Infineon's WiFi and Bluetooth chip gives new satnav high-powered connectivity

TomTom GO Discover, developed by TomTom, the location technology company, is one of the quickest and most powerful satnavs on the market today. The satnav with its 5, 6, and 7-inch display leverages Infineon Technologies‘ AIROC CYW43455 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo chip.

The AIROC wireless solution combines Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 ac) and Bluetooth 5.0 on a single chip, adding fast and reliable wireless connectivity that’s critical to the navigation device.

Infineon’s AIROC family includes a broad range of wireless solutions that deliver reliable, high-performance connectivity.

“Built with safety in mind, the new TomTom GO Discover makes every journey more enjoyable,” said Mike Schoofs, managing director of TomTom Consumer. “With Infineon’s AIROC wireless connectivity solutions, we have succeeded in fitting the satnav with powerful and fast wireless interfaces enabling the device’s traffic and map information to be regularly updated. The chip allows us to combine our in-depth understanding of driver requirements with the latest and greatest technology.”

The TomTom GO Discover downloads map updates three times faster than other navigation devices, powered by the integrated 5 GHz Wi-Fi frequency band. Furthermore, with the integrated Bluetooth interface, the TomTom GO Discover can also be connected to the smartphone, making both real-time traffic information and TomTom’s premium live services available at all times.

This includes up-to-date information on fuel prices, parking availability and the localization of charging points for electric vehicles.

“The low power products from our AIROC wireless connectivity portfolio utilize advanced design and processing techniques to reduce power consumption during operation and sleep mode,” said Sivaram Trikutam, senior director IoT Compute and Wireless at Infineon. “In addition, the 1×1 chip integrates high-level hardware processes and algorithms that optimize the collaboration of WLAN and Bluetooth for maximum performance. As a result, the chip is ideal for mobile navigation devices that require reliable wireless interfaces to provide drivers up-to-date information on traffic conditions and other relevant information.”

The AIROC wireless connectivity portfolio offers 1×1 Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth and operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency spectrum. The Wi-Fi 5 mode supports 20, 40, and 80 MHz channels for data rates up to 433.3 Mbps and all rates specified in 802.11a/b/g/n are also supported. This triples the throughput and transmission speed over WLAN and significantly improves scalability.

The high-data transmission speed proves particularly beneficial when streaming media such as HD videos, transferring and storing files, as well as for extending the range of Wi-Fi networks. Furthermore, the Wi-Fi 5 specification helps extend the battery life. Once the Wi-Fi interface has exchanged data at a high rate with its access point, the radio is immediately deactivated and goes back to sleep mode, reducing overall power consumption.