Wireless LAN and Bluetooth solutions
PHILIPS Electronics has released the BGW200 WLAN SiP 802.11b wireless local area network (WLAN) and Bluetooth semiconductor system in a package (SiP). They are designed to be used together in small form-factor systems such as smart phones and PDAs.
The BGW200 allows a user of a mobile phone equipped with a Bluetooth wireless headset to make a call while simultaneously checking information on the Internet via a WLAN network, without experiencing interference.
All the components needed for a complete WLAN or Bluetooth subsystem can be contained in a single semiconductor package, allowing significant space savings. It requires three external components. The Bluetooth SiP integrates some 15 to 20 separate components that typically surround a Bluetooth IC.
The two technologies use the same frequency spectrum, which must be shared effectively for them to be used at the same time. Specialised hardware and software that is embedded in the WLAN and Bluetooth SiPs makes this possible.
The BGW200 has a footprint of 150mm2 and a height of 1.3mm. The radio transmitter delivers up to +18dBm at the antenna port. It consumes less than 2mW in standby mode. It is a zero host load solution, able to listen for and process incoming traffic with the host processor powered down. The host processor only wakes up when a valid data packet arrives, saving battery power.
The BGB203/4 implements the Bluetooth 1.2 standard. It includes everything needed for connectivity including radio, baseband, memory, filters, baluns, and other discrete components in a single, low-cost HVQFN package as small as 49mm2 and 0.8mm thick.
Bluetooth solutions are built on a radio that provides a sensitivity of -86dBm (typical) and transmits a power output of +5 dBm (typical) at the antenna port. The radio also exceeds the required cellular/PCS-band blocking specification by 20dB to ensure its immunity to interference within a mobile phone.
The BGB203 Bluetooth SiP integrates 268kb of Flash memory, allowing users to develop software for self-reliant products such as voice headsets, car kits and PC peripherals. The BGB204 is cost-optimised with a Bluetooth HCI software stack in on-chip ROM for hosted applications such as mobile phones and PDAs.
An advanced Packet Traffic Arbitration (PTA) algorithm with voice packet prioritisation ensures seamless collaboration between Bluetooth and WLAN and good voice/audio quality. The Bluetooth 1.2 products are capable of adaptive frequency hopping to avoid WLAN frequency channels that are in use.
29-Jun-2004