Turning OMAP-based mobile devices into GPS receivers

Rehovot, Israel, January 1, 2007 - CellGuide Ltd., a provider of integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) solutions, has successfully demonstrated its CGX5900 GPS co-processor running with TI’s popular OMAP family of application processors. The specific OMAP processor used was the 1510, running at 126 MHz.

The CGX5900 is a powerful, low cost GPS co-processor that turns an OMAP-based device into a high sensitivity GPS receiver. The CGX5900 takes input from CellGuide’s CGA3100 RF front-end, and turns that input into standard NMEA position data that can be used by navigation software or other positioning applications running on the OMAP processor. The CGX5900 sets a new benchmark in price-performance by providing industry-leading GPS performance at a previously unheard of low unit price. Power consumption is only 5 mW and the chip size is only 5 mm x 5 mm.

The CGX5900 co-processor connects to the OMAP processor via an SPI bus. The CGX5900 software running on the OMAP processor takes input from the CGX5900 co-processor chip and provides standard NMEA output.

The CGX5900 host software provides a powerful, yet simple API for fast integration of the CGX5900 into the OMAP environment during design-in, and precise control of the GPS during operation. The CGX5900 host software is compatible with a wide variety of O/S’s such as Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Symbian, Linux, and commonly used RTOS. The CGX5900 software uses a minimum of host resources, so that the GPS can run in the background while other applications run on the host processor.   

For GPS RF down conversion, CellGuide offers its highly integrated CGA3100 RF front-end.  The CGA3100 provides industry-leading down conversion performance with unprecedented power savings with a very small 5 mm x 5 mm footprint. The CGX5900 and CGA3100 are designed for fast integration. CellGuide also offers device manufacturers a full range of support and design-in services related to GPS integration. Please see Design Support for more details.

The CGX5900 together with CellGuide’s CGA3100 RF front-end is a breakthrough GPS solution that drastically reduces the unit cost of adding high-end GPS functionality. Now it is possible to economically add high performance GPS to OMAP-based mass-market products.