When original-equipment-manufacturers (OEMs) want to integrate Bluetooth into their products, they examine potential solutions for size and ease of design. The new Bluetooth radio transceiver from National Semiconductor vows to meet both of these demands.

The first transceiver version from National Semiconductor, the LMX5252, comes in a 36-pin LLP package measuring 6×6×0.8 mm. This 0.18-µm CMOS Bluetooth radio transceiver flaunts an integrated transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) switch and Baluns.

The LMX5252 supports multiple system clock frequencies of 10 to 40 MHz. It has a typical Rx sensitivity of -84 dBm. These features make it a good fit for applications that already integrate Bluetooth baseband functionality into the primary processor.

The next member of National's Bluetooth radio transceiver family is the LMX5452. In a 60-pin micro-module ball-grid-array (BGA) package measuring 9×6×1.2 mm, it combines the Bluetooth transceiver with a baseband processor. That baseband processor houses full Bluetooth 1.2 functionality and firmware as well as an enhanced HCI command structure. It also combines on-chip ROM-based memory with a seamless memory patch controller and a flexible patch RAM.

This Bluetooth product family complies with the recently ratified Bluetooth Specification Version 1.2. The new features found in Version 1.2 include faster connecting times, improved voice transmissions, and adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) for the improved co-existence of Bluetooth with other 2.4-GHz devices.

The LMX5252 is available now in production quantities. In high volumes, it is priced below $3. Samples of the LMX5452 are available now. Production quantities are slated to become available during this quarter. In high volumes, the LMX5452 is priced below $4. For more information on these products, visit wireless.national.com.

National Semiconductor Corp.
2900 Semiconductor Dr., P.O. Box 58090, Santa Clara, CA 95052-8090; (408) 721-5000, www.national.com.