Harris Corp. is on deck to receive a Technical Emmy for developing transmission filters for digital television. Retired Harris engineer Robert J. Plonka “pioneered” the ATSC radio frequency filter technology, according to Harris, which was awarded a U.S. patent for it in 2005. The filter addressed quality and interference problems with adjacent analog and digital channels. Distinct implementations allow it to be used to wall off adjacent signals from one another, and to also combine adjacent signals in the transmitter-antenna link, eliminating the need for a second transmission line and antenna.
Seven years ago KFSN, the ABC affiliate in Fresno, Calif., baptized the technology on its digital signal, carried on Channel 9. Today, Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris said the filters are considered “an industry-standard component deployed across a variety of ATSC DTV transmission platforms by third-party vendors.”
The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will be presented at a ceremony Jan. 7, 2008, at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
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