Microwave Engineering Europe - September 2008 - (Page 32)

32 MOBILE PLATFORMS silicon IP to assume a leading position. The focus for these suppliers is to reduce OEM development and test costs by offering stable operating systems, multimedia capability and a stable modem; and the overall reduction of chip cost and platform bill of materials (BoM) by optimising the architecture design to improve volume and yield, and maximising software and hardware IP re-use across different operating standards (WCDMA, HSPA, EV-DO etc.). Differentiation The main differentiator of a successful platform is the extent to which the handset OEM can add value while expending the minimum of additional design effort. Both ﬂexibility and inherent support for customisation are key to this. Typically the main areas available for customisation are: • Appearance — housing plastic, LCD display, keyboard, clamshell/slide mechanism etc. • Additional features — camera, sound, radio, MP3 player, video player etc. • User interface — GUI, touch screen, internal sensors. • Applications software — personal organiser, connectivity manager, games, Web 2.0 applications, social networking, navigation, advertising. Trends Ten years ago the modem design still presented a real challenge, and the RF design was at the leading edge of technology. Today modems are single-chip commodity items and are considered mature. The applications processor is now the critical component in determining the product lifecycle — a processor speciﬁed at the beginning of 2007 will not actually be in service until 2010, by which time fashion may dictate that it carries some applications that may not even have been thought of at the time of speciﬁcation. Despite such a long development cycle, the lifetime of the platform is only about 2 years, and perhaps even within a year it will have ceased to be at the leading edge of performance. The same applications environment, which must support full multimedia functionality, will also be expected to be available across other wireless standards including WiFi and WiMAX. Figure 2 shows the lifecycle of a handset design based upon a platform, compared with that of a fully custom handset. It clearly demonstrates the beneﬁts of a platform based architecture in not only reducing the Time to Market of the ﬁrst handset, but the increased return on R&D investment from being Figure 2 shows the lifecycle of a handset design based upon a platform, compared with that of a fully custom handset. able to create multiple differently focussed handsets from the same platform. Existing applications will continue to improve performance, for example with >10 megapixel cameras and beyond appearing in the next year. Existing and new applications are planned for development onto mobile devices, including instant banking using electronic wallets based on near-ﬁeld communications (NFC) technology, and improved connectivity via alternate “local” wireless links, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, FM, and soon ultrawideband (UWB) too. All these enhancements will demand increased performance and power management. Security will also grow in importance, and will need to be incorporated at the chip level. Standardisation is driving the trends both for modularisation and for the platform concept, as these make hardware and software interfacing easier. Key standards that encourage connectivity include the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) and Khronos, both of which are rapidly being adopted by the platform providers. Choosing a platform Among the factors the design engineer needs to consider when choosing platforms for consumer product design are: whether the platform is versatile enough for all the required uses and applications; what additional user requirements are likely to emerge; and how simple it is to add or remove feature sets. There is a delicate balance involved in maintaining the required ﬂexibility of design while taking full advantage of the stability that platforms can offer. The Renesas Mobile Phone Platform, based on the SH-Mobile G-Series of devices, is a complete hardware and software multimedia phone platform. Based on an open OS (Symbian), the solution provided includes all the necessary multimedia hardware and software to deliver leading edge video, audio and mobile TV capabilities on a 3G/HSPA stable telephony solution which has been validated by network vendor IOT testing. This platform has been adopted by a number of handset providers and allows for differentiation at the connectivity, display, and user application level. The right choice of platform will enable timeline discrepancies to be compensated for, with a 9 – 12 month interval from acquiring a stable platform to launching a phone being far easier to schedule than the 2 – 3 year development cycle of a new phone from scratch. Companion chips When a platform is new, the applications processor is chosen to have the appropriate level of sophistication to achieve the state-ofthe-art level of functionality at that time. The same applications processor and modem are generally used across all models to achieve economies of scale. However as a platform becomes older it is increasingly difﬁcult for the applications processor to support the continual upgrade of features that the market demands, particularly from the highend phones based around the platform. The lifetime of the platform can be extended by the use of a companion chip to handle much of the user interface and applications software. While not easy to integrate, this is a much simpler approach than upgrading the applications processor itself. Renesas’ SH-Mobile series of companion chips offers a rapid easy way to integrate high performance multimedia functionality Microwave Engineering Europe ● September 2008 ● www.mwee.com 030-031-032-033_MWEE.indd 32 3/09/08 15:18:39 http://www.mwee.com

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Microwave Engineering Europe - September 2008 News Contents Comment Cover Feature: Uncovering Test and Measurement’s Role in Advancing LTE and Mobile WiMAX WiMax: WiMax and LTE Need to Address Issues of Backhaul, Cost and Efficiency for Successful Deployment WiMax: Manufacturing Communications Technology Products in India Test and Measurement Mobile Platforms Evolve to Meet Future Demands Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - September 2008

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