Silicon Labs Enables GPRS Communications With Newest RF Synthesizer - Silicon Laboratories' Si4133G - Product Announcement

Cambridge Telcom Report, Oct 4, 1999

Silicon Laboratories, Inc., Monday announced the Si4133G Dual-Band RF synthesizer, the fastest settling integer-N synthesizer in the world. Featuring settling times under 150 microseconds, the Si4133G supports the latest General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) requirements for GSM/DCS1800 mobile phones. This advances next generation mobile computing by enabling wireless data transfer rates that are equivalent to a V.90 modem. Additionally, the single-chip Si4133G is the most highly- integrated RF synthesizer in the world and provides significant reductions in the board space, cost and power required to implement a complete RF synthesizer.

"The Si4133G furthers Silicon Labs' leadership in the RF synthesizer marketplace by extending our technology into GPRS data communications," stated Ed Healy, vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs RF Products Division. "This product will enable wireless data transfer rates of 56K and above, a capability that no other RF solution available today can provide."

Like other members of Silicon Labs' revolutionary RF product family, the Si4133G provides a complete CMOS RF synthesizer in a single low-profile, small-outline 24-pin package. The Si4133G integrates three voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), loop filters, reference and VCO dividers and phase detectors, reducing board space requirements by 75 percent. This not only provides a cost savings of 33 percent over existing solutions, but also dramatically improves power efficiency and performance. Additionally, the Si4133G features a proprietary self-tuning architecture that does not require VCO modules and provides the ability to achieve the fast settling times required for GPRS. The Si4133G performs RF synthesis in two bands, 900 MHz to 1.8 GHz and 750 MHz to 1.5 GHz, as well as IF synthesis from 62.5 MHz to 1.0 GHz.

Optimized for GPRS

GPRS is an emerging high-speed, packet data technology for wireless data communications that improves data transfer rates from today's 9.6 kbps to a theoretical 171.2 kbps. Complementing existing cellular technology with high- speed data communications, GPRS brings Internet, email and network connection capabilities to the mobile computing environment. Because GPRS technology is packet-based, an immediate connection from a portable PC is possible when data needs to be sent or received. Therefore, the user perceives a constant connection to the Internet or corporate Intranet comparable or superior to a 56K V.90 modem.

The Si4133G has been optimized to support GPRS technology, featuring settling times of under 150 microseconds. This settling time is maintained even when hopping from one end of the synthesizable tuning range to the other, allowing Si4133G-based products to easily meet requirements for GPRS classes 1 through 12. The unique integer-N architecture of the Si4133G provides these industry-leading settling times without generating additional spurious sidebands associated with fractional-N synthesizers. This architecture, along with the product's high level of integration, dramatically reduces overall power consumption, which is a key design consideration for cellular phones.

Pricing and Availability

The Si4133G RF Synthesizer is offered at $6.50 in quantities of 10,000. Samples are available now and volume production will begin in the first quarter of 2000. An evaluation board, Si4133-EVB, is currently available for $150.

Silicon Laboratories, Inc., designs, manufactures, and markets proprietary high-performance mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) for the wireless and wireline communications industries. Silicon Laboratories has applied for more than 50 patents on its mixed-signal technology. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is based in Austin, Texas. FMI: http://www.silabs.com/