Microtune unveils ultra-small, super-integrated MicroCeiver IC platform

PLANO, USA: Microtune Inc. announced details of a new ultra-small, low-cost technology platform, named MicroCeiver™, that is the foundation for the company'’s new breed of highly integrated receiver products for the digital TV and cable TV markets.

The MicroCeiver platform is a breakthrough radio frequency (RF) analog and digital signal processing system in a single chip.

A complete radio frequency (RF)-to-baseband solution, MicroCeiver technology offers the building-block architecture for a new family of fully integrated front-end receivers that will bring low cost, miniature footprints and excellent signal reception quality to manufacturers creating next-generation digital televisions, set-top boxes, cable entertainment hubs and IP video electronics.

Deploying ground-breaking new features and techniques, the MicroCeiver architecture will reduce customers’ development time and production costs, while enabling them to create consumer products for global markets that span multiple applications, product lines and international television reception standards.

The MicroCeiver architecture will provide a modular path for Microtune to develop and quickly bring to market new families of cable and digital TV front-end receivers optimized for multi-standard off-air and cable TV reception, analog and/or digital modes, next-generation digital standards and very high performance.

Microtune will introduce in the coming weeks the first in the family of cable and digital TV chips based on its MicroCeiver system, and it has already demonstrated its initial product to customers.

“As digital content, devices and applications converge, manufacturers continue to seek cutting-edge technologies that will allow them to deliver the ‘what’s next’ in consumer electronics, and quality of reception is among the keys to their success. Competition, economics and environmental concerns are also forcing OEMs to find reliable, lower-cost, multi-functional components optimized for global markets and design flexibility,” said James A. Fontaine, President and CEO of Microtune.

“These trends will be realized by state-of-the-art receivers, and we believe our MicroCeiver technology is one of the price/performance/size breakthroughs that will help drive the future of the worldwide digital and cable TV electronics evolution.”