Note: As of 2003 the following Conexant Bluetooth products are no longer
available!
EBN Conexant
yanks Bluetooth development (4/03) Conexant Systems Inc. has
confirmed reports that it has shuttered development of new Bluetooth
products in a move one analyst said foreshadows the withdrawal of other
Bluetooth players. According to a Conexant spokeswoman, "Conexant has
suspended its Bluetooth development for the time being. Like many companies,
we are redeploying resources to focus on core product areas," she said.
"We certainly still think Bluetooth is a promising technology and will
work from there." Conexant's decision represents overcapacity in the
Bluetooth IC supplier base, said Jack Quinn, an analyst for Micrologic
Research, Phoenix, Ariz. "There are far too many players. There is
obviously going to be a shakeout," he said.
Development Tools
Conexant's Bluetooth product portfolio includes a Bluetooth 1.1
certified product development station that consists of a motherboard
containing the Bluetooth baseband device (CX81400) and a series of daughter
boards providing RF and voice functionality. Also available from Conexant
are a series of system evaluation modules and reference designs.
CX81400 / CX72303 / CX72304 / CX72305
The Bluetooth System Solution from Conexant is a two-chip solution
optimized for low power consumption and high performance. The CX81400
Baseband Controller is manufactured using 0.18µm CMOS for maximum
throughput. Alternatively, the CX72303 RF Transceiver uses SiGe to achieve
the lowest power consumption. Partitioning the solution allows the most
appropriate process technologies to be used to separately address the
conflicting design requirements of the radio and baseband sections. Using
this two-component solution, electronics manufacturers worldwide can
incorporate Bluetooth wireless technology into their designs as a
cost-effective, convenient replacement for cables between cellular
handsets, laptop and desk PCs, Internet appliances and more.
The CX72303,CX72304 and CX72305 Bluetooth Family is a set of three
integrated Bluetooth radio transceivers that are optimized for use in 2.4
GHz wireless systems. They have been designed for ultra-low power Personal
Wireless Connectivity applications that require maximum battery life, small
form factor, and low system cost. They are fully compliant with Bluetooth
Specification v1.1.
• Fully integrated single-chip transceiver with on-chip VCO,
synthesizer, PA, LNA, IF filters, RSSI and bit slicer
• Complies with the Bluetooth version 1.1 specification
• Class 2/3 performance
• >10-meter operating range
• Low voltage supply (1.8V)
• 19/25 mA Tx/Rx peak current consumption
• Radio frequency (RF) sensitivity to -80 dBm
• +2 dBm RF output power
• Crystal-independent fractional-N synthesizer
• Digital crystal frequency error compensation
• Programmable Tx power control
• No external shielding required
• 48 BCC++ package — 7mm x 7mm
Embedded Protocol Stack
CX81400 Baseband Controller
CX81400 Baseband Controller module, featuring ARM7TDMI processor. The
CX81400 Baseband Controller is manufactured using 0.18µm CMOS for maximum
throughput.
Bluetooth System Solutions CX81400 / CX72303
(2001, PDF)
CX72303 RF Transceiver
The CX72303 RF Transceiver is a highly-integrated, single-chip radio
transceiver, optimized for use in a 2.4-GHz wireless system. Using silicon
germanium (SiGe) technology, the design has been optimized for ultra-low
power applications - such as personal wireless connectivity - that require
extended battery life, small form factors and low system costs. The CX72303
radio is designed to meet Bluetooth™ Class 2 and Class 3 specifications
and enable an operating range of one to 10 meters. It complies fully with
Bluetooth version 1.1.
- Fully integrated single-chip transceiver with
on-chip voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), synthesizer, PA, low noise
amplifier (LNA), intermediate frequency (IF) filters, received signal
strength indication (RSSI) and bit slicer
- Low voltage supply (1.8V)
- 19/25 mA Tx/Rx peak current consumption
- Radio frequency (RF) sensitivity to -80 dBm
- Ideally suited for 3G and GSM-based systems
CX72303 / CX72304 Bluetooth RF
Transceiver Family Product Brief (2000, PDF)
CX72304 Bluetooth RF Transceiver
For manufacturers looking to integrate Bluetooth RF technology into
their CDMA handset designs, Conexant offers the CX72304 Bluetooth RF
Transceiver. In addition to the features listed above, the CX72304 supports
multiple crystal reference frequencies (12.0 MHz, 19.2 MHz, 19.68 MHz and
19.8 MHz), a clock output that’s usable by a CDMA baseband controller,
and a Serial Bus Interface (SBI) that, along with an additional single
control line, constitutes the main interface for controlling and
programming the device.
The CX72304 RF Transceiver is a highly-integrated, single-chip radio
transceiver, optimized for use in a 2.4-GHz wireless system. Using silicon
germanium (SiGe) technology, the design has been optimized for ultra-low
power applications - such as personal wireless connectivity - that require
extended battery life, small form factors and low system costs. The CX72304
radio is designed to meet Bluetooth Class 2 and Class 3 specifications, and
enable an operating range of one to 10 meters.
CX72303 / CX72304 Bluetooth RF
Transceiver Family Product Brief (2000, PDF)
Conexant / XEMICS
XEMICS, a fabless semiconductor company
specialicing in ultra low power, short range wireless connectivity
solutions, today announced that it has selected Conexant's Bluetooth radio
as the preferred radio device to implement their ultra low power Bluetooth
solution. Conexant Systems, Inc. is a worldwide leader in semiconductor
system solutions for communications applications.
The Conexant radio device CX72303 in combination with the XEMICS
Bluetooth baseband XE1431 and the XEMICS CODEC XE3006 allow for a complete
wireless headset, from microphone to speaker, consuming less than 35mW
during continuous operation (HV3 Bluetooth profile). This triples the talk
time of nearly any Bluetooth headset solution on the market.
Xemics has licensed NewLogic’s Bluetooth IP
