Dublin chip firm in major chip breakthrough deal with LG

1 Dec 2009

Korean electronics giant LG Innotek has agreed to purchase more than 125,000 wireless sensor chips developed by pioneering Dublin semiconductor firm DecaWave.

Under the agreement, LG Innotek will develop a module based on its ScenSor chip technology, which will ease the design of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) and wireless sensor networks. 

LG Innotek will place an advance order to purchase 125,000 ScenSor chips.

Module development

Privately-held DecaWave will work with LG Innotek on the development of the module, and will licence its antenna design to LG Innotek for use on the module. 

LG Innotek will receive exclusive rights in the Asian market for its module, which will be branded “Driven by ScenSor”, while DecaWave will market and sell the module elsewhere as a DecaWave-branded product.

ScenSor is the world’s first complete, single-chip CMOS ultra-wideband integrated circuit (IC) based on the IEEE 802.15.4a standard, and has a wide range of standards-based applications for both RTLS and Ultra Low Power Wireless Transceivers in areas as diverse as manufacturing, healthcare, lighting, security, transport, inventory and supply chain management, all markets in which LG Innotek has a significant presence.

“This is a landmark development for DecaWave – working with LG Innotek, a company with a philosophy for excellence and leading the advance of technology in our everyday lives”, said Ciaran Connell, CEO DecaWave.

“With this agreement between DecaWave and LG Innotek – a dynamic progressive company with global geographic and vertical reach – we believe the potential for ScenSor to be boundless,” he said.

What ScenSor offers

ScenSor offers unique RTLS performance and capability, including greater precision: up to 11,000 assets can be located in a radius of 20m and to a precision of 10cm; and greater operating distance: over a range of 70m LOS and 25m NLOS with an extended range beyond 500m.

“DecaWave’s ScenSor is standards-based, and delivers precision and power efficiency, which are orders of magnitude ahead of the nearest competing technologies, making it first choice for LG Innotek,” said Cheol-Kee Hong, head of R&D Centre, vice-president, LG Innotek Co. Ltd.  

“Our module will reflect these clear advantages, and open the way for many future location-based and power-efficient product innovations across the range of vertical markets,” he said.

By John Kennedy

Photo: LG Innotek will place an advance order to purchase 125,000 ScenSor chips from semiconductor firm DecaWave.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com