9 July 2014

RFaxis and CSR to launch reference platforms for wireless connectivity in automotive, consumer and Internet of Things segments

Fabless semiconductor firm RFaxis Inc of Irvine, CA, USA, which designs RF semiconductors and embedded antenna solutions for wireless connectivity and cellular mobility, is partnering with UK-based chipmaker CSR plc for reference designs aimed at multiple wireless connectivity markets.

CSR provides connectivity chipsets for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, including wireless audio and whole-home coverage. The reference designs feature RFaxis single-chip, single-die CMOS RF front-end integrated circuit (RFeIC) technology and will be paired with CSR’s UniFi CSR6030 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi solution and CSR8811 and CSR8311 Bluetooth low-energy radio chipsets.

These reference platforms are targeted at automotive infotainment, consumer electronics, IoT (Internet of Things), and M2M (machine-to-machine) communications market segments, covering a wide range of products such as in-car entertainment (ICE) systems, car kits, wireless speakers, health and fitness computer wearables, personal navigation devices (PNDs), cameras, scanners, and printers.

“Our innovative CMOS RF front-end technology helps simplify CSR’s design process and accelerates time to market while delivering high performance at a competitive cost,” claims Raymond Biagan, at Rfaxis’ VP of worldwide sales.

“The company’s fully integrated low-cost RF front-ends will enable us to further accelerate our attach rates within our strategic focus areas,” comments Thomas Carmody, head of Connectivity Marketing at CSR.

“Apart from reducing the time to design and market, RFaxis RFeIC's level of integration offers device manufacturers a very simple solution that can be implemented as a plug and play,” comments Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Swapnadeep Nayak. “The RFaxis technology helps OEMs reduce their product development cycles to as low as a few weeks, while competing solutions take months,” he adds. “It satisfies every performance criterion set forth by component manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).”

The reference platforms feature the CSR UniFi CSR6030 2.4GHz WLAN 802.11n system-on-chip (SoC) paired with the RFaxis RFX8422S 2.4GHz 11n CMOS RFeIC with integrated high-efficiency linear power amplifier (PA), receive low-noise amplifier (LNA) with bypass, antenna switch, directional-coupler-based power detector, harmonic filters, and associated RF matching and decoupling in a single-chip, single-die package in bulk CMOS. Also featured is the CSR BlueCore CSR8811 (QFN) or CSR8311 (WLCSP) Bluetooth v4.0 SoC paired with the RFaxis RFX2401C 2.4GHz Bluetooth/ISM/ZigBee RFeIC for Class 1 operation with extended range.

Tags:  RFaxis CMOS

Visit: www.rfaxis.com

Visit: www.csr.com