CSR-SiRF Merger Pairs Struggling Bluetooth and GPS Powerhouses - and Shows Handset Platform Dominance

Merger plans recently announced by CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) plc and SiRF Technology Inc. connote more than the evolving fortunes and common future of a Cambridge, UK–based Bluetooth and WiFi provider and a San Jose, California GPS manufacturer.

It reaffirms the emergence of mobile phone handsets as a dominant location platform, the convergence of wireless communications and positioning at the chip level, and the trend toward absorption by semiconductor manufacturers of independent GPS technology providers who offer only single-frequency solutions.

ICG-3: Friendly Persuasion

Sidebar: Program Updates

Representatives from the world’s GNSS and augmentation providers spent a sun-laden week in Pasadena, California, advancing aspirations for their separate enterprises while refining the basis for compatibility and interoperability among them.

Autonomous Integrity

In trying to ensure integrity of GNSS navigation systems for civil aviation, various approaches have produced a range of different concepts, most of which assume the computation of a protection level. This computation is usually accomplished either autonomously (that is, entirely based on information gathered by the user receiver) or with some degree of external assistance.

Blaupunkt Picks IfEN Constellation Simulator for Testing Car Nav Systems

Blaupunkt GmbH, a leading automotive electronics manufacturer, has selected the NavX-NCS multiconstellation, multifrequency GNSS simulator from IfEN GmbH as the GPS reference for production testing of its car navigation systems.

The NavX-NCS RF constellation simulator supports all present and planned Galileo and GPS frequencies (E1/L1, L2C, E5AB/L5, E6) in one box, now including the composite binary offset carrier (CBOC) signal structure for the Galileo Open Service on E1.

Thales Alenia Space Italia Wins Two Galileo Receiver Development Contracts

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-Italia) two contracts for development of Galileo ground station receiver equipment.

One contract is for Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE) phase A/B ground station receivers capable of tracking the multiplex binary offset carrier (MBOC) signal that is common to both the Galileo Open Service (OS) and the new GPS L1 civil signal, which will be transmitted beginning with the GPS III generation of satellites.

DLR Awards GATE Signal Upgrade Contract to IFEN

The space agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has awarded IFEN GmbH a contract to upgrade the signal at the Galileo Test and Development Environment (GATE) in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

International System Providers Meeting (ICG-3) Reflects GNSS’s Competing Interests, Cooperative Objectives

Representatives from the world’s GNSS system and augmentation providers spent a sun-laden week in Pasadena, California, recently, advancing aspirations for their separate enterprises while refining the basis for compatibility and interoperability among them.

European Space Agency Names Günter Hein to Galileo Post

The European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Prof. Dr. Günter Hein to serve as Head of Galileo Operations and Evolution with duties in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and Paris, France.

With an initial four-year term beginning December 1, Hein will report directly to René Oosterlinck, ESA’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities (D/GAL).

GNSS in Space: Part 1

Formation flying (FF) creates large spaceborne instruments by using several smaller satellites in close formation. The concept requires very accurate relative positioning and orientation of the spacecrafts, the complexity of which is largely outweighed by the enormous benefit of the extended instrument size compared to traditional one-satellite configurations.

Blaupunkt Chooses u-blox to Supply GNSS Receivers

Blaupunkt, a leading supplier of automotive systems, has signed a “frame” agreement with u-blox to supply GPS and Galileo receiver technology for navigation, driver-assistance, and related in-vehicle systems.