Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. displayed a one cubic centimeter global positioning system (GPS) receiver module at the 9th ITS World Congress which was held in Chicago from Oct. 14-17.
The existing module the company developed in 2000 was three cubic centimeters, and the newly unveiled module is the smallest in the world of this kind, according to the company.
The new module can be incorporated in such appliances as personal digital assistants, watches, digital cameras, and videocassette recorders with a camera, not to mention in car navigation systems. It will be put on the market in November, in addition to exclusive use by the Matsushita Group.
The new module has a mass of 1.5g, while the mass of the previous module is 7g. It has a positioning time of 50 seconds vs. 60 seconds of the previous module. The position time is 35 seconds vs. 40 seconds if more than two hours elapse after electricity is turned off. Likewise, eight seconds vs. 15 seconds if less than two hours transpires after turning off the electricity, and three seconds vs. 15 seconds if less than five minutes goes by after turning off the electricity. The power supply voltage of the new module is 3 volts, whereas the previous module needs 3.3 volts.
