TTPCom Launches CBEmacro - the complete modem design

Complete system design enables vendors to add GSM, GPRS and EDGE capability to chipsets within one year

July 16, 2004 - TTPCom Ltd, the world’s leading independent supplier of digital wireless technology, today announces the launch of CBEmacro, a complete baseband modem design aimed at enabling chip manufacturers to incorporate cellular communications technology into their products. The CBEmacro design enables manufacturers, such as those developing application and video processors, to add wireless functionality to their technology within just one year, without making substantial investments in research and development.

The ‘macro’ implementation of TTPCom’s proven Cellular Baseband Engine (CBE) design was developed as a result of the company’s view that mobile handsets are becoming increasingly differentiated by multimedia technologies and high-end applications capabilities, rather than the underlying modem. TTPCom’s CBEmacro enables handset technology suppliers to focus on these important differentiators by providing the essential modem peripheral as a black-box, system-on-chip component. CBEmacro is designed to be silicon process independent, enabling licensees to use a silicon foundry of choice.

The CBEmacro hardware design includes the DSP and micro controller cores, memory sub-system and dedicated GSM, GPRS and EDGE logic. CBEmacro also includes a complete suite of physical layer and protocol software derived from TTPCom’s field proven designs. Both standard IQ and DigRF radio interfaces are supported. The current version of CBEmacro fully supports GSM, GPRS and EDGE with a clear roadmap to dual system 3G and GSM.

Julian Hildersley, Managing Director of TTPCom’s Silicon Business Unit said “We realised a while ago that application and video processors were becoming increasingly attractive to mobile handset manufacturers, who want to increase the quantity and quality of the applications without impacting on the standardised modem. We have developed and fully tested CBEmacro to enable chip vendors to simply and quickly add wireless connectivity to their highly differentiated products as a peripheral device”.

David McTernan, CBEmacro Product Manager added, “Our CBE technology has been licensed by many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers and we have been tailoring the delivery of our designs to fit with the needs of multiple markets. CBEmacro is just another way in which leading companies can leverage our hundreds of man-years of design and testing to quickly develop compelling products”.

Demonstration at Expo Comm Wireless Japan
TTPCom will be demonstrating its CBEmacro baseband hardware design in a single FPGA on stand 1914 at Expo Comm Wireless Japan 2004 in Tokyo from the 21st to the 23rd July.

TTPCom's CBE is a scalable and portable cellular modem design, with an aggressive roadmap meeting the future needs of the cellular handset market. The design has appeared in numerous cellular baseband chipsets since its creation in 1993 and has been licensed by many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, including Analog Devices, Intel and Toshiba.