BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Microcontroller for PDAs and other Cellular Handsets

CSR announced the BlueCore5-FM, Class 1 Bluetooth single-chip solution, targeted to Mobile handsets Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) markets. BlueCore5-FM is a single chip radio and baseband IC for Bluetooth 2.4GHz systems including enhanced data rates (EDR) to 3Mbits/s. It includes an integrated FM receiver with stereo audio output stage and an RDS demodulator. With the on-chip CSR Bluetooth software stack, it provides a fully compliant Bluetooth system to v2.0+EDR of the specification for data and voice communications.

The BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Single Chip Solution incorporating a sensitive FM radio receiver in a small, single-chip design. Available in 4×4mm WLCSP or 6×6mm VFBGA packages, BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Chip, features the highest performance Bluetooth on the market today, offering connectivity of up to 3Mb/s and unrivalled output power of +10 dBM. This allows the device to easily cover the 100m range required for a Class 1 Bluetooth radio without additional external RF amp.

CSR spokesman said:

Bluetooth technology has evolved significantly in terms of power consumption and the reduction of interference with other radios…

…BlueCore5-FM demonstrates that we can now provide Class 1 connectivity for handheld devices without compromising on battery life or bill of materials (BOM).

Picture: BlueCore™ CSR’s Single Chip Bluetooth Microcontroller

BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Single Chip Solution, has been designed specifically for mobile handsets and consists of an FM receiver operating at the thermal noise floor of -111 dBM and CSR’s enhanced data rate (EDR) BlueCore radio. As a single-chip solution, BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth chip offers double the functionality without taking up valuable space on the circuit board whilst also reducing the analogue component count and total BOM compared to the dual-chip alternative.

Picture: BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Chip Block Diagram

BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Chip Key Features:

• Fully qualified Bluetooth® v2.x+EDR system
• Integrated FM radio receiver with RDS demodulator
• 6Mbits ROM
• Stereo audio output stage
• Full-speed Bluetooth operation with full piconet support
• Scatternet support
• Minimum external components
• Low-Power 1.5V operation, 1.8V to 3.6V I/O
• Integrated 1.8V and 1.5V regulators
• USB v1.1 and UART with dual port bypass mode to 4Mbits/s
• VFBGA or WLCSP package
• Support for 802.11 coexistence
• RoHS compliant

BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Solution allows the Bluetooth and FM radios to work independently of each other or in tandem, for example, streaming FM radio from a handset over a Bluetooth connection to a pair of stereo headphones.

Matthew Philips, Senior VP Mobile Handset Connectivity Strategic Business Unit:

It’s no longer simply a question of integrating a number of different functions within a handset. These days it’s about whether designers can implement high-end functionality without blowing the budget on an expensive BOM or wasting valuable PCB space. BlueCore5-FM sets a new benchmark for the industry in terms of both functionality and performance.

Specification of BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Single Chip Solution:

Bluetooth® Radio:
• Common TX/RX terminal simplifies external matching; eliminates external antenna switch
• No external trimming is required in production
• Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR Specification compliant

Bluetooth® Transmitter
• +6dBm RF transmit power with level control from on-chip 6-bit DAC over a dynamic range >30dB
• Class 2 and Class 3 support without the need for an external power amplifier or TX/RX switch
• Class 1 support using external power amplifier with RF power controlled by an internal 8-bit DAC

Bluetooth receiver
• Integrated channel filters
• Digital demodulator for improved sensitivity and co-channel rejection
• Real time digitised RSSI available on HCI interface
• Fast AGC for enhanced dynamic range
• Channel classification for AFH

Synthesiser
• Fully integrated synthesiser requires no external VCO varactor diode, resonator or loop filter
• Compatible with crystals between 7.5 and 40MHz (in multiples of 250kHz) or an external clock

FM radio
• Simultaneous operation with Bluetooth
• Support of US/Europe (87.5MHz to 108MHz) and Japanese (76MHz to 90MHz) FM band
• Wide dynamic range AGC
• Soft mute and stereo blend
• Adjustment-free stereo decoder and AFC
• Autonomous search tuning function (up/down) with programmability (threshold setting)
• RDS demodulator
• Audio output available over Bluetooth audio interface or dedicated audio output
• Control of FM via Bluetooth HCI or I2C
• Adaptive filter to suppress narrow band interference in the FM channel

Audio
• Single-ended stereo analogue output
• 16-bit 48kHz, digital audio bit stream output

Baseband and software
• Internal 48kbyte RAM, allows full speed data transfer, mixed voice and data, and full piconet operation, including all medium rate packet types
• Logic for forward error correction, header error control, access code correlation, CRC, demodulation, encryption bit stream generation, whitening and transmit pulse shaping. Supports all Bluetooth v2.0
• + EDR features including eSCO and AFH
• Transcoders for A-law, µ-law and linear voice from host and A-law, µ-law and CVSD voice over air

Physical interfaces
• Synchronous serial interface up to 4Mbits/s for system debugging
• UART interface with programmable baud rate up to 4Mbits/s with an optional bypass mode
• USB v1.1 interface
• I2C slave for FM
• Two audio PCM interfaces (input and output)
• Analogue stereo (output only)

Auxiliary features
• Crystal oscillator with built-in digital trimming
• Power management includes digital shutdown, and wake up commands with an integrated low power oscillator for ultra low power Park/Sniff/Hold mode
• Clock request output to control an external clock
• Device can run in low power modes from an external 32768Hz clock signal
• Auto Baud Rate setting, subject to host interface in use
• On-chip linear regulator; 1.8V output from typical 2.5-5.5V input to power I/O ring (load current 100mA). Second low dropout linear regulator producing 1.5V core voltage from 1.8V
• Power-on-reset cell detects low supply voltage
• Arbitrary sequencing of power supplies is permitted

Bluetooth stack
CSR’s Bluetooth Protocol Stack runs on the on-chip MCU in the configuration:
• Standard HCI over UART

Package options
• 6 x 6 x 1mm 84-ball VFBGA
• 4.12×4.04×0.66mm (max.) 0.4mm pitch 67 ball WLCSP

CSR is the leading global provider of personal wireless technology and its product portfolio covers Bluetooth, FM receivers and WiFi (IEEE802.11). CSR offers developed hardware/software solutions, based around its silicon platforms, that incorporate, fully integrated radio, baseband and microcontroller elements. CSR’s customers include industry leaders such as Apple, Dell, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTom and Toshiba. CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA.

Source: BlueCore5-FM Bluetooth Single Chip Solution