3 Years Old!!

This month sees the anniversary of Kolila Consulting’s
3rd year in business


Kolila Consulting was established in 2008 by CEO Simon Kingston and has seen a steady growth in development since then.

As anyone that has ever been involved in establishing a company will know, it’s a big challenge, particularly in the current economic climate. Simon’s aim has always been to maintain a steady and sustainable growth pattern for the company; to establish a team of industry experts with the flexibility to diversify as technology changes.

With additional staff joining the team and an expanding network of customers, our hope is that it will continue to grow and become recognised as a key supplier of software, hardware and consultancy services for the wireless technology industry… for many years to come.

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Hedy Lamarr ‐ Actress & Inventor

Hedy Lamarr is probably best known for her acting career between 1930 ‐ 1958, however she was also the co-inventor of an early technique for ‘spread spectrum communications’, a technique that has become key to many forms of wireless communication used today.

Hedy gained a lot of her technical knowledge during her first marriage to the arms manufacturer, Fritz Mandl. Fritz prevented Hedy from pursuing her acting career during their marriage and insisted instead that she attend business meetings with him. Hedy already had a talent for mathematics but it was during these meetings that she also learned about military technology.

Hedy later worked with her neighbour, the composer George Antheil, on their frequency-hopping spread-spectrum invention, know as the ‘secret communication system’. In August 1942 they were granted a US patent for their invention.

The early version of the frequency-hopping spread-spectrum was intended for military use, to make it difficult for enemies to block signals from radio-controlled missiles.

The idea was eventually taken up by the US military and used during a blockage of Cuba in 1962, about three years after the patent had expired, meaning that Hedy and George Antheil never received any money for their invention. However, their work has been widely recognised for it’s importance in forming the basis of much of the wireless and communications technology in use today.

For more information about Hedy Lamarr visit the following websites…

http://hedy-lamarr.org/invention.php
http://www.hedylamarr.org/
http://www.hedylamarr.com/

Hedy Lamarr – 9th November 1913 to 19th January 2000

Welcome to Rob!

Kolila are please to welcome Rob Palfreyman to the team, Rob joins the company as Business Development Consultant.

In this role, Rob will take the lead in developing a sales and marketing strategy that will lead the company towards new business development opportunities and future growth.

Rob has significant experience in the industry and has worked with many large bluechip organisations. We look forward to his contributions to the growth and continued success of Kolila.

Rob can be contacted on his direct line: +44 (0) 1223 750143 or by email: rob.palfreyman@kolilaconsulting.co.uk

Remote Control for iPhone, iPod or iPad

In 2009, Kolila was given the opportunity to work with one of the leading suppliers of Apple accessories on one of their exciting new products. The product allows an iPhone, iPod touch or an iPad to be used as a universal remote control, allowing the user to control several consumer electronic devices, with just one remote.

A software application installed on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad allows data to be transmitted, via Bluetooth® wireless technology, through a unit containing infra-red transmitters that direct a signal around the room to the TV, stereo, multimedia system, air conditioning unit, or whatever has been programmed.

Unity Remote Control

Kolila’s part in this project was to develop the PCB design and layout (suitable for final production) and the embedded software that sits in the transmitter unit.

The Bluetooth® functionality for this device was provided by a module based on CSR’s BC5-MM chip with an application based around the TrueWireless SDK 2009 RC4.0.

New Look Website & Logo

This week sees the launch of Kolila’s new look website and company logo, which we think gives the company a fresh new look and feel.

The website is designed to make it easy for us to update with news, articles and case studies, and therefore easy for you to keep up to date with what’s going on at Kolila.

Our intention is for this website to be constantly evolving. We will be adding more information and case studies over the coming weeks. So please have a look around and let us know what you think by adding a comment below…

The website, including all the graphics and the logo were designed and constructed by designer Andrea Cristofaro. To get in touch with Andrea, or to see more examples of his work, please visit his website www.andreacristofaro.com

Skater Park Stereo

In August 2009, Kolila was commissioned to work on a project to develop a Bluetooth® enabled stereo/loudspeaker system for use in outdoor activity areas, for example a Skateboard park.

The idea being that it would provide users with a simple to use, high quality audio system that can be accessed using a Bluetooth® wireless technology link via a smart phone, laptop, PDA, MP3 etc., so that music can be transmitted and shared around the park.

Much of the work has been achieved using a CSR Bluecore-5mm chip on a custom designed hardware board. The profiles supported in this particular project are A2DP/AVRCP for music and SPP for configuration. Kolila worked on the firmware for this project from the design stage, through qualification to final production.

We have worked alongside this customer ever since, helping them to design and develop other audio equipment to complement their existing range of products.

Motorcycle Headset & Dongle

This project was commissioned by a leading supplier of accessories for high-end motorbikes. Based in the USA, the customer sells it’s range of helmets, headsets, CB radio kits and other accessories globally.

When we were first approached by the customer, they had an existing range of wired motorcycle headsets that they had designed themselves. Seeing the growing demand for wireless headsets, the customer wished to develop their own range of Bluetooth®-based products but had no pre-existing Bluetooth expertise. We thus worked with them to integrate our Bluetooth® technology into their headset hardware design.

We have now been working with this particular customer for over 2 years and have helped them to develop a range of headsets with progressively greater and greater functionality.

The top of the range products now have 3 operating modes ‐ standard Bluetooth® headset, whereby the headset can connect simultaneously to a mobile phone and a GPS receiver / media player, bike to bike intercom mode, whereby the headset connects to the bike’s own intercom system via a separate Bluetooth® adapter that we also developed, and rider to passenger headset to headset intercom mode that also allows a mobile phone to be connected.

When the headset is operating in standard headset mode, it uses the standard Bluetooth® profiles for phone connectivity (HFP/HSP) and standard stereo audio profiles (A2DP and AVRCP). When the headset is in either of the intercom modes, bespoke audio encodings are used in order to minimise audio latency whilst maximising the audio quality.

CSR Launches “µEnergy” Bluetooth Low Energy Platform

CSR plc have today announced the launch of their single-mode Bluetooth® Low Energy platform, CSR µEnergy™, and the first chips based on this, the CSR1000 and CSR1001. Here at Kolila Consulting, we are particularly excited about this announcement as we have contributed to the development of the CSR100x on-chip software!

The µEnergy™ platform is targeted at ultra low power devices that need low-bandwidth wireless connectivity. It will provide everything required to create a Bluetooth Low Energy product with RF, baseband, microcontroller, qualified Bluetooth v4.0 stack, and customer application running on a single chip.

“The CSR µEnergy platform unlocks the potential of the Bluetooth Low Energy standard and is a huge step forward in consumer wireless technology. Bluetooth Low Energy technology is an alternative to the fractured market of proprietary and poorly adopted standards and can be deployed in a variety of everyday devices, changing the way that we interact with our local environment,” commented Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President of the Audio and Consumer Business Unit at CSR.

He went on to say that “The ultra low power consumption of CSR’s µEnergy platform enables a new range of accessories to connect to the mobile phone, TV, PC, media player or tablet, enabling consumers to experience the power of these services in the home or products that they carry. Bluetooth Low Energy sensors in consumer products will enable their behaviour to be customised to the needs of the user, and tags will enable consumers to search and locate products and services around them.”

The CSR µEnergy platform, with its built-in processor, is designed for use in consumer products and requires no external processor to run customer applications. It includes four quadrature decoders to enable mouse and pointing devices, three analogue inputs for direct measurement of sensor, and digital serial connectors for external sensors and displays.

The chips each have direct antenna connections, can connect directly to a 3V coin cell or a pair of AAA batteries, and come with three pulse width modulation outputs for variable power control in applications such as lighting control or vibration motors. They can run in optimised sleep modes with currents as low as 600nA and chips can “wake” quickly in response to external input signals for applications such as remote controls. Both chips provide embedded support for keyboard scanning while “asleep” at less than 5µA.

CSR µEnergy is available in two package options. CSR1000 comes in a 32-pin 5x5x0.6mm QFN package. CSR1001, in a 56 pin 8x8x0.9mm QFN, provides extra pins for more complex products with a larger number of digital inputs, such as keyboards, remote control products or home information displays.

Both CSR1000 and CSR1001 can act as a master or slave using CSR’s recently qualified Bluetooth v4.0 host stack providing complete Generic Access Profile (GAP), L2CAP, Security Manager, Attribute Protocol (ATT) and Generic Attribute Profile (GATT). These devices enable customers to run their complete application on chip using the embedded 16-bit microprocessor.

Bluetooth SIG Formally Adopts Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) formally adopts Bluetooth® Core Specification Version 4.0

6th July 2010

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the formal adoption of Bluetooth® Core Specification Version 4.0, with the hallmark feature, Bluetooth® Low Energy technology. This final step in the adoption process signals to Bluetooth SIG members that the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Program is now open for qualification of all Bluetooth product types to the Version 4.0 Specification.

“The finalization of Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology within the Core Specification is a monumental achievement,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG. “Bluetooth wireless technology can now, with the hard work of our members and our world-class qualification program, really do it all.”

Wireless news…

For more of what’s happening in the world of wireless visit…

http://www.wirelessindustrynews.org/

http://www.wirelessweek.com/

http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/

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