Silicon Tuner Maker SiTune Ships 3.0 Receiver Chip for Mobile Use

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Next-gen RF integrated circuit supplier SiTune has released STN61M0 silicon, an ultra-low power mobile ATSC 3.0 TV tuner for mobile and handheld devices.

"Drawing on our wealth of RF expertise and silicon and systems experience, we have been able to address power requirements and challenging performance criteria of mobile TV receivers,” said Marzieh Veyseh, chief product officer at SiTune.

According to the company, the new offering is the first single-chip ATSC 3.0 mobile tuner that supports high-quality video and audio reception in a mobile environment where signal power can change quickly and doppler effects are present.

The new chip assures co-existence with current LTE reception in the 600 MHz to 700 MHz band, the company added.

Capable of tuning channels between 90 MHz and 858 MHz while consuming only a small amount of power, the chip supports other terrestrial standards, including DVB-T/T2, ISDB-T and D-TMB.

SiTune hopes to leverage the desirability of offloading distribution of one-to-many video content in a 5G world to the terrestrial broadcasting environment of the IP-based ATSC 3.0 standard.

“5G broadcasting is aiming at creating an opportunity for TV broadcasters to broaden their reach and target more users. However, the not-so-radical idea of offloading content to [a] terrestrial IP-based ATSC 3.0 network will be the facilitator for delivering high-quality streaming content, such as live sports events, to mobile consumers. SiTune's STN61M0 facilitates just that as well as delivering the promise of supporting mobile TV broadcast via traditional digital TV broadcasting,” said Veyseh.

The new mobile tuner chip is not the company’s first foray into ATSC 3.0. In September, SiTune announced it had shipped more than 2 million silicon 8K tuners (the STN6528) with multistandard tuning capability, including support for ATSC 3.0.

More information is available on the company’s website

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.