LOCATION

Mobile phones are increasingly offering GPS capability, with access to supplemental ephemeris data over cellular networks and the Internet enabling advanced performance, even when satellite view is obstructed. Our latest GPS technology features our dual-engine location core to deliver unmatched navigation accuracy, high sensitivity, fast location fixes, low power consumption and affordability for mobile handsets. Our high-precision GPS solution consists of a single-chip GPS/GNSS receiver, location core and host-based navigation software. Qualcomm Atheros' navigation software includes ESP™ technology, which reduces warm-start time-to-first-fix (TTFF) to less than 10 seconds for up to 14 days, with no network connection required. Our GPS search engines have been optimized for navigation-intensive applications, including smart phones.

Unmatched Navigation Accuracy

The heart of our latest GPS solution is the Qualcomm Atheros Location Core that utilizes a unique dual-engine design, with search engines for fast fixes and dedicated tracking engines for precise navigation. They can be run as 8 separate search engines for quicker reacquisition times or combined into one powerful engine for fast startup searches. In demanding urban canyon environments, the dedicated tracking engines deliver more precise location data and heading results.

Qualcomm Atheros' software is a powerful, versatile multi-mode GPS navigation suite designed to support the Qualcomm Atheros family of GPS/GNSS receiver chipsets across multiple frequency plans. The software is responsible for all GPS functions such as signal acquisition, tracking, data extraction, and GPS navigation. Our software is an industry leader in navigation performance and also has many advanced features to optimize the user’s experience with quick start-up, sustained battery life and pedestrian mode functionality.

Power Savings

The efficiency and speed of the search engines offer inherent power efficiency. And, like all of Qualcomm Atheros’ mobile solutions, our GPS solutions are designed to promote chip and system sleep time, employing techniques such as:

  • Sleep mode for search engines when they are not needed for acquisition
  • Duty cycling for both search and tracking functions—allowing for reduced power in more benign environments
  • Interval tracking when the GPS position is only required periodically.