A few years ago, if you saw someone using a phone in an automobile, you would probably take a second look. Today you would scarcely notice. On any busy street you can see someone clutching a steering wheel with one hand and holding a cellular phone with the other.
Cellular telephones seem to be the perfect marriage of mobility and communication. Except for one factor-safety. Drivers using a cellular telephone in a vehicle stand a 34 percent greater risk of having an accident than other motorists, according to a study by the Rochester Institute of Technology that was cited in the Wall Street Journal on March 30, 1995.
Safety-conscious legislators in several states and countries have reacted with alarm at the jeopardy posed by the growing numbers of one-handed, phone-wielding drivers. The British Parliament, for instance, has recently passed legislation requiring that cellular phones in vehicles be dashboard-mounted, for hands-free operation. Similar laws or regulations are being considered elsewhere.
Unfortunately, there are problems with hands-free cellular phone operation. Almost everyone who owns a cellular phone can buy a phone cradle that allows hands-free operation. And many choose to do so. According to In-Stat Services, an industry market analyst, approximately 21 percent of cellular phone buyers worldwide also buy cradles, with this number increasing steadily. But the sound quality that the outside caller hears is often so poor that the caller in the vehicle has to pick up the phone again. Until hands-free phones match hand-held phones in sound quality, they will be looked on as inferior alternatives and will not be used, despite their advantages in convenience and safety.
Texas Instruments has applied its industry-leading digital signal processing technology in order to address this problem. The result is the TMS320WP010 digital signal processor (DSP), a product that combines integrated circuit hardware with ROM-coded software to bring the convenience and safety of hands-free cellular phone operation together with the voice quality users are accustomed to in hand-held operation. The 'WP010 is a comprehensive digital signal processing solution that is essential to helping designers create enhanced products for the hand-held cellular market.
The 'WP010 addresses each of these signal interferences. It suppresses cabin noise and cancels both acoustic and line echoes, helping to clarify the sound each listener hears in the conversation.
The new device also supports simultaneous two-way or full-duplex transmission, allowing both callers to speak at the same time and still hear each other. In cheaper half-duplex systems, one caller's voice is cut off completely while the other caller speaks, causing annoying jumps in conversations. The 'WP010 is a cost-effective solution for hands-free cellular operation using the higher quality of full-duplex transmission while providing acoustic echo cancellation and noise suppression.
Primary customers for the new DSP are the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cellular phone cradles or "hands-free kits." With 'WP010 features designed into their products, these OEMs will be able to offer end users the greater convenience and safety of hands-free operation, without the loss in sound quality experienced in half-duplex products without noise suppression and echo cancellation. The device also serves equipment markets internationally, since it can be implemented along with numerous analog and digital standards around the world. These include the Analog Mobile Phone Standard (AMPS) and digital Interim Standards (IS-54, IS-136) in the U.S.; Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Europe; Personal Digital Communications (PDC) in Japan; and emerging code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) standards around the world.
While the 'WP010 is targeted for immediate application, it is also designed for growth. Features such as voice recognition for hands-free dialing may be added later for extra convenience. Eventually, some or all 'WP010 features may migrate to the cellular phone itself, where they will serve to enhance the quality in hand-held conversations.
The new DSP represents an important application of TI's leading digital signal processing technology. TI is the world's leading provider of digital processing solutions. Designers of cellular phones and other wireless communications are increasingly turning to TI for cost-effective, highly integrated digital signal processing solutions for their complex systems needs. With products such as the 'WP010, TI is creating the technology that can make communications faster, more useful and more enjoyable in the future.
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