New Broadcom GPS chip has 10X better position lock-ins
updated 01:15 pm EDT, Wed March 21, 2012
Broadcom GPS mobile chip tech is more accurate
Chipmaker Broadcom has released a new chip, the BCM4752, that uses the company's newly developed location architecture that promises a tenfold increase in performance for GPS position lock-ins. It also bolsters indoor positioning in smartphones. At the same time, the 40nm CMOS design is said to reduce power consumption by 50 percent and the total board's surface area by 44 percent.
The indoor performance help comes from using a combination of a given handset's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC sensors. It can thus work with shopping apps that will guide users to specific stores in a shopping mall, for example. The new architecture simultaneously uses a new Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chip that gathers satellite info from satellite constellations including GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, and SBAS.
The BMC4752 chip is now ready for production and shipping to Broadcom's early access partners. These companies weren't named, although Apple and many smartphone and tablet designers have used Broadcom for GPS.
