Press and News - 18.05.2004

u-blox and Atmel Introduce Innovative New 'Aiding' Functionality to ANTARIS GPS Receiver to Speed up Time to First Fix in Under Four Seconds.

Users Will Experience Dramatic Improvement in Time to First Fix at no Additional Cost.

Thalwil, Switzerland, and Heilbronn, Germany, 18. May 2004 - The ANTARIS GPS technology, jointly developed by u-blox and Atmel, now features an innovative 'aiding' functionality, which makes time to first fix within four seconds a reality. Aiding is just one of several features in the ANTARIS receivers which provide accurate, reliable and robust navigation anywhere and anytime.

The ANTARIS based GPS receivers provide an aiding solution for applications requiring instant position fixes, for example the E911/E112 emergency caller localization in mobile phones, location-based services without waiting time, and untethered asset tracking devices. Aiding information, supplied from an external source, for example a base station, reduces the time to first accurate fix to just four seconds. The aiding parameters provide ephemeris, almanac, rough initial position, clock drift and time, satellite status and, if available, a precise time synchronization signal. With this information, the GPS receiver has immediate knowledge of the satellites to search and track.

The ANTARIS technology jointly developed by Atmel and u-blox excel in robust performance in any static and dynamic environment, particularly in the most challenging metropolitan areas. It provides -150 dBm sensitivity without compromising navigation accuracy, advanced WAAS / EGNOS support, excellent acquisition performance such as 34s cold start, excellent multipath suppression, 4 Hz update rate, low power consumption and enables system solutions with minimum bill-of-material costs.

"The innovation leaps like instant positioning by aiding are proof of the excellent capabilities of u-blox and Atmel, and are beneficial to many applications without additional cost", says Thomas Seiler, CEO of u-blox. "Also our customers can protect their investment using the ANTARIS GPS receiver platform and profit from the continuously upgraded performance with additional feature sets."

"Since aiding functionality is becoming a strong request in the mobile GPS market, more and more customers will enjoy the benfits of Atmel's and u-blox' leading edge technology", stated Marcus Boehringer, GPS Product Manager at Atmel. "The performance and flexibility of the ANTARIS technology makes it to one of the best GPS solutions in the market today."

The aiding feature is available in the u-blox ANTARIS GPS receiver macro components TIM-LP, TIM-LF and TIM-LC as well as on the ANTARIS GPS chipset available from Atmel without additional cost.

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About u-blox

u-blox is a company operating internationally with headquarters in Switzerland with subsidiaries in Germany, UK, USA and Hong Kong. Since its foundation in 1997, u-blox develops and markets leading Global Positioning System (GPS) chip sets and GPS receiver products. For further information and contacts, please refer to www.u-blox.com.

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, non-volatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies. Further information may be retrieved at: www.atmel.com.

Press Contacts u-blox

Georg Zur Bonsen , Product Management
phone: +41 (1) 722 74 44, e-mail: georg.zurbonsen@u-blox.com

Manuela Vujevic, Marketing Communications
phone: +41 (1) 722 74 44, e-mail:manuela.vujevic@u-blox.com

Press Contacts Atmel

Dr. Susanne van Clewe, Marcom Manager Communications and Automotive Products
phone: +49 7131 67-2081, e-mail: susanne.van-clewe@hno.atmel.com

Clive Over, Director of Press Relations - USA and Asia
phone: +1 408 451 2855, e-mail: cliveover@atmel.com

Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe
phone: +33 1 30 60 70 68, e-mail: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com

Further Information

Press Releases 2004

Press Release (PDF Format)

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