u-blox to Unveil New Galileo-ready GPS Chip at 3GSM

u-blox, a Swiss provider of GPS receiver technology, announced it will unveil u-blox 5, a GPS and Galileo-ready chip featuring an acquisition performance of less than one second, at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which runs from 12-15 February.

The new technology boasts an acquisition and tracking sensitivity of -160 dBm that enables indoor coverage, a 50-channel engine and a power consumption of less than 50 mW. Its energy efficiency and tracking sensitivity make it ideal for GPS-enabled mobile phones and other battery-operated portable devices that operate in difficult indoor environments like shopping malls, train stations and urban canyons.

u-blox will also be showcasing recent innovations like AssistNow services, u-blox' end-to-end A-GPS solutions that enhance receiver performance, enabling instant positioning anywhere, at anytime. AssistNow services make the long waiting times usually associated with standard GPS acquisition performance a thing of the past, even in difficult signal conditions. The recently introduced AssistNow Offline provides assistance data valid for up to 14 days, which is stored in the GPS receiver. This enables the receiver to compute a position instantly without having to connect to a mobile network at start-up to download the data, as is the case with typical A-GPS services.

"The combination of u-blox high performance GPS receivers with our recently launched AssistNow services ensures our users benefit from accurate, instant positioning anywhere, at anytime," said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. "AssistNow services enable a wide range of uses including E-911 and E-112 applications and location based services. u-blox 5 products support the OMA SUPL, RRLP and RRC standards and thus offer global interoperability".