REMOTE CONTROL: UNIVERSAL RF CONTROLLER

The M-Remote from Audivo is the first mainstream universal RF remote control platform to complement RF with traditional IR capabilities, and offer a color (LCD or OLED) display. By using Nordic Semiconductor's nRF24LE1 2.4GHz SoCs and Gazell RF software protocol, the M-Remote can seamlessly control the latest video and audio wireless streaming devices via bi-directional RF. The device also controls traditional IR-only equipped appliances such as TVs, set-top boxes (STBs), and A/V amps

Oslo, Norway - August 17, 2010 - Nordic Semiconductor ASA (OSE: NOD) today announces that German custom A/V (audio/visual) development specialist, Audivo, has specified Nordic nRF24LE1 2.4GHz Systems-on-Chip (SoC) and Gazell RF software protocol to provide the bi-directional RF link in its universal RF remote controller, dubbed the M-Remote.

Universal controllers have the ability to operate consumer electronics (CE) appliances from different manufacturers eliminating the need for multiple dedicated remote controls. Until now, however, mass-market universal controllers have typically only employed traditional IR (infrared) technology.

The M-Remote OEM platform offers both RF and IR and targets consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers of the latest networked A/V devices such as streaming music servers, Internet radios and wireless multimedia centers. These appliances demand more advanced user interfaces than traditional push-button, one-way IR technology can support. RF offers the high-bandwidth, bi-directional wireless connectivity required to support more advanced user interface mechanisms such as scroll wheels, touch-screens, and track-balls.

These are all designed to make it easier and more intuitive for end users to access and enjoy their digital content and services. This includes the ability to browse large libraries of stored music or long lists of Internet radio stations, or have continuous ('live') playing status info (including that usually shown on a front panel but often too small or far away for users to be able to see) and graphics (e.g. album artwork) displayed directly on a remote's display. In addition, RF eliminates the need for IR's line-of-sight access, allowing devices to be controlled through objects and even interior walls (usually up to a range of about 15m and assuming wall building materials do not excessively attenuate RF signals). (See "About RF remote control" below.)

In operation, a Nordic nRF24LE1 (see "About the nRF24LE1^TM below) located in the universal M-Remote communicates with a second nRF24LE1-based module embedded into the A/V networked streaming device using the Nordic Gazell software protocol. The Nordic nRF24LE1 utilizes a proven Nordic nRF24L01+ transceiver core and features an up to 2Mbps on-air data rate combined with ultra low power (ULP) operation and advanced power management. The Gazell RF protocol provides features for advanced navigation, background data transfers (e.g. of larger files such as album artwork), and advanced pairing schemes, while being able to handle up to five remote devices at the same time. In addition, Gazell is a frequency agile protocol that is highly immune to interference from other 2.4GHz radio sources such as Bluetooth wireless technology and Wi-Fi.

To conserve power, the M-Remote will typically enter an ultra-low power (22µA) standby sleep mode when not in use (after 30s in default mode, or between ten and 90s if set by the user). This, however, is all hidden from the end user by the use of an inbuilt motion sensor that means if the remote is picked up it activates a rapid power up (including the display) in 200ms ready to respond immediately to any user input request. The M-Remote is able to offer over a week of operation before battery recharge.

The fully customizable M-Remote is a complete solution including the remote control handset with integrated rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, charging cradle, host A/V device RF module, IR transmitter for standard devices (optional), API source codes (making it very easy to integrate the M-Remote platform into any modern A/V device), product design support, development kit, automatic pairing, and an optional touch (scroll) wheel. A full touchscreen could also be integrated if required, and multi-room (zone) control is also supported.

"After considering several wireless technology potential options - including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi - we identified Nordic's proven proprietary 2.4GHz solution - with its field-proven Gazell software protocol, fast startup time, ultra low power consumption, and competitive CE-targeted pricing - as the most suitable wireless connectivity technology for our remote control application," comments Erich Boehm, Managing Director of Audivo.

"We were not RF experts, but by using the Nordic nRF24LE1 with Gazell protocol, the development process was made very straightforward and we were able to focus on our core competence of the overall system and higher level application-only software design while adding little to our overall BOM (bill of materials) and accelerating time-to-market," says Boehm. "This was critical for us if we were to allow our potential customers enough time to employ our M-Remote platform in products scheduled for release by Christmas this year."

"It is extremely encouraging to see our celebrated nRF24LE1  and Gazell RF software protocol employed in such a ground-breaking RF/IR universal remote control," comments Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor's Director of Sales & Marketing. "Although RF represents the future of remote control technology, IR is very successful and will remain popular for some time; Audivo's M-Remote will bridge the gap between these technologies for CE manufacturers that want to attract customers with the convenience of a single universal remote."

About RF remote control
Inexpensive, reliable infrared (IR) units have dominated wireless remote control since the 70s. Moreover, IR remote control will continue to satisfy markets requiring inexpensive, simple remote control, where line-of-sight communication is not restricted, for years to come.

However, the imminent revolution in the way consumers access media will only be practical through the advanced functionality enabled by an RF link. RF technology provides faster response, bi-directional connection, non-line of sight control, and extended range compared to IR. These are major advantages when accessing the huge array of digital content - including dozens of cable channels, video stored on the hard disks of set top boxes (STBs), music and photo libraries stored on PCs, or movies cached on remote servers - typical of modern consumers.

Accessing this content with a traditional IR remote's basic one-button-one-operation and step-by-step navigation does not meet the challenges of fast browsing and convenient access. Such access demands a remote control equipped with advanced navigation interfaces such as scroll wheels, touch screens, touch pads, movement sensors, track balls or joysticks. Only RF has sufficient bandwidth over a bi-directional link to support advanced user interfaces while consuming modest battery power and meeting cost constraints.

About the nRF24LE1^TM
The nRF24LE1 is a ULP system-on-chip 2.4GHz transceiver that enables single-chip implementation of wireless applications. The nRF24LE1's radio is a fully featured nRF24L01+ 2.4GHz transceiver core including Nordic's proven Enhanced ShockBurst" hardware link layer. It delivers true ULP operation with peak currents low enough to run on coin cell batteries.

The nRF24LE1 integrates an enhanced 8051 mixed signal MCU core featuring fewer clock cycles per instruction than legacy 8051 devices. Most instructions need just one or two clock cycles leading to an average performance improvement of 8X using the MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) benchmark. This high performance combined with 16kbytes of on-chip flash and 1kbytes of SRAM ensures the processing platform is powerful enough to run both the RF protocol stack and application layer with ease.

A wide range of peripherals and power saving modes support the RF protocol stack. A ULP 32kHz crystal oscillator provides high accuracy timing for low report rate synchronous protocols and a 16MHz RC oscillator provides fast start-up times from idle. The 32kHz oscillator can provide timing accurate enough for higher report rate protocols without requiring an external crystal. A security co-processor enables AES encrypted wireless communication. The nRF24LE1 provides a range of nanoamp and microamp idle modes specifically designed for ULP RF protocol stacks. Further benefits include higher precision protocol timing, lower power consumption and improved co-existence performance.

For the application layer the nRF24LE1 offers a rich set of interfaces and peripherals including an SPI, 2-wire, UART, 12-bit ADC, PWM and an analog comparator. As such, the nRF24LE1 is the ideal single chip solution for applications including mice, keyboards, remote controls, game controllers, sports/healthcare sensors, toys and active RFID tags.

For more detailed information - please visit the Nordic website product page

About Audivo (www.audivo.com)
Audivo focuses on custom development in the digital home entertainment, home networking and healthcare markets. Audivo also licenses a media server platform to CE customers worldwide. Audivo's customer list includes major CE brands and leading hi-fi brands - particularly in Europe and the U.S. Audivo was formed in 2005 following a merger with PONTIS that developed the world's first prototype of a portable MP3 player in 1995 that was then brought to market in 1998.

About Nordic Semiconductor ASA
Nordic Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra low power (ULP) short-range wireless communication. Nordic is a public company listed on the Norwegian stock exchange.

Nordic provides RF silicon solutions including:

• Highly integrated RF silicon
• Sophisticated and flexible development tools
• Application specific communication software
• Complete reference designs

The company's innovative range of wireless solutions includes:

• The nRF24LE1^TM single-chip, ultra-low cost and power, fully integrated 2.4GHz transceiver with radio, microprocessor, flash memory and MultiCeiver^TM technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices (also available in a lower cost, one time programmable (OTP) variant, the nRF24LE1 OTP);
• The nRF24L01+^TM ultra-low cost and power 2.4GHz transceiver with MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24LU1+^TM single chip 2.4GHz transceiver with full-speed USB, microcontroller and flash memory enabling ultra-compact USB dongles for wireless peripherals (also available in a lower cost, one time programmable (OTP) variant, the nRF24LU1+ OTP);
• The nRF24AP2^TM ultra low power 2.4GHz transceiver family for wireless communication with ANT Wireless' production-proven interoperable low-power network protocol, ANT^TM, and ANT+^TM managed network platform;
• The nRF24E1^TM and nRF24E2^TM low cost transceivers paired with an industry standard 8051 MCU core, and leading peripherals to create complete low cost SoCs for 2.4GHz operation;
• The nRF24Z1^TM single-chip solution for CD quality wireless audio streaming at up to 16-bit, 48-kHz resolution;
• The nRF905^TM single-chip multiband radio transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM bands;
• The nRF9E5^TM low-cost, single-chip solution with fully integrated RF transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM bands.

Nordic Semiconductor's nRF24xxx range of 2.4GHz transceiver and transmitter devices are aimed at applications including PC peripherals (wireless keyboards/mice/multimedia controllers), game controllers, intelligent sports equipment and wireless audio (for example, MP3 and portable CD player wireless headphones and wireless PC speakers). The latest nRF24LE1 is targeted at ultra-low cost and power applications such as wireless desktops and intelligent (for example, wristwatch-based) sports equipment.

Nordic is a member of the ANT+ Alliance and has successfully collaborated with ANT Wireless of Cochrane, Canada, since 2005. ANT devices such as the nRF24AP2 family - using Nordic 2.4GHz transceivers and the proven ANT protocol - have been used in millions of wireless sensor nodes across the world. ANT is perfectly suited for any kind of low data rate sensor network topologies in personal area networks (PANs) and practical wireless sensor networks (WSNs). ANT+ (built on the ANT protocol) facilitates interoperability between ANT+ Alliance member devices and the collection, automatic transfer and tracking of sensor data. Applicable in sports, wellness, and medical health sensors, ANT+ defines device profiles that specify data formats, channel parameters and network key. The ANT+ Alliance is an open, special interest group of companies.

Nordic is an associate member of the Bluetooth SIG, and has contributed core expertise in ultra low power (ULP) RF design to Bluetooth® low energy wireless technology (formerly ultra low power Bluetooth). Bluetooth low energy is a short range RF communication technology featuring ultra low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth chips. It is a hallmark feature of the latest Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0. The technology will support the next generation of RF communications by opening up many new opportunities for ULP wireless data links between suitably equipped mobile handsets or computers and small (typically coin cell) battery-powered devices such as sports, wellness, and medical health sensors.

Nordic's products are all manufactured in state of the art semiconductor process technologies through strong, long-term relationships with world-best manufacturing facilities. Sales are primarily made through a carefully selected worldwide distribution network. The company has offices in Trondheim and Oslo, Norway, the U.S. (West Coast), Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Nordic is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSX: NOD). All operations are managed according to the ISO 9001:2000-approved quality assurance system.
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