Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Qualcomm & GPS
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 20:11:19 -0400
From: "Janos Gereben" <janos451 () earthlink net> To: "jg" <janos451 () earthlink net> Subject: Qualcomm & GPS Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:47:21 -0700 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 Qualcomm maps out its GPS argument Ray Hegarty - www.the451.com New York - Qualcomm believes its GPS (Global Positioning System)-integrated cellular chipset solution will prove to be the best technology for future location based services. Qualcomm GPS technology integrates a GPS subsystem in a handset placing most of the location-determination functionality inside the phone with small changes required to wireless infrastructure. Qualcomm CDMA Technologies senior product manager Arnold Gum claim its gpsOne technology offers operators better performance and lower cost, power and size advantages than competing GPS location technologies. Outside the USA, the development of positioning systems has been driven by commercial considerations. In the US location-based technologies are poised to be of increasing relevance over the next few months as operators struggle to meet the US Federal Communications Commission E911 mandate. By October 1 the FCC mandate requires US wireless carriers to automatically pinpoint the location of emergency 911 calls made from cell phones to within 125 meters. Currently, 911 calls made from cell phones are usually sent to one of 155 public-safety answer points (PSAP). By mandating wireless operators to provide the location of 911 calls to the PSAPs the FCC hopes to improve emergency response times. PSAPs have struggled to cope with the influx of calls from wireless phones and the lack of information such devices provide compared to landline phones. Accurate location information also promises to kick start latent wireless commercial opportunities in the US. Location-based applications are considered to be one of the cornerstones upon which operators hope to drive data-driven traffic revenues across their networks. Adding positioning capabilities operators can offer their subscribers new and attractive services. Positioning systems can also help operators optimize networks to trace unsuccessful calls adapting networks to match calling patterns as well as professional and private subscriber commercial services. It is debatable how much location based services could be worth to operators and developers. Optimists such as telecommunications analysis firm Strategis Group estimates that the location-based services market will be worth $4bn by 2004 in the US alone. Worldwide, revenue should reach more than $30bn in the same period, it believes. Pessimists such as the Shosteck Group think the technology is still immature and the revenue generating opportunity limited. Qualcomm, which makes the chips used in CDMA phones, claims its location accuracy is between 5-10 meters in a 'clear sky' environment. In surburban indoor environments accuracy is 20 meters, states Qualcomm VP for Federal government Affairs Jonas Neihardt.. The FCC handset requirements demand 150 meter accuracy 95% of the time, 50 meter accuracy 67% of the time. Gum also claims gpsOne can acquire a position in under a second outdoors while competitors can take up to 10 minutes for the first fix. Qualcomm's hybrid GPS handset network solution competes with an alternative technology called radio triangulation or network-driven GPS-based scheme. The triangulation method uses three or more receiving sites to monitor a call and compare signal strength, time of arrival, and distance or angle of arrival of a signal from a handset. Such a solution requires changes to each base station on a network - a potentially expensive exercise, says Gum. Questions remain about GPS - not least because of technical issues involved in integrating it into a cell phone, such as size, cost, and power consumption - but Qualcomm's Gum said Qualcomm's current MSM 3300 silicon technology and the improvement of GPS cores make it possible for GPS to share such resources as the CPU and memory already inside a cell phone. The bill of materials for separate GPS components - such as baseband, RF and memory chips - could cost between $20-40 per module, compared with its gpsOne integrated solution that costs $2-3. Qualcomm's next integrated chipset solution including gpsOne is due in late 2001 and will address multiple air interfaces including GSM and W-CDMA, he said. Denso and Samsung are already integrating the technology into its phones. Meanwhile in the US wireless carriers are understood to be still struggling with which GPS technology solution to adopt. Last we heard AT&T Wireless Group had not yet chosen which technology it would deploy, VoiceStream was wavering having initially decided to employ triangulation while Sprint PCS said it would use a handset system. Last year over 120,000 wireless 911 calls were made in the US. ================ Janos Gereben/SF, CA janos451 () earthlink net
For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
Current thread:
- IP: Qualcomm & GPS David Farber (May 25)