* * * * * Cellphone guts for the curious, Part II Two years ago I published an email I received about the internal workings of a cellphone [1], and today, I received yet another email, from a fellow cow- orker about that previous email: > From: BXXXX XXXXX > To:  > Subject: Re: Cellphone guts for the curious … > Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:08:13 -0500 > > Sean, > > In reference to: http://boston.conman.org/2013/01/22.2 [2] > > I passed this link along to a friend who is as technically talented as > XXXX, but who is also as politically astute as he is technically astute. > Here is his response: > > > Last time I checked, they are separate because the FCC (Federal > > Communications Commision) says they have to be separate. > > > > There was huge debate between focus and the phone manufacturers. The > > phone manufacturers wanted a single processor for both the air processor > > and the phone/app gui. The FCC said no because of the possibility of > > changing the radio firmware. > > > > Disclaimer: I am not offering this for contradiction; just FYI (For Your > Information) and for discussion (if you wish). Both he and XXXX are way > beyond me in this area, so I offer no opinions or views of my own. In other > words, I am all ears. > While the FCC has jurisdiction over radio transmission [3], I think the separation of general purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) and baseband processor has more do to with recertification than a legal mandate to be separated [4]. But I don't work for a cellphone manufacturer, so I might be mistaken. [1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2013/01/22.2 [2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2013/01/22.2 [3] http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title47/47tab_02.tpl [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseband_processor#Overview Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org .