With the combination of CSR’s SiRFstarIV chip set, a patch antenna and an SMT design, Maestro Wireless addresses the needs of many customers: fast implementation of complete GPS functionality along with high sensitivity, low power consumption, minimum design effort and cost-efficient assembly. The new GPS antenna module A2035-H, a flash-based design with an antenna perfectly tuned to the module itself, offers the extraordinary navigation capability and low power modes of the SiRFstarIV chipset allowing seamless integration into many portable devices for applications such as fleet management, asset-, vehicle- or personal tracking, people monitoring, and more. Atlantik Elektronik starts offering modules and evaluation kits as of November already.
With the GPS module A2035-H Maestro Wireless continues the successful combination of CSR’s SiRFstar technology and specifically tuned patch antennas on one design. All you need for full functionality, high sensitivity down to –163dBm in tracking mode, and with short time to a fix, is voltage supply (at a convenient 3.3V level), a serial interface, and a GPIO (ON/OFF) for controlling the module. This, along with low current draw of below 25mA during tracking and extremely low current draw down to about 50µA in micro power mode, where the module is ready to provide a hot start within a few seconds, makes the module attractive for many applications.
As jamming – either intentionally from an external source or unintentionally for example through a harmonic of other integrated circuits – can highly affect the capability to provide a GPS position, the chip set can detect and remove up to eight in-band jammers. The flash-based design comes with the latest 4.1.0 firmware and can be updated for later versions. Another inherent feature of the SiRFstarIV chip is the internal predictive calculation of the satellite data, called Client Generated Extended Ephemeris. With these data stored in flash, this shortens the time to first fix after a period in hibernate mode. Waking up, the receiver will still exactly know where the satellites are and can therefore provide position information quite instantly. The module is also prepared for interfacing to MEMS, micro electro mechanical systems, with accelerometer or gyro functionality via a dedicated I2C bus. In the future this will add to improved position availability and accuracy. As the nature of many applications is outdoor, the full temperature range of -40 to +85°C is supported. A first but deep impression can be gained with the according evaluation boards. These boards are connected via USB to a PC and the accompanying SiRFlive tool allows easiest use of all different modes as well as statistic analysis. The A2025-H is the second representative of SiRFstarIV-based designs from Maestro Wireless. For applications with a more remote internal or an external antenna, the A2100-A is the obvious solution. The GPS antenna module A2035-H as well as the evaluation board EVA2035-H are available at Atlantik Elektronik.
