The Business - November 2006
November 1, 2006 GPS World» LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
Nokia Paves Way for GPS Phones
Company Acquires GPS Software Maker gate5; Strikes Trimble Deal
Mobile communications company Nokia (Espoo, Finland) is taking decisive steps to participate in the GPS handheld market, acquiring a mapping software company and striking a licensing deal with a GPS manufacturer.
Nokia is acquiring gate5 AG, a Berlin, Germany-based supplier of mapping, routing, and navigation software and services, with plans to add location-based applications to its cell phones.
"Maps and navigation are natural elements to be offered in mobile devices but this area hasn't developed as fast as expected by the market," said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's general manager of multimedia.
In a related step, on October 2 Nokia and Trimble Navigation of Sunnyvale, California, struck a cooperative licensing agreement that gives Nokia the ability to use Trimble's patented GNSS technology in its handsets.
As part of the deal, Trimble can use Nokia's location patents in its products and services.
The licensing agreement is exclusive to Nokia for the wireless consumer product and service domain and includes sublicensing rights. In return, Trimble receives a non-exclusive license to Nokia's location-based patents for use in Trimble's commercial products and services. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Nokia said only that the deal "will not be material to either company's revenue or income."
Leap Forward. According to Nokia, its acquisition of gate5 is an important step in developing its new product category of multimedia computers, which, Nokia states in a press release, "represent the next leap forward in personal computing." The multimedia computer combines the functionality of a PC and portable single-purpose devices in a connected mobile device. Because multimedia computers have a programmable operating system, people can download and install software applications.
"The personal navigation device market is in a rapid growth phase with the global market size expected to reach 15 million units in 2006 compared with 8 million units in 2005," Vanjoki said. "By integrating the maps and navigation capabilities into our devices, Nokia will participate in this growth."
Kai Öistämö, general manager of Nokia's mobile phones, agreed. "We strongly believe that location-based capabilities and services will be an important element of future mobile communications devices."
On the Trimble deal, Öistämö said, "By licensing our solutions and these patents to other players, we believe this deal with Trimble will benefit the entire wireless industry by accelerating the adoption of location technologies. From Nokia's perspective, the sublicensing rights under Trimble's industry-leading location patent portfolio will nicely augment our industry-leading WCDMA/UMTS and GSM patent portfolios."
Multimedia Computers. Nokia will most likely integrate navigation and mapping capabilities into its N-Series range of smart phones, termed "multimedia computers" by the company, which run on the Symbian operating system.
In September, Nokia announced one such product — the N95 with GPS functionality. The N95's Maps application includes maps for more than 100 countries and 15 million points of interest. Also on the unit are a 5-megapixel camera and support for high-speed mobile networks, making it easier to watch and record videos, listen to songs, take high-quality photos, browse the Internet, or catch up on e-mail. The Nokia N95 is expected to start shipping in volume during the first quarter of 2007 at an estimated unsubsidized retail price of €550.
The gate5 purchase is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
» LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
Semiconductors Offered by New GloNav Inc.
GloNav Inc., a new fabless semiconductor company developing GPS chips, will focus on providing semiconductors to the wireless handset and mobile device GPS markets. The company was formed on June 23 from the spin-out of the GPS business from Ceva Inc. and the acquisition of RFDomus Inc., with $16.2 million in investment capital led by Atlantic Bridge Ventures.
GloNav will provide to the market a high-sensitivity, fast time-to-first-fix assisted GPS receiver. The digital signal processing-based receiver includes embedded and host-based satellite acquisition and navigation software developed specifically for assisted-GPS applications on cellular networks and optimized to provide high levels of accuracy in indoor and outdoor environments.
GloNav's baseband technology is expected to ship this year in more than 5 million wireless handset and mobile device applications, according to Kevin Strong, GloNav vice president of marketing, with additional GPS semiconductor products introduced by the end of the year.
» LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
Global LBS Challenge Offers Bigger Prizes
NAVTEQ officially launched the 2007 Global LBS Challenge at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment in Los Angeles September 13.
The contest challenges application developers to build innovative location-based services (LBS) that work with mobile phones or wireless handheld devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ maps.
For 2007, sponsors have increased the prizes to $2 million in cash and data-licensing fees. Also, the judging panel has been expanded, with representatives from major wireless carriers, industry experts, and venture capitalists including Bain Capital, Cingular, Helio, i-Hatch Ventures, MK Capital, Motorola, Nokia, Openwave Systems, Sprint, T-Mobile, Telus, and Verizon Wireless.
For the second year, Nokia is joining NAVTEQ as the global sponsor of the LBS Challenge. Nokia and the following platinum sponsors are providing developers access to their tools and platforms: Autodesk, deCarta, ESRI, KnowledgeWhere, Motorola, Networks in Motion, and Openwave Systems. LOC-AID Technologies, SiRF Technology, and WinBC are participating as gold and media sponsors.
Entrants can submit work in four categories:
- business applications (asset tracking, field services, billing, buying, advertising)
- entertainment and leisure (gaming, location-based imaging, athletics, travel)
- navigation (point-of-interest look-up, traffic)
- social networking (peer-to-peer, "find me," personal security).
Registration for the competition closes on November 10, with entries due in January 2007. The winners — one for each of the four solution categories and one grand-prize winner — will be announced at CTIA Wireless 2006 in Orlando, Florida, on March 28, 2007.
» LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
Atmel and Magellan Introduce GPS Chipset Generation
Atmel Corporation of Heilbronn, Germany, and Magellan of San Dimas, California, have introduced a new GPS chipset generation that integrates GPS correlation technology with an ARM926EJ-S-based microprocessor, designed for personal navigation devices. The new ARM9 device includes and extended instruction set with digital signal processor (DSP) extensions and peripherals designed to simplify the design and drive down system costs for the personal navigation market.
The ARM9-powered ATR0663 includes a GPS baseband and an LCD controller with an integrated 2D graphics accelerator for virtual screen support of 2048 x 2048 pixels, an AC97 audio controller, and an image-sensor interface. In addition, a dual external bus interface and 9-layer bus matrix allow for fast memory access and high throughput without loading the microcontroller.
"The new GPS chip is a co-design between Magellan and Atmel," said Mike Mouser, Magellan senior technical director. "The chip incorporates a Magellan GPS engine and graphic engine. The Atmel contribution is integration of an ARM 926 with several peripherals functions." These include Ethernet, USB 2.0, Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card, two-wire interface, and universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver/transmitter.
Mouser said Atmel is the foundry for the device and has worldwide rights for distribution and sales.
New Generation. Mouser said the new generation chipset is defined by being "a fully integrated system-on-chip, plus a high sensitivity, fast acquisition GPS engine. It will provide system integrators of vehicle navigation systems with higher integration, lower cost, and power solutions while providing similar performance to dual-processor solutions."
The new GPS engine, based on Magellan's GPS technology, has a hot start of less than 2 seconds and high tracking sensitivity at -159 dBm. The technology employs the power of tens of thousands of correlators to achieve rapid satellite acquisition and reliable tracking under weak signal conditions.
The companion ATR0603 radio frequency receiver maximizes the performance of the new GPS engine while combining low cost and low-power consumption of 12 milliamperes in operation.
Also compatible is Atmel's existing ATR0610, a fully integrated, low-noise amplifier using Atmel's Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) process to enable cost-sensitive passive-antenna designs.
Samples of the ATR0663, ATR0603, and ATR0610 are available, along with an application development kit.
» SYSTEM DESIGN & TEST
Spirent Selected to Supply Septentrio with Simulator
Spirent Communications was selected September 28 by two companies to provide Galileo test equipment.
Spirent will supply Septentrio with its Galileo radio frequency (RF) constellation simulators. Septentrio is leading a consortium to develop the Galileo test user receivers for the In-Orbit Validation Phase of the Galileo system. The test user receivers play a crucial role in the evaluation and performance validation of the Galileo system. Spirent's RF constellation simulators generate representative Galileo signals in the laboratory, enabling characterization, optimization, and performance validation of receivers, testing them in a variety of normal and impaired states.
"Our Galileo receiver technology is now to the point where optimization and validation are required," explained Peter Grognard, managing director of Septentrio. "Adding Spirent's Galileo RF Constellation Simulator to our existing Spirent GPS test system allows us to test our receivers on one of the world's first comprehensive combined GPS and Galileo test systems."
Spirent also was selected by the DLR (German Aerospace Center), which will use Spirent equipment in the European Union (EU)- and FP6-funded project "Airborne New and Advanced Satellite Techniques and Technologies in a System Integrated Approach" (ANASTASIA). FP6 is the EU's sixth Framework Program to support research cooperation and invest in research to support EU policies.
The navigation aspects of the ANASTASIA project focus on performance evaluations in a multi-constellation, multi-frequency complex satellite signal environment.
The GPS/Galileo test systems provided by Spirent will be integrated with digital processing components provided by DLR. The resulting wave front simulators will be capable of testing multiple-element, phased-array reception antennas that form part of DLR's research work.
"The Galileo simulation capabilities Spirent is providing to DLR add to an existing GPS test system that we provided in 2004," said Peter Boulton, technology director for Spirent's positioning business segment. "This agreement marks the inclusion of an additional Galileo system to meet the requirement outlined by DLR for the ANASTASIA project."
» MILITARY & GOVERNMENT
OSI Geospatial Wins $3.8M Defense Contract
OSI Geospatial Inc. received a three-year contract worth $3.8 million from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
Under the contract terms, OSI will develop a Global Positioning System (GPS) Denied Navigation and Mapping System for the DTRA.
The DTRA is a new customer for OSI Geospatial, which specializes in the development and production of navigation and mapping systems for international military and commercial applications. "This contract will enable OSI to evolve our technology into the handheld/wearable personal navigation systems market," said OSI Geospatial President and CEO Ken Kirkpatrick.
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