CSR Launches CSR8000 Connectivity Platform to Revolutionarily Enhance Consumer Experience Across a Wide Range of Wireless Products

Mass production of the CSR8000 platform, equipped with HD voice and low-energy Bluetooth, begins with major clients

CSR (LSE: CSR), a leading global leader in personal wireless communications and Bluetooth technology, today unveiled the CSR8000, a next-generation connectivity platform. CSR8000, CSR’s latest technology, extends the recently introduced Low Energy Bluetooth technology to the ecosystem of wirelessly connected devices and improves the audio quality of these wireless products. In addition to existing Bluetooth technologies, the CSR8000 supports both High Speed Bluetooth (v3.0) and Low Energy Bluetooth (v4.0), and also supports FM transmission and reception, as well as Wideband Speech, known as HD Voice. Furthermore, all CSR8000 products feature an integrated DSP, allowing customers to benefit from additional audio enhancement features such as CVC and apt-X. CSR8000 platform products have already been designed into consumer goods for CSR’s key customers and are scheduled to be introduced to the market later this year.

The first four products based on the CSR8000 platform support all types of wireless devices, ranging from mobile phones and smartphones to home appliances, tablet PCs, laptops, and automotive systems. These rich product solutions from CSR provide combinations of technologies to offer customers the most flexible way to incorporate the wireless technologies required for their products and designs.

Kanwar Chadha, CMO of CSR, stated, “The CSR8000 platform is designed to enhance the consumer experience through wireless connectivity across a wide range of products and is a highly significant solution in CSR’s strategy to provide end-to-end platform-level solutions to our customers. We also aim to accelerate the development of innovative Powered for Life™ devices by expanding our end-to-end wireless connectivity product line through the newly announced CSR8000 and the recently launched CSR µEnergy platform. CSR has designed the comprehensive CSR8000 product family to enable the integration of the latest wireless technology into all types of devices—from mobile phones and computers to automobiles and home appliances—allowing users to enjoy the benefits of rich usage scenarios.”

Connectivity platform products equipped with the CSR8000 can communicate with both existing dual-mode Bluetooth devices that act as hubs for sensor information and single-mode Low Energy Bluetooth chips used in watches, heart rate monitors, trainers, and more. Following the release of CSR µEnergy, CSR’s first single-mode Low Energy Bluetooth product last July, CSR enables customers of the CSR8000 to likewise utilize the existing ecosystem of Low Energy Bluetooth IC products.

Another feature of the CSR8000 platform, the broadband voice function, dramatically improves call quality across wireless accessories through enhanced voice codecs and reduced background noise and interference.

Major telecommunications companies around the world, such as France Telecom, 3UK, and Orange, are already providing HD voice services. The CSR8000 ensures that consumers can easily experience optimal communication quality, even when using Bluetooth headsets that support broadband voice functions, which have been difficult for telecommunications companies to provide to consumers until now.

The CSR8000 currently consists of the CSR8311, CSR8510, CSR8811, and CSR8811 products, optimized for specific applications, and with major clients (see below for product details)

Product composition of the CSR8000 product family

CSR8311 for Automotive Applications

The CSR8311, the first broadband voice IC for the automotive market, is the first low-energy Bluetooth IC developed for automotive applications. It is available in an automotive QFN 0.5mm pitch package that supports both Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Universal Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver (UART). Additionally, the CSR8311 incorporates the SiRFprimaAuto multi-functional location-based platform, the first wireless infotainment SoC solution specifically designed to meet the stringent quality and reliability requirements of major automotive electronics OEMs.

“Automakers look two, three, or four years ahead. We have detected high interest from automotive companies in low-energy Bluetooth for in-car sensor ecosystems and wide-band voice capabilities as a means to improve in-vehicle calling and infotainment. CSR has once again secured market leadership by rapidly launching these features with the highest quality,” said Ahmet Alpdemir, Senior Vice President of CSR’s Automotive and PND business unit.

CSR8510 for tablet PCs, laptops, netbooks, and PC applications

Designed for the PC, netbook, and laptop markets, the CSR8510 is a product with the already proven Bluetooth v3.0 system standard and will soon support Bluetooth v4.0. The CSR8510 supports a full-speed USB 2.0 interface, enabling PC, netbook, and laptop designers to use the latest high-speed and low-energy