CSR packs satnav with Bluetooth

Bluetooth market leader CSR has unveiled its seventh-generation BlueCore chip bundling the short-range wireless link with enhanced satnav (eGPS) and FM transmit and receive.

The FM transmitter does the same job as standalone devices that transmit the output of a portable media player at very low power to a car radio, avoiding the need for a wired link.

The new chip supports Bluetooth v2.1 with extended data rate (EDR), giving a theoretical maximum throughput of 3Mbit/second.

It also packs what was previously called Bluetooth Ultra Low Power but has been renamed Bluetooth low-energy. This is designed for body-area-network tasks such as health and exercise monitoring, or passing caller numbers to a watch.

John Halksworth, head of product management, said the chip required only a handful of passive peripheral components to become a full-fledged communications hub.

CSR sells Wifi chips but Halksworth said that putting it in the same module as Bluetooth, which uses the same 2.4GHz band, created too many problems in a device the size of a mobile phone.

See also New chip could make satnav standard on Bluetooth devices