IEEE honors Micronas chief scientist for development of digital high-definition TV in North America (0603)

Freiburg, January 18, 2006 - Micronas is proud to announce that Richard Citta, chief scientist at Micronas, has been presented with the 2006 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award. Together with the award co-recipients Wayne Bretl and Wayne Luplow from Zenith Electronics Corporation, Citta developed the digital television transmission system that forms the technological heart of high-definition TV, now in widespread use in the United States. Sponsored by Sony Corporation, the award was presented at the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics in Las Vegas.

Working together with a team of Zenith research engineers, Richard Citta created the digital high-definition technology now mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to replace the nation’s 65-year-old analog system. The technology they innovated is now in use at virtually every television station in the United States, sending robust transmissions with reduced interference and allowing the broadcast industry to tap previously unusable VHF and UHF TV broadcast channels.

As the transition from analog to digital TV in the U.S. nears completion in 2007, all new TV sets sold in this country will feature the VSB (Vestigial SideBand) demodulation technology, which takes a digital broadcast signal and turns it into the bit stream ultimately seen as a broadcast.

An IEEE Member, Richard Citta is now chief scientist at Micronas Semiconductor Inc. in Palatine, Illinois. Formerly of the Electronic Systems R&D laboratory at Zenith, he is the only two-time recipient of Zenith’s highest technical honor, the Robert Adler Technical Excellence Award. Richard Citta also is a member of the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers.