Ultra low power GPS modules enable portable tracking systems

A new family of GPS modules from Line One offers designers an ultra low power solution for obtaining high accuracy position, speed and time information from the Global Positioning System (GPS). The XE1610-OEMPVT from Xemics is a fully autonomous GPS receiver suited to applications such as automotive GPS systems, asset management/tracking and portable appliances.

The XE1610-OEMPVT uses an ultra low power IC design, with optimised RF and DSP architectures. It features a current consumption of under 20mA at 3.3V, when operating at full power, with three additional low power modes also available.

On-board RAM handles storage for the GPS navigation data and temporary configuration changes while on-board Flash provides a non volatile storage for the GPS almanac, ephemeris and permanent profile changes.

Based on the Trimble FirstGPS architecture, the XE1610-OEMPVT provides a high level of sensitivity (to -143 dBm tracking) and positional accuracy (less than 5m CEP without SA, in the horizontal axis). The XE1610-OEMPVT can provide time and positional infrmation under 12 seconds, in hot start operation, and under 40 seconds from a warm start.

Designed for simple integration into embedded systems, the XE1610-OEMPVT has a direct digital interface that supports standard bidirectional NMEA-0183 data sentences via a logic level serial port, as well as XEMICS vendor specific sentences. Trimble’s FirstGPS solution includes GPS software libraries which, in the XE1610-OEMPVT, run on a low power ARM7TDMI microcontroller from Atmel.

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