DALLAS-Texas Instruments Inc. launched its fourth-generation single chip assisted global positioning system solution for mobile phones, which the company says enables users to connect to a satellite from their mobile phones to get directions and maps to the nearest ATM or store, find friends who may be nearby and provide location information in emergency situations.
“A-GPS capabilities are becoming a must-have feature for 3G mobile phones in many regions around the world,” said Marc Cetto, general manager of Mobile Connectivity at TI. “A low bill of materials, small size, low power and high performance are fundamental requirements to drive A-GPS penetration in mobile phones, all of which TI delivers with the GPS5300 NaviLink 4.0 solution.”
The company said its GPS5300 fourth-generation chip solution is the first product in TI’s NaviLink A-GPS family of solutions to provide enhanced positioning capabilities for the handset. In addition, TI said it expects its new chip to be in production in the second quarter of 2006, and noted that to speed up time to market, the company is collaborating with Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of modules for mobile phones, to develop a module option to handset OEMs.
“We have been very impressed with the GPS5300 NaviLink single-chip GPS solution from TI,” said Norio Nakajima, general manager of Murata. “We were able to develop the smallest A-GPS module in the industry today with great GPS performance just two weeks after we received samples.”
