CSR Launches Wireless VoIP Phone

( 1 Jan 2007 )

CSR plc introduces a VoIP phone based on the company's UniFi single-chip WiFi technology. CSR has designed UniVox to enable manufacturers to produce wireless phones for residential use at low cost and lowest power with up to 20 hours talk time and 400 hours standby time from typical handset batteries, using latest generation access points. The company is providing UniVox customers with schematics, layout and bill of materials (BOM) as well as royalty-free design software. To ensure the lowest cost, CSR has designed UniVox to be highly integrated, so the total cost of components listed in the BOM is under $20, with electronic bill of materials (eBOM) totally less than $15.

"Untethering VoIP calls from PCs is exactly what consumers want, and for wireless VoIP phones to succeed both power and pricing have got to fall," said J. Gerry Purdy, Frost and Sullivan's VP and Chief Mobile Wireless Analyst. "Only lower prices and long battery life will drive widespread adoption; CSR's UniVox handset reference design should help ODMs achieve those goals."

CSR has built UniVox around its UniFi-1 Portable chip to provide a design for a low cost, low power VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) phone. UniFi-1 is CSR's 802.11b/g single-chip WiFi solution and offers the industry's lowest power consumption. In addition, it's housed in a chip-scale package that provides a very small footprint (6 x 6mm). CSR has also designed its own MAP (Multimedia Applications Processor) into UniVox, combining a low-power RISC-based applications processor with high-performance DSP function, audio CODECs and echo cancellation, as well as intelligent power management. To ensure high voice quality UniVox supports 802.11e and WMM-SA, which provides optimized and prioritized quality of service (QoS) by eliminating potential latency or jitter. UniVox also supports 802.11i to add enhanced levels of security.

Lowest power embedded WiFi
UniVox benefits from the lowest power embedded WiFi solution in the industry. Utilizing WMMPS mode with a compatible access point will also provide handsets with advanced power-save mechanisms for extended battery life. This means that instead of the standard 1,500 mAh battery providing 8 hours talk time and 250 hours standby, WMM-PS can extend talk time to a potential 20 hours, and standby time to 400 hours.

UniVox is a secure platform preventing unauthorized use or eavesdropping. Support for 802.11i, Wire Equivalent Provacy (WEP), Wireless (Wi-Fi) Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 security standards means UniVox based phone designs will be compatible with standard wireless router protocols.

The DSP co-processor inside CSR’s applications processor includes the company’s own CVC (Clear Voice Capture) echo cancellation software, which combined with the prioritized QoS, gives the enduser the maximum sound quality at the lowest cost. UniVox has a default MMI (Man Machine Interface) included; a software development kit can be used to further configure the phone’s interface and to add additional audio CODECs if required.