Communications

Cambridge Positioning Systems (CPS), Simcom and SiGe Semiconductor have shown an Enhanced Edge (E-GPS) multimedia handset at the 3GSM show in Barcelona. The S788 handset, designed by Simcom, has high accuracy location based services, said the firms. It also has an MP3/MPEG4 player, touchscreen, and a 2Mpixel camera. The E-GPS location capability uses SiGe Semiconductor’s SE8088L global positioning system receiver ...

RadioScape has launched the latest addition to its range of DAB modules. The RadioScape RS200VE module is designed to provide manufacturers with a low cost option for creating inexpensive, feature-rich entertainment centres. The module provides DAB and FM reception, CD transport control, user interface and display drivers in a single integrated unit. “Our unique approach of providing functionality through software ...

Nortel is planning to take a big slice of the worldwide broadband access market through its joint venture with Chinese firm Huawei Technologies. “We’ve not been a player in the broadband access business for many years so it isn’t a segment we’ve played in, but we understand that it’s a segment that’s important to the industry,” said Peter Newcombe, president ...

CSR and Icera have teamed with PortalPlayer, the US-based media player technology firm, on separate developments to add wireless connectivity to portable MP3 players. PortalPlayer and Bristol-based wireless soft modem company, Icera are developing a personal media player with an integrated HSDPA modem to deliver an always-connected service, enabling over-the-air browsing and fast download of music and video files. “The ...

California Institute of Technology has integrated an aerial array into a 77GHz SiGe BiCMOS transceiver chip. “The primary challenge for an on-chip antenna is the high dielectric constant of silicon [=11.7] which absorbs most of the power into the substrate instead of radiating it into space,” said Caltech. “For instance, a dipole antenna placed at the interface of silicon and ...

David Evans from Amplicon looks at the opportunities from using GPRS, and offers some advice for getting around some of the main problems GPRS, the first evolution of GSM wireless technology, was introduced in 2001, opening up a multitude of opportunities for industrial applications. With GPRS, freight can be tracked in real-time across an entire continent and substations in isolated ...

Mobile operating system firm Symbian has joined with Freescale Semiconductor and Nokia to create the first 3G mobile phone reference design based on the chip firm’s single core modem

Technologies and techniques for the dynamic distribution and regulation of radio spectrum are to be developed in Ireland, following the allocation of 50MHz for experimental work by ComReg, the country’s regulator. The multi-university Centre for Telecommunications Value-chain Research (CTVR) has been given 25MHz centred at 2.08GHz, and another 25MHz at 2.35GHz. “We are at liberty to experiment very broadly within ...

Analogue and mixed signal chip developer Phyworks has appointed a Korean distributor to handle its physical layer components for optical networking. The Bristol-based firm said MJL Technology will distribute its physical layer products for WAN, LAN, SAN and FTTH applications. An existing network of distributors in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan has already reaped dividends for the firm, it ...

Swiss GPS chipset developer Nemerix is set to double the size of its Cambridge team as the market for GPS-enabled handheld devices continues to expand. The company, founded in 2002 to develop low-power GPS explicitly for portable applications, sold three million chipsets last year. “We are going to expand significantly in Cambridge with some software and digital people,” said Vincent ...