Ceva Makes Waves in Wearables

Mike Demler, The Linley Group
June 30, 2015

Ceva has collaborated with two suppliers of RF/analog-front-end (RF/AFE) intellectual property (IP) to develop a family of licensable cores for wireless devices ranging from wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) to smartphones and routers. The products combine RF/AFE hard IP with synthesizable digital basebands and media-access controllers (MACs) developed by RivieraWaves, a four-year-old French startup that Ceva acquired in 2014.

The wireless IP targets a variety of process nodes and foundries. One of the RF/AFEs is an 802.11ac/Bluetooth 4.2 combo from Catena, a Dutch communications-IP licensor that designed the hard macros for GlobalFoundries’ 28nm CMOS SLP process. That company also supplies the RF IP for TSMC’s 65nm technology. The 55nm version uses RF/AFEs from Maxscend, a Chinese IP vendor that supplies Bluetooth and Wi-Fi circuits for SMIC and UMC foundry customers. As with Catena, the Maxscend macros also enable Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi, but only up to 802.11n.

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