Analog Devices announced the availability of a high-end multimedia baseband processor for EDGE and GSM/GPRS handsets. The SoftFone chipset consists of the AD6900 digital baseband processor and the AD6855 analog baseband processor, which together offer 3.0-Mpixel camera support, USB On-the-Go, 128-voice MIDI ring tones, and full-duplex speakerphone capability. The chipset is based on Analog Devices’ RAM-based SoftFone architecture.

The SoftFone AD6900 (code-named LeMans) is built on top of the company's Blackfin and ARM926EJ-S processors, both running at 260 MHz to perform both the communications and audio/video signal processing tasks. The Blackfin's performance enables the multimedia video processing without the use of a co-processor. The AD6900 can support video algorithms such as MPEG4, H.263, and H.264 for screen sizes up to QVGA; and stereo audio codecs including MP3, AAC+, WMA, and others. A "boot-from-NAND" capability is provided.

The AD6855 (code-named Stratos-S) handles the analog processing, providing all of the analog and power management functions including baseband radio interface, voiceband and stereo D/A conversion, and voltage regulation. The dynamic power management feature included in the chipset controls the processor's frequency and core voltage, depending on the processing power being utilized, thereby extending battery life. The high-performance analog audio subsystem supports multiple sampling rates of stereo audio for music playback, with more than 25% increase in output volume than previous-generation devices, resulting in better speakerphone volume and clarity.

A choice of Othello transceivers is available for use with the SoftFone chipset. The AD6546 Othello-E uses a closed-loop polar modulation transmitter and direct-conversion receiver for EDGE/GPRS networks, and the AD6548 Othello-G supports GPRS operation with a low-cost, small PCB-area solution. More information is available at www.analog.com.