This award-winning iPod speaker system is taking performance to the next level.
by Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director
 GEORGE's remote uses two Freescale wireless transceivers based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to communicate with the main unit. |
Although the efforts of a design engineer often entail long hours, a lack of recognition or appreciation and constant battles with cost, time and resources, at least you can take solace in the fact that complacency will rarely, if ever, be an issue. If the average consumer, along with your competitor, isn’t wondering how the next generation of a given product will be even faster, brighter or louder, they’re pondering the kinds of accessories that would make it even better.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s this type of opportunity that brought forth the GEORGE iPod audio speaker box. According to Steve Krampf, CEO of Chestnut Hill Sound (CHS) (the firm that designed and developed the award-winning product), GEORGE resonated from the consumer need to maintain the iPod’s strongest functional feature – mobility.
“We needed the right mix of power and ease of use to really set GEORGE apart from other iPod systems,” states Krampf. To support their design, the company would look to Freescale Semiconductor for some new components and unique expertise.
Unplugged
“GEORGE’s development was based on meeting the demands of how music is consumed with the iPod,” continues Krampf. “People want choice, mobility and the ability to navigate easily through their preferences. The only problem is that remote navigational ability of the iPod is lost once the headphones are detached. So we wanted to create an offering that allowed full iPod navigational experience via remote functionality of our sound system.”
In addition to acting as a speaker system, GEORGE provides the following capabilities:
- AM/FM radio.
- Alarm system.
- The first and only digital audio playback system that enables users to access, fully control and listen to their iPod music collections remotely.
- A remote that is really the crown jewel of the design, as it allows users to jump (an exclusive feature) to a specific song or artist, view upcoming songs, and change play lists. This is all made possible via Freescale ZigBee-based RF wireless remote technology.
The remote uses two Freescale wireless transceivers based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to communicate with the main unit. Because 802.15.4 is RF-based (radio frequency), there's no line of sight required, as would be required with a standard infrared remote.
This customized frequency also delivers bandwidth of up to 250 KB/second with short bursts that are acknowledge-based, meaning the message receipt is confirmed, and if the transmission fails it is automatically re-sent as many as three times. CHS saw these Freescale components as the best option in providing low-cost wireless connectivity that wouldn’t prematurely drain the remote’s battery life.
 GEORGE resonated from the consumer need to maintain the iPod’s strongest functional feature – mobility. |
The GEORGE radio also incorporates:
- Two MC13191 wireless Freescale transceivers.
- Two 32-bit ARM RISC-based Freescale i.MX applications processors (MC9328MXS) were implemented in both the remote and main unit, also allow for application updates via a USB port. This is an interesting facet of the design, which will help keep GEORGE relevant for a longer period of time, instead of the almost disposable nature of many consumer electronic offerings. Additionally, CHS felt these processors could handle the dual need of a high-performing main device that was sensitive to the battery load being placed on the remote.
As it relates to these processors and the changes in consumer electronic demands, Aaron Shagrin, Freescale’s Director of Business Development, offers some interesting insight. “Five years ago, products were less demanding in terms of size, display capabilities, video capabilities, connectivity and power consumption. Today, everyone wants to be connected 24/7.
"They want to be able to watch full length movies and play 3-D games from pocket sized devices with high resolutions," Shagrin continues. "And they don't want to risk losing their connections or having their content stop short because of battery life.
“Multimedia processors throughout the years have had to address all of these elements and more. Simple connectivity like UARTs and SPIs now share space with more advanced capabilities like Ethernet, ATA, PCMCIA and others. Reference designs showing wireless connectivity options such as Bluetooth and 802.11 have become increasing popular. The media that used to be run on the ARM core is now so much more demanding in terms of performance, that Freescale implements hardware accelerators on i.MX processors to deliver the richest video quality possible.
 Embedded software upgrades were a key part of GEORGE’s success. |
“Multimedia processors will continue to push the limits for maximizing performance and minimizing power consumption. They will become increasingly more integrated which will allow companies to simplify their design, save on board space and minimize their costs. Customers with a short product lifespan do not have a lot of time from product definition to product launch, so selecting a processor with the right enablement is key.
“And finally, consumers are demanding all of these higher features at the same type of battery life that they once received from their five-year-old PDAs,” he states. And while all of these features and functionality is demanded, consumers are also looking for product upgrades more quickly and without significant price increases.
Shagrin and Krampf also point to embedded software upgrades as a key part of GEORGE’s success. “In general, we see software development as one of our customer’s biggest challenges. That’s why we make sure to maintain and upgrade our software development kits to support the latest and greatest hardware features,” states Shagrin. “The utility of this product is what drove the software enhancements, and, in turn drove our hardware decisions,” adds Krampf.
While these initial component specifications were key to the development and market entry of GEORGE, the second generation took the wireless capabilities even further with a new loop antennae type, resembling a backwards “F”, that allows