SiGe Semiconductor launches integrated Wi-Fi Front End IC for mobile devices

Single-chip CMOS boosts converged Bluetooth/Wi-Fi  chipsets  

SiGe Semiconductor has launched a silicon RF switch/LNA Front End IC (FEIC) designed to enhance the performance and functionality of converged Bluetooth/Wi-Fi chipsets for embedded applications. The new device addresses the increasing convergence of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for the new generations of smartphones, netbooks, personal media players and digital cameras.
“With the SE2601T we are providing our customers with a single-chip solution integrating a SP3T RF switch and Wi-Fi receive path low noise amplifier (LNA),” said  Sanjiv Shah, Marketing Director Embedded Products at SiGe. “The SE2601T, which integrates features that until now have been discrete on the device motherboard or inside of a module solution, occupies less board space and offers significant advantages for designers of today’s cool, feature-rich mobile devices”.

SiGe developed the SE2601T to enhance the performance and functionality of Bluetooth/Wi-Fi chipset solutions using an integrated CMOS power amplifier (PA).

The 2601T leverages the performance and functional integration strengths of silicon-based RF solutions.  The 2601T improves the connectivity range of the Wi-Fi solution by placing a high-performance LNA between the antenna and the RF receiver that is part of chipsets from leading vendors such as CSR, Marvell, Broadcom and Atheros. Often the LNA function is omitted in embedded applications such as smartphones due to physical space constraints on the Wi-Fi solution, thus degrading connectivity performance.  This LNA significantly increases the sensitivity of the Wi-Fi receiving system – critical in embedded applications where physically small antennas are limited in their contribution to signal quality. The RF switch function – supporting antenna sharing between Bluetooth and 802.11bgn functions – is typically a discrete device requiring additional passives and consuming more space than the integrated 2601T solution.  Thus the 2601T significantly decreases the footprint required for enhancing Wi-Fi performance while supporting a shared antenna for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functions.
From a competitive standpoint, the 2601T integrates the required DC blocking capacitors through the use of a silicon-based IC process.  The GaAs-based competition for the 2601T requires external capacitors consuming additional circuit board space and causing incremental increase in bill of materials cost for the Wi-Fi solution.
In a 2x2mm QFN package, the 2601T is best suited to direct placement on the embedded device’s motherboard.

“The SE2601T provides our customers with an integrated solution for their designs, addressing some of the industry’s fastest growing market segments,” said Shah. “The reduced design time it supports, with the smallest footprint for its functionality as well as the reduction of the number of components required ."
 
Pricing and availability: The SE2601T is priced at $0.35 in quantities of 10,000 units.
It is sampling now and is offered with product and evaluation board datasheets and extensive application notes surrounding the use and implementation of the device 

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TI launches OMAP4 for 1080p video

Texas Instruments has launched its multicore OMAP4 mobile applications platform with support for 1080p video record and playback, 20 megapixel (MP) imaging and
approximately a week of audio play time. The new platform provides significant improvements in performance and play time compared to today’s most popular Smartphones, with 10x faster Web page loading times, more than 7x higher computing performance, 6x higher video resolution, 10x better graphics performance and 6x longer audio play time.
At the heart of the OMAP 4 platform is a 45nm system-on-chip with four main engines: a programmable multimedia engine based on TI’s C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators; general-purpose processing based on the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore supporting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and capable of speeds of more than 1GH per core; a high-performance programmable graphics engine; and an Image
Signal Processor (ISP) for unparalleled video and imaging performance.
“For the past decade, TI has focused on providing an optimal balance of high performance and low power consumption in our OMAP product line to address our customers’ needs to quickly and easily address new market trends,” said Greg Delagi, senior vice president and head of TI's Wireless Business Unit. “The OMAP 4 platform will enable a new class of mobile devices that will redefine the boundaries of smartphones and MIDs.”
The new platform will support popular leading mobile operating systems and is validated for real-world use cases, taking into account the many elements of the mobile consumer’s experience to simplify application creation and help handset manufacturers get to market quickly.
The first members of the family are the OMAP4430 and OMAP4440, including:
o Four powerful, high-performance processing engines:
* General-purpose processing dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore
* Programmable multimedia engine based on TI’s C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators
* POWERVR SGX540 graphics engine
* Dedicated ISP
o Full 1080p multi-standard HD record and playback
o Digital SLR-like performance with 20 MP imaging
o 3D user interfaces supporting life-like graphics, intuitive touch screens, large local displays beyond WSXGA and HDMI compatible external displays
o Industry-leading power management technology:
* 10+ hours of 1080p HD video playback, 4+ hours of 1080p HD record
* 140+ hours of CD quality audio playback

The OMAP 4 platform will support Linux variants such as the Android Mobile Platform and LiMo, as well as Symbian OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile. Additionally, software for the OMAP 4 platform is tested and validated up to the application level, dramatically reducing development time. Further easing the design process, the OMAP 4 platform includes:
o Pre-integrated support for mobile connectivity, including TI’s current and future combo WiLink Wi-Fi solutions, NaviLink GPS solutions, and BlueLink Bluetooth solutions;
o Pre-validated modem interface software to easily connect the OMAP 4 platform to any external modem;
o New companion power and audio management solutions (TWL6030 and TWL6040 specifically designed to address the performance needs of the OMAP 4 platform; and
o Broad portfolio of other hardware solutions optimized for the OMAP 4 platform, including: DLP Pico projection technology, analogue components and other complementary technologies.
TI's OMAP 4 platform and development tools are expected to sample in the second half of 2009, with production expected by the second half of 2010. These products are intended for high-volume wireless OEMs and ODMs and are not available through distributors.

...as CSR merges with SiRF

Bluetooth leader Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) is merging with GPS leader SiRF, in a move that will increase CSR's recent move into GPS (see below for low cost GPS chip), capitalising on its penetration of mobile handsets via Bluetooth.
But the move puts it squarely in competition with Broadcom, which acquired Global Locate three years ago and is moving strongly into combining GPS with mobile chipsets.
SiRF as a long established player in GPS has a significant GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS) patent portfolio that complements CSR's extensive patent portfolio in eGPS. The rationale is that the combined strengths of SiRF and CSR will drive forward the innovation of new chips incorporating GPS and position the enlarged CSR group to be able to take a substantial share of the fast growing GPS market in mobile devices. CSR estimates the GPS attach rate to be around 20% of mobile handsets in 2008 and this is expected to double by 2012.
SiRF shareholders will own 27% of the enlarged CSR group and the boards of both CSR and SiRF unanimously endorse the transaction, with the merger expected to complete late in the second quarter of 2009. SiRF's Diosdado P. Banatao and Kanwar Chadha will be invited to join the CSR Board as Non-Executive Director and Executive Director respectively.
“Financially, strategically and commercially, this is a compelling transaction," said CSR CEO Joep van Beurden. "We expect it to be significantly earnings accretive, to enhance the enlarged group’s financial strength and cash position and to create new and wider revenue opportunities that neither party on its own could pursue as effectively. Strategically, this deal considerably strengthens our leadership position in the Connectivity Centre, a strategy which we believe encapsulates the way our marketplace is developing. Commercially, there is a powerful, complementary fit between the technologies, skill sets and customer relationships of both companies and the way we both see our customers’ needs evolving. Together we create a group substantially better placed both to meet the challenges of today and to emerge even stronger from the current challenging market conditions. This transaction is an exciting opportunity for shareholders, employees and customers.”