SiRF Technology has unveiled a powerful, compact new generation of GPS technologies, along with several partnerships leading international companies to develop new consumer devices, auto navigation, wireless handheld and PC platforms to use GPS systems.
These developments combine to bring GPS further into the mainstream – giving more consumers access to devices and applications to help them find their way around or find their loved ones, anywhere in the world.
GPS, a satellite network deployed by the Department of Defense and supported by the Department of Transportation, provides instant location information worldwide. It has the potential to help people find their way around in automobiles, hiking trips or boats; track loved ones; obtain emergency assistance; and much more. Since its formation in 1995, SiRF has developed technologies to make GPS more accurate, affordable and compact enough to be deployed in a wide variety of consumer applications.
"Our vision is to bring location awareness to virtually everything that moves," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF. "This dramatic set of advancements in our technologies and our strategic partnerships will help carry this forward,
making it possible to integrate GPS into a broad new class of consumer applications and devices of any size, such as locket-sized child locators, wristwatch-sized hiking navigation devices, E911 phones and GPS-enabled pagers."
Advancements Enable New Classes of Applications
SiRFstarII delivers major advancements in GPS performance, accuracy, integration, computing power and flexibility. SiRFstarII enables full GPS functionality in a stamp-sized footprint by combining a high performance GPS engine, full-function CPU, memory, and a radio frequency (RF) front-end in two chips. In addition, SiRF will offer a set of platform-specific technologies that will allow GPS to work faster, more accurately, and less expensively in PCs, cell phones, and automobiles. The entire GPS solution is so compact and powerful, that in many applications three boards – user application, GPS, and differential GPS (DGPS) boards – can be collapsed into a single board enabling new classes of applications the size of a watch or locket.
SiRFstarII is the first GPS architecture designed to be available simultaneously as a highly integrated chipset configuration – ideal for consumer applications – as well as an IP core that can be integrated into platforms such as cell phones.
Performance, Integration, and Compute Power
SiRFstarII offers far greater GPS performance through dramatically enhanced accuracy and availability, as well as a reduced computational load. SiRFstarII will enhance location accuracy by an order of magnitude – from 100 meters to between 2 and 15 meters – by taking advantage of two upcoming GPS infrastructure enhancements. The first is the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the Federal Aviation Administration¿s recent, comprehensive initiative to improve accuracy and integrity of GPS signals. WAAS is scheduled to undergo final testing this month, and will be fully deployed in the year 2000. This standard has wide international support and will enable SiRFstarII-enabled devices to provide improved GPS accuracy worldwide. The second is the Department of Transportation¿s national network of ground- or beacon-based, differential stations called National Differential GPS (NDGPS) that will enhance the existing US Coast Guard¿s differential network. Finally, SiRF has added multipath mitigation hardware to the GPS engine to improve GPS accuracy in canyons and between buildings.
SiRFstarII also features a satellite signal tracking engine to provide continuous signal acquisition. This engine performs functions previously accomplished with software, significantly improving overall system performance.
SiRFstarIIe, the first implementation of SiRFstarII in a chipset, integrates most of the functionality of a complete GPS receiver in two chips. In addition to the high performance GPS engine, the digital chip integrates a full-function CPU, eliminating the need for and cost of a separate processor. The CPU is a 32-bit, 50 MHz ARM processor; with fully 90 percent of its throughput available for user tasks. One megabit of on-chip memory (DRAM) performs not only all GPS functions, but also provides extra memory for user applications. Finally, an integrated IF filter eliminates the need to add an external filter, further reducing component count and increasing reliability.
