Date: 10/06/2009
SiRF launched its next version of GPS navigation processor SiRFatlasIV
SiRF Technology has made available the new version of its navigation processor called SiRFatlasIV. This ARM11 based GPS application specific processor is made for designing mass-volume GPS integrated mobile systems with location awareness features at low cost.
SiRFatlasIV can provide 64 channels, 34 more channels compared to AtlasIII. SiRFatlasIV multifunction location system processor employing multi-satellite system location engine, with more than 1,000,000 correlators is strong enough to receive signals in locations with poor signal reach such as urban concrete jungles, dense foliage, and steep ravines. SiRFatlasIV provides -161-dBm simultaneous tracking of both GPS and Galileo satellites
SiRFatlasIV has 500-MHz ARM11 processor core with vector floating point unit connected by a 64-bit system bus and a high-speed memory controller with DDR 400/Mobile-DDR 333-memory module support. The built-in hardware video post-processing accelerator handles video rendering and display, allowing popular mobile digital TV applications such as TDMB, DVB-H and CMMB to run with minimal impact on CPU performance.
SiRFatlasIV complements SiRF's SiRFprima multifunction location system processor introduced last year in building media rich GPS navigation systems.
The built-in NAND and SD controller interfaces to both single and multi-layer cell (SLC/MLC) flash memory. The on-chip functions include GPS/Galileo baseband, LCD touch-screen controller, 10-bit ADC, video input and high-speed USB 2.0 PHY.
Due to its high sensitivity nature, a simple low cost patch antenna is enough for receiving signals and also to save further on the external components, this device require low cost 2.5 ppm crystal oscillator. SiRF has attempted to save the BOM cost in designing low cost GPS enabled consumer products by using this GPS processor.
SiRF has sold this device to ASUS International/Unihan Technology Corp., Binatone Electronics International Limited, CiRex Technology Corporation, Foxconn Technology Group, Globalsat Technology Corporation, Maylong and Maylong's GPS for Dummies, Navigon AG, NDrive Navigation Systems SA, Nextar Inc., Wistron Corporation and YF International.
"We believe multifunction, location-centric consumer devices are best served by multifunction location silicon and software platforms. The compelling cost/performance benefits of our SiRFatlasIV solution enable our customers to profitably address these high-volume consumer markets today without compromising the location performance consumers have come to expect from SiRF," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF. "Together, our SiRFatlas and premium SiRFprima multifunction system platforms enable SiRF's customers to offer a complete range of location-centric products with industry leading location, visualization and multimedia performance across all tiers of the mainstream market."
Availability: Now in Production Quantities
Package: 12 mm x 12 mm with 292-ball grid array (TFBGA)
SiRF website is www.sirf.com