Qualcomm Inc. has rolled out a CDMA mobile station modem integrated circuits and system software to facilitate global roaming.
The product, which belongs to what Qualcomm calls the MSM6xxx family, supports multimode, multiband second- and third-generation technologies.
“It is the first wireless handset family to leverage a common overall systems architecture for baseband, radio and software elements, enabled by the new radioOne direct RF-to-baseband conversion technology,” said Qualcomm in a press release.
The company said the members of the MSM6xxx family will back the worldwide IMT-2000 standard, which includes cdma2000, 1xEV and W-CDMA. It is also compatible with GSM, GPRS, IS-95 A/B and AMPS.
The family, according to Qualcomm, will use a common set of wireless Internet launchpad features, which will enable the design of multimedia, bluetooth and global positioning products.
“Qualcomm’s new MSM6xxx family of integrated circuits and system software is the only solution in the industry to provide complete support for key multimode and multiband 2G and 3G technologies,” said Don Schrock, president of Qualcomm CDMA technologies. “By supporting both existing and emerging wireless markets, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies provides manufacturers with products that will help them become the first to offer their customers highly optimized and integrated solutions, new services and true global roaming capabilities.”
The company believes since the MSM6xxx family interfaces with radioOne Zero Intermediate frequency, which converts incoming signals directly to or from baseband analog signals, the technology wipes out the need for Intermediate Frequency Surface Acoustic Wave filters and additional IF circuitry.
Since the product combines different technologies into one chip, Qualcomm believes it will reduce bill of material costs, component count and system power consumption. This means it will require less board space and smaller devices would be able to offer improved talk time and lasting multimedia features.
