Product category:
Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: Cambridge Silicon Radio | Subject: BlueCore3
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 28 March 2006
Coexistence is key to Bluetooth adoption
O2's latest product, the Xda Atom, features CSR's BlueCore3 silicon and Bluetooth version 1.2 software stack.
O2's latest product, the Xda Atom, features CSR's BlueCore3 silicon and Bluetooth version 1.2 software stack In designing the Xda Atom, O2 used CSR BlueCore3 technology to bring robust, power-efficient Bluetooth wireless connectivity to complement the handset's wide range of multimedia and mobile office features
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 16 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The new triband PDA-phone with GPRS/Edge functionality went on sale in Asia Pacific in December.
Billed as the smallest multimedia PDA-phone available, the Xda Atom offers the best and latest in mobile entertainment, connectivity and productivity.
It features O2 MediaPlus, the first media centre designed for a PDA-phone that gives customers easy-to-use, single screen access to music, video and photo functions and libraries.
Further reading
Flexible configuration for single-chip Bluetooth
BlueCore3-External is a flexible configuration that supports all optional and all mandatory features of the recently adopted Bluetooth version 1.2 specification, in a single-chip solution.
Bluetooth headset makes more of multimedia
Leading headset maker Jabra is using CSR's BlueCore3-Multimedia single chip in its latest BT800 Bluetooth headset.
Bluetooth chip keeps headsets in tune
The BlueCore3-Multimedia chip is being used by i.Tech Dynamic for a new Bluetooth stereo headset that enables users to receive phone calls while listening to music on their wireless headphones.
The Xda Atom is also the first PDA-phone to feature an FM radio tuner and an upgraded 2.0Mpixel camera with an LED strobe flash that supports video capture.
In order to provide users with the most flexible wireless experience possible, the Xda Atom offers both wireless LAN and Bluetooth wireless connectivity so customers can hop online at any hotspot or enjoy music wirelessly via Bluetooth headsets.
To offer users this rich multimedia experience with seamless connectivity, O2 chose to go with a Bluetooth solution that offers advanced coexistence with IEEE802.11, allowing for both wireless technologies to operate in close proximity without signal interference.
The use of CSR's BlueCore3 technology and Bluetooth version 1.2 software stack brings critical Bluetooth wireless connectivity to the Xda Atom allowing users to talk hands-free using a mono headset or transfer music, photo files and video clips between the handset and other Bluetooth-enabled devices.
BlueCore3 also supports advanced coexistence techniques such as adaptive frequency hopping (AFH), to ensure there is no interference with the other RF components of the handset.
AFH identifies "bad" channels where there are either other wireless devices interfering with the Bluetooth signal or where the Bluetooth signal is interfering with another device.
The AFH-enabled Bluetooth device will then communicate with other devices within its piconet, to share details of any identified bad channels.
The devices then switch to alternative available "good" channels, away from the areas of interference, thus having no impact on the bandwidth used.
Nils Wallnas, VP Product and Service for O2 Asia Pacific commented: "For the Xda Atom, we needed our Bluetooth partner to supply a complete silicon and software product which could coexist with the Atom's radio function and ensure that there would be no issue of signal stability".
"CSR engineers worked with us to provide exactly that, allowing us to minimise our design cycle and release the product in time for Christmas".
John Halksworth, Product Marketing Manager for CSR commented: "Mobile phone manufacturers will increasingly seek to integrate multiple radios into their handsets".
"Wi-Fi devices demonstrate the first move towards this trend and it is therefore increasingly critical that the Bluetooth radio within the handset offers robust connectivity without interfering with the other radio signals".
He continued: "By adopting the advanced coexistence methods introduced by v1.2 of the Bluetooth specification, we have ensured that BlueCore offers the highest levels of coexistence available without sacrificing key features such as low power consumption".
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