CES: 5 New Components that Stood Out from the Crowd

Jan. 6, 2023

A wide range of new components are on display throughout the show floor at CES 2023.

Global-Positioning IC Ideal Fit for Battery-Powered IoT

Synaptics rolled out a global-positioning chip for the Internet of Things (IoT) market that it claims will use 80% less power, comes in a package that’s 30% smaller than rival offerings, and offers a 50% improvement in accuracy.

Touting it as the most compact, power-efficient, and accurate Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) IC on the market, Synaptics said the SYN4778 helps to prolong battery life, reduce product footprint, and enhance advanced location-based services for wearables, mobile accessories, drones, or other IoT devices.

A GNSS receiver typically consumes an outsized portion of available power in battery-powered IoT devices, a problem the SYN4778 solves with its 7-nm process and on-chip power management. A wide range of IoT-grade operating systems such as Android, Linux, and FreeRTOS as well as third-party software are supported.

The chip, which is packed in a 2.4- × 2.7-mm, 40-ball FCBGA with a low-noise, high-linearity RF front end to reduce costs and increase layout flexibility, uses both the L1 and L5 bands to reduce how long it takes to pinpoint its location—and as a result, the power required to do so. Debuting at CES 2023, the SYN4778 works with the U.S.’s GPS, Europe’s Galileo, and China’s BeiDou global-positioning systems, among others.

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Check out more of our CES 2023 coverage.

Once again tech companies are flocking to CES, the largest tech trade show of the year that started in Las Vegas this week. The event gives the world an early look at the latest innovations in everything from televisions to PCs and smartphones, as well as cars, appliances, smart-home gadgets, robots, and drones.

But consumer electronics giants and hardware startups aren’t the only ones showing new wares at the annual event. A whole host of companies that supply the chips and other components under the hood of these devices also are represented on the show floor. Here are some of the latest components that have caught our eye at CES 2023 so far.

About the Author

James Morra | Senior Editor

James Morra is a senior editor for Electronic Design, covering the semiconductor industry and new technology trends, with a focus on power management. He also reports on the business behind electrical engineering, including the electronics supply chain. He joined Electronic Design in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.