Bluetooth baseband controller offers cost-down design

ICSI (Integrated Circuit Solution Inc) of Taiwan is offering the IC9000 Bluetooth baseband and link manager controller. With the emphasis on a low-power, low-cost solution, this device is designed to work in conjunction with the SiW1502 RF chip from Silicon Wave, for a complete Bluetooth solution. The design integrates USB 1.1, UART (RS232), and PCM interfaces.

At the heart of the device is a Turbo version of the 8052 µC. Points out Jemmy Yang, manager of Logic Research and Development at ICSI, use of the 8052 avoids the royalty that would otherwise be due on an ARM 7, for example. It is one aspect of the overall cost-down strategy implemented in the design of this controller.

Another example of this cost-down approach is the use of 128 Kbytes of ROM to replace flash memory. There is also an embedded 2.5-V regulator, which provides manufacturers all the benefit of using a single 3.3-V power source instead of a dual power source.

This baseband solution is appropriate for all mainstream Bluetooth applications, including headsets and Bluetooth-enabled PC peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and dongles. Along with the chip, ICSI can provide you with a development system and a reference design for headsets.

In addition, the controller operates at full speed on point-to-multipoint Piconets of up to seven nodes, and it can support all packet types, to meet the needs of different design platforms. ICSI anticipates the IC9000 will be in mass production this Q4.


ICSI (Integrated Circuit Solution Inc)
Fax (886) 3-578-3000
www.icsi.com.tw