U.S. eyes single contractor for new GPS system
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The U.S. Air Force said on Monday it  planned to stick with a single contractor for all three  satellite batches to be bought for an enhanced Global  Positioning System navigation tool known as GPS III.
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(InfoWorld) - A new chip designed for portable wireless devices combines the coverage of two satellite-based navigation services to offer a location tracking time of less than one second. The u-blox 5 chip, which Switzerland's U-bloxÂ plans to unveil at the 3GSM World Congress event in Barcelona next month, uses two global navigation satellite services: GPS, which was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, and Europe's Galileo, the vendor said Wednesday. The technology has a tracking sensitivity of -160 dBm, which enables indoor coverage. The abbreviation dBm represents the power ratio in decibels (dB) with respect to 1 milliwatt (mW). With a power consumption of less than 50 mW, the u-blox 5 chip allows GPS-enabled mobile phones and other wireless devices to operate in difficult indoor environments, such as shopping malls and train stations. In addition to its satellite-based navigation chip, U-blox will use the 3GSM event to show several other new products, including AssistNow Offline, which stores data in the GPS receiver for up to two weeks. The technology allows the receiver to compute a position instantly without having to connect to a mobile network at startup to download the data, as is the case with typical GPS services
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In a move to fix one of the most significant shortcomings in emergency response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, New York has hired Northrop Grumman Corp. to build a wireless broadband public safety communications network to allow the city's emergency personnel to communicate in real time.
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A new partnership with an astronomy organization could spur additional innovation.
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Geotagging could spur a new generation of services.
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The new facility will focus in part on geographical information systems and technologies for emerging markets.
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The Pentagon no longer needs to  hamper the entire Global Positioning System when facing a  threat in one part of the world and will stop buying satellites  that enable it do so, the military said on Tuesday.
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A new chip designed for mobile phones combines two satellite navigation services to offer a tracking time of less than one second.
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(InfoWorld) - Making a splash as honing gadgets in spy movies, GPS (Global Positioning System) devices are now practical and make for pretty cool gifts. Axion's Geo-320 GPS navigation system -- when plopped on a car's dashboard -- barks out directions to drivers, while TeleNav's GPS Navigator service for smartphones voices directions to pedestrians. Despite the rise of GPS, atlases will remain, and it's good to have Brookstone's affordable Map Light to view paper maps at night. An Ã¼ber cool gift could be Hammacher Schlemmer and Co.'s LP-to-MP3 Converter, which converts songs from LPs to digitized MP3 files. But, first find people who own LPs. GPS for drivers For people who love to take wrong turns, a GPS system is a no-brainer as a gift idea. Axion has added the compact Geo-632 GPS system to its nifty array of in-car entertainment devices. The GPS system is real eye candy, and offers 2D and 3D viewing of preloaded maps on its 3.5-inch touch screen, voicing out directions. Like most GPS devices, it also has a listing of restaurants, hotels, gas stations, banks, and other tourist destinations. A lithium-ion battery operates the GPS unit for eight to 10 hours. It also has a Secure Digital flash memory card slot to load map updates. Map updates will be provided free at their Web site , said Jesse Lee, product engineer at Axion. As an add-on, the portable GPS unit can play MP3 files and view JPEG image files, allowing users to share music and images, said Joanna Zhang, an Axion spokeswoman. The $349.99 unit became available in the U.S. in November. GPS for pedestrians GPS systems can also be used by lost pedestrians. TeleNav's GPS Navigator software loads on to a smartphone and gives a 3D view of maps, with voice and on-screen directions. It provides directions to more than 10 million business listings in the U.S., including Wi-Fi hotspots and tourist destinations. The system can also be used in cars, and as an added bonus, its "fuel finder" locates spots with the lowest gas prices. However, maps on a smartphone's LCD (liquid crystal display) screen may be too tiny for a driver's comfort. The service works on smartphones with most U.S. mobile service providers . Alltel recently launched the TeleNav GPS wireless service in the U.S. for $9.99 a month, and it works on Research In Motion's BlackBerry 8703e and Samsung Electronics' u520 smartphones. For $2.99, a one-time use service is vailable, which works only on Samsung u520 phones. The beat goes on After an LP to CD recorder, Hammacher Schlemmer has introduced the LP to MP3 Converter right in time for the holiday season. The turntable plugs to a computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, where it digitizes LP audio files. It helps save out-of-print music and spoken-word recordings on LPs to a more reliable digital format, according to the company. The software included removes scratches, hisses, and pops usually heard from LPs. The $169.95 systems also works as a stand-alone LP player, connecting to a stereo system via an RCA output. Change your wireless TV headset Sharper Image Inc. is offering Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headphones , which allows users to wirelessly listen to a TV, iPod, stereo -- anything with a headphone jack -- from up to 30 feet away. It comes with two pieces -- a wireless headset and a receiver. The Bluetooth receiver plugs into the headphone jack and the headset connects to the receiver, getting the sound wirelessly. This $99.95 Bluetooth headset could be an excellent alternative to traditional RF wireless headsets, known to be unreliable in coverage and performance.
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Northrop Grumman will lead a team of contractors developing a high-speed data management and storage system for the National Security Agency that will make it easier for intelligence analysts to access and evaluate key data.
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Silicon vendor Atheros Communications has agreed to acquire u-Nav Microelectronics, a GPS chip maker, for approximately $54 million in cash and stock, the companies announced after the close of trading Thursday.As GPS becomes part of the toolkit users are looking for in networked devices, Atheros wants to add that technology to its lineup. Customers of Atheros put its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips into notebooks, dual-mode phones, and other products.&quot;GPS is something that these guys were asking us for,&quot; said Atheros CFO Jack Lazar.Broadcom, a rival of Atheros, acquired GPS chipset maker Global Locate earlier this year. Atheros chose u-Nav because it makes a single-chip GPS system using CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), a standard technology that has been key to Atheros&#39; own success in Wi-Fi, Lazar said. Using CMOS has helped to reduce the size and lower the cost of many types of chips.Privately held u-Nav was founded in 2001 and is based in Irvine, California. Its approximately 54 employees will join Atheros but remain in Irvine and at u-Nav&#39;s European engineering facility in Tampere, Finland, Lazar said. Greg Winner, CEO of u-Nav, will become the head of Atheros&#39; GPS business following the close of the deal, expected this month. Atheros is based in Santa Clara, California.Although GPS is an obvious fit for cell phones, there are many reasons to put it in other devices too, Lazar said. For example, GPS in a notebook PC could be used by enterprises to track the PC, and a notebook with built-in GPS could serve as a personal navigation device without any external hardware. UMPC (ultramobile PC) devices for specific purposes such as construction already have GPS built in, Lazar said.It should be possible in a year or two to integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS in a single chip, though Atheros probably wouldn&#39;t do that unless a customer asked for it, Lazar said.
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New patent application filed by satellite radio leader details plans for recording and other capabilities.
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An enhanced satellite location system aims to help Olympic security guards react more quickly to emergencies.
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GPS, once a fabulously expensive tool for the military, has dropped in price enough to become part of everyday life. Businesses are moving in to offer satellite tracking of everything from school buses to errant spouses, selling security but also raising privacy concerns. -The Washington Post
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(InfoWorld) - Garmin InternationalÂ has published some APIs for connecting to its GPS devices, making it easier for Web developers to write applications that use information about where consumers are located, the company announced Tuesday. The Garmin Communicator Plugin API (application programming interface) will allow developers to transfer information about a user's location between a Garmin GPS (Global Positioning System) device and a Web site. That means a user could build a fitness Web site, for example, that uses the location data to track how much exercise a person has done. Garmin already offers such a service, called MotionBased, but it's been difficult for third-party Web sites to build similar services, and the APIs will now make that easier, the company said. It's also hoping that developers will come up with new, more innovative services. If developers take to the APIs and build more Web sites that link to Garmin devices, it could help Garmin stave off the increased competition from cell phone makers, who have been adding GPS functions to more of their products.Â Nokia's N95, for example, which began shipping in March, is the first of many devices from the Finnish company that will include GPS. Garmin hopes Web sites that depend on its GPS systems will help to spread its name more widely among consumers, it said. Developers can also benefit because they can have a new market to develop services for. Garmin is one of the biggest makers of GPS devices. The APIs and other tools are available now on the new Garmin developer Web site. Some are available free and some must be licensed, the company said. Other tools include the Content Toolkit, for creating services that send information about "points of interest" such as Wi-Fi hot spots or speed cameras. The developer tools are being shown at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, California, which starts Tuesday. Garmin already released the Location Based Toolkit in November so that customers can use the GPS data in applications for delivery fleets and other mobile workers. Â ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union is seeking comments on the possible uses of its planned Galileo satellite navigation system, which is being developed at a cost of about $4.8 billion to compete with the U.S. Global Positioning System.
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EGNOS is a satellite navigation network currently being implemented all over Europe.