Qualcomm CDMA gets Bluetooth link

Qualcomm CDMA gets Bluetooth link
Wayne, N.J. - To increase the penetration of Bluetooth technology in CDMA handsets, Broadcom Corp. has released a single-chip CMOS Bluetooth radio that links up with Qualcomm Inc.'s popular Mobile Station Modem baseband chip sets. The Blutonium BCM2004 will be included in Qualcomm's MSM chip sets under a partnership announced in June.

Compliant with Bluetooth 1.1 and 1.2, the BCM2004 transceiver incorporates a fractional-N frequency generator to synthesize all standard reference frequencies required for implementing a Bluetooth wireless radio in mobile-phone designs. The chip's receiver front end consists of a low-noise amplifier and an image-reject mixer. On the transmit front, the chip filters and upconverts signals using quadrature local-oscillator signals. Four output-power levels can be digitally programmed from full power to low power in 4-dB steps. The chip also includes a transmit/receive switch and associated matching circuits.

The BCM2004 is controlled via Qualcomm's baseband interface, which defines data transfers and allows access to various internal registers. It is offered in chip-scale and other packages and is shipping now to select customers.

Robert Keenan is editor in chief of CommsDesign.com, an EE Times Network Web site.