GPS World

Tag: MediaTek

  • Mediatek Announces Five-in-One Wireless Connectivity Chip for Mobile Devices

    Mediatek has released a five-in-one combo wireless system-on-a-chip (SOC), with multi-system GNSS, to support full featured smartphones, tablets, and other premium mobile devices.

    The MT6630 dramatically reduces the component count and eBOM while improving ease-of-design for manufacturers by eliminating external low noise amplifiers and integrating the Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz power amplifiers, Bluetooth power amplifiers, and transmit-receive (T/R) switch into a PCBA footprint less than 65 square millimeters.

    Features include:

    • Concurrent tri-band reception of GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, and QZSS with industry leading sensitivity, low power, positioning accuracy, and the longest prediction engine
    • Dual-band single-stream 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with 20/40/80MHz channel bandwidth
    • 802.11v time of flight protocol support and management engines to enable higher accuracy of indoor positioning via Wi-Fi
    • Advanced support for Wi-Fi Direct Services and Miracast optimization for easier pairing, increased robustness, advanced use-cases, and lower power
    • Bluetooth 4.1 with Classic, High-Speed and Low-Energy support, and ANT+ for compatibility with the latest fitness tracking, health monitoring, and point of information devices and applications
    • FM transceiver with RDS/RBDS
    • Integrated engines and algorithms for full concurrent operation and co-existence, including industry-leading throughput during LTE transmission
    • The MT6630 delivers full concurrent operation of all 5 systems operating at maximum compute intensity with no degradation compared to single-system operation while offloading the mobile device CPU for design ease and extended battery life.

    As a focus on low power and digital home convergence, the MT6630 uses a configurable PA architecture to save current at commonly used power levels, including those used for Miracast Wi-Fi Direct services. The MT6630 implements advanced co-existence techniques, including for LTE to deliver industry-leading throughputs. The MT6630 also supports Wi-Fi diversity for premium smartphones and tablets to improve antenna angle sensitivity and handheld scenarios.

    “The MT6630 makes it simple for manufacturers to bring mobile devices to market with sophisticated wireless features, lower power and uncompromised performance,” said SR Tsai, general manager of MediaTek’s Connectivity Business Unit. “The MT6630 furthers MediaTek’s focus to deliver the best experiences across the digital home and mobile applications by using its unique leadership position in digital TV host processors, smartphone platforms, and connectivity.”

    The small-footprint design is available in 5 x 5-mm wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP) or a 7 x 7 mm quad flat no-leads (QFN) and requires only 44 components, which is around half that of other integrated wireless solutions, the company said.

    Mediatek’s MT6630 is sampling now and complements the recently announced MT6595 octa-core SOC with LTE for premium mobile devices. The first commercially available devices to use the MT6630 are expected in the second half of 2014.

  • MediaTek Announces Multi-GNSS Receiver SoC Solutions Supporting Beidou

    MediaTek Inc., a fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced the availability of its MT3332/MT3333, a 5-in-1 multi-GNSS receiver system-on-chip (SoC) that support the Beidou Satellite Navigation System. The Beidou system has been commercially operational since the end of 2012, and can identify a user’s location to 10 meters (33 feet), their velocity to within 0.2 meters per second, and clock synchronization signals (one-way) to within 10 nanoseconds.

    The MediaTek MT3332/MT3333 can discover GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS constellations. Featuring a multi-GNSS receiver design, the MT3332/MT3333 can reduce the cumulative distance and positioning error accumulated over time/multiple hops, and significantly improve navigation/positioning accuracy, MediaTek said. The MT3332/MT3333 also comes with excellent signal acquisition and tracking sensitivity, which efficiently enhances signal quality within dense cities, tunnels and multi-storey car-parks, while delivering a better user experience, the company said. Moreover, because of its highly integrated, low-cost and ultra-compact system architecture, the MT3332/MT3333 enables multi-GNSS receivers with the same reference board for mobile, industrial and automotive navigation applications.

    “The proliferation of LBS (location-based services) using mobile applications over wireless networks such as social check-in or nearby service recommending is driving demand for greater satellite navigation performance and coverage beyond existing technologies. This will also lead to the rapid adoption of multi-GNSS receiver solutions in smartphones, tablets and automotive vehicles because LBS is now an indispensable way for people to interact/communicate with each other on a daily basis,” said SR Tsai, general manager of the Wireless Connectivity and Networking Business Unit at MediaTek. “We believe the market for Beidou-compatible multi-GNSS receivers in China will accelerate in the coming years. MediaTek will deliver new products that offer high value and are capable of meeting the evolving needs of our customers in the Beidou navigation system market through continuous product innovation. The MT3332/MT3333 [models] are designed to accelerate the realization of satellite navigation services anytime, anywhere, in a seamless fashion.”

    The MT3332/MT3333 also incorporates MediaTek’s unique “AlwaysLocate” technology that can identify the state in which the user is (regardless of on-the-go or sleeping) and automatically adjust the satellite signal receiving modes for more accurate and reliable navigation services, and to save the battery power of the navigation system.

    The MediaTek MT3332/MT3333 is now in mass production stage and being designed into major satellite navigation systems and mobile communication platforms worldwide.