Zarlink Semiconductor has announced that FuZhou ZhuoYi Electronics, China's leading satellite TV equipment manufacturer, has selected Zarlink's MT312 demodulator chip for its newest digital set-top box (STB) satellite receiver.

FuZhou ZhuoYi Electronics chose Zarlink's MT312 device for its highly automated, high-speed channel scan feature. When a customer installs a new satellite receiver, the MT312 chip scans, selects, and tunes digital TV channels across the complete satellite broadcasting band in about 10 minutes - with virtually no user input. Demodulators from other vendors can take hours to perform the same function, and require consumers to input variables such as frequency, code rate, and symbol rate.

An official release informs that FuZhou ZhuoYi Electronics is currently using the MT312 demodulator in its ZY5518 STB, a high-quality receiver for digital TV services based on the Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite (DVB-S) standard. This year, FuZhou ZhuoYi Electronics has already shipped thousands of its new satellite receivers to customers across China.

The release states that FuZhou ZhuoYi designed its new ZY5518 STB in conjunction with FuZhou Triumph Technology. Zarlink worked closely with both companies to optimise the performance and low-power characteristics of the MT312 for the application. The STB features a complete satellite network interface module (SNIM ) based on the MT312 demodulator and an MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Expert Group) processor from a leading European manufacturer.

The MT312 is a single-chip, variable rate digital satellite quaternary phase shift keying demodulator. The device's fast auto-scan capability is achieved, in part, by a very efficient state machine that minimises software overhead on the main system processor. The MT312 demodulator is also easy to programme and has the lowest power dissipation in its class.

Zarlink employs its analogue, digital and mixed-signal capabilities to offer the most compelling products for wired, wireless and optical connectivity markets and ultra low-power medical applications.