Communications

The Government has dismissed concerns that the move from the MPEG2 to MPEG4 digital broadcasting encoding standard in digital TV would make current Freeview digital terrestrial TV receivers obsolete. Last week Electronics Weekly highlighted concerns in the industry that turning off MPEG2 transmissions would obsolete Freeview boxes. “To anybody who wants to buy a high definition TV and eventually do ...

An alternative mobile TV technology which uses the 3G W-CDMA network to transmit signals to multiple users has been launched by IPWireless with the announcement that six network operators will run trials. “Mobile TV has become one of the highest priority markets for mobile operators but what they see happening is not necessarily something that plays well for them,” said ...

TTPCom has outlined its strategy for its mobile handset technology, its TTPCom architecture. The firm said the architecture provides a common software platform approach across multiple chipsets and multiple access technologies, allowing large technology blocks to be included or omitted for a variety of different handset models. The architecture has been specified for a different access technologies, including traditional cellular ...

The advent of high definition and MPEG4 technology is causing problems in the deployment of IPTV (Internet protocol TV) for larger operators, according to Cambridge-based IPTV software specialist Amino. “The trouble is the technology is not static, so just when they think they’ve solved one round of problems the goalposts get moved,” said Paul Fellows, chief technology officer for Amino. ...

Wi-Fi can be used to communicate in gas pipes, claim researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla. “We found that we could communicate over a little less than a mile [1.6km] with a 24in. [0.6m] pipe,” said Professor Kelvin Erickson, chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMR. The project was to study IEEE 802.11 radio links as a way ...

The move from MPEG2 to the MPEG4 digital broadcasting encoding standard could create a need to turn off the MPEG2 digital TV signal, making current Freeview digital terrestrial TV (DTT) receivers obsolete. “We are just at the cusp now of changing digital broadcasting encoding standards,” said Roger Lynch, chairman of service provider Video Networks, at a Government Select Committee hearing. ...

TTPCom has licensed its cellular baseband chipset design, called CBEmacro 3G, to an unnamed firm. A spokesman said the firm is already a TTPCom customer and has previously licensed its 2G designs, which are not yet available on the market. “This is really a follow on project. It is a major deal, in seven figures,” said the spokesman. Products containing ...

Forget WiFi. That’s the opinion of the former top engineer for the Federal Communications Commission, who said that WiFi has reached maturity and that the next phase of home or office networks will be dominated by WiMedia. Edmond Thomas said at a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show that ultra-wideband technology ultimately will reach more than a gigabit per ...

At the Consumer electronics Show in Las Vegas, chip developer Broadcom has unveiled an audio/video decoder chip supporting both standards for high definition video storage. The BCM7411D HD A/V chip decodes both H.264, the MPEG4 advanced video codec, and VC-1, the SMPTE standard, and can thus handle data from both Blu-ray or HD DVD discs. The device is also backward ...

Cambridge Consultants has won a contract to work with PicoChip to develop software-defined radio reference designs for the mobile WiMAX (802.16e) market. The development work will be based on PicoChip’s DSP device and will aim to provide the air interfaces required for basestation and mobile station equipment in WiMAX 802.16e wireless networks, but in forms which are inherently software-upgradeable, said ...