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CSR announced its seventh-generation BlueCore silicon. BlueCore7 is the world’s first single-chip solution to combine Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, Bluetooth low energy, eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System), and FM transmit and receive capabilities. CSR’s BlueCore7 significantly reduces the power, size, cost and complexity of adding multiple radios into a mobile phone and demonstrates the company’s continued expertise in embedded wireless technologies.

CSR has integrated Bluetooth low energy, eGPS and FM Tx and Rx technologies into BlueCore7 alongside an enhanced Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR radio that delivers +1 dBm Tx and –91 dBm Rx. These enhancements help BlueCore7 to extend the overall range and across-body performance to provide better audio quality. BlueCore7 includes CSR’s proprietary AuriStream voice CODEC, which produces the quality of a fixed line call when using a Bluetooth connection and is capable of a 30% reduction in power consumption.

Bluetooth is the most successful short-range wireless technology in use today with attach rates in handsets expected to reach 55-60% in 2008. By integrating more wireless technologies into its Bluetooth subsystem, CSR delivers a powerful connectivity center that enables designers to increase the functionality of their end products without impacting the size or the bill of materials (BOM). BlueCore7 is a low-cost robust solution that allows designers to incorporate must-have functionality quickly and easily, allowing faster time to market.

In April, CSR gave the world’s first public demonstration of Bluetooth low energy technology. Bluetooth low energy (previously known as Ultra Low Power Bluetooth or Wibree) uses fewer frequencies to make connections while retaining the proven robustness of Bluetooth. This means BlueCore7 with Bluetooth low energy takes less time to connect than conventional Bluetooth and results in lower power consumption. Because of its small incremental impact in terms of silicon area, power requirements, and the simplicity of the technology itself, Bluetooth low energy opens a whole new class of connectivity options for Bluetooth across a wide range of product segments while benefiting from the mass adoption of Bluetooth.

Demonstrated at this year’s Mobile World Congress, CSR’s eGPS technology is an innovative approach for making location based technologies a viable proposition for mobile handsets. By sharing resources with the Bluetooth radio and leveraging memory and processing already available on the host platform, CSR has reduced the cost and made significant power and performance improvements necessary for embedding GPS functionality into a mobile handset. Current GPS technologies only meet the basic needs of consumers and regulatory requirements. CSR’s eGPS provides users with faster and more accurate position information, on demand and in all environments – even deep indoors.

By integrating a transmit and receive FM radio with Bluetooth, handset designers can offer these features using less space, fewer components and at a lower cost. BlueCore7 allows the Bluetooth and FM radios to work without interference, either independently or together to allow users to stream FM radio from a handset to a pair of Bluetooth headphones. CSR’s FM receiver boasts -110 dBm of sensitivity, securing high quality FM reception even in difficult environments. To overcome the challenges of using a handset’s internal FM antenna, the FM transmitter has a uniquely high maximum output power of +4.5 dBm.

BlueCore7 is sampling now in QFN and WLCSP packaging and will be in volume production in Q4 2008. Contact CSR for pricing.