The CMX7041 – Redefining The Rules Of Two-Way Radio

February 11, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Technology News
The revolutionary design, allows radio designers to embrace a new style of flexibility, thanks to the single platform approach.

Multi-standard radios can now be conceived in a single, low-cost design, decreasing time-to-market and manufacturer’s BOM costs.

Based on 38 years of two-way radio IC design experience, CML presents this new processor IC as a low-cost ‘universal’ radio chip.

The CMX7041 provides a comprehensive feature-set as standard, along with a roadmap of function enhancements available through CML’s FirmASIC™ component technology.

The CMX7041 is positioned as THE two-way radio processor, just like its sister product the CMX7031, but in this case appeals to designers who wish to use their own RF circuitry solution, or wish to position the RF and baseband function separately on the board. Both products meet the current and future global market requirements of modern analogue radio designs.

Professional and leisure two-way radios are all target applications within the capabilities of the CMX7041. The specific functions of the CMX7041 device are determined by uploading its Function Image™ during device initialisation.A new Function Image™ may be later provided to supplement and enhance device functions, expanding or modifying end-product features without the need for expensive and time-consuming design changes. The benefit is a significant reduction in time-to-market along with commercial advantages over Custom ASIC, Structured ASIC, FPGA and DSP solutions.

The CMX7041 product is a full-function, half-duplex, audio, signalling and data processing IC, suitable for implementation in professional and leisure radio applications (PMR/LMR, Trunking, GMRS, FRS, PMR446 and MURS), in the fields of Marine VHF, aviation and amateur radio to name but a few applications.

The CMX7041 provides concurrent sub-audio-band and in-band signalling, complete audio processing and a comprehensive data modem implementation. The data modem provides both a free-format data mode and robust flexible packet-data modes, utilising CRC, FEC, interleaving and scrambling.

Driven from the Xtal/reference clock input, user programmable PLLs generate all internal clocks with two programmable clock outputs available for external systems. The CMX7041 supports a wide selection of Xtal/reference clocks and allows one clock source to be internally reused for both baseband and RF synthesiser functions.

To enable full control of radio functions and thus minimise overall chip count, auxiliary ADC and DAC functions are provided. Coupled with a flexible power-control facility, this allows the device to maximise powersaving whilst not processing signals or when specific functions are not enabled.

Tx ‘Enable’ and Rx ‘Enable’ output pins can be used to conveniently control external RF circuits. A single command from the host microcontroller, via C-BUS (serial command and data interface), can instruct both the internal CMX7041 systems and external circuits to change between Tx and Rx operation.

The CMX7041 has Function Image™ upgrade flexibility built on FirmASIC™ technology, giving customisation options to suit a multitude of product specific applications.

Fully functional in the range 3.0 to 3.6 volts, this product is available as a 48-pin LQFP or VQFN package.

For further information, please contact Mark Channen at CML Microcircuits: mchannen@cmlmicro.com or visit www.cmlmicro.com


Positioning statement:

FirmASIC™
CML’s proprietary FirmASIC™ component technology reduces cost, time to market and development risk, with increased flexibility for the designer and end application. FirmASIC™ combines Analogue, Digital, Firmware and Memory technologies in a single silicon platform that can be focused to deliver the right feature mix, performance and price for a target application family.