For me at least, GPS, or whatever system is used in your country of choice, is something I rarely think about. It just works. And that’s probably not fair, because there is a lot of work that goes on in the background to make the technology so seamless.

To that end, Maxim recently developed its MAX2769C, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver that covers L1/E1, B1, G1 bands for GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, and GLONASS satellite systems. Putting all that in one 5 X 5-mm, 28-pin thin QFN package is quite a feat. It’s aimed at both industrial and consumer applications, including mobile handsets.

Designed using the company’s low-power SiGe BiCMOS process technology, the part offers high performance and integration at a low cost. The chip incorporates the complete receiver chain, including a dual-input LNA and mixer, an image-rejection filter, programmable gain amplifier, and a multibit ADC. The total cascaded noise figure can be as low as 1.4 dB. Other features include an integrated VCO, a crystal oscillator, and a fractional-N frequency synthesizer to program the LO frequency using different reference frequencies. The integrated delta-sigma fractional-N frequency synthesizer allows programming of the IF frequency within ±30 Hz while operating with any reference or crystal frequencies available in the host system.