Trimble and u-Nav Microelectronics Corp. today announced that the companies have forged an alliance to jointly develop and market integrated GPS chipsets and software solutions. The new solutions will incorporate Trimble’s proven core GPS software and u-Nav’s ultra low-power GPS chipsets. The combined solutions are expected to be the lowest power, smallest size, highest performance and most cost-effective chipsets on the market for portable electronic manufacturers.
As part of this alliance, Trimble will be licensing GPS software and providing technical support and training to customers using the combined chipset and software solutions. Trimble’s core GPS software is currently shipping in embedded, automotive and timing products. Trimble core GPS software provides both stand-alone and assisted GPS (A-GPS) operation. The software includes Trimble’s tightly integrated Kalman Filter that supports Trimble’s optional sensor assisted (dead reckoning) algorithms. The parties expect to finalize a definitive agreement within the next three months.
u-Nav’s patented semiconductor platform is based on an all CMOS design and features a filter search (acquisition) engine, combined with an advanced tracking engine that permits an extremely small, low-cost GPS architecture for devices.
The u-Nav chipset is utilized by a variety of companies including two of the highest volume electronics manufacturers in Korea and Japan.
