SiRF Announces Multimedia Platform; FY 2007 Results Drive Share Prices Down

SiRF Technology has launched its SiRFprima platform, which combines a GPS/Galileo location engine, application processor, audio and video recording and playback capabilites, high-resolution 3D graphics, and a host of peripheral interfaces – all tuned to operate concurrently.  The platform supports both WinCE and Linux operating system environments, according to the company.

Trimble Breaks Billion-Dollar Mark

As Trimble approaches its 30th anniversary, the company announced that it has passed the billion-dollar mark in annual revenues during 2007.

In a statement of fourth quarter and Fiscal 2007 results released January 29, Trimble reported rvenues of $312.8 million and $1.222 billion, respectively. Net income for fiscal 2007 was up approximately 13 percent, to $117.4 million, compared to net income of $103.7 million in 2006.

CSR Announces GPS/Bluetooth Chip, eGPS Demo

CSR of Cambridge, UK, has announced its successful integration of GPS with cellular measurements to create eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System) technology capable of providing accurate position information on demand in all environments, as well as availability of a single-chip GPS receiver with embedded Bluetooth and FM radio technologies.

CSR’s CEO, Joep van Beurden, says that the new developments advance his company’s goal of providing eGPS capabilities to cellular phones at an additional goal of less than $1 per unit.

Spirent Enhances A-GPS Conformance Testing Product

Spirent Communications plc, Crawley, UK, has announced the availability of two new capabilities for its UMTS Location Test Solution (ULTS) that will affect assisted GPS (A-GPS) implementation in mobile communication devices and location-based services (LBS): enhanced testing of secure user plane (SUPL) and wideband CDMA (WCDMA) signaling conformance testing.

NXP Semiconductors Announces Assisted-GPS Chip

NXP Semiconductors launched its first assisted-GPS (A-GPS) chip, the GNS7560, targeting mobile phones and standalone personal navigation devices (PNDs) with the product’s package size of less than nine square millimeters.

NovAtel to Build Galileo Monitoring Sites

NovAtel Inc. will establish grounds sites in Canada to monitor the GIOVE (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) test satellites under a CDN$667,861 (US$671,568) contract recently awarded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The work includes a parallel cooperative effort to integrate the NovAtel Galileo Test Receiver (GTR), developed for the CSA, into the GIOVE-A Galileo Experimental Sensor Station (GESS), to upgrade the GTR capabilities and to field these GESS stations in Canada.

CSR, Motorola Launch Enhanced GPS Forum

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) and Motorola have announced launch of an industry group that seeks to promote the integration of GPS and other location technologies to create more robust, continuous positioning capabilities by mobile device users.

New Companies Focus on Emerging Digital Camera Market

Swindon, UK–based start-up company Air Semiconductor is aiming its first OEM GPS product at what it hopes is a sweet spot in the market: geotagging digital camera photos.

And it may be pointing in the right direction, according to a new IMS Research report that predicts a 200 percent cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) for GNSS-aided digital cameras over the next five years.

Strategy-level GNSS leadership to participate in 2008 Munich Summit

As it prepares for its sixth annual conference, the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit continues to hone its identity as a genuine "summit," the place for high-level political, military, and corporate leaders to discuss all of the GNSS systems from a strategic perspective.

Pole Star Launches Navigation Overlay Products

The French engineering consultancy Pole Star SARL has expanded the firm’s development activities with the launch of its first products — NAO City and NAO Campus, designed to improve the robustness of GNSS positioning in urban and indoor environments with a focus on location-based services.