SPICA is a modem ASIC designed and developed by ECC exclusively for the iPSTAR satellite ground system. iPSTAR Broadband Satellite is the world's heaviest-ever civilian telecommunications satellite launched into geosynchronous orbit.

The ECC2100 IPSTAR Digital ASIC performs the modem and transport layer processing for the STAR (Single Channel Per Carrier, Time Division Multiplexed, ALOHA Return) and TOLL (TPC Orthogonal frequency division multiplexed L-code Link ) data paths in the iPSTAR subscriber terminal. It is also a programming source for the analog up and down converters. The ASIC integrates the following features:

• Demodulation and decoding on two independent TOLL channels within a TOLL band
• Basic protocol packet recovery on both TOLL channels
• Encoding and modulation of one STAR channel
• Embedded microcontroller for ASIC configuration and status monitoring