Accord Launches Two New GNSS Chips - Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design

Accord Launches Two New GNSS Chips

Accord Software and Systems Pvt. Ltd., of Bangalore, India, has announced two new GNSS chips, a system-on-a-chip (SOC) with GPS and integrated peripherals and a GPS/Galileo-comopatible RF front-end chip.


Accord Software and Systems Pvt. Ltd., of Bangalore, India, has announced two new GNSS chips, a system-on-a-chip (SOC) with GPS and integrated peripherals and a GPS/Galileo-comopatible RF front-end chip.

The AST-230 SOC is targeted towards automotive, portable, infrastructure, and health-care segments and is built around an ARM7-TDMI core. It incorporates a GPS correlator as well as a Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (enhanced data rate) baseband. In addition, a host of feature peripherals such as USB 2.0 with PHY, CAN (controller area network) 2.0 controller, serial peripheral interface (SPI), two-wire interface (TWI), general purporse input/outputs (GPIOs), timers and a special disciplining block for GPS time and frequency output.

AST-230 also supports an on-chip SRAM of 2 megabits along with a 4-kilobyte battery–backed memory. According to the company, the ARM7 core operates at 90 megahertz and can run multiple applications combining the GPS and Bluetooth functionalities. AST-230 is available as a 196-ball LFBGA (low-profile fine-pitch ball grid array) package.

The AST-GPSRF is a highly integrated GPS and Galileo OS–compatible RF front-end chip with built-in low noise amplifier (LNA), phase locked looop (PLL), antenna diagnostics and an intermedia filter (IF) that does not need part calibration, according to Accord. The chip operates out of 2.7 volts and supports power-down features to further reduce power consumption. A standard frequency of 16.368 MHz is used to clock the chip that provides digitized sign and magnitude samples at an IF of  4.092MHz.

The AST-GPSRF02 is available in a space-saving 24-lead LFCSP (lead-frame chip scale package) measuring 4×4 millimeters. The chip is targeted for such devices as smartphones, mobile handsets, PDA’s, portable navigation devices and digital assistant (PNDs and PDAs), and cameras, where it can mate with custom GPS baseband IPs already integrated within the system electronics.

According to Sudhir N. S., Accord’s GNSS technology manager, the chips are undergoing characterization and qualification tests, but the company is currently sampling these chipsets to potential customers.

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