Feature Displays & UIs
ost in all of the commotion about smartphone sales possibly reach- ing one billion units this year, is the lesser-recognised story of how OEMs in other markets have benefitted from the technology advancements and production volumes created by the smartphone industry.
The small form factor of smart- phones has forced component makers to shrink their devices using smaller and smaller process geometries. Additionally, the huge R&D invest- ment in the last 10 years in mobile devices and accompanied components has driven technology forward at a much faster rate.
What has resulted is a long list of technologies (GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, memory, OLED, to name just a few) that have matured in both cost and capabilities, making them attractive much sooner than anticipated for OEMs in non-mobile markets. However, the adoption of smartphone technologies into non-smartphone applications has been complicated by the fact that the basic internal architec- ture of mobile consumer devices tends to be relatively consistent across ven- dors, while that consistency is not shared with the internal architecture of devices in other markets.
For example, although smartphones may have different CPU’s, baseband processors and other components, their internal design might not vary much between company A and com- pany B. However, when comparing one market (smartphones) to another (say, medical equipment), the internal archi- tectures likely are noticeably different. Processors are often vastly different in speeds, capabilities, power consump- tion, input-output interfaces and other performance metrics. These differences can create component-level compatibility issues when previously unimagined architectures result in component com- binations which were never designed or imagined to work together.
An example of this type of issue is the connection of internal peripheral devices like WiFi or Bluetooth modules with processors not defined for smart- phone applications. The smartphone market, as the primary driver of production volume for these devices,
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Unlocking the potential L
Paul Karazuba at Quicklogic explores enabling smartphone component technologies in non-smartphone applications and making every component count
has standardised on the SDIO interface for these modules. Processors designed with the smartphone market in mind are generally designed with enough SDIO ports to support the needs of OEMs, fully expecting that the WiFi/Bluetooth module will interface over SDIO.
OEM designers in other (non-smart- phone) applications often want to make use of the same WiFi modules based on ready supply and low cost. However, the modules may not have the capability to communicate directly from their chosen processor to the module given their SDIO interface. The processors may not have a native SDIO interface, or may not have enough SDIO ports to accommodate the new module in conjunction with other SDIO devices that may already be present in the design.
In the example shown in figure 1, the processor supports only two SDIO ports natively, leaving the third periph- eral SDIO device without the ability to communicate to the processor. The OEM has the choice at this point to
either: (1) change their processor to one that supports additional native SDIO ports, (2) eliminate one of the SDIO devices, or (3) find an alternative way to interface the third SDIO device. The first option, changing proces- sors, is likely the least palatable option. Replacing the originally chosen processor with a different model often leads to product delays (due to code incompatibility or other compatibility issues), can increase BOM costs, and can lead to regulatory body approval delays or even restarting the design verification process.
The second option, removing an SDIO device, can lead to many issues. Removing an SDIO device can limit an OEM’s ability to address markets where the device’s capabilities are essential. Additionally, removal of fea- tures can lead to a lack of competitive differentiation with other OEMs, potentially limiting the OEM’s ability to place premium prices on their prod- ucts and sacrificing profitability. The third option, often the most palat- able, is to identify a way to integrate the desired additional SDIO device through a different interface on the processor. In the example shown in Figure 1, QuickLogic offers a Catalogue CSSP (Customer Specific Standard Product) that allows the peripheral SDIO device to communicate with the existing processor through USB.
Figure 1:
The Quicklogic USB-to-SDIO device
This device features an on-board RISC CPU that processes all I/O for translating commands and data from SDIO to USB, and vice versa. It contains an SDIO host controller for interfacing directly to the SDIO device, and a USB high-speed Device controller with PHY (USB 2.0) for interfacing directly to the USB host on the processor. As a result of this device architecture, OEMs are able to interface to all three SDIO devices using their current processor. As smartphones continue to push technological boundaries, they are enriching other aspects of our lives in unrecognised ways. Before smart- phones, WiFi was typically only found in notebook computers. Today, WiFi capability can be found in devices such as home thermostats and refriger- ators, enabling remote communication. Although Solutions providers keep addressing component incompatibility issues this will still continue to happen nonetheless as new technologies con- tinue to ‘hop’ on to the market. QuickLogic
www.quicklogic.com Enter 204
OCTOBER 2013 Electronics
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