Irvine, California. For additional information visit xtwavecomm.com.

 



 
 
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