Microcontroller takes charge of Bluetooth audio

A novel programmable microcontroller with embedded Bluetooth control aims to simplify the development of any Bluetooth application.

A novel programmable microcontroller with embedded Bluetooth control aims to simplify the development of any Bluetooth application.

The XE1431 is designed to provide ultra-low-power easy-to-use solutions for Bluetooth audio and data applications.

The core of the XE1431 is the Xemics Bluetooth controller that is combined with a programmable 8bit microcontroller with several standard peripherals like GPIOs, a high speed UART, an audio codec and a power management unit.

The embedded Bluetooth controller independently executes significant parts of the Bluetooth protocol stack and allows the development of application layer software without the need to validate the Bluetooth protocol stack integrity.

A very low cost external serial Flash memory is used to store the customers' application layer software.

Thanks to this embedded-host architecture, even Bluetooth beginners are able enhance any data and voice application with this communication technology.

"By putting significant parts of the Bluetooth stack in ROM, Xemics' XE1431 makes any external parallel Flash memory superfluous and has finally solved the difficulty of providing a cost and performance optimised Bluetooth device", said Remy Pache, VP Marketing of Xemics.

"This allows our customers to keep abreast of the latest Bluetooth technology through software updates for the higher Bluetooth stack as well as the application layer", he added.

The true 1.8V design in combination with the ultralow current consumption guarantees Xemics' leadership in providing the lowest power Bluetooth solutions on the market.

By combining the XE1431 with the Skyworks Bluetooth radios, a Flash-based headset can be build for less than US $11 BOM, in volume, and consuming less than 20mW at 1.8V.

This was successfully demonstrated at Wireless Connectivity World in Amsterdam using the Xemics AudioBlue headset reference design.

Thanks to its on-chip audio codec and power management unit, the XE1431 is a perfect fit for any headset/audio application where continuous software updates of the higher layers are vital to keep up to date with the latest Bluetooth implementation inside the various mobile phones on the market.

The XE1431 supports the typical Bluetooth profiles used in portable peripheral applications like headset/hands-free, human interface device profile, serial port profile, file transfer profile and so on.

As part of its solution strategy, Xemics provides application examples and reference designs for these applications.

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