embedded world Product Showcase: Synaptics’ SYN461x Wi-Fi-6, Bluetooth/BLE, and IEEE 802.15.4 SoC

March 11, 2025

Sponsored Story

Embedded edge AI IoT solutions today, like wearables, smart home appliances, and factory automation solutions, demand versatility and diversity in connectivity. These low-power IoT applications can benefit from wireless SoCs leveraging Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and low-power, low-data-rate communication protocols for suitable performance and interoperability.

The SYN461x family of ultra-low power (ULP) Wi-Fi® 2.4/5/6 GHz, Bluetooth® 6.0 and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee®/Thread®) systems on chip (SoCs), are designed for the aforementioned applications, in addition to smart watches, audio speakers and headsets, and much more. The combo solution enables built-in compatibility with Synaptics’ Astra AI-Native compute platform for IoT.

Synaptics’ SYN461x SoC in Action

The SYN461x Matter-compliant SoCs are designed as a single-chip solution with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax MAC/baseband/radio and support for IEEE 802.15.4, Bluetooth Classic and BLE with Channel Sounding for precise distance measurement and high Bluetooth Tx power for performance. The integrated processor is also designed to offload the host application processor to reduce system power consumption.

The Tri-band 1x1 Wi-Fi support across 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz frequencies enables network flexibility, reduced network congestion, improved performance, and more. The wireless combo also leverages integrated rBOM, including PA, LNA, RF switches, PMU, and LPC package for low-cost PCBs.

Enabling Bluetooth/802.15.4 connectivity is the included hardware interfaces like the SDIO 3.0 interface for Wi-Fi and UART.

Getting Started with Synaptics’ SYN461x

The SYN461x features a low-pin-count WLBGA package option for low-cost, plated-through-hole (PTH) PCBs (25% reduction in typical board cost). The solution also allows an interface for LTE and GNSS, allowing mobile networks, GPS, and navigation to work together without interference. The combo solution also supports Thread, Zigbee, and Secure Boot for robust security.

Additional Resources:

• Press Release: www.synaptics.com/company/news/synaptics-launches-ulp-wi-fi-bt-802.15.4-embedded-edge-ai-iot
• Product Page: https://www.synaptics.com/assets/product-brief/syn461x-triple-combo-wi-fi-6-bluetooth-ble-ieee802.15.4