GPS Vehicle Tracking Tools and Blog

With close to 1.18 billion mobile handsets sold in 2007 and an expected 1.8 billion in 2012, the attach rate metrics for GPS technology in cellphones take on increasing importance for both industries.

Figure 1 shows the attach rates and expected growth associated with the commonly used connectivity technologies today in wireless terminals. As the data demonstrates, Bluetooth and FM radio technologies have the highest attach rates in today’s cell phones, with GPS technology following closely. As attach rates grow and these radios increasingly are embedded in the same system, the technical and cost-structure benefit opportunities build a strong case for integration.

Figure 1. Worldwide mobile phone connectivity chipset attach rates (all cellular technologies)

As the technologies approach 100 percent attach rates and major equipment manufacturers move forward with plans for aggressive propagation, it becomes increasingly viable for these three radios to be integrated into cellular basebands.

The key merits of integration are:

• reduced silicon area due to shared components in the device,
• reduced external bill of material (eBOM) costs,
• improved system performance due to tightly integrated algorithm implementations,
• improved cost structure due to economies of scale of single silicon systems, and
• shared packaging that leads to ease of assembly.

Technology Costs

The semiconductor industry thrives on Moore’s Law — the concept that technology becomes exponentially smaller, faster ,and more cost-efficient every two years — making integration a logical trend in connectivity technologies for mobile handsets. Figure 2 captures current connectivity integration trends.

Figure 2. Connectivity integration trends

Trend 1 shows horizontal integration of the connectivity technologies, while trend two integrates connectivity technologies vertically into the cellular baseband device.

Trend 2 is typical of technologies that are more mature and have attach rates upwards of 80 percent. If the attach rates are not high enough, there is a risk of unused silicon on the device, yielding unnecessary costs for equipment manufacturers and consumers.

Case for Integration

Several functions on a device can be leveraged across the GPS, Bluetooth, and FM radio technology functions, as shown in Figure 3. This integration can deliver a solution that is cost- and size-optimized over a discrete implementation, but at the same time delivers state-of-the-art GPS performance in a cellular handset as a discrete GPS-only device.

Figure 3. Savings driven by integration

The key benefits for integration of any two (or more) technologies in a cellular handset are:

• complete solution cost
• eBOM savings due to integration
• system savings from sharing interfaces and connectivity
• easier board layout due to clocking and power management sharing at the phone-level
• solution size
• ability to supply a unified firmware package and host software solution that is pre-tested and integrated
• shortening the test time with easier test setup
• power consumption savings from sharing functions on a single die
• system level co-existence performance
• enhancements due to mechanisms built into the device to facilitate co-existence performance at a phone level for the three technologies.

By integrating Bluetooth, GPS, and FM functions in a handset, a semiconductor and systems company can leverage its broad technology portfolio to provide solutions that drive down the cost of adding these functions into a handset. This cost optimization results in an overall cost savings for the mobile handsets and drives higher attach rates into an increasingly lower tier of cellular handsets, making the technology available for mainstream consumption.

GPS and Garmin have become synonymous. They are the leading GPS manufacturer in the world today by a long way. They started out in 1989 and today they have sold millions of GPS receivers.

So how do we know which Garmin GPS device will be perfect for our needs? There are so many which makes it very difficult to decide. The Garmin Nuvi and StreetPilot are some of the most popular GPS devices on the planet. Lets take a look at some of the automobile GPS systems and compare the differences.

Garmin StreetPilot 340

The Garmin StreetPilot c340 has a big advantage over the c330. That advantage is text converted to speech. Instead of GPS saying, turn right in 50 meters, it will say, turn right at Glover Street. This feature helps a lot when you dont want to look down at the device to confirm the street name.

Another great feature of the c340 is that it can easily be upgraded with an optional FM traffic receiver. What this means is that live traffic information can be sent to your GPS device to warn you of construction work, accidents etc. The StreetPilot c340 can then
show you the way around the traffic and guide you to your destination.

Garmin Nuvi 250

The Nuvi 250 is famous for its simplicity. It doesnt have the advanced options most of us never use. So many buyers waste money on GPS systems that have features they will never use. They could have saved a lot of money and at the same time satisfy all there needs with a cheaper GPS system. If youre not the hard core type then the Garmin Nuvi 250 will be the perfect match for you.

The Garmin Nuvi 250 comes with a 3.5 inch display, which is the standard among the entry level GPS devices. 3.5 inch display is a big enough screen to find your way with ease. You can also insert a SD card if you would like to load additional products and maps.

The only feature the Nuvi 250 doesnt have is the text to speech feature I explained with the Garmin StreetPilot c340. Things like Bluetooth, MP3 player, FM transmitter and widescreen is not available on the Garmin Nuvi 250 but many will agree that its not necessary. If Garmin decided to include text to speech it would have been the perfect GPS system at entry level but if that doesnt bother you it might just be the one for you.

GPS Tracking System 3100-E comes with an external GPS antenna that can determine the precise location of any asset or vehicle.

If you’re looking to hide unity 3100, then 3100-E is recommended during the 3100-INT. With our E-3100, there are more options available for installation; an external antenna lets you hide the unit 3100 in areas where GPS reception is limited. And the compact design of the League 3100-E makes it easy to place this device anywhere in a vehicle. By recovering the device, the user can simply switch off the external antenna, which would only require a time of installation of the antenna.

The GPS data recorded can be viewed with Google Earth ® across a street map, satellite images or text in a report. These data, together with the LandAirSea 3100 included software allows you to determine precisely when the driver has traveled, how quickly led, where it stopped and for how long. And although these devices are very sensitive, which still adhere to the principles of GPS reception.

Standard Features of the L.A.S. 3100 ext GPS tracking system

* Powered by four AA batteries
* Supports strong magnetic for installation inside or outside the vehicle
* Water Resistant