SiGe Semiconductor Delivers Industry’s Smallest GNSS Receivers
February, 2007—Ottawa, Ontario
SiGe Semiconductor, Inc. today announced the world’s smallest Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver ICs for mobile handsets, cellular telephones, personal navigation devices (PNDs) and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
The new SE4110S Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and the SE4120S GPS/Galileo receiver are each based on SiGe’s patent-pending software-based receiver architecture, proven to deliver high performance, enhance battery life, and maximize processor efficiency when adding navigation capability to consumer electronics devices. These devices take advantage of chip- scale package technology to enable complete receiver solutions that measure just 2.2 x 2.2 x 0.4mm. This is 70% smaller than the existing 24-lead QFN-packaged versions of these devices, and 70% smaller than competitive receivers on the market, making them ideal for mobile handsets and other small form factor consumer devices.
SiGe’s software-defined RF approach pairs with software-based signal processing in greatly reducing the solution cost compared to more traditional approaches, which use proprietary hardware baseband components. Software approaches allow the correlation and navigation functions to be efficiently performed by using the existing processing power available in the application microprocessor of consumer electronic devices. This increases scalability, offering greater GPS/Galileo performance, while also allowing customers to support increased feature integration. Both products are key to the integration of navigation with Bluetooth and WLAN capability to produce converged multi-function wireless platforms for mobile handsets.
“Integrating navigation capability into mobile handsets has never been easier. With the SE4110S and the SE4120S, our customers can easily meet shrinking form factor requirements of consumer electronics while packing in all of the performance, feature integration and battery efficiency desired by end users,” said John Brewer, vice president of marketing at SiGe Semiconductor.
Chip-scale packaging technology reduces size, optimizes performance Chip-scale packaging (CSP) technology allows the SE4110S and SE4120S to be mounted into application boards without wire-bonds or large mould enclosures. As a result, the devices can be integrated into electronics where other GNSS receivers won’t fit. The CSP also delivers a significant RF performance advantage by using near ideal transmission-lines bringing the signal right up to the IC bond-pads.
The SE4120S is based on SiGe’s SE4120L, a GNSS receiver with built-in support for software- defined satellite signal processing for both GPS and Galileo. The device features high integration to reduce the system bill of materials and overall cost. The integrated architecture includes an on- chip high-gain LNA capable of delivering 18dB of gain at a low noise figure of 1.6 dB without the need for bulky active antennas and costly, power-hungry external amplification. Under controlled conditions, systems using the SE4120S are capable of tracking satellite signals down to as low as -170 dBm. The device also uses a 3-wire IF connection bus, with near-zero IF and serialized data output, allowing non-proprietary general-purpose microprocessors running software-define signal processing to interface to the device in a simple manner.
The SE4110S is based on SiGe’s award-winning SE4110L GPS receiver, which incorporates the IF filter, a linear AGC amplifier, 2-bit ADC, VCO, tank circuit, image reject mixer, PLL, LNA, and low power reference oscillator. The on-chip LNA delivers a very low noise figure of 1.6dB, resulting in an overall system noise figure of 2.5dB typical. The device also features a multi-bit output, which increases sensitivity for software GPS applications and improves resistance to jamming and interference in challenging environments such as cellular phones. The device supports multiple reference frequencies, allowing manufacturers to easily accommodate low-cost cellular phone reference frequency standards.
The SE4110S and SE4120S are both optimized for the lowest possible power consumption, each operating at less than 10 mA from a 2.7-3.3 V supply.
Price and availability
The SE4110S and SE4120S are sampling now, with volume production scheduled for Q3 2007. The SE4110S is priced at US $2.45 for 10ku, while the SE4120S is priced at US $2.65 for 10ku.
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