Single-chip multiprocessor to target broadband-enabled Linux mobile phones

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Jul. 12, 2004

Hitachi semiconductor spinoff Renesas and NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest telecommunications company, will jointly develop a single-chip multiprocessor for mobile phones. The chip, expected in late 2006, will help save power in next-generation mobile phones -- probably based on Linux -- that will access the Internet at broadband speeds.

Today, mobile phones typically use dual processors, one of which runs a simple real-time operating system such as VRTX and handles radio and signal processing, while the other runs the higher-level operating system, user interface, and applications. The new single-chip multiprocessor will integrate both processors on the same die. Single-chip designs typically draw less power, an area of critical importance in devices with power-hungry multimedia displays such as smartphones and feature phones.

Renesas lists the following critical features for the new multiprocessor chip:

Support for 3G W-CDMA and 2G GSM/GPRS dual-mode handsets
Baseband LSI and SH-Mobile application processor on a single chip
Use of SH-Mobile third-generation CPU core (development project name: SH-X) offering powerful multimedia application processing, including image, audio, and Java capabilities, together with low power consumption

Renesas in late May released its second-generation SH-Mobile3 core, which it touted as having enough power to run embedded Linux. The SH-Mobile processor was developed specifically for mobile phones, and is backed by an industry coalition with more than 70 member companies.

NTT DoCoMo announced last December that it would use Linux in its future 3G phones. Meanwhile, officials at mobile phone software giant OpenWave have predicted the emergence of Linux as the standard software platform for mobile phones by 2006.

Renesas and NTT DoCoMo hope to finish the new multiprocessor chip by October, 2006, and will work together on a mobile reference design for the global handset market that will work with NTT DoCoMo's FOMA services. FOMA, or "Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access," is NTT DoCoMo's brand name for 3G (third generation) mobile phone services, which provide Internet connectivity at broadband speeds.

Renesas will also market the chip for Europe's 2Mbps 3G telecommunication system, UMTM (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System).

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