TI/Siemens mobile chip set goes to EDGE

By
iApplianceWeb
(09/26/02, 12:42:49 AM EDT)

London - Texas Instruments is increasingly working with leading developers of next generation wireless infrastructure equipment on custom-specific projects to develop System-on-Chip digital baseband designs that use its DSPs and IP from partner companies.

TI has already partnered with many companies that supply basestations for GSM-compliant networks, but is now refocusing to extend this to include single-chip devices for EDGE, GPRS and 3G capable networks.

“It is difficult to talk about many of these projects because of confidentiality agreements, but we definitely see a trend where we work closer and closer with partners to develop single-chip solutions, and I anticipate that as the industry moves further into W-CDMA and CDMA2000, the custom-specific route will become more important”, said Andrea Marchi, director, wireless infrastructure Europe.

TI has started making a digital baseband chip for Siemens that it claims is the most integrated and smallest of its type for GSM base-stations. The part combines standard TI digital signal processors, the C5000 with on-chip IP and SRAM from Siemens.

Marchi said the reference platform is easily upgradeable to EDGE with the addition of a 600MHz C6416 DSP. This should make it a particularly cost effective solution for US operators that are planning to offer the higher data rate transmission technology.

“ Working together with TI, we are now able to offer a single, easy --to-configure platform for the most widely adopted wireless communications standards”, said Dr Helmut Lagger, senior vice president of Siemens Mobile Radio Development in a statement.

The TI/Siemens solution supports almost all the industry standard features, such as GPRS, EDGE, GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), NarrowBand-AMR and WideBand-AMR (Adaptive Multirate).

Marchi said TI is supplying its DSPs to or working on similar custom-specific solutions with eight of the ten global suppliers of basestations for GSM or 3G mobile networks.