Over-the-air digital TV is free in the U.S. All you need is a TV set to receive it, though most TV sets aren’t portable. But progress is underway to bring U.S. digital TV to laptops, netbooks, cell phones, auto entertainment systems, and other mobile devices.

The American Television Standards Committee (ATSC) A/53 digital TV standard uses eight-level vestigial sideband (8VSB) modulation and MPEG2 video compression, generating a 19.3-Mbit/s digital stream. It’s optimized for fixed operation.

With so much focus on cell phones and other portable equipment, ATSC initiated work on a mobile or handheld (M/H) standard several years ago and finalized it in October 2009. Known as A/153, this complex standard adds extra forward error correction (FEC) and other coding schemes to make it more robust in mobile conditions. Local TV stations now can begin transmitting A/153 signals along with their regular A/53 fixed digital signals.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) is conducting field trials to determine the efficacy of the standard and the circuits and equipment available to implement it. In fact, MaxLinear’s MxL111SF ICs are being used in mobile devices from Dell and Hauppauge Computer Works that were developed for the ATSC-M/H field trials now ongoing in Washington, D.C.

The MaxLinear-equipped mobile devices are being used in a nine-station mobile digital TV consumer trial sponsored by the Open Mobile Video Coalition. More than 200 consumers equipped with the specially designed beta Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbooks and 160 users with Sprint mobile phones are part of the trials, which started in July and will run through October.

The single-chip MxL111SF digital terrestrial receiver includes an ATSC-M/H-compliant silicon tuner and USB interface. It has been designed into a variety of products including “USB stick” DTV receivers from Hauppauge Computer Works.

In the U.S. alone, more than 100 TV broadcast stations are broadcasting mobile DTV services in the ATSC-M/H format, including stations in 15 of the top 20 local markets. For TV stations, the cost of broadcasting channels in both ATSC and ATSC-M/H formats is relatively minor and opens up new ways to reach consumers. While the U.S. is the largest consumer market using the ATSC broadcast standard, it has also been adopted by Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Honduras, and other countries.

The highly integrated MxL111SF system-on-a-chip (SoC) features an integrated DVB-T demodulator and USB interface. It can be used, for example, in a USB dongle designed to bring TV to a laptop or netbook (see the figure). This chip is a full RF front end with low-noise amplifier (LNA) and mixer. It requires an external ATSC demodulator, but it does not need an external surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter.

The chip boasts a 44- to 885-MHz tuning range. It offers low power dissipation (450 mW) and full programmability. The MxL111SF also meets the exacting requirements of the ATSC A/74 Receiver Performance Guidelines, making it appropriate for stationary and mobile TV applications. Available in a 7- by 7-mm 48QFN package, the MxL111SF is a cost-effective solution for a variety of consumer electronic products and form factors.

One solution to the demodulator need is the Santana ATSC-MH (A/153) core from Iberium Communications. This digital demodulator core is now available for the U.S. mobile digital TV (DTV) market. It fully complies with the mobile DTV standard ATSC-MH (A/153). Along with the existing Garcia ATSC (A/53)/quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) demodulator core, the Santana completes the company’s portfolio of products for the ATSC-based DTV markets.

The Santana A/153 core targets next-generation mobile devices like mobile phones, portable media players, and laptop and notebook computers. It uses advanced algorithmic features such as time-sliced operation and an efficient ASIC microarchitecture design to provide IC vendors with a low-cost, low-power solution that will meet the demands of next-generation consumer products. Its design is highly customizable to meet diverse customer needs and requirements. The company also offers DTV demodulator cores for the global DTV market, including ATSC, ATSC-M/H, DTMB, DVB, and ISDB.

Iberium Communications

MaxLinear Inc.