NaviGadget

how SiRFstarIV uses so little power

Aug 14, 2009 gps navigation, gps satellites, misc news

A very short and informative article was published on gadgetwise of NY Times that explains how the new SiRFstarIV GPS receiver manages to get a constant satellite fix while using only 1% of the power of a regular GPS receiver.

What’s special about SiRFstarIV is that it calculates/predicts the position of the GPS satellites for up to seven days – so you don’t have to download this information every 30 seconds which really consumes most of the power. The second advantage of SiRFstarIV is the ability to cancel other interfering signal from near by antennas – again using some computing – which makes it more efficient.

The final improvement in the SiRFstarIV platform is dead reckoning – which won’t hit the market until later this year. Using this technology SiRFstarIV can accurately guesstimate your position using other hardware in your phone such as the accelerometer and the magnetometer.

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