CSR Sets New Price/Performance Benchmark with SiRFatlasVI Automotive Infotainment Platform

“Thanks to the significant performance improvements we’ve made in the SiRFatlasVI platform, it’s now possible for a driver to utilise 3D navigation or make a hands-free phone call while passengers watch a movie, listen to music and surf the web from their laptops via Wi-Fi, and we believe we are the first to deliver this capability to this price category,” said Anthony Murray, Business Group SVP, CSR. “With SiRFatlasVI, CSR has once again established a new price/performance benchmark for mainstream infotainment solutions, and with our local R&D and support centers, we are best-positioned to help customers get to market quickly to take full advantage of their market window with relevant and differentiated product offerings.”



What’s New in the SiRFatlasVI SoC

The SiRFatlasVI SoC offers 3x CPU, 3x graphics and 6x multimedia performance improvements over the previous SiRFatlasV chip at virtually the same BOM cost. These performance improvements will enable the driver to experience more fluid user interfaces, richer map graphics, and concurrent navigation and media playback.



The SiRFatlasVI SoC integrates a high-sensitivity multi-satellite GNSS engine that supports the four major global navigation systems: GPS and GLONASS today; Galileo and Compass (with a simple software upgrade) when these systems are operational. The multi-satellite GNSS support offers flexibility and improved satellite acquisition and location tracking in challenging situations like urban canyons.



The integrated ARM Cortex-A9 application processor produces up to 2500 DMIPS, which enables advanced applications and multiple OS’s. It is supported by an ARM NEON multimedia accelerator, which is designed to boost multimedia performance by 30 to 40 percent and enables up to 720p decode. Customers can choose to utilise either the new POWERVR 3D graphics accelerator core or rely on the 2D core as a low-cost option.



The integrated memory controller supports 16-bit DDR3/DDR3L and DDR2 memory technology. The SiRFatlasVI SoC supports 60-bit ECC NAND as well as direct boot from SDXC, SLC NAND flash and managed NAND. DDR3 and NAND offer lower total BOM cost, as well as other integrated peripherals.

Extensive integrated I/O and analog functionality, including two USB ports, UART/I2S/SPI/I2C, camera and touch screen interfaces and an audio codec, round out the SiRFatlasVI solution.



CSR Platform Advantages

The cost, performance and time-to-market advantages afforded by CSR’s SiRFatlasVI device are the direct result of the robust platform solution CSR has developed based on its Synergy technology. With the SiRFatlasVI infotainment platform at its core, this platform enables customers to more quickly and easily develop a complete product based on key CSR location, multimedia and connectivity solutions and supporting software at a highly competitive BOM cost.



In addition to the robust integrated quad-GNSS engine, graphics and multimedia hardware accelerators, ARM Cortex-A9 processor and other capabilities of the SiRFatlasVI SoC, the CSR platform offers the ability to easily add industry leading CSR Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct wireless connectivity offerings, as well as the CSR3000 series GNSS RF front end. The CSR hardware platform is supported by an extensive array of proven software components, including SiRFDRive and SiRFDiRect dead reckoning, SiRFInstantFix extended ephemeris, multimedia player, Bluetooth stack and profile, Wi-Fi driver, aptX audio codec, CVC echo cancellation and noise suppression software.



CSR pre-integrates and pre-optimises these hardware and software components for each customer, ensuring not only better performance, but also significant savings in development time as a result of customers not having to do the hard work of integrating and optimizing these diverse technologies themselves. On top of all this, customers are able to receive support for their entire solution from a single vendor, directly from their local CSR R&D group.



Availability and Pricing

The SiRFatlasVI SoC supports Windows CE 6.0, Android 4.0 and Linux operating systems, and is sampling to lead customers now. Production quantities are expected to be available in industrial and automotive BGA packages with fully qualified BSPs by the middle of October. Please contact CSR for pricing information.