A research team of CNU has developed leaner and lighter Bluetooth modem/module and chip. A Regional Research Center of Korea Science Foundation, CNU Research Center for High-Quality Electric Components and Systems (Director: Lim Young-cheol), finally succeeded in downsizing Bluetooth modem/modules and chips. Through an industry-academia collaborative research project with Setri Microsystems Corp., Prof. Kim Cheol-sung (Dept. of Electronics Computer & Information Engineering) and his research team succeeded in developing and downsizing Bluetooth modem/modules and chips. This success will greatly contribute to the commercialization of Bluetooth modem. Bluetooth is a technology that promises to link PC
s, peripherals and appliances without connecting cables. Bluetooth allows electronic devices such as cell phones, printers, handhelds and notebook computers communicate with one another. With Bluetooth, notebooks can send file data to nearby printers without being linked by cables, using a transceiver chip embedded in each device. Bluetooth wireless technology is a specification for small form factor, low-cost, short-range radio links between mobile PCs, mobile phones and other portable devices, all of which require a high data transfer rate. Bluetooth technology is taking personal connectivity to new levels. A convenient and secure voice and data wireless standard, Bluetooth technology eliminates the need for cables - wirelessly connecting mobile phones, PDAs, computers, and a host of peripheral devices to create personal, ad-hoc networks for users worldwide. The newly developed Bluetooth modem chip SM-2021 is a baseband link controller, which offers low-cost and low-power solutions for the Bluetooth products. The chip has been optimized for the minimization of power loss through hardware block and software codes. The baseband is the digital engine of a Bluetooth system. It is responsible for constructing and decoding packets, encoding and managing error correction, encrypting and decrypting for secure communications, calculating radio transmission frequency patterns, maintaining synchronization, controlling the radio, and all of the other low level details necessary to realize Bluetooth communications. The new technology, suitable for both data and voice applications, is being tested for the commercialization. Setri Microsystems Co. will lead the Bluethooth and wireless LAN modem market in Korea, based on this new technology of high performance and low power solutions for embedded wireless modem applications.