National Semiconductor Introduces New Bluetooth Solution
National Semiconductor has introduced its next generation Bluetooth solution, a two-chip chipset designed to enable wireless communication between consumer devices such as information appliances, cellular phones, PCs and peripherals. The chipset consists of the LMX5250, a completely integrated Bluetooth radio and the LMX5100, a baseband/link manager chip with an on-board RISC processor core and Flash ROM. Both are manufactured in 0.25 micron CMOS.
These products, designed in part at National's San Diego development center, are the first products to result from National's February acquisition of Bluetooth leader innoCOMM.
In a statement, William Stacy, vice president of National Semiconductor's wireless division predicted, "With the introduction of our newest Bluetooth chipset, National Semiconductor is well-positioned to have a complete single chip product by the end of the year. Many industries are seeking low-cost, short-range wireless connectivity to enhance consumer applications. National's off-the-shelf Bluetooth modules offer an ideal solution for companies that want to buy a complete wireless system from a reliable world-class manufacturer.”
The LMX5250 is a highly-integrated 2.4GHz transceiver that utilizes an advanced radio architecture to support optimized Bluetooth communication, with very few additional components required. Key features include advanced power management and 2V supply voltage for low power consumption, internal radio calibration circuits for minimum production test time, good receive sensitivity for increased range, and serial interface for control and data communication.
Per the Bluetooth specification, the LMX5250 supports Class 2 and 3 transmit power level, making it well-suited for applications such as cellular phones, PDAs, digital cameras and headsets.
The LMX5100 is a highly-flexible RISC-based Bluetooth processor that includes a dedicated Bluetooth 'core' to significantly reduce the MIPS required to implement a Bluetooth node. The LMX5100 has sufficient on-chip Flash memory and SRAM to permit the implementation of a full functionality Bluetooth node without external memory.
The LMX5100 meets the needs of a wide range of Bluetooth applications by offering on-chip support for several Bluetooth HCI transport layer interfaces. The chipset will consume less than half the power of National's first generation Bluetooth product. Samples of the chipset will become available in late June 2001, and mass production is slated to begin by the end of the year.
For more information, visit www.national.com/bluetoothgen2. (new window)