What is SH-Mobile?

Development of the first SH-Mobile application processor started in 2000 and by 2003, use of the devices was rapidly becoming widespread in overseas as well as Japanese markets. Strong growth has continued and overseas use of the processors has now surpassed domestic use. In 2005, the total number of phone models incorporating the devices exceeded 230. In this article, Ikuya Kawasaki, General Manager, System Solution Business Unit 2 System Solution Business Group, who has played a leading role in the development of the SH-Mobile business since its inception, discussed the past, present, and future for this product line. Looking back, he commented that "the things we foresaw six years ago are now becoming a reality." Looking forward, he pointed out that the recently launched single-chip G-series SH-Mobile solutions "can reduce development times and costs."

Until recently, the SH-Mobile family of products was based on the modular system design approach of using separate baseband and application processors. While this approach is well regarded, there nevertheless have been requests to combine both processors into a single-chip solution. A major enhancement to the family accomplishes this, giving customers highly integrated solutions that can reduce development times and costs (see Figures 1 and 2).

Specifically, Renesas has worked with NTT DoCoMo to develop the SH-Mobile G1 device. This LSI chip integrates the SH-Mobile application processor with a dual-baseband function that supports both GSM/GPRS (2G) and W-CDMA (3G communication standards. "Through this joint development, we have come up with a shared roadmap for mobile phone development with NTT DoCoMo," said Mr. Kawasaki. "That roadmap ensures that advances in infrastructure and applications remain fully in step with each other." Moreover, the development of advanced application functions is performed on the SH-Mobile G series product range to avoid any problems with the timing of changes to the baseband side (see Figure 3).

Looking ahead, the SH-Mobile G series will expand to include the SH-Mobile G2 device. This mobile phone chip is currently under joint development by five companies, with Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric and Sharp having joined NTT DoCoMo and Renesas as development partners (see Figure 4). Whereas the SH-Mobile G1 was sold just as an LSI chip, the SH-Mobile G2 device will be offered as an integral part of an entire platform that combines the LSI with additional hardware and software. In fact, the G2 platform will be essentially a complete phone design, combining the G2 chip with a peripheral chipset, a real-time operating system (RTOS) for communication functions, a general-purpose OS for applications, various drivers, communications software, and a wide range of other middleware.

The platform will allow an important fundamental change in the product design and debug process. According to Mr. Kawasaki, "We expect that phone manufacturers will undertake the future development of SH-Mobile based mobile phone designs by relying on the tested and proven G2 platform for delivering basic functions. That will allow them to concentrate their engineering efforts instead on value-added functions and the other features that differentiate their products." An independent organization was established in April 2006 to develop and market the G2 platform (see Figure 5).

It should be mentioned here that the SH-Mobile G series itself was created using a technology concept that represents a fundamental change in the way Renesas produces system solutions. The design team for the G1 chip applied the EXREAL Platform™, an advanced development platform technology into which Renesas has invested a substantial amount of engineering effort. The EXREAL Platform is also called a "mother platform" to indicate its role as a platform for creating other platforms. It enables optimizations of the development process for mobile phones by providing a framework for better reusability of existing software and hardware resources (components). Moreover, the EXREAL Platform implements much more efficient ways of enhancing and adding new functionality to our solutions.

SH-Mobile G1 Receives LSI-of-the-Year Prize at 13th Annual Awards Ceremony

When the 13th LSI-of-the-Year awards were announced on June 28th at the Embedded Systems Expo (Tokyo Big Sight), the SH-Mobile series SH-Mobile G1 chip received a prize for excellence in the device category. These awards recognize LSI devices and LSI design technology announced between April 2005 and March 2006.

There were 1181 nominations in this year's device category, of which five were selected for excellence awards. The award the SH-Mobile series received recognizes the high regard in which its technology is held, especially in the mobile sector. One of the judges commented that "we recognize this LSI as representative of the SH-Mobile series, which has already notched up more than 230 design wins. Its features, such as elaborate power supply control, were also highly regarded at ISSCC 2006. This single-chip LSI for mobile phones is produced using a 90nm process and achieves high performance with low power consumption."

The LSI-of-the-Year awards are sponsored by The Semiconductor Industry News and co-sponsored by Reed Exhibitions Japan. The chairman of the judging panel is Professor Hiroto Yasuura of Kyushu University, who is also manager of the Kyushu University System LSI Research Center.