xref: /linux/Documentation/userspace-api/media/dvb/frontend.rst (revision 24bce201d79807b668bf9d9e0aca801c5c0d5f78)
1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.1-no-invariants-or-later
2
3.. _dvb_frontend:
4
5#######################
6Digital TV Frontend API
7#######################
8
9The Digital TV frontend API was designed to support three groups of delivery
10systems: Terrestrial, cable and Satellite. Currently, the following
11delivery systems are supported:
12
13-  Terrestrial systems: DVB-T, DVB-T2, ATSC, ATSC M/H, ISDB-T, DVB-H,
14   DTMB, CMMB
15
16-  Cable systems: DVB-C Annex A/C, ClearQAM (DVB-C Annex B)
17
18-  Satellite systems: DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB Turbo, ISDB-S, DSS
19
20The Digital TV frontend controls several sub-devices including:
21
22-  Tuner
23
24-  Digital TV demodulator
25
26-  Low noise amplifier (LNA)
27
28-  Satellite Equipment Control (SEC) [#f1]_.
29
30The frontend can be accessed through ``/dev/dvb/adapter?/frontend?``.
31Data types and ioctl definitions can be accessed by including
32``linux/dvb/frontend.h`` in your application.
33
34.. note::
35
36   Transmission via the internet (DVB-IP) and MMT (MPEG Media Transport)
37   is not yet handled by this API but a future extension is possible.
38
39.. [#f1]
40
41   On Satellite systems, the API support for the Satellite Equipment
42   Control (SEC) allows to power control and to send/receive signals to
43   control the antenna subsystem, selecting the polarization and choosing
44   the Intermediate Frequency IF) of the Low Noise Block Converter Feed
45   Horn (LNBf). It supports the DiSEqC and V-SEC protocols. The DiSEqC
46   (digital SEC) specification is available at
47   `Eutelsat <http://www.eutelsat.com/satellites/4_5_5.html>`__.
48
49
50.. toctree::
51    :maxdepth: 1
52
53    query-dvb-frontend-info
54    dvb-fe-read-status
55    dvbproperty
56    frontend_fcalls
57