Zano is a portable aerial photography and video platform designed for consumers that measures 65 x 65 millimeters and weighs 55 grams. Torquing Group, who is developing Zano with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign, said that Zano’s ability to fly autonomously will provide new possibilities for users seeking to capture images and videos. The drones can even be programmed to swarm.
Tag: Nano Spider
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Tiny Zano Drone Takes Flight
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OriginGPS Nano Module Powers Tiny Zano Drone
What flies, takes selfies and fits in the palm of your hand? The tiny Zano drone.
Zano is a portable aerial photography and video platform designed for consumers that measures 65 x 65 millimeters and weighs 55 grams. Torquing Group, who is developing Zano with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign, said that Zano’s ability to fly autonomously will provide new possibilities for users seeking to capture images and videos. The drones can even be programmed to swarm.
Zano’s location capabilities are powered by OriginGPS’ Nano Hornet, a tiny GPS module with an integrated antenna. Measuring just 10 x 10 x 3.44 millimeters, the Nano Hornet delivers performance and sensitivity with low power consumption. It achieves a rapid time to first fix of less than one second, with approximately one meter accuracy and -163 dBm tracking sensitivity. Because it detects changes in context, temperature, and satellite signals, it achieves a state of near continuous availability, while consuming mere microwatts of battery power.
The Zano connects directly with smart devices (iOS or Android) via onboard Wi-Fi to upload and share images or videos instantly. With the help of OriginGPS, Zano is able to know exactly where it is in relation to a smart device, even when powered off. Through a virtual tether, Zano will echo any movement made by the smart device it is synced to, with simple gesture control. A user will be able to control multiple Zanos from one device, enabling photographs and video of the same event from multiple vantage points.
Zano is also able to function in a “free flight” mode, which uses on-screen joysticks for an experience similar to a regular RC-operated UAV. OriginGPS’ location capabilities allow Zano to know if it is getting too far from its corresponding smart device and automatically return. Likewise, it is able to recognize its distance from the smart device and maintain that distance in “follow me” mode.
Since 2008, Torquing Group has developed small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the military and defense industry.
To further push the boundaries of GPS modules designed to be small, agile and light weight, OriginGPS introduced the Nano Spider integrated GPS receiver in November. The Nano Spider module is designed to support ultra-compact applications where size is at a premium, such as smart watches, wearable devices, trackers and digital cameras. Like the Nano Hornet, it packs a wide range of functionality into its small form factor, including dual-stage LNA, RF LDO, SAW filter, TCXO, RTC crystal and RF shield with market-leading SiRFstarIV GPS SoC.
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OriginGPS Launches Nano Spider for Wearables, Watches
The Nano Spider by OriginGPS. Photo: OriginGPS OriginGPS has launched the Nano Spider, a tiny yet fully integrated GPS receiver. The Nano Spider module is designed to support ultra-compact applications where size is at a premium, such as smart watches, wearable devices, trackers and digital cameras.
OriginGPS, which previously introduced the Micro Spider (5.6 x 5.6 mm) module, said the Nano Spider is 47 percent smaller than its previous solutions, measuring 4 x 4 x 2.1 mm. The Nano Spider’s proprietary structure is a multi-level circuit for surface mounting, built to reduce footprint size.
“The wearable technology trend requires components that balance a small size with high-performance and best-in-class power consumption,” said Gal Jacobi, CEO of OriginGPS. “OriginGPS aims to continue to shrink the size of components, while increasing features to make adding location functionality possible for every device.”
OriginGPS’ Nano Spider continuously tracks all GPS satellites in view and provides real-time positioning data in the standard industry format defined by the U.S. National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA). The Nano Spider offers a complete System in Package (SiP) that includes:
- Fully integrated features – The Nano Spider includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, temperature controlled crystal oscillator (TCXO) and real-time clock (RTC) crystal, a power management unit, and radio frequency (RF) shielding.
- Superior sensitivity and performance – The Nano Spider module offers accuracy of approximately one meter, and achieves a rapid time to first fix of less than one second and tracking sensitivity of -163 dBm.
- Continuous connectivity with minimal power consumption – It achieves a state of near continuous availability by detecting changes in context, temperature and satellite signals by maintaining and opportunistically updating its internal fine time, frequency, and satellite data, while consuming microwatts of battery power.
- Improving marginal signal conditions – It includes OriginGPS’ proprietary Noise Free Zone (NFZ) system to increase noise immunity even under marginal signal conditions, such as urban canyons, under dense foliage or a rapidly changing receiver position.
To see a demo of the Nano Spider and Nano Hornet modules, visit OriginGPS’ booth (Hall A4 Booth 271) at Electronica 2014 in Munich, Germany.