Epson has announced its development of an ultra-sensitive, ultra-compact global positioning system (GPS) module (S4E19863 series) to meet high demand from manufacturers of mobile phones and other handsets with GPS functionality. A telling feature aligning the module with the stated applications is the small form factor which Epson claim is the world’s smallest at 7mm x 6mm x 1.28mm.

As is their practice, Epson have developed the new GPS module from their own knowledgebase of GPS baseband processors and A-GPS software. Epson state that the new GPS module has a broad detection range capable of obtaining satellite fixes even for weak indoor GPS signals.

The module supports the three 3GPP-compliant positioning modes - MS(Mobile Station)-Based, MS-Assisted and Autonomous. This means that while the module can take advantage of assisted GPS (A-GPS) modes it has the onboard computing power to also autonomously establish its location through multiple GPS satellite fixes.

In the MS-Assisted mode, the heavy computation work of determining the location of a GPS module equipped device is processed remotely in the connected mobile network. In MS-Based mode, some satellite information is provided to the mobile device to use with acquired satellite fixes to number crunch its position.

Time to establish position depends on a number of factors including the GPS modules computational speed and, as mentioned in a recent article on the competitor SiRF Star III GPS chipset family, the extent of parallel correlation capability. Such details are not know at this stage however, it is reasonable to assume that the MS-Assisted mode using communication with location servers would give the fastest positioning time with the autonomous mode the longest. The lMS-Assisted mode would fall somewhere in between.

This news of Epson’s S419863 chipset module is one of many indicators that established consumer electronics manufacturers are recognizing the prospective market growth for GPS equipped mobile devices and are moving into market territory previously only serviced by specialist GPS device manufacturers.

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Further Reading

Full press release from Epson.

Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, Second Edition

Global Positioning System: Theory and Practice