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New Motorola cellular DSP offers global compatibility

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

Motorola announced a new digital signal processor chip that will let a single cellular telephone operate with virtually any wireless telephone system standard used around the world. The DSP56690 processor supports both the global system for mobile communications (GSM), which is used widely in Europe, the code-division multiple access (CDMA), the integrated digital enhanced network (IDEN), and the time division multiple access (TDMA), as well as newer satellite-based formats.



With a Motorola DSP-powered device, European travelers can bring their mobile telephones to the United States where CDMA and TDMA are most commonly used. "No other semiconductor manufacturer in the world offers one baseband processor that can handle all of the world's cellular standards,'' said Mario Rivas, general manager of Motorola's wireless subscriber systems group in Austin, Texas.



The new chip will go into full-scale production in the first quarter and the first telephones build around the chip will hit stores by next summer. The first of the new phones are likely to be purchased by users who frequently travel internationally. They void the need to carry two or more phones or travel without the mobile communications connection to the home office and customers. A joint effort to develop a universal mobile communications standard is underway by Qualcomm and Ericcson. But the new format is at least five years away from implementation and universal adoption is all but certain. The Motorola chip means a major challenge to Texas Instruments’ domination of the DSP market.

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