Date: 27/04/2009

New 3-Gbps SDI equalizer with low jitter noise

National Semiconductor has released to market a new PowerWise 3-Gbps SDI Equalizer IC with very low jitter for broadcast applications such as video routers, production switchers, and distribution amplifiers.

SDI interface is evolving to support high definition video requirements of today's digital broadcasting industry. Innovating in that direction, National claims, the LMH0384 is the only equalizer to guarantee less than 0.3 unit intervals (UI) of output jitter from zero to 110m of Belden 1694A coaxial cable at 2.97-Gbps. It equalizes up to 140m of cable at 3G rates, 200m at high-definition (HD) rates and 400m at standard-definition (SD) rates. The device adaptively adjusts equalization levels based on cable length to receive incoming signals and provide low-jitter transmission of 1080p high-definition (HD) broadcast video at up to 60 frames per second over a single coaxial cable.

LMH0384 supports two modes of operation: pin mode and register mode. In pin mode, the equalizer is pin to pin compatible with National's previous SDI equalizers.
In register mode, this device can be accesses through SPI bus interface to read, diagnose and program the device parameters such as automatic power down (auto-sleep), cable length indicator, LVDS drivers with programmable offset and amplitude, and programmable input launch amplitude to facilitate operation with external splitters. The LMH0384's 1.05V to 1.85V adjustable output common-mode voltage allows direct coupling to field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and signal conditioning devices.

The power saving features include,

Active sensing features to force the device into power-saving auto sleep mode.
In active mode, the EQ automatically shifts equalization stages at shorter cable lengths (less than 140m) to reduce power consumption by 20 percent. The EQ typically consumes 230 mW of power from a single 3.3V supply.

Standards wise, the LMH0384 supports Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 424M, SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 259M and digital video broadcasting-asynchronous serial interface (DVB-ASI) standards.

Package: 16-LLP
Availability: Now in samples and volumes in May 09.
Price: Each at $21 each in 100 K pieces.