GMV will launch the SRX-10, a software GPS receiver for mass-market applications, at this year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress, scheduled February 14–17 in Barcelona, Spain.
As a fully hosted solution, all SRX-10 receiver functions — even signal acquisition and tracking — can be hosted on a general purpose CPU with only the requirement of adding on a low cost RF front-end, according to the company.
The company cites other benefits offered by its new software receiver, particularly its substantial flexibility and upgradeability.
GMV will launch the SRX-10, a software GPS receiver for mass-market applications, at this year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress, scheduled February 14–17 in Barcelona, Spain.
As a fully hosted solution, all SRX-10 receiver functions — even signal acquisition and tracking — can be hosted on a general purpose CPU with only the requirement of adding on a low cost RF front-end, according to the company.
The company cites other benefits offered by its new software receiver, particularly its substantial flexibility and upgradeability.
As a hosted software solution, no hardware needs to be changed in order to phase in new features and receiver customizations. This includes upgrading of the receiver to operate with new GNSS constellations or satellite-based augmentation systems. In the case of automotive OEMs, this feature will allow remote in-factory upgrading of telematic devices to include the latest available GNSS services, the company says.
In order to target mass-market applications the software receiver is optimized to run on low-cost CPU platforms. In fact, GMV has announced that versions ported to XScale (PXA270) and ARM9-SAMSUNG 2440 CPUs are already available.
With this approach, SRX010 is designed to offer GPS functionality with almost no marginal production costs. “User devices for personnel location and telematics applications will therefore be able to slash their BOM [bill of materials] cost compared to conventional hardware receivers or partially hosted hardware receivers,” says Miguel M. Romay, GMV’s GNSS director.
GMV reports that in extensive testing campaigns carried out with low-cost CPUs in urban and non-urban scenarios, the SRX-10 provides performance very similar to that of conventional world-class mass-market GPS receivers.
The new product is the result of several years of R&D effort by GMV, a Madrid, Spain–based company that has been involved with the development of satellite navigation systems and applications for more than 20 years. The privately held company says that it represents Europe’s third-biggest participation by volume in the Galileo program. Currently, GMV has a dedicated team of more than 150 GNSS experts.
