QUALCOMM Announces World's First Zero-IF Chipset for CDMA Devices
radioOne Chipset Facilitates Multimode, Multiband Designs While Eliminating All Intermediate Frequency Components
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2002-- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - news), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced the radioOne(TM) Zero Intermediate Frequency (Zero IF) chipset, which consists of the RFT6100(TM), RFR6000(TM) and RFL6000(TM) chips. This chipset performs the receive and transmit functions for third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X wireless devices while eliminating all IF components. These quad-mode devices, supporting cellular CDMA, Personal Communications Service (PCS) CDMA, Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), and gpsOne(TM) position location technologies, interface directly with the QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies (QCT) MSM6000(TM), MSM6050(TM) and MSM6100(TM) Mobile Station Modem (MSM(TM)) baseband processors, which enable a combination of advanced features from QCT's Wireless Internet Launchpad(TM) suite of technologies, offering a rich mixture of multimedia, connectivity, position location, user interface and storage capabilities, as well as support for Qualcomm's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless(TM) (BREW(TM)) applications platform.
Also announced today as part of the MSM6xxx family of chipsets are the PM6000(TM) and PM6050(TM) power management chips, which provide battery management and charging functions, programmable voltage regulation, and various user interface support functions for CDMA terminals based on the MSM6000 or MSM6050 devices.
Compared to traditional super-heterodyne techniques, the radioOne Zero IF architecture reduces component count -- there is no need for IF integrated circuits (ICs), IF Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters, or IF voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) -- thereby reducing costs and printed circuit board (PCB) area. In addition, only one external ultra high frequency (UHF) single-band VCO is required for all CDMA frequency bands worldwide. Both UHF receive and transmit phase locked loops (PLLs), as well as the transmit VCO, are integrated on-chip. Phones and other wireless devices designed with the radioOne chipset also benefit from lower current consumption and the elimination of complex matching of RF components.
``By eliminating IF components, the highly integrated radioOne chipset facilitates multimode, multiband designs, shortens development time, and reduces cost and board space requirements,'' said Don Schrock, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. ``The development of the world's first Zero IF chipset for 3G CDMA devices reiterates QCT's commitment to innovation and leadership in the wireless IC industry.''
The RFL6000 low-noise amplifier (LNA), the RFR6000 RF-to-receive-baseband converter, and the RFT6100 transmit-baseband-to-RF converter are all fabricated with a silicon germanium (SiGe) bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) process, thus permitting high linearity and low power consumption. The devices can be programmed to operate on all CDMA-allocated frequencies in China, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America and North America.
The first-generation radioOne chipset is designed to interface with the QCT MSM6000, MSM6050 and MSM6100 chipsets and system software. These 3G CDMA2000 1X MSM solutions are being rolled out to support the increasing levels of market segmentation and handset features, addressing entry-level, mid-range and high-end wireless devices. QCT's radioOne CDMA2000 solutions also enable manufacturers to address the key benefits of increased network capacity and improved handset standby times compared to previous generation technologies.
The PM6000 and PM6050 devices integrate all power management, general housekeeping and functions supporting handset-level user interfaces into a single mixed signal IC. Both devices are optimized for handset system control with the MSM6000, MSM6050 and MSM6100 system software, and generate all the regulated voltages for the MSM and radioOne chipset. The PM6050 chip supports many additional handset features, such as real-time clock and speakerphone applications, making it the ideal power management solution for feature-rich terminals. The PM6000 chip contains all the primary power management functions, making it ideal for more basic terminals.
The radioOne chipset is offered in a bump chip carrier 16 (16BCC++) package for the RFL6000 device, and 40BCC++ packages for the RFR6000 and RFT6100 devices. Supply voltage for the radioOne chipset ranges from 2.7 to 3.0 volts. The PM6000 and PM6050 chips are offered in 48BCC++ and 56BCC++ packages, respectively.
Sampling of the QCT first-generation radioOne chipset, as well as the PM6000 and PM6050 chips, is expected to begin in the first quarter of calendar 2002 with production scheduled for the third quarter of 2002. |
