- 28 February 2006 -

Furuno picks GPS radio from SiGe Semiconductor for navigation products

To date, SiGe Semiconductor has shipped a million units of its award-winning PointCharger SE4100L GPS radio to Furuno. The SE4100L has been integrated into navigation products that are on the market today, including the GH-80 module, which is a 16-channel GPS receiver that improves size, power efficiency, and cost of GPS-enabled handheld electronics, vehicle location and tracking systems, and embedded devices.

Now, Furuno Electric Co., Ltd., a leader in navigation products, has become the latest company to select SiGe Semiconductor to supply GPS radios for its navigation products.

“SiGe Semiconductor was a clear choice,” said Hidetoshi Tanigaki, managing director, Furuno. "The quality of their GPS radio and design support helped us to quickly and effectively add value to our products by reducing the bill of materials, system size and power consumption. SiGe's roadmap for higher integration is very attractive to us as we expand our product lines into complementary markets.”

The Furuno GH-80 GPS module combines SiGe’s SE4100L with Furuno’s GPS chipset to improve the size and power consumption of GPS devices. The SE4100L is a complete single-chip GPS radio front end, incorporating the IF filter, VCO with its tank circuitry, and a high performance LNA. Using the device, Furuno was able to build a module that measures 21mm x 21mm, which is 25 percent smaller than its predecessor.

SiGe’s SE4100L is also equipped with power control features, allowing Furuno to maximise the effectiveness of the power management algorithms built into its GPS chipset. The combination of these technologies enables a complete receiver with a current draw of 78 mA in search mode, 52 mA in continuous tracking, and 24 mA when providing position updates at 1 second intervals from a 3.3 V supply voltage. This is a reduction of 2/3 while still providing full and continuous operation. The highly integrated architecture and low power consumption make the module ideal for meeting the requirements of emerging GPS applications.

“Furuno is one of the leading suppliers of navigation products. We are delighted with the results of our collaboration, including how the GH-80 uses the SE4100L to deliver significant benefits to OEMs,” said Stuart Strickland, product line director, SiGe Semiconductor. “We look forward to a long-term relationship with Furuno to address emerging markets where power and cost will be critical to success.”

Web: http://www.furuno.com

Web: http://www.sige.com