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Imagination Technologies offers GNSS IP core for internet of things

November 1, 2018  - By

Imagination Technologies logoImagination Technologies has introduced a comprehensive GNSS IP offering. The Ensigma Location GNSS IP core supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou as well as several satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) including WAAS and EGNOS.

With Ensigma Location GNSS IP, companies can integrate position, navigation and timing (PNT) services while keeping power consumption to a minimum, the company said.

The Ensigma GNSS IP is designed to be used with a wide range of GNSS receivers.

The IP is optimized for battery-powered remote internet of things (IoT) sensors and edge devices, wearables, health monitors, consumer mobile products, automotive after-sales products such as insurance boxes and road tolling equipment, and asset tracking devices.

A growing number of battery-operated products must support PNT services. Consumers want to track their devices, but don’t want to recharge batteries frequently. In industrial and agricultural environments, users need to track mobile assets to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs, but it isn’t possible to frequently change batteries across numerous devices in disparate locations.

In addition, new regulatory requirements mandate the use of location services in some products, for example, to address spectrum sharing requirements in IoT devices and base stations.

Key features of the Ensigma GNSS IP include:

  • Ultra-low power operation
  • Ability to share location information with external wireless technologies such as LTE or Wi-Fi
  • Options to share peripherals such as memory and system clock to enable reduced total system cost
  • High sensitivity for indoor location
  • Support for assistance information using external sources such as LTE and Wi-Fi to improve time to first fix
  • Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) detection and mitigation

With Ensigma GNSS IP, customers can choose a configuration, from standalone to highly integrated, that works best for their specific system implementation, the company said. The IP can be configured for lowest power or highest integration, and is designed to fit into any existing solution with the optimum level of design and resource reuse.

The Ensigma GNSS IP builds on the Ensigma connectivity engine, which incorporates an ultra-low power CPU core. Imagination employed many innovative GNSS techniques to build on the efficiency of this platform to ensure low-power consumption.

The GNSS IP includes dedicated hardware blocks which enable much lower power compared to a software only solution. In addition, the GNSS IP not only supports continuous fix techniques, but it also supports power-efficient “capture and process” for devices that only require periodic location updates, the company added. This feature further conserves battery life by capturing data, such as fitness information from a wearable device, and storing it for later processing.

The initial solution is optimized for use with SaberTek’s ultra-low power GNSS receiver.