From Idea to Real World Product – Adding wireless engineering experts to the puzzle

Over the last decade, RTX Telecom A/S has established a strong international presence in the wireless communications field and is recognised as one of the world’s leading independent suppliers of wireless product development services with a long track record.

Delivering a high quality product that meets customer requirements is paramount for us, and therefore we apply our extensive expertise and experience in developing leading-edge wireless solutions for our customers. At RTX Telecom A/S, we are able to act on challenges and potential obstacles as they appear throughout the process due to our open environment, cross-functional team structure and focus on having a close and constructive dialogue with our customers. In-house, we have access to a wide range of lab and production facilities, and we are able to involve experts from all relevant disciplines in design reviews. Hand-over to customer production is initiated early and in parallel with other activities in order to ensure a smooth and trouble-free production. Consequently, we are experts in managing every aspect of advanced wireless product development and able to make quick adjustments in order to find the best and most efficient solution for our customers. The results are better products and a more efficient development process, hence reducing cost, time-to-market, and risk for our customers.

A fast and flexible track to better products

RTX Telecom A/S offers a wide range of ready-to-use platforms, but although our platforms are ready to be implemented directly in customer products, we also offer to customise the platforms to meet any special requirements. Furthermore, we have a strong partnership with chipset suppliers – giving us priority access to state-of-the-art technology and the possibility of tailoring chipsets to specific needs. In addition to comprehensive technology platform solutions, RTX Telecom A/S provides a model for broad co-operation, designed to fit the individual needs of our customers. We call this concept “Pick your piece(s)”, which emphasises the flexibility and value adding capabilities of our complete portfolio. Our main goal is to add superior customer value, and therefore we offer a very flexible path to advanced wireless product development; RTX Telecom A/S is a full-blown onestop- shop for wireless product design services with the ability to take a product all the way from the concept phase to the delivery of box-built products at the customer’s warehouse, but you can also select the exact items you need.

The making of the LAN Cordless DUALphone – combining wireless engineering skills with the IP world

Technology and the consumer market are in constant flux, and the trend points to a completely mobile future in which information can be accessed anytime and anywhere. Pervasive or ubiquitous computing are hot topics today, but it is necessary to understand the rationale behind these concepts. Pervasive computing is not just about technology and interconnection of devices; it is mainly about providing services which are valued by the end customers. The convergence between the PC and telecommunication technologies puts the Internet in a very central position; this has forced not only RTX Telecom A/S but also a wide range of other companies to integrate Internet technology like Voice over IP (VoIP) into their portfolio. However, we consider this a challenge, which can bring us to the forefront of innovative product development. One result of this is the LAN Cordless DUALphone. It provides a powerful combination of voice and on-screen information like e-mail notification and news feeds in a very convenient way. The LAN Cordless DUALphone is based on our flexible and powerful VoIP platform and consists of a DECT handset and a VoIP Gateway which can be connected directly to a  roadband connection. However, instead of having a separate physical VoIP Gateway, our platform can easily be integrated directly into e.g. an Internet router or Cable modem, and furthermore it also comes in two flavours; a Skype version and a SIPv2 version. In fact RTX Telecom is one of the few design houses in the world which is able to build wireless embedded Skype devices, and our engineers are ready to aid in integrating our platform into customer products.

Increasing system complexity equals bigger design challenges

During development of the VoIP platform, our engineers have faced a lot of new and exciting challenges; the number of external interfaces has increased along with system complexity, and new competence areas like SIPv2, advanced colour displays, networking protocols, and advanced MMI development have been included in our knowledge base. Our expert knowledge within advanced wireless product development has, however, been a very valuable asset in the creation of the VoIP platform.

A very positive outcome of the VoIP platform project is a flexible MMI architecture for embedded systems – AGUI – which can easily be tailored to specific customer needs in future products.

The LAN Cordless DUALphone is a perfect example of a project model which includes almost all phases in our development process; volume production is, however, placed at an EMS factory in China, and manufacturing test equipment was not required in this project. The initial product idea was conceived and developed at RTX Telecom A/S and the complete system has been implemented, tested, type approved, and prepared for manufacturing in-house. This configuration maximises the synergies between engineering disciplines and development phases, hence making this configuration a fast track to advanced product development.

Cutting the cord on game-pads for the Microsoft X-Box 360TM – flexible platforms and a strong knowledge base provide a gateway to smart solutions

The gaming market is growing rapidly, and the introduction of gaming devices like the PlayStation PortableTM (PSP) and the X-box from Microsoft have set new standards for gaming. Today, a gaming console is quite a complex device, and the market window for new innovative features is very narrow. The market for gaming consoles is largely dominated by a few big players (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony), but the competition for market shares is fierce and involves a lot of money. Therefore, time-to-market and access to state-of-the-art competencies are extremely important parameters in the business case for introducing new consoles and/or value- adding accessories. RTX Telecom A/S is known in the market as a reliable and competent company within advanced wireless product development, with extensive experience in using chipsets from National Semi- conductors and therefore RTX Telecom A/S was chosen as a development partner for the X-Box 360TM wireless game pad.  For Microsoft, the user experience is in focus; the wireless solution must provide a

better all-round user experience than the existing cord-based solution. Consequently, it is essential to minimise latency and also be able to predict and control it. Furthermore, the link must be very robust with regard to interference from other wireless devices (and microwave ovens) in the vicinity. Challenges like these are exactly within our expert area, and hence, this is an area in which our engineers can make a big difference. We have a very long track record within development of advanced wireless products, and we have access to a wide range of test equipment and lab facilities in-house, hence ensuring a fast and reliable development path.

Our platform portfolio includes very flexible platforms, which can easily be tailored to specific customer needs, thus providing an easy way to replace wires on e.g. game pads. The solution for Microsoft was to deliver a specific subsystem, and the project was therefore carried out in very close co-operation with them. The wireless interface solution on X-box 360TM has been defined by Microsoft and optimised by Microsoft and RTX Telecom A/S. Under the direction of Microsoft, RTX has also been responsible for some of the hardware development tools and the test equipment supply for the mass production. This test equipment enables fast validation of units from the production lines. The wireless interface solution consists of a wireless base module integrated into the X-box 360TM console connecting with up to four wireless game pads that work as user interfaces for playing games.

Power meter reading made easy – Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems highlight

Nesa A/S, an electric utility based in Denmark, have chosen RTX Telecom A/S as their design partner for their Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system called SmartReadTM, which is being deployed in a number of Danish homes. The AMR system allows Nesa to wirelessly monitor electricity usage, hence enabling Nesa to bill the customer on the basis of the actual power consumption instead of making the customers pay on account on a quarterly basis. This could even be handled automatically without human intervention if customers allow direct payments through their bank account. The Smart- ReadTM system is based on a GSM/GPRS M2M platform from RTX Telecom  A/S, and we have been deeply involved in the development of the complete system. Our M2M platform program includes a number of ready-to-use modules with a very flexible and intuitive SW architecture, in which customer applications can make use of the simple but very powerful API in the module, and thereby be directly integrated with the GSM/GPRS SW core from RTX Telecom A/S into one single module. The majority of GSM/GPRS modules currently on the market do not provide the same flexibility. The main deliverable to Nesa was a customised version of our M2M platform which fits their exact needs for the SmartReadTM system. The initial system idea was conceived at Nesa A/S, but RTX Telecom A/S was an essential contributor in the specification phase and technical discussions. Almost all steps in the co-operation process were carried out at RTX Telecom A/S, including design, development, and testing of the M2M Nesa module along with type approval and production planning. RTX Telecom A/S delivered box-built modules, which could be directly integrated with the other SmartReadTM components, and consequently, in this project there was no need to develop manufacturing test equipment.

Innovative companies choose RTX Telecom A/S as a design partner

Our long track record within wireless product development along with easy access to lab facilities makes it possible to come up with creative solutions and try them out in-house, hence ensuring a quick and secure development path. This is also one of the main reasons

why GN Netcom A/S has chosen RTX Telecom A/S as their design partner within  wireless headsets; a partnership that has been running since 2001 and in this time we have developed a wide range of wireless headsets  for GN Netcom based on both Bluetooth and DECT. Consequently, we can deservedly say that we are wireless engineering experts. We are continuously in contact with customers from other business areas than telecommunication; the growth in e.g. mobile MP3 players like the Apple iPodTM together with the trends within wireless technology have triggered the introduction of new product categories along with new versions of traditional items. One example of an “evolved” traditional item is sunglasses and Bluetooth stereo headphones combined into one unit – a project in which RTX Telecom A/S has been deeply involved. In this project, our engineers faced a multitude of design challenges to make the solution both light-weight and compact, which therefore required creative solutions to issues like antenna design and choice of battery.