Freescale: One-Chip Mobile TV/WiFi in 2008

By David Manners -- Electronics Weekly, 7/27/2006

ORLANDO -- Freescale Semiconductor is working on a single chip that it claims will deliver DVB-H based mobile TV with a high-speed WiFi comms capability for downloading content from a PC or direct from a hot-spot.

“The entire solution is being built off the same engine, so one radio will provide WiFi, DVB-T and DVB-H," Bernardino Baratta, general manager of the multimedia applications division at Freescale Semiconductor, told Electronics Weekly during the Freescale Developers Conference here this week.
 
The design is currently being implemented in three separate chips, the DVB-T and WiFi are currently being designed in 90nm devices and the DVB-H is being designed in a 65nm chip.

“All three chips will be taped out by the end of the year, with samples in January or February," said Baratta.

Immediately Freescale will work on integrating all three devices into a single 65nm chip. “The integrated single chip will be taping out late in 2007 for production in 2008," said Baratta.

Asked who would need a product based on such a chip, Baratta replied: “The instant gratification generation using portable video players. If they want to see a video clip they want to see it now. They want to be able to download it immediately.”