Alantro
Communications specializes in the design and development of
all types of forward error control (FEC) and
modulation/demodulation elements. Alantros founders are
experts in both current and leading-edge FEC technology (such as
turbo codes). Additionally, Alantro has ASIC design and
implementation expertise to create highly-integrated,
high-performing PHY chips and chip cores.
Forward error
control allows the full capacity of a given communications channel
to be approached. Since the late 1940s, more and more
powerful FEC schemes have been discovered and implemented. Forward
error control codes such as binary convolutional codes and
Reed-Solomon codes have been used for years to do everything from
increasing the range of deep space probes to exploiting the full
capacity of analog wireline modems.
However, it has
just recently become practical to implement more complex forward
error control algorithms into cost-sensitive commercial
applications. This is because the increasing densities in
integrated circuitry allow more gates (and therefore, more complex
algorithms) in smaller chips.
There is an art to
designing FECs. Different designs of the same FEC codes can result
in very different physical layer performance. Alantros
leading-edge FEC and modulation/demodulation methods offer a
measurable advantage over competitors in performance, size (gate
count), and noise margin. Some of the modulation/demodulation
methods Alantro employs are:
- Adaptive
Equalization
- Digital
Timing/Carrier Recovery
- Digital Rate
Control.
Some of the FEC
methodology Alantro uses in its PHY designs are:
- Reed-Solomon
coding
- Interleaving
- Binary
convolutional coding
- Trellis coding
- Viterbi
decoding
- Turbo Coding
Turbo codes
are a new and powerful class of FEC that were discovered in 1993.
Turbo codes performance greatly exceeds that of previous
generations of FEC. Alantro Communications is actively developing
and deploying turbo codes into modern digital communications to
further exploit the capacity channels from hard disk drives to
coax cables to satellite links.
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