AUSTIN, Texas -- The race for semiconductor implementation of the Flex messaging protocol heats up next week with Motorola Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. announcing production of decoder chips for the burgeoning pager market.

TI's wireless-communications business unit has added two new decoders for niche markets: the TLV5593 alphanumeric decoder with roaming and the TLV5594 numeric Flex decoder. Motorola's Semiconductor Products sector is sampling a chip to Korean OEMs, the 68181, which adds roaming features that were not present in the original TI TLV5591 decoder.

Flex is a family of protocols developed by Motorola for one-way and two-way paging. The company licensed TI in 1995 to produce protocol chips for one-way paging, and later licensed its own semiconductor division to develop similar devices.

The agreements are expected to be augmented with licenses for the ReFlex two-way paging products.

Not surprisingly, roaming is the most important feature for second-generation decoder chips, since OEMs and paging carriers want to offer customers the ability to receive alphanumeric paging messages outside their paging region. To date, only the Korean government has set roaming standards for Flex, which is why TI and Motorola are in a race to gain design-ins for the Korean market.

The TLV5593 from TI implements all roaming protocols for using Flex across multiple paging domains.

Motorola's 68181 performs functions that are similar to the 5593, implementing the handoff from region to region for Flex messages.

The carrier programs the decoder chip with the frequencies used in various regions, and the decoder chip performs table-lookups for alternative frequencies whenever the pager unit detects a loss-of-signal for the home area of the pager.

TI also is introducing a cost-reduced decoder, the TLV5594, for pagers that will support only numeric messages.

In either manufacturer's implementations, the decoder must be used with an A/D converter chip that converts the analog RF signal to the digital signal used for the Flex protocol.

TI is in volume production with the second generation of its decoders now, with both packaged in 32-pin thin quad flat packs.

The price for the TLV5593VF is $8.25 each in quantities of 100,000, while the TLV5594VF is priced at $4.97 each in similar quantities.

Motorola is sampling its 68181 now in a 32-pin thin quad flat pack, with volume production slated for July. Price in quantities of 100,000 is $8.50 each.

Two divisions of Motorola are offering two board-level options for OEMs to get started. The semiconductor sector is offering the 68175 Flex development board for $175 to provide an evaluation design for a Flex-based pager, as well as a full Flex development kit for $395, consisting of the board and two RF receiver modules.

Meanwhile, Motorola's Derivative Technologies Division (Boynton Beach, Fla.) will serve as suppliers of high-volume DataLink Messaging Receivers, combining a Flex protocol controller, a remote antenna connector, and 16 memories of 2,000 characters each, in a module that measures 3.5 inches x 1.8 inches.

Pricing has not yet been set on these modules, though the Florida group will offer them in Pocsag as well as Flex protocol versions.

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