Artimi UWB Silicon Supports Global Operation With WUSB And Bluetooth

Santa Clara, CA and Cambridge, UK -- Artimi Inc., the single chip Ultra Wideband (UWB) semiconductor company developing low power WiMedia-based complete systems solutions for Certified Wireless USB and Bluetooth applications, announced its WiMedia UWB solutions support low band and the high band operations above 6 GHz, as adopted by the Bluetooth SIG, in the same device. Artimi further announced tape out of the industry's first RF silicon to support both low band (3-5 GHz) and high band (6-9 GHz) operation, designed to be compliant with the emerging worldwide UWB regulations.

"Artimi very much welcomes and supports the recent Bluetooth SIG adoption of the WiMedia UWB common radio platform for high speed Bluetooth applications," stated Colin Macnab, CEO of Artimi. "Artimi has anticipated the regulators' decision for the high band (above 6 GHz) allocation and has designed our products to support frequency agile, dual band operation to maximize use of the available 3 to 9 GHz spectrum. Artimi's WiMedia-based UWB products have been designed from inception for a global market. The Bluetooth SIG's adoption of the WiMedia UWB PHY operating in the high band above 6 GHz will enable even a greater number of applications for our products."

Artimi's silicon supports WiMedia band groups 1, 3, 4 and 6, and FFI in the 4.2 to 4.8 GHz. It has features to support Detect and Avoid (DAA) operation in the 3-5 GHz band, permitting longer-range operation once the regulators have approved this technology. The support for 6 to 9 GHz operation meets the Bluetooth SIG's requirement for Bluetooth over WiMedia UWB applications. Macnab further stated, "Artimi's uniquely flexible MAC architecture, which recently passed interoperability testing at Intel labs in Oregon, is software configurable to support both the existing Certified Wireless USB standard and Bluetooth protocols on the same silicon. This puts Artimi in a unique position to be first in providing complete system solutions to enable Certified Wireless USB and Bluetooth over WiMedia UWB. This capability will be compliant with global radio regulations and can also seamlessly coexist with mobile WiMax and 3G/4G services."

Artimi's WiMedia-based semiconductor products are optimized for lowest power and low cost and are the ideal cable replacement for battery-operated handheld devices, such as digital still cameras, camcorders, MP3 players and mobile phones. Artimi's dual band third generation products support data rates of up to 480 Mb/s and are scaleable to 1Gbit/s and faster when the WiMedia standards evolve to support these data rates. Artimi's unique low-power architecture is firmware upgradeable to permit customization for future regulatory, standards and application requirements. The flexible architecture and the WiMedia UWB common radio platform support other application protocols. In addition to Certified Wireless USB and Bluetooth over WiMedia UWB, Wireless 1394 and TCP/IP may reside on top of the WiMedia UWB platform.

SOURCE: Artimi Inc.