I recently upgraded the firmware on the Pluto I use for QO-100. Previously I was using v3.5, now v3.9 (the latest). An immediate improvement with DATV on the wideband transponder was seen - the MER (modulation error ratio) improved by up to 0.5 db due to better internal FIR filter design.

Although 0.5dB may not seem like much, with DVB-S2 it really is! Better MER results in fewer errors, so less FEC computation required. Forward error correction is the main consumer of CPU in this program.

There's not always an upside - there were issues starting the Pluto due to errno (a pre-processor macro used for error indication) not being set to 0.

New beta Kit

A new beta kit will be available before the end of December 2024.