Posts Tagged ‘gps navigation’

Who do you believe? LightSquared or GPS industry?

Feb 11, 2012 ,

This has been going on for way too long. We’d like to know what our readers think about this issue. But very briefly here is what’s been going on:

LightSquared is trying to build a LTE network with about 40000 powerful ground transmitters. The frequency they are allocated sits right next to the frequency used by GPS receivers. GPS signals are much more weaker compared to LightSqaured signals. There’s going to be interference.

GPS industry is saying this is going to be devastating for GPS receivers used in aviation, cell phones, car and marine navigatoors, high precision devices used in agriculture, surveying, etc, and GPS Timing.

LightSquared is saying GPS interference tests are rigged, and the GPS receivers should be regulated so they won’t pickup signals from neighboring bands.

Who do you believe? LightSquared or GPS industry?

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TomTom PRO 3100 lowers your insurance premium

Feb 9, 2012 ,


TomTom announced in UK that it will work with Motaquote to lower down your insurance premium cost by tracking how you drive with their new TomTom PRO 3100. It’s a new policy called Fair Pay insurance which “reward good drivers with a lower bill but in return you’re giving up your privacy.

When you sign up you’ll get the LIVE services working on your GPS navigation device to warn you about speed cameras and accident hot spots and more. It can even warn you if there’s sudden breaking on your route. Of course the feedback is with the LINK tracking unit. This will inform Motaquote on your driving habits which you can also check yourself or get them in your email.

TomTom is trying to differentiate itself from others by providing services like this. In times when smartphones have a sharp 4.3″ screen, constant connectivity and free GPS navigation apps they really have to try hard.

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LightSquared and GPS community have no solution

Feb 4, 2012 , ,

We’ve been talking about the battle between LightSquared and the GPS industry. The heart of the problem is that the spectrum for 4G network and the GPS signals are right next to each other and compared to GPS signals 4G signals are way way stronger, possibly causing interference.

In a report published June last year did indeed say this was the case.

“For the originally defined LightSquared spectrum deployment scenarios, GPS-based operations are expected to be unavailable over entire regions of the country at any normal operational aircraft altitude.”

So LightSquare’s solution was to use the dark orange band to the left to stay as far from regular GPS receivers as possible. This combined with better management of emissions from transmitter would save the sat nav systems used in aircrafts and cars.

However the super accurate high end GPS receivers are still very susceptible to interference because their radio frequency filters are very “liberal” and sometimes the augmentation signals used by them are actually transmitted from frequencies in the mobile satellite band.

I guess the problem is actually receivers not sticking to their allowed frequency since the receiver side of things is not really regulated by FCC.

However if you want more technical insight do read up on this article too.

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new GPS module from Fastrax promises less battery drain and quicker satellite fix

Feb 3, 2012

Fastrax just introduced the Fastrax IT530, an ultra-low power and super-sensitive OEM GPS module. As far as specs this tiny location finding unit has sensitivity of -148 dBm in acquisition, -165 dBm in navigation, and power consumption of 35 mW at 3.3 V. It measures and weighs pretty much nothing with dimensions of 9.6 x 9.6 x 1.85 mm and a weight of 0.4 g.

… new power-saving AlwaysLocate mode prolongs battery life by intelligently controlling receiver power modes and maintaining location information. Depending on the environment and motion, the module adaptively adjusts its navigation activity to balance positioning accuracy, fix rate and power consumption (typically between 2-8mW). In addition, the Embedded Assist System (EASY) reduces warm-start TTFF by up to 90% with assisting ephemeris data stored internally for up to three days. The additional server-assisted EPO file transfer extends the external A-GPS service to up to 14 days….

Fastrax IT530 even includes an embedded jammer remover to work ever changing smartphone designs filled with electromagnetic interference (EMI) sources.

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Suunto AMBIT GPS watch

Feb 3, 2012 , ,

Suunto just recently announced the launch of the AMBIT, a GPS watch for Explorers. Why Ambit? Their press release says *AMBIT: As in Ambition. Synonyms: edge, reach, scope or range. OK, whatever, moving on. What you get with this GPS watch is a GPS navigation system, barometer, altimeter, 3D compass, and more. It has a 50 hour battery life – but that’s kind of hard to believe. It probably depends on how often you use the GPS features. Other features of Suunto AMBIT include advanced heart rate monitoring, and some basics such as speed, pace, etc. It is water resistant up to 100 meters too!!! It will be available next month in March!

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Supreme Court says warrentless GPS tracking is against 4th amendment

Jan 30, 2012 ,


Supreme Court decided earlier this month that police officers violated the Fourth Amendment which protects citizens against unreasonable search and seizure. The law enforcement attached a GPS tracking device to a suspect’s vehicle and tracked it for a month without a warrant. Even though the ruling was unanimous the reasoning was split in two.

  • some of the justices said it was a violation of reasonable expectation of privacy when the GPS device was physically attached to the vehicle
  • other justices said a person has a reasonable expectations that the details of his movements over a month period should be private

What this ruling doesn’t touch is the tracking of your location by cell towers or other means which doesn’t involve any physical intervention.

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FujiFilm FinePix F770EXR with GPS

Jan 26, 2012 ,


Fujifilm just recently introduced the FinePix F770EXR which will be available in March 2012 for $380. The most outstanding feature for us is of course the GPS capabilities of this camera. In addition F770EXR features 16MP EXR-CMOS, 20x optical zoom, 1.5 seconds start up time, and 1 second between shots.

As far as the GPS features, FujiFilm FinePix F770EXR has a route log, where the camera creates a map showing where you’ve been and photo navigation which shows the distance and direction to the place a certain photo was taken. You can record and edit your favorite places in the camera, and even tell you what nearby landmarks are and their distance.

Some other specs:

  • 3.0-inch LCD with 460,000 dots and Monitor Sunlight mode
  • Full 1080p HD movie
  • ISO 100 – 12800
  • RAW file capture (FinePix F770EXR only)
  • Film simulation modes
  • Macro focusing down to 5 cm
  • Optical image stabilization
  • Motion Panorama 360 mode

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TomTom to power Samsung’s Wave 3 Bada Maps

Jan 25, 2012 , , ,


TomTom made a deal with Samsung where TomTom maps will power Samsung Wave3. With this agreement Samsung Wave 3 Bada gets:

  • Map coverage for 200+ countries which equals to 35 million kilometers roads
  • Points of interests on these maps
  • 3D City Maps and 3D Landmarks
  • Traffic updates
  • Speed Cameras alerts

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Alpine INE-Z928HD and INE-S920HD

Jan 24, 2012 ,


Alpine Electronics introduced the biggest after market in-dash GPS/audio/video system available called Alpine INE-Z928HD with a 8″ screen and a $1500 price tag. It also announced Alpine INE-S920HD with a 6.1″ screen which is going to cost $1000.

Here are some of the highlights INE-Z928HD and INE-S920HD

  • free lifetime NAVTEQ Traffic RDS (Z928HD)
  • HD Radio receiver built-in
  • Works with Pandora internet radio for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry
  • Bluetooh audio streaming
  • Rear USB port

Alpine is also making an effort to integrate these products into your dash seamlessly with the new Perfect F.I.T kits which are listed here.

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BMW does something more useful with that map data

Jan 23, 2012


The new ActiveHybrid 3 series will feature a system that can predict the best time to charge its batteries. Since the navigation map data includes hill profiles, and the car knows the direction you’re headed this means fuel efficiency.

Say you’re about to go uphill for a while and then descend back down hill. Your car will let you use more of your battery instead of precious fossil fuel while climbing knowing it can recharge on the way down. Pretty sweet eh?

ActiveHybrid 3 will go on sale this fall. Expect to get about 37mpg on the highway before navigation enhancements are accounted for…

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