ZTE Mimosa with Icera wireless modem

“The ZTE Mimosa X is exciting for a few reasons,” said Michael Rayfield, General Manager of the Mobile business at NVIDIA. “The Mimosa X marks the first time NVIDIA technology powers all the major processors in a single smartphone, and also the first time a premium mobile computing experience is coming to the mainstream smartphone market.”

The Mimosa X is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor, featuring a dual-core CPU and GeForce GPU, and the NVIDIA Icera 450 HSPA+ modem, comprising baseband and RF processors, featuring excellent throughput and low power. It will run Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), feature a 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) screen, rear 5 MP and front cameras, and 4 GB of storage expandable to 32 GB.

The ZTE Mimosa X will deliver super multimedia capabilities, including advanced audio distribution profile (A2DP), Dolby sound, digital living network alliance (DLNA) compatibility for easy sharing of content, HD video record and play, dual microphones, and built-in gyroscope.

The Mimosa X will be launched around Q2 2012. Positioned squarely for the mainstream market, it brings new levels of performance and connectivity to this large segment of users.

Consumers will now be able to use a mainstream smartphone to experience the same speedy web browsing, smooth multitasking, and HD video, as well as console-quality gaming with TegraZone, that was previously available only in high-end phones. TegraZone is NVIDIA’s free Android Market app that showcases the best games optimized for the Tegra processor.

The NVIDIA Icera 450 supports up to 21Mbps category 14 HSPA+ with fast downloads in fading channels, IceClear interference cancellation technology for even faster throughput at the cell edge and advanced Release 7 features for an ultra-low latency network response.

The move parallels the acquisition of University of Bath spin-out NanoGaN by IQE in October 2009, although IQE  only supplies the wafers for such HB LEDs. Plessey’s advantage is adding its existing design technology alongside to created integrated sensor and lighting systems.

The newly acquired Plessey HB LED solution enables the growth of thin HB LED structures on standard, readily
available, silicon substrates. Current technologies use silicon carbide (SiC) or sapphire substrates, which are
expensive and difficult to scale-up. Plessey’s GaN-on-silicon solution offers cost reductions of the order of 80%
compared to LEDs grown on SiC or sapphire by reducing scrap rates, minimising batch time and enabling
the use of automated semiconductor processing equipment. These cost reductions will be achieved while enabling
outputs in excess of 150 lumens per watt later this year – a combination that will allow Plessey to offer the most cost  effective solutions in the HB LED industry.
“HB LED lighting represents the future of domestic, architectural, medical and automotive lighting,” said Michael LeGoff, Plessey’s Managing Director. “Achieving the goals of high efficiency and brightness is key to the rapid
deployment of energy saving, solid state lighting. This new British technology provides cost and performance
advantages that will constitute a game-changing step forward towards the replacement of incandescent and
fluorescent bulbs with HB LED lamps.”
“To date, the biggest technological challenge preventing the commercialisation of HB LEDs grown on large-area silicon substrates has been the large lattice mismatch between GaN and silicon. Plessey’s new GaN-on-silicon process has overcome this challenge and our expertise combined with the intrinsic cost savings of using automated 6 inch processing equipment will position Plessey’s HB LED lighting products at the forefront of the industry,” said Dr John Ellis, Chief Engineer at Plessey.
Plessey is also looking to release a range of products for smart lighting concepts that incorporate existing
Plessey sensing and control technologies including the award winning EPIC sensor. These smart lighting products will enable intelligent energy management, remote control, controlled dimming and automated response to ambient conditions.
Plessey’s first samples of a blue LED are characterised by peak emission at 460nm. The technology extends to other emission wavelengths such as cyan and green. Being able to achieve such high brightness at the blue end of the spectrum enables phosphors to be used to produce white light with a balanced spectrum of light emission that is better for the eye. White output powers of 150 lumens/watt are planned for late Q4 2012.

6-8pm, Thursday 19 January 2012, Central Bristol

The Silicon South West network is delighted to host a ‘networking event’ to welcome Imagination Technologies to the South West with a new design centre.

Imagination Technologies is internationally acclaimed for its System-on-Chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP). The company’s technology division is a semiconductor, software and cloud IP (Intellectual Property) licensing business which provides market-leading multimedia and communications capabilities for complex SoC devices. Its PURE division designs and manufactures innovative consumer products, using Imagination’s technologies as a key differentiator alongside high quality product design. Imagination Technologies recently announced that they have chosen Bristol as the location for its latest R&D facility.

This event is a perfect opportunity for all engineering professionals and managers at all levels as well as postgraduate/undergraduate students to get a first hand view of latest technologies, as well as a networking event.

For a technical insight into some of the key IP’s behind the next generation Multimedia & Communications technologies and an opportunity to discuss details and trends with company’s leading executives, please come along to this ‘welcome event’ . This is also an occasion to see and play with the demonstration of the latest designs.

Agenda

5:30pm Registration & Demos with refreshments

6:00pm Imagination Overview

PowerVR GPUs: Latest trends and advances in high performance mobile GPU’s – Graphics and GPU Compute

PowerVR VPUs: Video Processor Unit trends; decoder and encoder architecture; video pre/post processing on GPUs

Ensigma RPUs: Radio Communication Processor Unit trends, UCCP architecture, DTV/Radio, Wi-Fi, etc standards

Meta CPUs: Hardware multi-threaded Android/Linux/RTOS CPU with DSP; Flow connectivity technologies

7:30pm Demos & Networking with refreshments

8:00pm Close

This event is free of charge.

Register Here

The Lynx Design System enabled Picochip’s engineering team in Bath to quickly and efficiently upgrade to a pre-tested 40nm Galaxy-based production design flow, saving significant time and effort compared to developing their own flow. In addition, Lynx’s Foundry-Ready System enabled Picochip’s engineers to begin design work within two weeks of initial deployment, accelerating their project start date by an estimated eight weeks.

“In the mobile communications market, each product generation requires higher performance and functionality at a lower cost. For Picochip to deliver this, it is essential that we are able to migrate process technololgies quickly and easily,” said Will Robbins, vice president of silicon at Picochip. “Synopsys’ Lynx gave us a robust Galaxy-based RTL-to-GDSII design flow, which we could configure to our specific technology needs. This gave us a head start over simply having a set of tools with which to build a design flow. It allowed us to tape out our first 40nm chip, whilst saving us months of R&D effort.”

The PC3008 is the first in a family of devices that support the higher performance HSPA+ wireless broadband standard, delivering a low bill of material cost silicon device. It supports eight users with Release 9 HSPA+ (21Mbps downlink, 5Mbps uplink), incorporating Picochip’s field-proven robust PHY and a 1GHz ARM11 processor with TrustZone.

The Lynx Design System includes a production-proven design flow enabled by Galaxy tools with innovative visualisation capabilities to help create and track designs throughout the implementation cycle. Using Lynx, Picochip’s engineers were able to immediately focus on optimising the new design to meet both their 1GHz performance target and aggressive development cycle.

“The Lynx Design System offers tangible benefits for design teams looking to reduce the cost and risk of migrating to new technology processes,” said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP and systems at Synopsys. “By enabling designers to implement chips more efficiently without sacrificing quality of results, and attacking total cost of design through systematic design flow management, leading design companies like Picochip are able to focus on what they do best – delivering differentiated design solutions in a competitive marketplace.”

Related articles

• Mindspeed to buy Picochip for $75m (siliconsouthwest.co.uk)
• Femtocell Report 2011-2016: Analysing Operator Savings and Investments (prnewswire.com)

Tempus brings together an all-new variant of the company’s BMR (Balanced Mode Radiator) speaker drive unit and its Audium amplifier chip, originally developed and designed in Bristol, in a reference design that now delivers higher power output plus Bluetooth wireless audio streaming.

The Tempus transparent enclosure enables engineers to see the simplicity of the structure that encapsulates the BMR drive unit and the electronics module based on HiWave’s Audium amplifier chip. The single Lithium-ion battery that powers the device is also visible. Pairing the speakers with any Bluetooth enabled phone or tablet produces a clarity, range and depth of sound that belies the 23cm tall unit’s physical size. At typical listening levels the battery powers the unit for over 30 hours between charges.

“Our BMR technology overcomes the difficulties and compromises that come with the use of conical or domed diaphragms,” said Chris Travis, CTO of HiWave.” The flat diaphragm’s bending modes give these drive units wide dispersion across the full frequency range, approximating the performance of an ideal point source. By using HiWave drive units our customers are creating better-sounding products in shorter timeframes than ever before. The Tempus demonstrator shows speaker design at its purest – a flat drive unit in an enclosure that is all curves, giving it superior acoustic and mechanical properties”.

Immediately following CES, HiWave has a display booth at the ALMA (The International Loudspeaker Association) Winter Symposium at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas on 13th and 14th January. ALMA has titled the symposium “The Future of Loudspeakers” and HiWave will be showing industry specialists the key benefits of its low-cost, full-range, wide-dispersion BMR speaker drive units coupled with the power-saving, battery life-enhancing Audium amplifier chips.

“With consumers’ focus on value-for-money we are creating components that punch well above their weight in terms of cost-effective audio performance,” said James Lewis, CEO of HiWave.

Related articles

• HiWave scoops Environmental Design Award for Bristol-designed energy-efficient audio amplifier chip (siliconsouthwest.co.uk)
• HiWave’s speaker technology promises 145 hours worth of playback (ubergizmo.com)

SSS ’12, the 20th Safety-Critical Systems Symposium, will be held on 7-9 February 2012 in Bristol. The topics covered by the 20+ papers will include vulnerabilities in global navigation satellite systems; safety culture and community; transport safety; cyber-attacks on safety-critical systems; improving our approach to systems safety; accidents; assessment, validation and testing; safety standards and safety levels.

Alongside the conference will run an exhibition and tools and services fair. SSS ’12 is organized by the Safety-Critical Systems Club, and is the must-attend forum for all those working on safety-critical systems in industry and academia.

In the opening keynote address, Martyn Thomas will highlight vulnerabilities in GPS and other global navigation satellite systems, demonstrating the impact on safety of many general purpose systems. Other keynotes include Roger Rivett looking at the challenge of technological change in the automotive industry, Chris Johnson looking at cyber-attacks on safety-critical systems, Peter Ladkin on the accident to the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, and Jens Braband presenting a risk-based approach to assessing potential safety deficiencies. The final keynote, by John McDermid and Andrew Rae, focuses on goal-based safety standards. Like all the previous symposia the proceedings will be available from Springer.

More details are on the SCSC website at www.scsc.org.uk/sss

“This industry’s single biggest enemy is itself,” said Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons. “We’ve only started to scratch the surface of what we can achieve, but everyone talks it down. Is 5% ‘bad’ growth? It’s time to talk this industry back up. Growth in unit demand has been 11% over the last 40 years because we are doing a fantastic job of creating new markets.”

While admitting that the current environment is challenging, Penn pointed out that such challenges are nothing new. “The market is dynamic, and the dynamics are horrid,” he said. “But it’s been doing it for 50 years. These dynamics are part of the fabric.”

Penn warns that the effects of this collective lack of self-esteem are more than just psychological. Although he believes that 2012 will be a year of strong recovery in the chip market, he also expects a wafer shortage caused by underinvestment in global fab capacity going back three years to the Lehman Brothers crisis and before.

“We are entering a period when you will not be able to buy wafers at any cost – a ‘fab tight’ era. People are underinvesting in capacity deliberately. 2012’s shortages are inevitable,” he says. The danger is that production lines may be halted for want of key chips, as Nissan’s and Toyota’s were in April and May this year after the Japanese earthquake.

There is also the risk of basing decisions on short term events rather than looking at the long term requirements of the industry. “The delay between decision making and fruition is frustrating,” he said. “We are micromanaging on a minute-by-minute basis in a situation where the decision cycle is three to four years.”

Despite the dangers, he remains upbeat. “The recovery dynamics will strengthen,” he says. “The call to action is ‘Just do it!’”

Future Horizons is holding its 2012 industry forecast in London on Thursday Jan 19th. “With 2012 starting off still clouded in economic uncertainty, clearly this year will be as equally challenging as last year,” said Penn “We are ready to meet this challenge and where we will be analysing in our normal forensic laser sharp detail all of the industry fundamentals and their potential impact on the business.”

http://www.futurehorizons.com/page/13/ifs-industry-forecast

Picochip has had around $120m of investment, led by Pond Ventures, and dominates the emerging market for small, picocell basestations.   The story has come full circle, as Mindspeed is itself a spinoff from Conexant, which bought Microcosm Communications and Oak Technologies, which led to the founding of Picochip by Peter Claydon of Oak.

“Mindspeed is the ideal acquirer for us,” said Nigel Toon, chief executive officer and president of Picochip. ” Together, we have valuable technology and customer synergies, given Picochip’s carrier-qualified 3G wireless technology leadership with over 70 percent market share in 3G/high-speed packet access (HSPA) and Mindspeed’s proven pathway as the long-term evolution (LTE) small cell pioneer with the Transcede® product family. Our combined resources create one of the largest SoC development groups in the wireless infrastructure sector with complementary intellectual property scale and expertise to deliver the solutions that this fast- moving market demands.”

The definitive deal sees a purchase price of approximately $51.8 million, plus a potential earnout payment of up to $25 million payable in the first calendar quarter of 2013. The expected acquisition will create the clear market leader in small cell base station solutions for next generation mobile broadband communications infrastructure, an explosive growth market. Research firm Mobile Experts LLC predicts small cell base station shipments will grow to 24 million units by 2016, creating a market for alternative cells, which could exceed the macrocell market in terms of transceiver unit shipments during the next four years.

Together, Mindspeed and Picochip will offer the most comprehensive portfolio of base station semiconductor solutions on the market, from residential to enterprise to pico/metro applications. Mindspeed’s enhanced product roadmap for single- and multi- mode 3G/4G solutions will enable it to capitalize on the rapid acceleration of the small cell wireless base station market, while also addressing comprehensive support for all 3G and 4G global air interface standards. Management estimates the total addressable market for the combined entity will grow to $3.0 billion by 2016 and that technology synergies, operational synergies and opportunities for cross-selling products within each company’s customer base are substantial.

For Picochip, Mindspeed will pay cash of $27.5 million and approximately 5.19 million in new shares of Mindspeed common stock, amounting to approximately 15 percent of outstanding Mindspeed shares, for a total of $24.3 million, based upon the closing price of Mindspeed’s common stock on January 4, 2012. The cash portion of the initial purchase price will be financed in part with bank debt. The terms also include an earnout provision, whereby the purchase price can increase by up to $25 million, contingent on the achievement of certain milestones. The earnout, which is payable in the first calendar quarter of 2013, may be paid in cash, Mindspeed common stock or a combination thereof, at Mindspeed’s discretion.

“Our acquisition of Picochip establishes our position as a global leader in wireless infrastructure semiconductor solutions for next generation mobile broadband communications,” said Raouf Halim, chief executive officer of Mindspeed. “It is a great strategic fit for several reasons. First, it positions Mindspeed as the clear leader in small cell base station technology with the industry’s broadest small cell product offering, addressing a significantly expanded market opportunity of $3.0 billion by 2016. Second, it enhances our competitive position as we join our respective 3G/4G technologies to offer single- and multi-mode solutions that we believe will provide us a time-to-market and product performance advantage relative to competitors. Third, it gives us the scale to lead the industry’s move toward fixed/mobile broadband convergence; a trend which we believe will drive revenue and earnings growth for Mindspeed in the future.”

Related articles

• Picochip argues London LTE coverage needs 70,000 small cells (fiercewireless.com)

The company started life in the SETsquared Innovation Centre in Bath developing an innovative wireless network power management platform that remotely monitors, controls and manages the supply of power to base stations sites that lack a reliable electricity grid in the Middle East and Africa and where diesel generators have historically been the primary power source.

“Our energy storage solutions cut diesel consumption by at least 50% and further reduce power operating expenses by integrating our solar and wind components,” said John O’Donohue, CEO. “Our wireless network power management technology is available at the right time to help mobile telecom operators reduce power costs, lower carbon emissions, increase site uptime and improve the operational and business management of power while delivering a return on investment in 18 months or less”.

YFM Equity Partners through three of their managed funds – Chandos Fund and British Smaller Companies VCTs are joining existing investors including Oxford Capital Partners, MTI Partners, OCP Angels and a number of private investors in an all equity finance deal.

“We have closely followedPowerOasis from 2008 when it was co-founded by Pete Bishop, previously R&D Engineering Manager for Motorola, supported by SETsquared in the University of Bath Innovation Centre,” said Julian Dennard, Investment Director at YFM Equity Partners. “To my mind it has now grown and developed to be one of Britain’s finest small companies and we are delighted that it has now reached the stage where YFM Equity Partners’ funds can help to accelerate its growth. We look forward to building our relationship with the management team as it transforms the way mobile telecom operators utilise power in both developing and developed markets.”

The investment will primarily be used for accelerating sales and product development as the company is already an energy partner for two of the World’s largest network equipment providers and some of the World’s largest mobile telecom operators, which use PowerOasis technology to reduce the operating cost of power while dramatically improving network availability.

Its SmartHub  adds Smart Grid capability to its portfolio and the company has also introduced a next generation Power OSS platform which gives total network power visibility at the network operations centre.

The winners receive £2,000 each along with free business and consultancy services and have the opportunity to present their new technologies and business visions to over 300 leading wireless industry delegates from over 20 countries at the 2012 Future of Wireless International Conference next June.

“The quality of entrants shows that innovation and entrepreneurship is clearly very much alive,” said Clennell Collingwood, Investment Director at TTP Ventures. “It was difficult for us to pick out five winners and we are confident that all the Discovering Start-Up winners and many of the other finalists will go on to make important contributions to the wireless industry.”

“All the finalists had a unique opportunity to pitch to a dream line up of business angels, VCs and corporate investors with years of experience of spotting winners,” said Soraya Jones, CEO of Cambridge Wireless. “The support from the judges, sponsors, Cambridge Wireless members and entrants has been excellent and reflects the level of expertise, encouragement and business infrastructure that exists to nurture and help drive the success of innovative start ups.”

The other four winners include Advanced Balance Systems, Mindings, Proxama and Qiqqa. “Discovering Start-Ups has once again been a great success and were delighted to support the initiative to encourage, inspire and recognise the next generation of technology entrepreneurs,” said Kevin Coleman, Managing Director of Alliantus and Project Director.