Sputnik is waiting to boost your GPS reception. The American GPS satellites aren't the only location-finding birds in the sky. Silently and invisibly, the 22 satellites of Russia's GLONASS system partner our GPS, and starting next year smartphones based on Qualcomm chipsets will be able to boost their prowess with GLONASS signals.
"It's like dual-core location," said Rob Chandhok, president of Qualcomm Internet Services. "You actually have the system able to look at both satellite constellations at one time and leverage them so … you can get a more accurate fix, or a faster fix." According to Qualcomm, adding GLONASS improves GPS accuracy in "deep urban environments" by 50 percent.
Qualcomm announced its GLONASS support in May, spurred in part by a new Russian government requirement that phones sold there include GLONASS or pay additional import taxes. But this is a good thing for Americans and especially Canadians: because the satellites target Russian latitudes, they perform especially well in northern countries.
GLONASS support won't cost extra, and it won't require expensive recoding of GPS software, Chandhok said. It will, however, require GLONASS radios in devices, so it's not just a software upgrade for existing phones.
"The whole point of what we provide in our solution is that the software above [the chipset level] doesn't have to know where the data is coming from," he said.
GLONASS Takes New York
We got to see GLONASS in action, and it's pretty simple. A Qualcomm rep took a development phone out onto 28th Street in midtown Manhattan, a tough spot for GPS because of the tall buildings all around. With only GPS turned on, the phone saw two satellites, not enough for a location fix.
In testing dozens of phones, this has been my experience: generally, phones have to rely on inaccurate cell-tower triangulation when they're on side streets in New York City. Sensitive GPS chipsets can find a fix at a corner, where there's a bit more sky. Some phones make me walk several blocks down to a park.
We were impressed when the Qualcomm guy hit the vodka-fueled-turbo-boost button, and pow: 9 of 22. 14 of 22. Bang. Location locked in. Between GPS and GLONASS there are now 55 satellites to choose from, which makes it much easier to find a fix in a narrow slice of sky.
Commercial GLONASS phones are already out in Russia, and Garmin's new eTrex series of handheld GPS devices already combine GPS and GLONASS in the U.S. The eTrex units aren't phones, though.
The first combined GPS/GLONASS phones will hit the US market "in the coming year," Qualcomm said. The majority of new Qualcomm S2 and S3 processors support GLONASS, which includes the dual-core chips coming out in smartphones like the HTC EVO 3D and T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide. Those existing phones won't be able to use GLONASS, though, because the system requires additional radio hardware.
China and the EU are also working on their own GPS satellite constellations, but they won't be ready for a few years.
For more insights visit us at www.GlonassCentral.com
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20110823
NEW LOW COST GPS+GLONASS COMBO MODULES INTRODUCED TO A WAITING MARKET
(August 23, 2011) GlonassCentral today has introduced it’s low cost GPS+ Glonass modules to the market today. These modules are based on technological breakthroughs that have contributed to driving down the price of the technology for mass applications. With 3 different key sizes, the performance is on par or better with similar Glonass chips in the market at a fraction of the cost!
“These modules at 17x22mm, 25x25mm and 35x35mm deliver variations of the form factors at a fraction of the cost, to an industry that has come to expect large and expensive modules”, commented Drew McDonald of GlonassCentral. “ We have done away with the ‘clunkiness’ for Glonass+GPS combination modules, and have the respective antennas and test boards also price below $30 per unit. The market has responded extremely positively, especially the high volume end of the market, which is very happy to have this kind of high end performance at low level pricing!”
GlonassCentral has started full production of the modules as of the beginning of August. Clients can expect expedient and immediate support and inventory access.
The product portfolio is available at the company’s website at http://www.GlonassCentral.com
GlonassCentral.com is a central portal and ODM for Glonass technology and modules. GlonassCentral.com delivers solutions for various applications, including timing & frequency applications, tracking & navigations applications, as well as synchronization applications that employ use of Glonass, GPS & Galileo technologies.
For any Media Relations inquiries please contact info@glonasscentral.com
20110727
New ChipSets and Modules to be released in Fall 2011
We are pleased to announce that a new GPS/ Glonass/ Galileo chipset and module will be released by GlonassCentral.com this September 2011. Stay tuned for details.
We are very excited about this new launch, and realized that so will our customers!
We are very excited about this new launch, and realized that so will our customers!
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