PR -- Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a
leading developer of advanced wireless and wired network communications
solutions, today announced a new member of its Radio-on-Chip for Mobile
(ROCm(r)) family of GPS solutions - a hardware and software GPS
combination that targets mobile phones, Personal Navigation Devices
(PNDs) and Personal Media Players (PMPs).
Atheros' new solution consists of its second-generation, single-chip GPS
receiver, the AR1511, and companion ORION 3.0 software suite. This
combination is ideally suited for integrating advanced navigation
functions into mobile devices, with state-of-the-art Assisted GPS (AGPS)
technology, advanced parallel search, and industry-leading tracking
sensitivity of -160dBm, which together enable the most rapid and
accurate location determination while conserving device battery power.
Atheros' latest ROCm GPS offering provides developers with turnkey,
high-performance options for both standalone and host-dependent designs.
This platform flexibility enables customers to design a wide variety of
location-aware devices and form factors, giving Atheros a significantly
expanded GPS market opportunity.
The AR1511 and ORION 3.0 solution contains new patent-pending features
specifically designed to address the most challenging navigation
environments. These enhancements provide considerable performance
advances with Time To First Fix (TTFF) reacquisition times reduced by
nearly half, and positional accuracy increased by more than 50 percent.
"With the AR1511 and ORION 3.0 combo, Atheros is delivering
state-of-the-art AGPS for today's mobile phone, PND and PMP users,
enabling quicker fix times that result in extended battery life," said
Greg Winner, general manager of Atheros' GPS business unit. "Unlike most
GPS silicon providers, we offer both standalone and hosted designs that
enable our customers to add GPS to virtually any type of mobile consumer
device."
"Over 1.6 billion handsets are expected to ship with GPS between 2008
and 2011. With this growing penetration of GPS in handsets and other
mobile products, it is more critical than ever that solution providers
meet the consumer demand for high-performance navigation that's easy on
battery life," said Morry Marshall, Partner - Strategic Technologies,
Semiconductor Partners LLC. "Atheros, with its proven ROCm low-power
techniques and new AGPS innovations, is well positioned in the emerging
mobile GPS market."
Atheros ROCm Combo Delivers High-Performance AGPS
Atheros' Assisted GPS (AGPS) options speed navigation in challenging
environments -indoors, in urban canyons and in other locations where
broadcast satellite signals are obscured. AGPS can also accelerate the
navigation process in conditions where broadcast ephemeris is available,
by quickly securing location information from non-broadcast sources,
thus reducing power consumed in satellite search mode.
- Real-time ephemeris through cellular networks
Mobile networks can enable handsets with ephemeris data, satellite
orbital information, more quickly than it can be downloaded directly
from the satellites. The AR1511 and ORION 3.0 combo provides GSM
handsets with AGPS, exceeding the industry-standard 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications and the Secure User Plane for
Location (SUPL) requirements, which facilitate communications between
satellite location servers and GSM handsets. Bluetooth(r)-enabled PNDs
and PMPs can also access cellular-based ephemeris by connecting through
a nearby handset.
- Real-time ephemeris through the Internet
Atheros' new solution also provides conventional AGPS, access to
real-time ephemeris over the Internet for PNDs, PMPs, and PCs-virtually
any location-aware device that has Internet access over Wi-Fi. This
allows GPS devices to have intermittent connectivity to real-time,
Internet-accessed ephemeris when in the presence of a Wi-Fi access
point, thus enabling accelerated location fixes, enhanced accuracy and
reduced battery power.
- Extended Ephemeris when real-time access is unavailable
Atheros' AR1511 and ORION 3.0 combo also supports extended ephemeris,
stored satellite orbital data, for any location-aware device. This
feature leverages RX Networks GPStream(tm) technology to accelerate TTFF
and reacquisition times with high location accuracy. Extended ephemeris
can be downloaded using wired or wireless connections from Internet- or
cellular-based servers. The data is stored and provides tracking ability
for up to seven days, minimizing the device's need to scan the sky or
frequently access networks to obtain real-time location information. The
GPStream technology delivers ephemeris in highly compact 2KB files
versus competitive solutions which employ bulky 40-50KB files, reducing
the system memory requirement and demand on service provider networks.
Like other forms of AGPS, extended ephemeris provides the added benefit
of prolonging battery life through quicker location fixes.
Atheros' ROCm portfolio, consisting of mobile solutions for all AGPS
connectivity modes, including GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, provides design
and performance synergies to readily enhance the design process and user
experience.
Fast Location Acquisition through Advanced Parallel Search
The AR1511/ORION 3.0 combo features Atheros' patent-pending advanced
parallel search, which utilizes eight search engines teamed with 12
highly sensitive tracking engines. This enhanced approach to search
results in significant performance advantages - reducing reacquisition
time by nearly half and increasing positional accuracy by more than 50
percent in challenging environments. Atheros' unique search capability
offers considerably lower power consumption versus competitive solutions
that rely on thousands of correlators to calculate positioning,
resulting in prolonged searches.
GPS Options for Hosted and Standalone Designs
Atheros latest GPS solutions provide enhanced design flexibility with
multiple options for either standalone or host-dependent applications.
* AR1511 - Available in a 5mm x 5mm CSP for standalone and hosted
configurations, or a 10mm x 10mm BGA package for standalone and hosted
configurations on low-cost PCBs
* AR1511F - 7mm x 7mm BGA package with integrated DSP and stacked
flash die for small form factor standalone configurations
This AR1511F delivers GPS functionality without taxing the host
processor and memory, and eliminates the need for dedicated Flash or
fixed ROM. The chip provides significant advantages over competitive
ROM-based solutions, with SDK support, selectable profiles and the
ability to easily update software. Macronix is partnered with Atheros to
provide the cost-efficient 1.8V, 8Mb MX29SL802CBXHI-90G flash option for
standalone applications.
Atheros' new GPS solutions also employ worldwide satellite-based
augmentation systems (SBAS) to ensure the greatest accuracy, integrity
and availability of GPS information within specific geographies. Systems
supported by the ORION 3.0 software include WAAS (North America), MSAS
(Japan), and EGNOS (Europe).
Product Availability
The AR1511 CSP package is pin-compatible to the uN3010 CSP package and
provides an easy migration path from any existing design based on
Atheros' first-generation, single-chip GPS solution. The AR1511/ORION
3.0 will sample to customers in the second quarter of 2008.
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