7nm GNSS receiver for wearables cuts power by 5x
Broadcom has launched a L1/L5 dual band GNSS receiver chip built in 7nm CMOS that reduces power consumption to 6mW
The BCM4778 is optimized for mobile and wearable applications with a footprint 35 percent smaller than the previous generation.
The GNSS power consumption is 4mW for the L1 band and 6mW for both L1 and L5. This lower power increases the GNSS always-on battery lifetime on a smart watch by 30 hours when compared to the previous generation chip operating on a 300mAh battery. The extended battery life benefit helps drive new experiences in smart watches and phones. For example, smart watches can keep the GNSS always-on for fitness applications for multiple days on a single battery charge.
Dual-frequency GNSS continues to be an important location feature for modern mobile and wearable devices as it provides greater positioning accuracy for location-based services (LBS) applications. The advanced L5 signal enables sidewalk-level accuracy for pedestrian navigation in urban environments, as well as lane-level accuracy for vehicle navigation.
The BCM4778 has fully integrated LNAs for L1 and L5 bands, which reduces RF front-end BOM costs and footprint requirements in space-constrained applications. Placing the BCM4778 closer to the antenna helps improve signal reception and thereby enhance the overall GNSS performance.
New Grid Tracking technology provides advanced multipath mitigation for lower power operation along with continuous tracking of the full L5 channel. There is enhanced LTE Band 13 and Band 14 filtering to avoid interference as well as a spoofing and jamming detector and jamming mitigation through multiband and multi constellation.
“With the launch of this third generation dual-frequency GNSS receiver chip, Broadcom continues the tradition of raising the bar for mobile GNSS,” said Vijay Nagarajan, vice president of marketing for the Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division at Broadcom. “Always-on dual frequency GNSS is a key request from mobile and wearable OEMs, and we are thrilled to deliver it.”
“We are excited to see this impressive power reduction, combined with the L5 Grid Tracking technology in the new Broadcom GNSS chip. This will increase the impact of Google’s 3DMA ray-tracing for urban multipath mitigation,” said Frank van Diggelen, principal software engineer at Google.
“Consumer electronic companies have been faced with the challenge of managing power consumption versus performance, often having to choose one over the other. Broadcom’s innovative approach to the BCM4778 allows their customers to realize improvements on both fronts,” said Ramon Llamas, research director for mobile devices at IDC. “The result: device manufacturers can enable new experiences and run applications over a sustained period of time. In addition, by reducing its BOM cost and its physical footprint, Broadcom is enabling further benefits from cost savings and design configurability.”
Broadcom is currently sampling the BCM4778 to its early access partners and customers.
www.broadcom.com/products/wireless/gnss-gps-socs/bcm4778
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
