RFDomus Inc., a fabless semiconductor company specializing in advanced radio frequency (RF) and analog mixed-signal (AMS) semiconductor devices for the wireless communications marketplace, today announced that it is addressing the growing requirements for low power consumption and increasing GPS functionality in cellular phones and other portable communications applications with the introduction of the RFD1400 GPS receiver. Offering ultra-low power consumption of 12 milliwatts (mW), the RFD1400 is the industry’s lowest power RFIC for GPS applications.
“As GPS deployment continues to shift from the automotive industry, where power consumption is less important, to portable communications devices, an increasing reliance on ‘constant tracking mode’ for a faster, more accurate ‘fix’ in dense urban areas, indoors or in emergency situations, as well as the growing use of Location Based Services, have made power consumption a critical factor in the adoption of GPS technology,” said Kevin Strong, executive vice president, business development, RFDomus Inc.
“The RFD1400 GPS receiver transcends technology barriers to meet these requirements for low power consumption and extended battery life in portable communications and consumer electronic devices by leveraging our ultra-low power RF transceiver technology and previously announced Q-MAX(TM) local oscillator technology.”
The handset market currently represents the largest growth opportunity for GPS with GPS attach rates expected to grow to about 150 million units in 2007, which includes CDMA handsets, according to data compiled by ABI Research, a New York-based technology market research company.
“Low power, in addition to low cost, small form factor and good indoor performance, is one of the key ingredients for broadening the adoption of GPS in cellular handsets and enabling a diverse range of new tracking and location applications in consumer devices, a market that could become a larger opportunity for GPS than even the handset market,” said Alan A. Varghese, director of semiconductor research at ABI.
Designed for the integration of GPS in cellular handsets, mobile computing and portable consumer electronics devices to support Location Based and Emergency Services; automotive and consumer navigation; and, emerging people and object tracking applications, the RFD1400 GPS receiver offers ultra-low power consumption of 12mW, as well as the industry’s highest level of integration via its enhanced single conversion low-IF architecture.
Key features include a high-resolution fractional-N phase lock loop (PLL) for the most flexible support of standard GPS and cellular phone reference frequencies; two IF frequency plans with two independent IF filters combined with flexible quantization, sampling and data output formats for compatibility with multiple GPS base band processors; an automatic proprietary method for adapting to in-band blockers; 1.8V power supply; small form factor 4 x 4 mm 24-pin QFN package; and a 48 x 8 bit register set for extensive configuration and programmable options via a standard microcontroller-type serial port.
The RFD1400 also features an LNA with matching network, an integrated Q-MAX(TM) local oscillator, and an on-chip crystal oscillator circuit. Only a few external parts are required to complete a full RF front-end sub-system for GPS. The RFD1400 is also the only GPS RFIC that can output data directly to general-purpose processors and DSPs via a standard serial port, enabling emerging software GPS applications.
Samples of the RFD1400 GPS Receiver will be available in Q1 2005.
