gpsOne®

GPS for Everyone

Once a luxury item found only in high-end automobiles and yachts or in the backpacks of serious backcountry hikers, global positioning system (GPS) technology is fast becoming a “must-have” in our daily lives. In fact, GPS in mobile devices such as mobile phones and laptop computers is rapidly outpacing the use of standalone navigation devices.

Driving the success of GPS in wireless devices is the real-time experience offered with up-to-date points of interest, traffic information and asset tracking. And of all the GPS-based location technologies available, the world’s most widely deployed is Qualcomm’s gpsOne.

“ We’ve created a powerful solution that is a true testament to Qualcomm’s leadership and experience with GPS; we’ve established strategic partnerships with leading content providers to ensure the creation of compelling content; and we offer the most comprehensive, cost-effective GPS chipset solutions available. ”

- Leslie Presutti

Director of Product Management at QCT

Synergy Creates Success

gpsOne is the result of two companies coming together, leveraging their technological knowledge and expertise and creating one “super solution.”

In the late 1990s, Qualcomm was exploring the idea of navigation technologies in mobile phones. Concurrently, Qualcomm’s partner, SnapTrack, was investigating similar concepts and pioneering a technology called Assisted-GPS (A-GPS ). To accelerate the concept of navigation in phones and more seamlessly leverage the combined expertise of both companies, Qualcomm and SnapTrack joined forces in 2000.

Looking back, Len Sheynblat, a senior director of technology in Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) and former SnapTrack technology architect says, “SnapTrack and Qualcomm disrupted conventional GPS. GPS was designed to operate under open-sky conditions—where the device has a clear view of the sky. The challenge was getting the device to work in the cities where there are tall, concrete buildings that interfere with GPS.

“To increase system sensitivity, SnapTrack was exploring mobile phone signals, which can penetrate buildings and work well indoors, to use with GPS. CDMA, the wireless technology that Qualcomm is known for, was a natural choice because base stations were already synced with GPS. The result was the hybrid technology called A-GPS. This hybrid concept is what differentiated our technology from all others.”

gpsOne is Number One

Bringing SnapTrack into Qualcomm and refining A-GPS resulted in one of the wireless industry’s most widespread solutions: gpsOne®. Today, the gpsOne solution is the most widely deployed GPS-based location technology, with more than 300 million gpsOne-enabled handsets in use around the world.

“Qualcomm’s success in GPS is based on many factors,” explains Leslie Presutti, director of product management at QCT. “We’ve created a powerful solution that is a true testament to Qualcomm’s leadership and experience with GPS; we’ve established strategic partnerships with leading content providers to ensure the creation of compelling content; and we offer the most comprehensive, cost-effective GPS chipset solutions available.”

Reducing Costs with Integration

In addition to bringing CDMA to the table, Sheynblat reflects, “Qualcomm was—and still is—the leader in technology integration and showed that you could use the same hardware to access CDMA from the terrestrial network and from GPS satellites. It was awesome because it significantly reduced the cost of the finished device.”

Presutti explains, “Using our integrated product, a manufacturer only has to add an antenna and a few filters and they can take advantage of the incorporation of Qualcomm’s GPS functionality in the Mobile Station Modem™ chipsets. Our competitors, however, typically need one or two discrete GPS chips plus additional filters and antennas, which increase costs, to achieve the same performance.”

Endless Possibilities for gpsOne

gpsOne is not restricted to mobile phones. gpsOne is used in Qualcomm’s Gobi™ Global Mobile Internet solution for notebook computers and supports inGeo™ tracking technology. Watch for gpsOne to soon play a greater role in mobile gaming, cameras, and pocketable computing devices. Says Presutti, “gpsOne is a versatile and powerful technology that Qualcomm is committed to constantly evolving for state-of-the-art leadership.