NaviGadget

Glonav introduces GNS4540

Feb 8, 2007 gps navigation, misc news 1 Comment

The realatively new GPS chip maker GloNav just introduced GNS4540, a new highly sensitive, ultra low-power single chip A-GPS solution. The new chip is designed for cellular handsets and mobile consumer electronics.

Offering best-in-class acquisition and tracking sensitivity, time-to-first-fix (TTFF), accuracy and power consumption, the GNS4540 supports both Assisted-GPS operation on GSM, WCDMA and CDMA networks and fully autonomous operation for use in handheld consumer navigation devices and other standalone navigation systems.

Here are some of the features of Glonav GNS4540:

• Best-in-class acquisition and tracking sensitivity, TTFF and accuracy: 157 dBm acquisition / 159 dBm tracking sensitivity in A-GPS and autonomous hot start modes
• Optimized for both cellular handset and portable consumer device integration
• DynaTrak advanced tracking and multipath algorithms for robust low dropout tracking in indoor, very low signal and rapid signal transition environments
• Hosted architecture optimized for cost and performance
• Supports GSM, WCDMA and CDMA control plane A-GPS assistance data standards
• Supports SUPL user plane A-GPS assistance data
• Exceeds 3GPP and TIA performance requirements
• Ultra-low power consumption: 30mW in 1Hz tracking mode
• Supports all common GPS and cellular handset reference frequencies (10 – 50MHz)
• Very low external component count and PCB size
• Supports ultra-low cost PCB dipole antennas
• UART and SPI host interfaces
• Operating temperature range -40C/+85C

present and future of GPS chips in cell phones

Dec 1, 2006 gps navigation, misc news, phones Leave a comment

A great article came out today about present and future of GPS chips in cell phones.

After years of anticipation, GPS is expected to emerge next year in a significant percentage of cellphones built to meet the GSM standard. Although government mandate and hunger for revenue are driving the trend, industry watchers say, only technological advancement makes it economically feasible.

In separate reports, analysts Satya Chillara of Pacific Growth Equities LLC and Alan Varghese of ABI Research touted the coming of GPS capability to handsets supporting GSM, the world’s most widely used cellphone standard.

CDMA-based chipsets from Qualcomm Inc. have incorporated GPS technology since 2000, partly to comply with government security mandates such as E911, which requires wireless carriers in the United States to provide the location of emergency 911 callers to authorities, said Rob Rovetta, senior director of product management at Qualcomm. But GSM operators like Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc. chose to deploy alternative technologies for E911 compliance, such as TruePosition Inc.’s Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA), which determines a caller’s position by calculating the time it takes the handset’s signal to reach operators’ base stations.

Although TruePosition maintains that its technology fully complies with the more-stringent Phase II requirements of E911, many GSM carriers are deploying GPS technology, motivated in part by the desire to generate revenue from location-based services (LBS). A 2005 report from analyst Juniper Research predicts the total available market for mobile LBS will rise from $1 billion in 2005 to $8.5 billion by 2010.

“Finally, carriers think they can make some money with location-based services,” Pacific Growth Equities’ Chillara said.

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will glonav steal market share from SiRF in GPS chipsets?

Jul 29, 2006 gps navigation, misc news Leave a comment

A very recently founded California company called GloNav announced that they would be entering the GPS chipset market, targeting wireless handsets and mobile device applications.

The GloNav technology portfolio includes the industry’s lowest-power, highest-sensitivity and fastest TTFF GPS/assisted-GPS (A-GPS) receiver as well as the lowest power, most highly integrated GPS radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). The digital signal processing (DSP)-based receiver includes embedded and host-based satellite acquisition and navigation software developed specifically for assisted GPS applications on cellular networks and optimized to provide high levels of accuracy in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Currently the biggest boys in the gps navigation market such as Garmin, TomTom, Magellan all use SiRF products. We’ll have to wait and see if GloNav can stop the SiRF dominance in this maket.