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NEWS

GPS-Bluetooth integration to boost locative services

From "CSR to bring lowest cost high-performance GPS to handsets and other portable devices - target price of under $1," CSR press release, 15 January 2007:

"CSR today announced the company is to provide the most competitive Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for mobile handsets and network operators. CSR has acquired NordNav Technologies AB and Cambridge Positioning Systems Ltd that, combined, will allow the company to provide software-based low cost GPS suitable for mass-market mobile phones and PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices).

"CSR will apply its own experience in embedding radio technologies into the mobile platform and expects its first Autonomous and Assisted GPS product offerings that support satellite navigation and other location-based services to be available during H1 2007, with cost expected to subsequently reduce to less than $1...

"CSR's patented methods to reduce both the number of processor cycles and the time to first fix, give an extremely power efficient overall solution with less than half the processing requirements of alternative solutions, whilst remaining flexible enough to perform highly dynamic and accurate tracking.

"With availability during H107, the software GPS technology acquired from NordNav will also take up 80 percent less area than competing hardware solutions and is the lowest cost solution on the market....

"CSR saw that GPS solutions needed to be much smaller, lower cost, and less power- and processor-hungry to enable a dramatic increase in mobile handset attach rates for personal positioning and location based services. To ensure the technology is usable, it is also essential that it works in harmony with GSM/3G radios, that the satellite signal acquisition time is reduced, and that location fixes can be maintained in all environments - even indoors... [Cambridge Positioning Systems' algorithms] allow users to achieve a faster location fix (less than 3 seconds), and also provide GPS coverage in dense urban areas and even indoors where there is no access to GPS satellite signals. In addition to improved user experience, the faster fix means that in comparison to conventional Assisted GPS, power can be reduced by a factor of 10 or more..."

[Wireless - 18 January 2007]