Infineon's New Single Chip Direct Conversion Radio Frequency Transceiver Speeds Design of Low Cost 2G and 2.5G GSM/GPRS/EDGE Wireless Phones.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers CANNES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001 Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE:IFX IFX - ["Type Reconstruction with First-Class Polymorphic Values", J. O'Toole et al, SIGPLAN Notices 24(7):207-217 (Jul 1989)]. ) today announced that it has begun sampling a GSM RF (radio frequency) transceiver, that sets a new industry benchmark for low cost, integration, time-to-market and functionality. The SMARTi DC (Single-chip Multi Advanced Radio Transceiver IC Direct Conversion) allows manufacturers of wireless terminals to dramatically reduce bill of materials The list of components that make up a system. For example, a bill of materials for a house would include the cement block, lumber, shingles, doors, windows, plumbing, electric, heating and so on. costs and to shorten design cycles of 2G and 2.5G radios. Manufacturers that use the SMARTi DC to design GSM phones can accelerate product introductions by using the chip in multiple product platforms. The novel Direct Conversion architecture also supports easy addition of new features and services, such as General Packet Radio Services (GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) The first high-speed digital data service provided by cellular carriers that used the GSM technology. GPRS added a packet-switched channel to GSM, which uses dedicated, circuit-switched channels for voice conversations. ) and Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE), while drastically reducing size and cost of the terminal design. SMARTi DC is a fully integrated triple-band radio transceiver for GSM900/1800/1900 voice and data transmission. The direct conversion architecture is particularly well suited to handle the challenges of the GSM market today and in the future, as the evolution from 2G to 2.5G networks and worldwide roaming capability become increasingly important. Functionality integrated on the chip include transmitter, receiver, phase locked loop (PLL PLL - phase-locked loop ), radio frequency voltage controlled oscillator oscillator Mechanical or electronic device that produces a back-and-forth periodic motion. A pendulum is a simple mechanical oscillator that swings with a constant amplitude, requiring the addition of energy at each swing only to compensate for the energy lost because of air (RF VCO (1) (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) An oscillator that can be tuned over a wide range of frequencies by applying a voltage (tuning voltage) to it. Used in many applications such as radio tuners, VCOs are less costly than crystal oscillators, but not as stable. ), filters and the 26 MHz reference oscillator. "We are very excited to offer the SMARTi Direct Conversion transceiver to our customers. The SMARTi DC's flexible architecture enables our customers to design low-cost GSM phones, triband world phones, as well as 2.5G GPRS and GPRS/EDGE phones -- based on the same chip," said Guenter Weinberger, senior vice president and general manager of the Wireless Group of Infineon Technologies. "We will be able to meet the demands of our customers because in developing the transceiver, Infineon focused on the highest possible integration levels in a solution that also could be manufactured in high volumes." The key innovations in SMARTi DC are the outstanding direct conversion receiver with integrated Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA LNA Low-Noise Amplifier LNA Locked Nucleic Acid (Link Technologies Ltd.) LNA Linolenic Acid LNA Licensed Nursing Assistant LNA Launch Numerical Aperture LNA Ladies National Association LNA Leading National Advertisers, Inc. ), the complete integrated RF Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) and the new direct modulator transmitter offering extremely low noise floor performance. With this architecture SMARTi DC is the first bidirectional EDGE RF device on the market. The new transceiver dramatically reduces external component count and power consumption of the GSM radio part. Integration of the fast switching SAM RF PLL (Simple Application Multislot) concept enables the SMARTi DC to serve high speed data applications like HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) An enhancement to the GSM mobile communications system that enables up to four 14.4 Kbps channels to be combined to provide 57.6 Kbps data transfer. (High Speed Circuit-Switched Data), GPRS and EDGE which are the next challenges of the mobile community on the way to migrate to the third generation of mobile communications. The new transceiver is entirely controllable through a 3-wire bus interface and offers a standard I/Q interface to mainstream baseband chips such as the EGOLD+ from Infineon Technologies. Due to the frequency concept used, no other active components besides the power amplifier and SMARTi DC itself are needed for a dual-band, multi-slot GSM radio design. SMARTi DC is the latest member of the successful SMARTi family with its predecessors SMARTi and SMARTi+. Built on Infineon`s vast RF expertise, SMARTi DC is designed to address the needs of the high volume GSM market. Availability The SMARTi DC is fabricated on a 25 GHz BiCMOS process technology (B6HFC 1. (networking) HFC - Hybrid Fiber Coax. 2. (hardware) HFC - hydrofluorocarbon. ) and is available in a VQFN VQFN Very Thin Quad Flat Non-Leaded Package 48 package (7 x 7 mm2). Samples are available today, with volume production planned in fourth quarter 2001. About Infineon Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for applications in the wired and wireless communications markets, for security systems and smartcards, for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the U.S. from San Jose, Calif., in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In the fiscal year 2000 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.28 billion with about 29,000 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Frankfurt Stock Exchange The largest of Germany's eight securities exchanges, operated by Deutsche Borse AS. and on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. (ticker symbol:IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com. Note to Editors: This press release and a press photo are available online at http://www.infineon.com/news. In the phrase "7 x 7 mm2," the "2" is superscript. For the Trade Press: INFWS200102.042 e |
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