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DiSEqC (; short for Digital Satellite Equipment Control) is a special communication protocol for use between a
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
receiver and a device such as a multi-dish
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
or a small dish
antenna rotor. DiSEqC was developed by European satellite provider
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues.
Eutelsat's satellit ...
, which now acts as the standards agency for the protocol.
History
Eutelsat apparently developed the system to allow satellite users in
Continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
to switch between the more popular
SES
SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to:
Business and economics
* Socioeconomic status
* Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland
* SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia)
* SES S.A., ...
Astra satellites at
19.2° east and Eutelsat's own
Hot Bird
Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East.
Only digital r ...
system at 13° east. As a result, the vast majority of European satellite receivers support DiSEqC 1.0 or higher, with the exception of all set top boxes manufactured under the Sky
Digibox
The Digibox is a device marketed by Sky UK in the UK and Ireland to enable home users to receive digital satellite television broadcasts (satellite receiver) from the Astra satellites at 28.2° east. An Internet service was also availab ...
name. All supporting receivers have received certification to carry a logo specifying which variation of DiSEqC they support.
Protocol
DiSEqC relies only upon a
coaxial
In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''.
Common examples:
A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...
cable to transmit both
bidirectional
Bidirectional may refer to:
* Bidirectional, a roadway that carries traffic moving in opposite directions
* Bi-directional vehicle, a tram or train or any other vehicle that can be controlled from either end and can move forward or backward with e ...
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
/
signal
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
s and
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
. DiSEqC is commonly used to control switches and motors, and is more flexible than 13/18 Volt and 22 kHz tone or ToneBurst/MiniDiSEqC techniques. DiSEqC is also compatible with the actuators used to rotate large
C band dishes if used with a DiSEqC positioner. DiSEqC uses a pulsed (tone-burst) 22 kHz sine-wave at 0.65 V (± 0.25 V)
peak to peak.
The "Di" (digital) part of the name refers to the digital nature of the signals used by the protocol and does not imply anything about the transmission that the dish is used to receive; DiSEqC may be used with both digital or analogue satellite systems.
Versions and compatibility
A number of versions of DiSEqC exist:
* DiSEqC 1.0, which allows switching between up to 4 satellite sources
* DiSEqC 1.1, which allows switching between up to 16 sources
* DiSEqC 1.2, which allows switching between up to 16 sources, and control of a single axis satellite motor
* DiSEqC 2.0, which adds bi-directional communications to DiSEqC 1.0
* DiSEqC 2.1, which adds bi-directional communications to DiSEqC 1.1
* DiSEqC 2.2, which adds bi-directional communications to DiSEqC 1.2
* DiSEqC 3.0, which adds remote management of receivers to DiSEqC 2.2 to enable broadcast house uses
First four variations were standardized by February 1998, prior to general use of digital
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
. The later versions are backwards compatible with the lower revisions, but the lower revisions are, as might be expected, not forwards compatible with the higher revision numbers. 1.x and 2.x versions are both backwards and forwards compatible.
The terms DiSEqC 1.3 and 2.3 are also often used by manufacturers and retailers to refer to the use of DiSEqC with other protocols. For example, 1.3 usually refers to a receiver which uses
USALS Universal Satellites Automatic Location System (USALS), also known (unofficially) as ''DiSEqC 1.3'', ''Go X'' or ''Go to XX'' is a satellite dish motor protocol that automatically creates a list of available satellite positions in a motorised sate ...
in conjunction with the DiSEqC 1.2 protocol. Such terminology has not been authorised by
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues.
Eutelsat's satellit ...
.
The following table shows compatibility between the various DiSEqC versions:
NOTE: a 1.x receiver will not be able to receive communication from a switch or motor. Usually this is not important, as the switch or motor can be controlled by the receiver without problems.
See also
*
USALS = Universal Satellites Automatic Location System
*
Monoblock LNB
A monoblock (or monobloc) LNB is a type of low-noise block downconverter used in communications satellite reception, this multiple combined LNBs is the simplest solution to achieve multifeed reception for two, three or four satellites.
This desi ...
-
LNB with builtin DiSEqC switch, used for multiple streams on a single dish
*
SAT>IP - A modern alternative to DiSEqC which uses an IP-based network to deliver multiple DVB streams
*
SES
SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to:
Business and economics
* Socioeconomic status
* Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland
* SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia)
* SES S.A., ...
*
Astra
*
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues.
Eutelsat's satellit ...
*
Astra 19.2°E
Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.
Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly k ...
*
Automatic Tracking Satellite Dish
Automatic Tracking Satellite Dishes are satellite dishes used while a vehicle, boat or ship is in motion. Automatic tracking satellite dishes utilize gyroscopes, GPS position sensors, and uses unique satellite identification data and an integrat ...
*
Starlink Dish
Notes
External links
* DiSEqC.org specifications (.
DiSEqC schematicDiSEqC specs (retrieved from Internet Archive)*DiSEqC Bus Functional Specification Version 4.2
bus_spec.pdf contained in DiSEqC-documentation.zip
{{Telecommunications
Television technology
Satellite television