All Pages Tagged: ‘Bluetooth’

CSR’s Automotive Infotainment team is gearing up to showcase its ground-breaking new connectivity products at the Telematics Detroit 2013 Conference & Exhibition over two days in June, the 5th and 6th. Held in Novi, Michigan in the heartland of the US automotive industry, this major industry event brings together the global telematics ecosystem to master the “connected car” user experience and build brand affinity. Here are some of the event highlights: over 100 expert speakers (from the likes of GM, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz) will deliver their visions for the connected car and the evolving automotive apps ecosystem that is set to revolutionise consumer interaction with the vehicle; a quintet of conference tracks including sessions on connectivity business models, end-to-end telematics platforms, V2X technologies, big data, and open app development.

CSR exhibits on booth 65.

There are smartphones, and then there are Samsung flagship smartphones. The South Korean electronics and IT powerhouse that is Samsung Electronics recently announced that shipments of its latest Android 4.0 powered flagship model have surpassed 10 million units in just two months. According to Samsung, sales of this globally popular model could eventually top 40 million, which would make it the all-time best-selling smartphone for the company. (Just to put these figures in perspective, if this smartphone was an album, it would surely be on track to out-sell 21, English chanteuse Adele‘s record-breaking collection of Grammy Award winning songs, and a sure bet to out-sell global sales of Fleetwood Mac‘s evergreen Rumours).

Much is said about the vital statistics of this particular flagship model: a generous 4.8-inch screen with 720p HD resolution, with an 8-megapixel camera and 1.9-megapixel front camera to boot. And its lightweight and svelte, weighing in at 4.7 ounces and measuring 8.6 millimeters thin. But this model also packs a special treat for the ears that many beady-eyed gadget reviewers have overlooked in their haste to post their glowing critiques. That sonic treat is CSR’s aptX® *

Already installed in a fast-growing ecosystem of top-notch Bluetooth headphones, hot speaker docks, and Bluetooth adapters for in-car and home-based audio sytems, aptX® audio coding technology super-charges the fidelity of stereo audio when streamed over a Bluetooth wireless connection. So next time you use aptX® enabled Bluetooth headphones to enjoy the plaintive voice of Stevie Nicks streaming from your new Android powered Samsung smartphone, listen up to the positive difference aptX makes.

* CSR aptX audio coding technology replaces the standard audio codec Bluetooth employs for streaming stereo audio wirelessly from audio devices to headphones and speakers, delivering improved, high-fidelity sound comparable to the CD quality consumers have come to expect from their home entertainment systems.  As a result, aptX technology is becoming the de facto industry standard for premium quality Bluetooth stereo audio.

Wi-Fi industry leaders, journalists, investors, and regulators assembled on the Stanford campus Wednesday, July 11, to discuss and debate the future of unlicensed wireless technology in a program called “The Power and Potential of the Unlicensed Economy.”

The most significant technologies that use unlicensed spectrum are Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth®; over 3 billion devices using these technologies are expected to be produced by 2015, and in a presentation by the University of Southampton, over 100 billion unlicensed devices are projected to be in use by 2020. In addition, many of these devices, such as smartphones (using Wi-Fi for data off-load), tablets, ultrabooks, laptops, and televisions will be used be used to watch videos online, creating a massive demand for bandwidth and backhaul to access points.

When added to the billions of “smart devices” that will be equipped with wireless technology such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the wireless industry and spectrum regulators face a daunting challenge – such staggering numbers of devices using the unlicensed bands and their need for spatial data capacity will increase congestion many times over what users experience today.

To meet these challenges, several panelists at the conference discussed an emerging concept in spectrum policy: dynamic spectrum access using “white spaces” – spectrum that is unused or underused in some locations.  Inherent in this exciting new way to manage spectrum more efficiently is knowledge of a user’s location, so that a regulatory database can determine if there will be interference.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States was the first regulatory authority in the world to announce regulations for use of white spaces in the upper UHF bands from 470-690MHz, which will be shared with TV broadcasters and wireless microphones.  The United Kingdom is expected to announce its own regulations in these bands later this year.  In future years, regulators are looking to use these location databases in other bands to free up spectrum for unlicensed or “lightly licensed” use.

Dr. Jim Lansford, a Fellow in CSR’s Global Standards group, gave a presentation on “Automotive Applications for Unlicensed Spectrum” where he described the uses of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in automotive applications, and the dramatic growth projected for these technologies in cars.  According to Strategy Analytics, by 2015 Bluetooth will be in 72% of cars, and Wi-Fi will be in 30%, enabling many exciting new usage models.  As regulators authorize use of new spectrum under these dynamic access rules, automobiles will be required to know their location within 100 meters in order to be able to determine what bands of spectrum are available, making use of GPS and related location technologies even more necessary in the automotive market.  As a leader in location technology, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi for automotive markets, CSR will continue to bring innovative platform solutions to our customers in these emerging areas of wireless technology.

Telematics Detroit is one of the top automotive industry events. The conference attracts leading vehicle manufactures and tier one suppliers and enables them to discuss their visions for telematics technologies that will give consumers a better driving experience and which are more enjoyable, safer, and at lower personal and environmental cost.

As a recognised leader in location and connectivity technology, CSR is always keen to have a presence at such an important event. For the 2012 conference, we prepared a number of innovative solutions to wow our visitors at our booth. Demos of these were filmed at the event by our team and can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

To express our vision of a more enjoyable in-car experience, we prepared a ZiiSound D5 Bluetooth® Speaker and a Motorola RAZR android smartphone to demonstrate the superb audio streaming quality of aptX®. Both commercially available products are equipped with aptX® CODEC technology and deliver CD-quality sound over a Bluetooth connection. The sound coming out of the speaker was well defined and the bass was unmistakable. We were certainly noticed by Telematics visitors! With more and more consumers carrying their favourite music in their phone, those who experienced the sound quality expressed how much they were looking forward to having the technology also available in their car stereo. View the demo

aptX® capability is not limited to just delivering CD-quality audio via Bluetooth. Another market defining feature of aptX® is its low latency. We set up two BlueCore5-Multimedia boards to stream audio from a PC playing a video clip via A2DP over to a headset demonstrating the differences between aptX® and standard CODEC in the “lip-sync” audio visual quality. The difference is readily noticeable by those tried it out and aptX® was very well perceived. View the demo

On the safety side, we prepared a Bluetooth low energy (BTle) multifunction steering wheel. The advantages of using BTle to replace the wired control mechanism are cost and weight reduction. It is estimated that each single wire costs car manufacturer one US dollar to install. For this particular steering wheel, five wires were replaced with CSR1001™ development board which sent commands (e.g. audio volume up/down, answering phone, skip track etc.) to our SiRFprimaII™ SOC platform. This demonstration created a lot of buzz and visitors at our booth were very excited by by this first-of-its-kind demonstration. View the demo

We also demonstrated RealVNC connectivity software running on our SiRFprimaII™ SOC platform. The software projected the full user interface of a smart phone onto SiRFprimaII™. The idea is that consumers will be able to use the projection on SiRFprimaII™ to directly control the phone: to start a navigation application, for example. In effect, consumers can bring their favourite/latest/greatest application into their in-vehicle infotainment system. The true uniqueness about our demonstration is the wireless connection (via Wi-Fi®) instead of the wired connection between the phone and SiRFprimaII™. This was a really impressive demonstration. View the demo

CSR’s introduction of the automotive grade CSRG35ea – SiRFstarVTM Automotive, the first announced product based on the SiRFstarV ™ architecture, was also well received. With this new market leading automotive grade GNSS platform CSR is positioned to address global, as well as regional preferences and requirements such as Glonass for Russia, Galileo for Europe, and Compass for China. Furthermore, the additional satellites accessible by SiRFstarV™ improve position accuracy and availability and will enable CSR customers to develop best-in-class next generation products for the Infotainment and Telematics markets.

CSR had a great show that attracted new interest in our technologies and strengthened our existing customer relationships. I’d like to thank everyone who attended from CSR for helping to wow our audience. And a special thanks to those who made those demonstrations possible.

Regards

Jimmy Pai
Technical Marketing Manager

Utah-based Braven has deployed CSR’s aptX® audio codec in its new Braven 650 portable wireless high-definition speaker. The same Bluetooth wireless speaker/speakerphone also employs CSR’s BlueCore5™ Multimedia platform, a programmable, multi-featured audio Bluetooth solution designed to facilitate the integration of wireless multimedia functionality into embedded systems.

The high-end offering among Braven’s SIX Series of portable HD speakers announced last month, the Braven 650 features aptX technology in order to deliver stereo audio quality over Bluetooth wireless connectivity that is virtually indistinguishable from high-fidelity CD sound. Housed in sleek aircraft-grade aluminum, the Bauhaus inspired Braven 650 doubles as a speakerphone, mobile phone charger, and offers up to 20 hours of playtime.

Although standard Bluetooth technology offers the ability to stream stereo audio wirelessly from audio devices to headphones and speakers, this bandwidth-constrained solution does not come close to the audio quality consumers have come to expect from their electronic entertainment systems. CSR aptX audio coding technology solves this problem, breaking the bandwidth barrier to deliver CD-quality stereo audio wirelessly over Bluetooth connections for a variety of consumer electronics applications. As a result, aptX is becoming a preferred choice for premium quality Bluetooth audio, having been deployed in a fast growing list of products by companies including Samsung®, Nokia®, HTC®, Motorola®, Creative®, Sennheiser® and many more.

You can access more CSR press releases and updates here

This is an important day for CSR! I’m writing this in a few quiet minutes after the shareholder votes which confirmed the merger of Zoran with CSR. This process began months ago and I want to reflect on why this transaction is happening and why I feel this is an exciting moment for all of us.

Continue reading “We are CSR!” »

Bluetooth – the technology that you use for hands-free calls and wireless music streaming has been used in an interesting collaboration between Ford and Medtronic to manage your health. In a demonstration, unveiled at Ford HQ in Michigan last week, a continuous glucose meter worn by the driver connected with the in dash computer via Bluetooth to provide feedback about their health while driving, and this week Ford demonstrated a seat that can monitor your heart rate. Continue reading “Automotive Bluetooth — the car as a Health hub” »