Faraday Announces Its Proprietary WirelessLAN SoC Application Platform

Hsinchu Taiwan, Sunnyvale CA, Sept. 21, 2004 -- Faraday Technology Corporation (TAIEX: 3035), a leading fabless ASIC and IP provider, shall unveil a new WirelessLAN SoC Platform Solution, named FIE7100 Series in the forthcoming 2004 Technology Forum on September 22 at Ambassador Hotel, Hsinchu. The heart of Faraday?fs WirelessLAN SoC platform is the FA526 CPU (compatible with ARM9 architecture with v4 instruction set) running at maximum clock speed of 200MHz and an 802.11g hardwired processing engine. The FIE7100 series platform is designed specifically for the WirelessLAN applications.

The purpose of the WirelessLAN SoC is to transfer data between different devices. The power hungry process relies heavily on wireless system capability and the CPU?fs ability to process data. To address the power and performance issues, Faraday created a proprietary platform that combines the FA526 16KB/16KB programmable cache memory and the 802.11g hardwired processing engine. The low power consumption is achieved through power management software and the platform comes complete with embedded mix signal IPS such as RF, ADC/DAC, PLL, and DLL. With fully embedded Linux and WinCE OS, customers can easily develop personal storage applications by adding interfaces that support SD/MMC, CF, and IDE. Customers can also combine Faraday?fs USB2.0 OTG, 10/100 Ethernet MAC, video DAC or LCD controller to develop applications catering to the personal audio/video devices.

"Faraday's WirelessLAN SoC Platform is a natural progression from the 802.11g MAC/BBP that we collaborated with our partner?fs earlier.?h said C. J. Liang, R&D Associate Vice President at Faraday. ?"The platform is the result of years of experience in SoC hardware and software integration. Anyone who wishes to develop wireless applications can take the advantage of this platform. Faraday is confident that the near-ready IC structure can help our customer lessen their design effort and be at forefront of market opportunity," he added.

Currently, Faraday is working to add a 16-bit DSP along with audio codec for the Wi-Fi market. The dual core combo enables the WirelessLAN SoC Platform (FIE7100) to implement broadband application such as VoIP. Faraday will also incorporate audio/video encoder and decoder in the near future, and pave the way for our customers towards the next generation of UWB (Ultra Wide Band) applications.

Product Overview

Digital Media Platform (FIE7000)

Digital Media Platform (FIE7000) is a highly integrated platform solution for digital media applications. The platform consists of an ARMv4 compatible FA526 CPU, a 16-bit sigma delta audio codec, USB STG controller, transceiver, and 802.3 media access controller.

The proprietary 200MHz ARMv4 FA526 is responsible for executing audio format decode/encode, MP3, WMA and AAC, and image. The 16-bit sigma-delta audio codec is integrated to provide quality audio with the SNR above 90dB. The USB OTG controller, transceiver and 802.3 media access controller are geared to provide connectivity with PC and the Internet.

In the consumer electronics arena, the USB OTG provides the link between the digital still camera and the database where images are stored. Image viewer or GUI interface is also supported to provide Color TFT LCD panel display. The USB OTG also supports all the popular flash memory interface like SD, SM, MS, MMC, and CF. IDE and micro drive interface are also integrated to support the abundant storage media.

As far as the 802.11a/b/g WirelessLAN and video codec chip is concerned, the platform also supports the PCI interface that targets the Internet appliance and portable media player market. A 64KB SRAM is integrated to reduce the possibility of accessing the external SDRAM. Power saving is achieved through technologies such as frequency scaling, power domain separation, normal/idle/standby/sleep operational modes for the mobile/handheld applications.

Wireless Dual Core Platform (FIE7100)

The Second Generation of Wireless Dual Core Platform (FIE7100) has all of the features of FIE7000, but with the addition of a high performance 16-bit DSP (FD216) and 802.11b/g WirelessLAN MAC, and baseband processor. For WirelessLAN solution, Faraday provides embedded Linux based driver, SDK and reference design to empower customers with wireless connectivity.

Faraday's FIE7100 WirelessLAN Dual Core Platform Solution is a hardware architecture optimized for high performance and low power applications. The follow are a list of speech codec algorithms that the FD216 supports:

- G.711, G.723.1 , and G.729 annex A/B
- G.168 Digital Network Echo Cancellers
- G.167 Acoustic Echo Controllers for VoIP solutions

MP3, WMA codec and JPEG decoder are also supported for wireless digital home applications.

Market & Applications

Digital Media Platform (FIE7000?j)

There is no doubt that the next generation of consumer electronics device cannot do without the PC and Internet connectivity. With digital content, music download, and e-business service made popular by broadband access, the portable storage device is sure to become the most popular Internet application. According to In-Stat report (2004/3), the shipment of HDD based portable audio player will grow from 5,352K units this year to 13,389K units in 2008 with 44.75% CAGR. The digital media platform FIE7000 provides an environment that enables customers to develop the next generation of portable storage devices quickly and effectively to meet the demand of the internet centric digital music market.

Wireless Dual Core Platform? (FIE7100?)

The FIE7100 is designed for the voice over IP or VoIP market that has gain remarkable popularity in recent years. The reason for its popularity is because the high-speed transmission over the Internet is no longer the exclusive domain of the enterprise; free ISM band, inexpensive network deployment, and reuse of existing infrastructure have made it within reach of individuals. According to IDC report (2003), the revenue of VoIP will grow from 300 million USD in 2003 to 1.5 billion USD in 2007, which translates to a CAGR at whopping 45%!

FIE71000 provides highly integrated platform solution for customers who wish to develop their own Wi-Fi phones. FIE7100 can also be used to connect consumer electronics devices to PC or Internet for data sharing and multimedia streaming applications in digital home.

Pricing & availability

Platform Solution	Digital Media Platform FIE7000	Wireless Dual Core Platform FIE7100
Availability	FPGA Developing Platform: Q4, 2004 Silicon Developing Platform: Q1, 2005	FPGA Developing Platform: Q4, 2004 Silicon Developing Platform: Q2, 2005
Package	LQFP 208/ BGA292	BGA292
Target Technology	0.18µm	0.18µm

About Faraday Technology Corporation

Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading silicon IP and fabless ASIC vendor. The company's broad IP portfolio includes 32-bit RISC CPUs, DSPs, USB 2.0, Ethernet, PCI-Express, and Serial ATA. With more than 500 employees and 2003 revenue of $111 million, Faraday is one of the largest fabless ASIC companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also has a significant presence in other markets, world-wide. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.faraday-tech.com