The software-based approach is expected to increase the speed of adoption of GPS functionalities beyond the highest end cell phones and laptop computers. Target platforms include mid-tier phones, digital cameras, personal navigation devices (PND's), and other devices used while on the move.
While traditional GPS solutions require the integration of a hardware component, a software-based solution allows faster time-to-market with less costs and easily adjustable features.
Kim Kaisti, co-founder and vice president of business development at Fastrax, said "A software-based approach to GPS brings a number of direct benefits to original device manufacturers. As there is no longer a need for hardware integration beyond an RF front-end, bringing location-based features to any device with the adequate processing power will be faster, easier and less costly than ever before".
The processor requirement is roughly 10 MIPS (million instructions per second) per tracked satellite. In contrast, the software GPS solutions already introduced in the market are typically developed based on PC solutions, originally built without explicit need to optimise power drain or processor usage.
Fastrax estimates that the software-based approach will reduce the bill of materials to less than US$3 per device, while still offering a similar level of GPS performance as hardware-based stand alone GPS receivers. The GPS solution has a cold start sensitivity of -144 dBm and a navigation sensitivity of -162 dBm.
The software GPS architecture enables the use of hardware accelerators on platforms that do not have the processing power to run a full software GPS solution. The Fastrax Accelerated Software GPS reduces the CPU load to roughly 1 MIPS per tracked satellite by performing the correlation process on hardware, either in the RF front-end chip or in the host processor. The software has already been ported to x86 and ARM processors and Windows, Windows CE and Linux operating systems.