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Motorola Offers Reference Design to Help Accelerate Development
of Next-Generation Portable Audio Devices
New Power Management Industry Benchmark
Should Ensure More Consumer Listening Time
AUSTIN, Texas - Feb. 10, 2003 -- Motorola, Inc.'s (NYSE: MOT) Semiconductor Products Sector is now offering a programmable reference design engineered to provide greater flexibility and faster time to market for portable audio applications. The reference design should help manufacturers quickly deliver competitively priced, high-performance audio devices to retail shelves by the end of this year.
The reference design is driven by Motorola's SCF5249 audio controller that combines the music decoding capability of a DSP with the file system management capabilities of a microcontroller into a single chip. This configuration adds up to lower system costs by reducing the number of components from two chips to one. It also can decrease power consumption up to 25 percent.
-- Unlike audio devices currently on the market, those developed using the new reference design can benefit from a new level of power management. The SCF5249 raises the industry benchmark of battery life from the current standard of around 30 hours to an anticipated life of around 40 hours. This is accomplished through highly optimized software code that drives the ability to dynamically change the core operating frequency depending upon the level of performance needed.
-- The SCF5249 supports various decoder formats, including CD-ROM, flash and hard drive. This flexibility will help manufacturers by providing one platform from which they can build various personal music players, like portable MP3 and CD-ROM. The support of various decoder formats also minimizes engineering work required, helping manufacturers get their audio products into consumers' hands faster.
-- Systems built from the reference design should support multiple music formats, such as MP3, WMA (Windows Music Access) and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). These systems can include next-generation capabilities as demands dictate - such as enabling consumers to upgrade to new formats after purchase.
Motorola is partnering with Arrow Optek, an independent design house in Nan Shan, China, to offer the ready-to-build reference design with the SCF5249. Motorola also offers its own reference design for independent development of audio systems with advanced MP3 player features.
"With consumer demand for high-capacity, low-cost audio electronics rising, manufacturers are searching for ways to increase functionality and reduce system costs without sacrificing power," said John Hansen, Motorola's Digital Audio, Radio and Telematics director of marketing. "Our reference designs can help manufacturers get started today in developing the systems consumers expect to see at their favorite stores during the 2003 holiday season."
This audio reference design is based on Motorola's ColdFire architecture and includes schematics, an applications note and source code for customizable modules. This package demonstrates Motorola's commitment to customers by delivering design resources engineered to help make designing and developing embedded systems time- and cost-effective.
SC5249 Features
The SCF5249 and associated software development platform integrates advanced features designed to dramatically boost performance and simplify system design. These features include:
-- File management and music decoders operate from a single ColdFire(r) 32-bit core to allow support for multiple decoder formats and multiple file formats. Consumers can simply "drag and drop" to place music on a disc with no waste of available disc space by finalizing an incomplete disc.
-- Integrated SDRAM controller, for synchronous DRAM (dynamic random access memory) allows fast, easy access to external memories. This is useful for advanced features like shock protection to ensure the music keeps playing when the portable player is bounced around. The cost and time supported to add shock protection is determined by the amount of SDRAM added to the system.
-- Flash media interface - used in applications where audio is stored in flash media, such as MMC (multimedia card) and compact flash cards make it ideal for portable products.
Pricing and Availability
The SCF5249 is available from Motorola with unit pricing starting at less than ten dollars US (suggested list price) for 10,000-piece quantities. The Arrow Optek reference design is available to help manufacturers get into production immediately. For more information on its SCF5249 reference design contact: Li Ping, CEO of Optek Electronics Corp. at leeping@optek.com.cn or (86) 0755-2651-0786.
About Motorola Semiconductors
As the world's #1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector creates DigitalDNA(tm) system-on-chip solutions for a connected world. Our strong focus on wireless communications and networking enables customers to develop smarter, simpler, safer and synchronized products for the person, work team, home and automobile. Motorola's worldwide semiconductor sales were $4.8 billion (USD) in 2002. For more information please visit www.motorola.com/semiconductors
About Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2002 were $26.7 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen dedicated to ethical business practices and pioneering important technologies that make things smarter and life better for people, honored traditions that began when the company was founded 75 years ago this year. For more information, please visit: www.motorola.com
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