Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) today announced the MSM2300, a next generation Mobile Station Modem (MSM) CDMA On A Chip™ baseband processing solution, providing enhanced CDMA functionality, reduced power consumption, additional flexibility and lower system costs.
The MSM2300 includes proprietary CDMA building blocks and several microprocessor and DSP cores integrated onto a single chip. Target applications are subscriber units for multi-mode cellular, PCS and Wireless Local Loop (WLL) systems. The MSM2300 interfaces directly to Qualcomm's Baseband Analog Processor (BBA) chip which bridges the RF and digital baseband portions of a CDMA phone. Together, the MSM2300, BBA and RF front end make up all the system hardware necessary for an entire IS-95A CDMA compliant subscriber unit.
"The current generation of Qualcomm MSM is the first true single-chip wireless modem to reach multi-million production quantities. We have leveraged the expertise derived from this with solid CDMA know-how and the experience of supporting several large volume customers into creating the new MSM2300," said Johan Lodenius, Director of Marketing for Qualcomm's ASIC Business Unit.
The searcher in the MSM2300 is eight times faster than in previous generations of MSM, resulting in shorter acquisition times during power-up and hand-off. The new searcher also significantly reduces microprocessor overhead by using an advanced pre-processing engine greatly off-loading the microprocessor and lowering power consumption. In addition, the MSM2300 searcher reports the position of multipath peaks with a higher resolution.
Furthermore, the new MSM design has a fourth demodulating finger which improves reception quality in environments with high multipath such as downtown areas with many tall buildings, mountainous areas or the inside of a building. The Viterbi decoder has also been enhanced for higher forward link capacity.
The MSM2300 will support 8k and 13k QCELP and EVRC vocoders. Initially 8k and 13k QCELP will be included, followed by EVRC later in 1997.
The MSM2300 is expected to show up to 75 percent reduction of power consumption in sleep mode and a 25 percent reduction in CDMA transmit and receive mode over current modems. Improvements in power consumption are enabled by a more efficient physical and circuit design including enhanced clock management circuitry, allowing precise control over individual functions. Handset manufacturers will experience a significant increase in stand-by time of the phone as a result of the power savings. The die-size reduction will also allow Qualcomm to offer MSM2300 at a reduced price.
To facilitate an easy migration path, the MSM2300 has exactly the same pinout as the MSM2.2 making it a drop-in replacement on a printed circuit board. It can also run MSM2.2 software with minimal code changes. Engineering samples will be available in summer 1997, with production quantities following in Q4 1997. The MSM2300 will be available from several world-class foundries to ensure security of supply.
"The introduction of MSM2300 underscores our mission to create a family of cost-effective high performance semiconductor products for CDMA applications worldwide. Now that CDMA technology has proven itself and become a worldwide success story, we are aggressively moving ahead to provide even more optimized and fine-tuned ASIC solutions. We are committed to continue meeting our customers needs and support the high-volume demands required for mass market deployment," said Donald Schrock, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Qualcomm's ASIC Business Unit.
Headquartered in San Diego, Qualcomm develops, manufactures, markets, licenses and operates advanced communications systems and products based on its proprietary digital wireless technologies. The Company's primary product areas are the OmniTRACS® system (a geostationary satellite-based, mobile communications system providing two-way data and position reporting services), CDMA wireless communications systems and products and, in conjunction with others, the development of the Globalstar™ low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communications system. Other Company products include the Eudora Pro™ electronic mail software, ASIC products, and communications equipment and systems for government and commercial customers worldwide. For more information on Qualcomm products and technologies, please visit the Company's web site at http://www.qualcomm.com.
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