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GPS : September - October 1999
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Lassen™ LP GPS module
Trimble and Solectron Finalize Manufacturing Agreement
Trimble Launches GPS Clock
GPS for less than $100
GPS coming soon in fleet management
Keep Tabs on Cabs
Satellite glitch may hit many
Lassen™ LP GPS module
Low Power GPS
Trimble has introduced the lowest power GPS - Lassen™ LP GPS module for portable applications. GPS positioning at only 3.3 volts, and is made available from June 1999. The module was designed specifically for system integrators developing next generation portable devices such as PDAs, notebook computers, cellular phones, data recorders, in-car navigation and vehicle tracking systems. Trimble’s Lassen LP GPS power management tools offer two operating modes, the Cycle Track™ mode that allows the developer to reduce the GPS data rate to save battery life, and the Schedule Track™ that allows the developers to power up and quickly acquire satellites to give GPS position data according to a schedule.
Trimble and Solectron Finalize Manufacturing Agreement
Three Years agreement
Trimble, a world leader in designing and developing innovative products enabled by GPS technology, and Solectron Corporation, that provides integrated solutions that span the entire product life, jointly announced on 11 Aug.’99 the signing of a definitive agreement for Solectron to assume full manufacturing responsibility of Trimble’s Global Positioning System (GPS) and related radio frequency (RF) technology products for the next three years.
Trimble Launches GPS Clock
Micro-Second Synchronization of Network Computers and Internet Applications
Trimble introduced its Palisade(TM) NTP Synchronization Kit - a high-performance, cost-effective reference time source that precisely synchronizes computers, servers and internet applications using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Trimble’s Palisade NTP can be used to synchronize any time-dependent system or application including certified time stamping for financial and e-commerce transactions, audio and visual data streaming, enterprise networks, enhancement of network security and administration, billing for internet service providers, network router and switch synchronization. Palisade NTP Synchronization Kit is available now through Trimble’s sales organization. Web:http://www.trimble.com
GPS for less than $100
Rand McNally’s GPS Receiver and StreetFinder Deluxe 1999 Software is the least expensive Global Positioning System device available, for just under $100.
GPS coming soon in fleet management
With this on, you will never get lost
A Bangalore-based software and systems company has indigenously developed possibly the world’s smallest GPS (Global Positing System) Board that is smaller than even the credit card. This board can be comfortably placed inside the shirt pocket. According to J. M. Sundaresan, the managing director of Accord Software and Systems that has developed the indigenous GPS Board, the positioning system has mind-boggling uses. For instance, it is used extensively in fleet management. The police and security forces, in general, seem to have been the first to go in for GPS as it serves their purpose very well. The system is so impeccable that the history of each vehicle’s movement is recorded in the computer. In the event of a traffic obstruction in the city, GPS-fitted vehicles can be advised to take alternate routes.
Keep Tabs on Cabs
GPS Taxi in Delhi
Delhi government plans to introduce a radio-taxi service in the city. It invited private taxi-operators to obtain licences and run this service. Five operators are reported to have already secured licences. As the fare is high: Rs 15-20 per km, few takers are expected to avail the service. Procall, a Motorola-Punware joint-venture and a leading radio-trunking service provider, is working on the implementation of the government’s proposal. For the taxis they are planning to integrate a radio-trunking system with other sophisticated technology. Plans are also there to incorporate GPS which can pinpoint the exact location of each taxi and relay it to the control room where it will be displayed on a digital map of the city. The company that owns a fleet of automobiles fit the GPS and can monitor online movement of the vehicle. So, no driver can fib as to what he was doing during the day in the vehicle. The hi-tech systems will, seemingly, wield total control over the movement of the taxis and their drivers.
Satellite glitch may hit many
Rollover could upset tranmission of data
In the early hours of August 22 (Indian time), the 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which provide navigational data from 11,000 miles out in space, switch their timing system back to zero. This is because when the GPS started operating in January 1980, it was designed to record time for 1,024 weeks. Experts say that when the "rollover", or return to zero, happens, at 23:59: 47 GTM on Aug. 21, up to 1.5 million of the ten to 15-million GPS navigational devices in use around the world may be unable to handle it and fail, or start producing dangerously unreliable data. Receivers measures the time taken for a radio signal to travel from the satellites to gauge location. Rollover could upset tranmission of data, "if a GPS receiver has difficulty in determining the correct date before, during and after this rollover, it may process data incorrectly. In fact, users who depend on GPS data for geographic locations on land, at sea or in the air, could face serious safety hazards," said John Lovell, Director of Quality at Trimble Navigation.
It is not just leisure activities that are under threat. Businesses such as power and telephone utilities, and even international banking, use the GPS to establish accurate timing of some processes.
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