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Release LibraryCambridge, UK and San Jose CA, USA – 22 July 2010 –CSR today announced the launch of its first single-mode, single-chip Bluetooth low energy platform, CSR µEnergy, addressing the needs of ultra low power connected devices. The CSR µEnergy platform will provide everything required to create a Bluetooth low energy product with RF, baseband, microcontroller, qualified Bluetooth v4.0 stack, and customer application running on a single chip. The CSR µEnergy Bluetooth low energy platform will enable ultra low power connectivity for applications previously limited by the power consumption, size constraints and complexity of other wireless standards.
“The CSR µEnergy platform unlocks the potential of the Bluetooth low energy standard and is a huge step forward in consumer wireless technology. Bluetooth low energy technology is an alternative to the fractured market of proprietary and poorly adopted standards and can be deployed in a variety of everyday devices, changing the way that we interact with our local environment,” commented Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President of the Audio and Consumer Business Unit at CSR, “The ultra low power consumption of CSR’s µEnergy™ platform enables a new range of accessories to connect to the mobile phone, TV, PC, media player or tablet, enabling consumers to experience the power of these services in the home or products that they carry. Bluetooth low energy sensors in consumer products will enable their behaviour to be customised to the needs of the user, and tags will enable consumers to search and locate products and services around them.
CSR has a genuine understanding of OEMs’ priorities, and is the ideal company to deliver an easy-to-integrate, cost-effective Bluetooth low energy platform to the market.”
Analysts predict that Bluetooth low energy will enable new markets for wireless accessories or wireless-enabled products including remote controls, health and wellbeing devices, PC human interface devices, watches, automotive keyless entry, advertising, indoor location, smart energy appliances and proximity tagging.
Fiona Thomson of IMS Research said, “The technology will bring wireless connectivity to a whole new class of devices that have never used it before. The industry is at a key turning point with this technology right now and with the launch of the µEnergy platform of products, CSR is in a great position to drive this market forwards.”
Earlier this month the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) adopted the complete Bluetooth v4.0 specification, opening the door to commercial release of qualified Bluetooth low energy end products and CSR was one of the first companies to qualify its products to the new standard.
The CSR µEnergy platform has been optimised to support only Bluetooth low energy features, allowing products to be tiny, cost-effective and power-efficient. CSR’s chips can run for years on a single coin cell battery, and may be used in simple sensors such as a step counting foot pods, heart rate monitors or car keyfobs, as well as in more complex low power devices such as a watch that can control and display information from a mobile phone. The platform offers single-mode chips that complement CSR’s dual-mode offerings and provide a complete range of Bluetooth low energy solutions that will drive the development of this new market.
The CSR µEnergy platform, with its built-in processor, is designed for use in consumer products and requires no external processor to run customer applications. It includes four quadurature decoders to enable mouse and pointing devices, three analogue inputs for direct measurement of sensor, and digital serial connectors for external sensors and displays.
The chips each have direct antenna connections, can connect directly to a 3V coin cell or a pair of AAA batteries, and come with three pulse width modulation outputs for variable power control in applications such as lighting control or vibration motors. They can run in optimised sleep modes with currents as low as 600nA and chips can “wake” quickly in response to external input signals for applications such as remote controls. Both chips provide embedded support for keyboard scanning while “asleep” at less than 5µA.
CSR µEnergy is available in two package options. CSR1000 comes in a 32-pin 5x5x0.6mm QFN package. CSR1001, in a 56 pin 8x8x0.9mm QFN, provides extra pins for more complex products with a larger number of digital inputs, such as keyboards, remote control products or home information displays.
Both CSR1000 and CSR1001 can act as a master or slave using CSR’s recently qualified Bluetooth v4.0 host stack providing complete Generic Access Profile (GAP), L2CAP, Security Manager, Attribute Protocol (ATT) and Generic Attribute Profile (GATT). These devices enable customers to run their complete application on chip using the embedded 16-bit microprocessor.
CSR’s µEnergy chips are available to lead customers now.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent the current expectations and beliefs of management of CSR plc (“CSR”) concerning the acquisition of APT Licensing Limited (“APT”) and other future events and their potential effects on CSR, including statements relating to the benefits expected to be achieved, the ability of CSR to develop the technology and expand into broad audio markets, CSR’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements, including words such as “enable,” “plan,” “expect,” “will,” and other similar expressions. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of CSR management, are not guarantees of future results and are subject to a significant number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the ability of CSR to substantially strengthen its offering in the growing real-time streaming audio market for mobile and wireless consumer applications, and support expansion into broader audio markets and develop new revenue streams, the ability to realize benefits that neither party could achieve independently, the ability to develop a new generation of excellent quality, highly differentiated products that will further enhance the consumer experience, the ability to integrate APT’s businesses into those of CSR’s in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the development of the markets for CSR’s products; weak economic conditions and the difficulty in predicting sales; factors affecting CSR’s quarterly results; sales cycles; price reductions; dependence on and qualification of foundries to manufacture CSR’s products; production capacity; the ability to adequately forecast demand; customer relationships; CSR’s ability to compete successfully; the ability of CSR to retain APT’s staff; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in CSR’s periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including its Annual Report on Form 20-F. The forward-looking statements in this communication are qualified by the risk factors set forth in those documents. Each statement speaks only as of the date of this communication (or any earlier date indicated in this communication) and CSR undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
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