Wireless

Tensilica has announced that it has optimized the MP3 decoder for its Xtensa HiFi 2 Audio Engine and Diamond Standard 330HiFi processor core. This MP3 decoder now runs at the lowest power and is the most efficient in the industry says Tensilica, requiring just 5.7 MHz when running at 128Kbps, 44.1 KHz and dissipating 0.45 mW in TSMC’s 65nm LP process (including memories). This makes Tensilica’s Xtensa HiFi 2 Audio Engine ideal for adding MP3 ...

Intersil has introduced the ISL54200 USB 2.0 high/full speed multiplexer. With a wider supply voltage range, higher bandwidth and better insertion loss characteristics than the competition, the device provides the most flexible high performance solution for interfacing USB and non-USB portable devices. The flexibility of the ISL54200 comes from its ability to switch between data sources having different data speeds and signal levels, and to out...

IDT (Integrated Device Technology), has introduced what it says is the industry’s first synchronous Mobile Multimedia Interconnect (M2I), fully-optimized for multimedia applications in high-end mobile handsets and personal digital assistant devices. A significant architectural advance over previous generation interfaces, the M2I performs up to six times faster with ninety percent less battery drain. High-end handset users can reliably playbac...

CTi Ltd, the specialist antennae manufacturer, has launched an innovative active GPS antenna that operates from any voltage in the range 1.8 to 6 Vdc. Known as GPS-UNI, the new antenna is believed to be the first in the industry that is capable of operating from such a low voltage - most competitive products on the market require at least 3.3 V. The antenna is particularly suitable for automatic vehicle location and tracking applications; its ver...

Jennic has announced new and significantly reduced pricing on its ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 development kits. The new pricing is designed to lower barrier of entry in the ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 space and make it cost effective for OEMs to equip entire engineering teams with tools for wireless product development. The move comes after the distribution of over 1,000 kits since the rollout of the world’s first single chip wireless microcontroller s...

It is predicted that over 40% of all smartphones will include 'TV-out' functionality by 2010, allowing devices to drive an external monitor, projector or TV. This application presents many design challenges in the areas of power management, device interoperability, and user interaction. QuickLogic has developed a flexible solution based on its unique low-power programmable technology, PolarPro, and published an explanatory white paper. The pape...

Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. has introduced the ZL70101 transceiver chip, an ultra low-power RF system-on-a-chip solution for use in implanted medical devices, programmers, and monitoring base stations. Building on Zarlink’s MICS technology platform, the ZL70101 transceiver chip delivers high data rates, low power consumption and unique wake-up circuitry. Using Zarlink’s MICS technology, medical device manufacturers can design in-body communi...

Arrow has announced the availability of a comprehensive suite of evaluation, development and debug products for engineers planning to use STMicroelectronics’ latest integrated ZigBee devices. The comprehensive support package will ease development, lower costs and speed time-to-market for low-bit-rate wireless networks based on the new STMicroelectronics SN250 system-on-chip ZigBee device or the SN260 ZigBee network processor.

STMicroelectronics has introduced two secure microcontrollers designed specifically for high-volume 2.5G and 3G (third-generation) mobile-phone SIM cards. The ST21Y036 and ST21Y144 provide 36 Kbytes and 144 Kbytes of user EEPROM, respectively, and they join the ST21Y068, which was announced towards the end of 2006 and is already in volume production. Based on an enhanced 8/16-bit CPU core with up to 16-Mbytes linear addressing capability, the fa...

SST Communications, a developer of RF integrated circuits for a wide range of wireless and multimedia applications, and a subsidiary of SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., today announced the MelodyWing SP advanced wireless audio solution. The MelodyWing SP advanced wireless audio solution offers uncompressed, wire-equivalent sound quality for home theater surround sound and multi-room audio broadcasting found in a growing number of home enter...