OMAP™ Applications Processors: Mobile Applications

The 3G wireless industry is being driven by the growing demand to deliver consumer electronics capabilities to the cell phone. The possibilities are endless as more 3G handsets are sold and more exciting multimedia applications are made available to truly transform the handset into an essential mobile entertainment device and productivity-boosting tool. The proliferation of advanced imaging, graphics and audio capabilities on mobile handsets will enable the coolest mobile entertainment and productivity services including:

• 3D interactive gaming
• Live digital TV broadcasting
• CD-quality sound
• DVD-quality video
• and more

In order to efficiently run these advanced new applications, mobile devices will need to meet a new set of performance criteria. 3G mobile devices must be extremely power efficient, deliver performance, and enable unique form factors that are suited to a variety of device uses. Only flexible technology platforms suited toward a broad array of market segments and standards will deliver on these requirements.

Read this special report about TI's perspective on 3G solutions (Adobe Reader required). Download

With more than 15 years of wireless communications systems expertise, TI's wireless portfolio is already delivering compelling, high-performance mobile entertainment and multimedia features for the industry. At the center of TI's 3G capabilities are OMAP™ processors and digital baseband processors already widely adopted and proven in 2.5G mobile phones. OMAP processors deliver multimedia application processing capabilities that are at the core of true 3G services that will drive this marketplace.

And as the industry evolves to 3G UMTS, TI continues to offer choices to customers and maximum reuse of engineering resources in developing 3G solutions. As a result, TI is already powering the majority of 3G mobile handsets:

• 6 of the top 7 worldwide 3G handset manufacturers today use TI's modems, OMAP processors, or both
• TI's OMAP processors are powering the majority of 3G FOMA handsets
• TI continues to maintain strong relationships with leading 3G handset manufacturers and operators in the US, Europe, Korea, and Japan

Learn how TI is Delivering on the Promise of 3G Wireless (Adobe Reader required). Download

Understanding the 3G standards

3G UMTS is a high-throughput enhancement to the GSM standard and includes GSM/GPRS/EDGE along with WCDMA radio access technology. The GSM/GPRS/EDGE element is critical for meeting the 3G requirements for universal interoperability and connectivity. Today, UMTS phones roam in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and because UMTS inherently includes support for GSM/GPRS/EDGE. UMTS phones will also roam in most other parts of the world (China, Russia, the Middle East, etc.).

Some refer to 3G as WCDMA (UMTS), which can be confusing for several reasons. The WCDMA reference may infer to some that WCDMA is CDMA with enhancements. This is not the case. While WCDMA and CDMA both include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, they are two unique standards that are implemented differently. For this reason the two are neither interoperable nor compatible, and they do not interact with base stations in the same way. The features of each standard are unique and were developed by different standard bodies.