Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Microelectronics Group introduced a new platform for Global System for Mobile communications handsets.
The platform, which is slightly larger than a business card, can provide standby times of up to 500 hours, said the company. The product can operate in any of the three GSM frequency bands.
The company is targeting the platform for handset manufacturers in Asia, particularly in China where the government is encouraging local design of handsets, said Aaron Fisher, vice president of the Microelectronics Group’s Wireless Business Unit.
“In order to work in partnership with Asian companies, you have to realize that even if they are government-owned, they still compete with the European handset manufacturers and Motorola [Inc.],” said Fisher. “Our platform must enable them to compete.”
Fisher said the platform uses QFP packaging, which is a larger packaging method than what many manufacturers use today. Asian factories are not yet equipped to handle smaller packaging, but when they are, the size of Lucent’s platform could be further reduced, he said.
The platform includes the SC1688 chip, which combines Lucent’s DSP1628 and CSP1089 conversion signal processor functions onto one mixed-signal chip, the CPP48010 microcontroller chip, and the W2020 radio-frequency chip for single-band applications. For dual-band applications, Lucent also offers the W3020 and W3000 RF chips.
The platform also includes all the physical layer and protocol stack software necessary to operate the handset, said the company.
Lucent said the platform is available today, and handsets containing the platform are expected to be commercial by the second quarter.
