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February 13 2006 at 03:16 PM
Barcelona 13-February-2006 – Fractus, NordNav and SiGe Semiconductor today announced a GPS USB reference design that enables a high-performance navigation system for laptops, Smartphones, and PDAs. The reference design combines SiGe’s SE4110L GPS radio with GeoFind antenna technology from Fractus, and E5000 GPS software from NordNav. Using thereference design, manufacturers can create GPS accessories with the small size, and low current consumption required for USB On-The-Go connectivity.
The reference design will be demonstrated at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona from February 13-16, 2006, at the SiGe Semiconductor booth D82, Hall 1, and in the NordNav
booth G81, Hall 2.
“We have worked closely with Fractus and NordNav to deliver a complete solution that takes the guesswork out of design so that OEMs can go to market quickly with GPS USB accessories,” said Stuart Strickland, product line director, SiGe Semiconductor. “GPS USB addons provide a significant opportunity, allowing manufacturers to leverage investments already made by their customers to provide high performance GPS at a minimal additional cost.”
Small size and low current consumption ideal for USB On-the-Go connectivity. The new reference design provides all of the circuitry required to enable GPS capability in small form factor USB accessories. Using the reference design, a GPS USB add-on can be built to fit a portable 60mm x 15mm form factor. The small form factor is made possible by the highly integrated SiGe GPS radio, NordNav GPS software and Fractus antenna.
SiGe Semiconductor’s SE4110L GPS radio IC is based on an integrated architecture, supplying a complete receiver chain in a small 4mm x 4mm package. The high integration of the SE4110L eliminates external components to reduce the system bill of materials, cost and required board area. The device interfaces directly to the Fractus Geofind slim GPS chip antenna. The antenna uses Fractus’ patented space-filling technology to reduce size while increasing satellite sensitivity for robust performance. The antenna is an ideal solution for small form factor USB accessories, since it is substantially smaller than traditional, large patch ceramic antennas.
“Our unique antenna design delivers performance rivaling that of larger antennas, which tend to be costly, power hungry, and too large for mobile operation,” said Tim Hillison, Director, Short Range Wireless and Corporate Marketing, Fractus. “We are pleased to combine the benefits of our antenna with the technologies from SiGe and NordNav. As a result of our collaboration, manufacturers can deliver wireless end-products that are competitive relative to overall cost and feature integration.”
The reference design provides a low-power solution, ideal for portable applications. Typical power consumption is approximately 100mW operating from a 5V supply.
Software-based GPS enables low cost, small form factor high-performance GPS applications GPS USB systems based on the reference design will be used with NordNav’s E5000 GPS software to deliver high accuracy positioning applications. The software will run transparently on the laptop, Smartphone, PDA, or other USB-enabled devices and effectively leverage the processing power available while being conservative on battery power. NordNav’s E5000 software GPS provides faster time to first fix than most hardware based GPS solutions and gives users continuous tracking and advanced navigation filtering even in the most challenging environments.
“Software based GPS provides significant advantages with lower cost, smaller foot-print and the ability for users to continuously upgrade the GPS performance. We are very excited about releasing this competitive product together with SiGe and Fractus,” said Mattias Åström, CEO of NordNav.
Availability
The complete reference design is available now. Anticipated retail price for end products based on this design, including all components and licenses, is around $25. Packages bundled with mapping and application software will vary.