University Spin-off Improving Consumer Electronics With Low-power Wireless Chip

Dr. Ralph Mason is working with graduate students at Carleton University to reduce power requirements and improve audioclarity of consumer electronics.

A Canadian startup company that gets its roots from academic research at Carleton University is establishing
a new global standard for interoperable wireless audio/video communication. This innovation from Kleer
Semiconductor delivers quality and low power consumption in portable, home, and automotive products. Central to this technology is a low-power, wireless integrated circuit (IC) for low data rate applications, developed by a research group at Carleton’s Department of Electronics.

Kleer is partnering with leading manufacturers of wireless audio consumer electronic products to replace traditional wireless technology and improve consumer electronics all over the world. The company’s vision is that the portable media player will become the personal server for all digital content including music, video and images. A key element in fulfilling this vision is the ability to wirelessly stream stored content to a variety of auxiliary devices including earbuds, speakers, video displays and photo frames—all without a mess of cables and connectors, and without significantly reducing the battery life of the player.

At the heart of this concept is the requirement for low power consumption, which leads to longer battery life in  small form factor consumer electronics. The solution is a low-power, wireless IC developed by Dr. Ralph Mason and his team of graduate students from the Department of Electronics at Carleton University. To achieve this capability, Dr. Mason incorporated three main technologies into his IC: sub-sampling radio architecture, Q-enhanced filters, and injected locked oscillators.

Kleer is working with 25 companies that use this chip in more than 30 products distributed throughout the world. Of all his accomplishments, Dr. Mason says he is most proud to have founded the first company that delivers uncompressed digital wireless audio transmission in an “un-tethered” wireless chip, inside of Sennheiser Electronic’s completely wireless stereo earphone system.

Dr. Mason credits CMC for its role in helping to move his ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace, resulting in international patents for four related innovations. During his academic research, he relied on CMC’s products and services to prove early design concepts; these included embedded systems development tools, and design tools and fabrication services, brokered by CMC through its partner organizations including Cadence, Synopsys, and MOSIS.

Future goals for Dr. Mason’s university research include working with graduate students to further lower the power requirements of radios and improve audio clarity…ultimately increasing his company’s competitiveness in the growing consumer electronics industry.