SiTel enables over 1-month standby for cordless phones

Latest single-chip DECT ICs reduce cordless phone standby currents by 50% to break the 1 mA barrier

‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, 11 November 2010 - SiTel Semiconductor today announced that its latest single-chip DECT / CAT-iq ICs are the first DECT solutions to break the 1 mA cordless phone standby current barrier. The energy-saving solutions achieved cordless phone standby currents of just 900 µA, which translates to standby times of over 1 month with standard 700 mAH NiMH batteries. For consumers, such long standby times mean less frustration from flat batteries if they forget to put their handset on to charge.

Currently, the state-of-the-art for cordless phone standby currents is around 2 mA, enabling phone standby times of around one to two weeks. SiTel's latest single chip DECT / CAT-iq ICs reduce this current by over 50%.

This Ultra Long Standby (ULS) feature is made possible by applying the energy-saving functionality of DECT ULE - an ultra-low-energy operating mode of the familiar DECT standard developed for wireless networking applications. DECT ULE was created by SiTel and RTX Telecom. It combines the traditional range, reliable transmission and data throughput advantages of DECT with a power consumption low enough to allow sensor nodes to operate autonomously for years on a single battery.

"SiTel is synonymous with environmentally friendly performance. Our innovation allows our customers to deliver green solutions that offer the features and functionality consumers want. Applying the technology we co-developed for wireless sensor networking to standard cordless phones is another example of this. And by reducing system standby currents by more than 50%, we've shown once again that our solutions outperform anything else on the market," said John Pol, Product Marketing Manager at SiTel.