WorldSpace ESDR
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits
WorldSpace ESDR
The Idea
WorldSpace is a pioneer in Satellite Digital Radio. The cooperation between Fraunhofer IIS and WorldSpace dates back to the early 1990's, when the original WorldSpace system was designed. That system was targeting Africa, Asia as well as South and Central America and was the first digital audio broadcasting system which transmitted directly from satellite to portable receivers.
In 2006, WorldSpace opted for the use of the ETSI SDR standard (ESDR) on their existing "AfriStar" satellite, to extend coverage into Europe.
The Solution
The WorldSpace ESDR system operates in the upper L-Band (1479 - 1492 MHz). The WorldSpace profile for ESDR compiles with the DAB channel spacing of approx. 1.7 MHz, although also the wider spacing of 2.4 MHz of some of the AfriStar beams is supported.
Besides direct Satellite reception, ESDR also allows reception from an ancillary terrestrial repeater network; this is especially beneficial in areas (e.g. urban city areas) with no line-of-sight to the satellite.
The Result
Fraunhofer IIS has been contracted for the design of a receiver reference design - including tuner, digital base band chipset and service/audio decoding software. Early prototypes of this reference design were used for field testing in the second half of 2007, while the "netlist" for the first generation chipset had been released for chip fabrication in December 2007. Since then, the reference design was successfully adapted by a major OEM supplier for use in car radios and has also been designed into a first portable aftermarket product.
The first generation chip set silicon, available since April 2008, is used in both of these products. This silicon was proven in various field trials conducted in Italy and other parts of Europe to meet and exceed all performance expectations.
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