TomTom, global supplier of location and navigation products and services, is extending its partnership with Telenav. TomTom will provide mapping data for Scout, Telenav’s daily personal navigator. Additionally, TomTom will remain the provider of map content for Telenav-powered Sprint applications.
Scout, currently available on the iPhone, provides personalized information that includes navigation directions, optimal departure time and things to do at the destination. Together, Telenav and TomTom will provide up-to-date map content to Scout customers. All Sprint customers will also continue to have access to TomTom maps via Scout.
“We believe the new contract with Telenav is an endorsement of our high quality maps,” said Anders Truelsen of TomTom. “We are pleased that Scout users will be able to experience the added value of our rich map content.”
“Our goal is to always provide a reliable and easy-to-use service for our customers,” said Hassan Wahla of Telenav. “We are pleased to extend our agreement with TomTom because of its parallel focus and commitment to high-quality map content.”
The In-Location Alliance was launched August 23 by 22 companies across location industries to drive innovation and market adoption of high-accuracy indoor positioning and related services.
Accurate indoor positioning opens up plenty of possibilities for new mobile services. For a consumer this could mean, for example, receiving directions to the right products and personalized product promotions in nearby shops; using real-time navigation inside a building; finding the precise location of assets and people; and even increasing security in emergency situations. For facility owners and local service providers this could enable, for example, increased local customer identification; enhanced product placement; and better customer satisfaction by deploying resources when and where needed.
The alliance will focus on creating solutions offering high accuracy, low power consumption, mobility, implementability, and usability. It will create an ecosystem that stimulates innovation, enhances service delivery, and accelerates the adoption of solutions and technologies that optimize the mobile experience, the companies said.
Founding members include: Broadcom, CSR, Dialog Semiconductor, Eptisa, Geomobile, Genasys, Indra, Insiteo, Nokia, Nomadic Solutions, Nordic Semiconductor, Nordic Technology Group, NowOn, Primax Electronics, Qualcomm, RapidBlue Solutions, Samsung Electronics, Seolane Innovation, Sony Mobile Communications, TamperSeal AB, Team Action Zone and Visioglobe.
Alliance members will pilot the most promising services and use cases from a business and solution point of view. The other important task for the Alliance is to ensure a multivendor environment by promoting open interfaces and a standard-based approach.
Alliance members are encouraged to execute their own pilots and present their data to the Alliance. The primary solutions will be based on enhanced Bluetooth 4.0 low-energy technology and Wi-Fi standards using relevant existing or coming features of those technologies. These technologies are commonly used in mobile handsets and are thus a natural starting point for the Alliance’s efforts.
Pre-commercial pilots and business model verifications will start in 2012, while 2013 is expected to bring mobile handset-based implementation enabling the first consumer applications in the indoor mobile environment.
The Alliance says: “The aim of the In-Location Alliance is to act as a pioneer opening up new business streams for indoor environments. Indoor positioning is the next frontier of mobile services, offering great opportunities to enhance consumer experiences. For the benefit of enterprises, the Alliance will drive a world-wide indoor positioning system for use in major venues. Our pilots, along with technical evaluations, are paramount for driving rapid market adoption.”
Patrick Connolly from ABI Research says: “The indoor location market sits on the cusp of a wave, with the market set to reach a significant number of installations in 2015-2017. With a huge number of proprietary technologies vying for position, the establishment of the In-Location Alliance can encourage innovation, lower costs and, ultimately, widespread adoption of standard based technologies and solutions.”
Naysayers still exist when talking about the emerging indoor positioning market. They say that the market is still too nascent — and the technology is sub par and not there yet. However, there are just too many atmospherics, and big companies getting involved in indoor positioning development, to brush it off as another technology fad. The recent announcement that 22 companies are combining to come up with standards is a good example. Mainstream media articles touting the new market also are spearheading development and consumer interest. Still, how can you start an industry group and talk standards and markets without the two largest players?
In a move that indicates that there is a strong market, 22 companies recently partnered to create the In-Location Alliance. The new group, which includes Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Sony Mobile, aims to improve and expand indoor positioning and related services.
Google, which has been the dominant player in location markets, was noticeably absent. Google has partnered with large retail chains and has mapped many indoor malls, airports and other facilities to help drive the market with its Google Maps for Android 6.0.
Another company apparently not part of the alliance is Apple, which recently ended its location data partnership with Google. Apple is launching its iOS 6 operating system update, called Maps for iOS, which features 100 million business listings and Yelp recommendations.
In a prepared statement, the group said it welcomes the addition of any new member “who is ready to further investigate business opportunities in indoor location-based services and sees value and benefits in industry collaboration.”
The In-Location Alliance says it will go after both the consumer and enterprise location markets, even though both have technical and market limitations for indoor positioning. The group said services it will focus on include real-time navigation inside buildings, directions to personalized products and promotions inside retail stores and malls, asset and employee location, customer identification, and security solutions.
Because the technology is widely available on smartphones, the alliance will focus its products on enhanced Bluetooth 4.0 technology and Wi-Fi to develop mobile services as a starting point.
The allied companies say they will conduct pre-commerical pilot programs and business model verifications later this year in order to launch handset-based applications next year.
Other members of the In-Location Alliance include Broadcom, CSR, Dialog Semiconductor, Eptisa, Geomobile, Genasys, Indra, Insiteo, Nomadic Solutions, Nordic Semiconductor, Nordic Technology Group, NowOn, Primax Electronics, RapidBlue Solutions, Seolane Innovation, TamperSeal, Team Action Zone and Visioglobe.
Nokia also has been developing indoor positioning systems that use 3D models, rather than 2D floor plans. Broadcom released a chip that supports indoor positioning through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even NFC.
Mainstream publications such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today have written articles about indoor positioning as a potential burgeoning market. The articles say such big brands as Target, Walgreens and Home Depot are implementing indoor positioning and marketing strategies. Walgreens is partnering with Aisle411, which offers an application with 9,000 store maps.
Mapping Services Now on New Kindle Fire
The next model of Kindle Fire, Amazon’s tablet, will have mapping services installed as part of a deal with Nokia. What is noticeable is that it does not have location technology from Google, which is strange as it is the Android mobile operating system that powers the Kindle Fire. Published sources say Amazon will announce the agreement this month.
As our sister publication Wireless Pulse reported, Competitor Barnes & Noble recently adopted OpenStreetMap, through Berlin-based Skobbler’s ForeverMap 2 app, to allow developers to create Nook applications with location functionality later this year, according to published sources.
While the Nook line of products are Wi-Fi enabled, they lack pure play GPS capability. Although Nook devices don’t have 3G or 4G access of smartphones, it is a step toward developing location capability.
A basic version is free on the Nook, and a premium version costs $4.99. The Nook units with the location capability include the Nook Color and Nook Tablets.
Both the Kindle and Nook have one common thread — their parent companies opted not to go with Google Maps. Is the location giant taking notice?
20 Years of Covering Location Technology
September 2012 marks my 20th year of writing about the business of location technology. In 1992, the big GPS companies (Trimble, Garmin, Ashtech, Sony, Magellan, Rockwell) were trying to develop consumer applications that were evolving from their military technology developed for the recently concluded Gulf War.
Most of the news back then was in the form of government contracts, and some survey agreements, or evolving policy about GPS. It turns out that the consumer side was being developed not by the GPS industry, but intelligent transportation industry providers through the digital mapping companies Etak (now TomTom) and Navigation Technologies (now Nokia).
While the terms “telematics” and location-based services were not being used in 1992, some companies saw the potential for big dollars incorporating positioning technology into mobile phones. I wrote an article in October 1992 headlined “Rockwell Says GPS in Cellular Phones Means Big Business.” I quoted a few industry consultants at that time who said that they had doubts that it would be a big market because of the cost and size of the GPS chipset, antenna issues, and consumer acceptance. The big deal about putting GPS into cell phones was to meet an FCC enhanced 911 requirement, but that happened a few years later.
Such companies as Motorola brought the name “telematics” to North America and attempted to jump-start the market here. At least one industry executive never liked the word telematics, saying it was a “Stalinist” word.
While companies have come and gone, and the technology has evolved to a point that commoditization is pervasive, the promise of location technology and markets will still be strong. Companies and individuals have made fortunes and lost them in the location industry, but one thing for sure — it has never been boring covering and writing about the business and people.
Styling for consumer usage has progressively miniaturized of the antenna package to tiny dimensions compared to a free-space wavelength, even as devices with these miniscule antennas are designed to work close to the absorbent tissues of the user’s body and in the electromagnetic maelstrom of city street levels. GNSS antennas have responded with significant advances.
The selection of the GNSS antenna, especially for small portable wireless devices, demands careful consideration of how it will interact with its expected environment. A physical appreciation can explain how many impairment factors can actually have a common cause: often the effect of human body-loading. This explanation starts with a counter-intuitive foundation: though the GNSS receiver does not transmit signals, for the sake of clarity we invoke the law of reciprocity and proceed with the conceptual thinking that the antenna is radiating outwards. This gives us a basis for understanding the causal physics of how the antenna shares energy with the immediate environment.
We can visualize the basic radiating action of the antenna by recognizing that it is a resonant component. We must consider what exactly is in resonance, because the antenna designer has two different design options. In the self-resonant configuration, the antenna can be considered to be resonating autonomously, forming the entire dipole of the antenna within the antenna body. Here, dimensions and topological structure act in conjunction with reflecting and absorbing features surrounding it to define where and how the antenna radiates.
In the second or probe antenna case, a larger radiating space can be configured by resonating the antenna with the housing together. The antenna typically forms a monopole counterpoised by currents and voltages in the housing. Here, the topology of the radiating system (antenna and housing) acts in conjunction with the near environment to define the radiation pattern.
The value of distinguishing these two configurations is clearly reflected in the contrast between their behaviors with regard to radiation efficiencies in different uses. We conducted an experiment with three example antennas. Each antenna was installed in as common a package format as was practically feasible to model the top portion of a slim-line demonstration platform, with dimensions typical of consumer devices and containing a conductive chassis 55 millimeters wide. Obviously, a probe antenna must be installed in a chassis in order to function, and this directed the experimental approach to be structured around a similar-housing methodology.
The probe antenna was a small metal and ceramic chip, and we compared its performance with a small microstrip patch antenna mounted horizontally in a broader but otherwise similar housing, and a hexafilar antenna mounted in an identically dimensioned housing. Strictly, the microstrip antenna is a single terminal element, but it can be considered as self-resonant as the resonance fields are very tightly constrained. Figure 1 plots the radiation efficiencies for benign free-space conditions (without body-loading) together, as frequency responses.
Figure 1. Frequency response of radiated efficiency in unloaded (free-space conditions) and mounted in similar housings (ground-plane width 55mm).
In benign open-field conditions the probe antenna has excellent efficiency performance and superior bandwidth compared to the two self-resonant configurations. Conversely, the self-resonant antennas (patch and hexafilar) have similarly narrow frequency-response bandwidths and lower efficiencies. We will show how it is important to repeat the test for realistic use scenarios that determine how close the antenna will be juxtaposed to the user’s biological tissues before concluding that the probe antenna is the best solution.
Antenna studies have shown that the bandwidth reduces very rapidly as the resonant volume of the antenna reduces. This accounts for the reduction in bandwidth shown in Figure 1 for the self-resonant antennas (microstrip patch and hexafilar) with respect to the probe antenna (chip). In the case of the probe, the resonant structure is the entire metal chassis of the device (in this case the circuit-board ground-plane) so that the resonant volume of the resonating system is much larger than those of the self-resonant structures.
To analyze the behavior of antennas in different use scenarios, it helps to consider the nature of resonance in antennas: open fields, with equal time average amounts of electric and magnetic field energy oscillating in space. These fields, induced by the time-varying voltage potentials and currents in the antenna, can launch a radiating wave into space because time-varying electromagnetic fields can carry or displace energy. We need to appreciate that this volume is where the so-called reactance fields exist, where field oscillations function as a sort of pump that propagates the electromagnetic wave. The antenna induces those fields in a configuration that manages the propagation of waves in useful directions and with desired polarization.
Any invasion of the reactance field region will disrupt this process and cause impairment. Whilst obstruction of the radiating fields far away from the antenna will just cause a masking effect, a similar obstruction in the reactance-field region can disrupt the basic process of generating radiation. The density of fields in the reactance field region is much higher than would be implied by the straightforward application of the inverse square law.
Use Near the Body
We evaluated the antenna types, installed in packages as thin as test antenna dimensions allow, to draw conclusions as to how they might operate in slim-line consumer devices held close to the user’s body. Figure 2 shows CAD diagrams of the three antennas installed in their respective test packages.
Figure 2. Antenna test housings for the chip antenna (left), patch antenna (middle) and hexafilar antenna (right). The housings were constructed to have a height of 26mm, a width of 60mm and a depth of 11 mm for the chip antenna and the hexafilar antenna and of 20.5mm for the patch antenna. In all cases the horizontal width extent of the printed circuit board (with continuous copper ground-plane on at least one side) was set at 55mm.
Consumer devices have drawn antenna technologies from traditional GNSS applications as well as from terrestrial mobile telephone origins. The overall evolution combines adaptation of the circularly polarized technologies (multi-filar and microstrip patch) into smaller body-loaded platforms with insufficient space for effective ground-planes, together with adaptation of the art of low-cost cellular-telephone embedded antenna technologies that were never developed for circular polarization. Taking our three solutions in their embedded test platforms, we can appraise their body-loaded efficiencies by testing them juxtaposed to a phantom head, providing a means of assessing impairment due to body-loading.
The phantom head in the loading experiment was filled with a tissue simulating liquid conforming to requirements for specific energy absorption measurements according to CENELEC and IEEE procedures. Comparing the antenna efficiencies for open-field conditions (Figure 1) and body-loaded conditions (Figure 3), reveals impairment to antenna efficiency in all three cases, with the most severe loss of approximately 80 percent by the chip antenna.
Figure 3. Combination of FFT-based acquisition with FDAF.
The self-resonant antennas suffered less impairment: approximately 30 percent reduction for the patch and 65 percent for the hexafilar antenna. The probe’s significant loss of efficiency is typical of this class of antennas, as the resonant fields are heavily loaded by the phantom head. The peak efficiency for this chip antenna has tuned downwards in frequency as the dielectric loading effect of the head-phantom introduced a regime of net higher relative dielectric constant (εr) into the resonance field region of the antenna system.
By contrast, the self-resonant antennas did not tune down in frequency as they were brought into proximity with the phantom head. This indicates that the resonance fields were not offered to the dielectric materials of the head phantom to an extent that materially changed the relative dielectric constant (εr).
Nevertheless, there is a significant difference between the impairment that develops between the patch and hexafilar cases as body-loading is applied, with the hexafilar solution losing more radiation efficiency than the patch antenna. There are two explanations for this difference.
The first is that the patch housing is simply larger, with a greater depth required to accommodate the patch antenna horizontally at the top of the device housing. On average this larger housing size spaces the resonant fields further from the phantom and from the lossy simulated head tissues.
The second explanation offers an insight into the symbiotic relationship between the hexafilar antenna and the demonstration platform’s vertically orientated housing. The horizontal ground-plane required for the patch antenna is inconvenient from the style and total integration cost point of view, but also ineffective as a ground-plane as it lacks sufficient width in a device styled to minimize depth. In this scenario the patch antenna is not getting much reflection uplift from the ground-plane; therefore there is little impairment when the device is body-loaded.
The hexafilar solution is designed to benefit from reflective uplift from the vertically disposed ground-plane of the device. This property is convenient for device packaging because it allows the hexafilar antenna to be integrated at a device corner. The installation of a large and effective vertically oriented ground-plane for the hexafilar case is, by contrast, highly convenient and potentially more cost-effective. When the device is not body-loaded, reflections from the vertically disposed ground-plane uplift the gain and efficiency of the hexafilar antenna. The important advantage over the chip antenna (which is also convenient for space-constrained designs) is that for the self-resonant hexafilar antenna, the frequency of resonance does not change for open-field and body-loaded cases.
Polarization, Pattern, Positioning
Sufficient data has now been presented to make an antenna selection on the basis of efficiency and styling. The probe antenna in the guise of a chip antenna provided the highest radiation efficiency in free-space, comparable radiation efficiency to the hexafilar antenna in a body-loaded use scenario, and the small physical size supports compact product designs. However, for GNSS applications we must consider wave polarization, especially if there is multipath scattering. GNSS systems employ right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) and ideally should use antennas with hemisphereically omni-directional antennas. The zenith gain of a circularly polarized antenna is expected to be 3dB higher than that of a linearly polarized antenna of the same efficiency.
If a GNSS terminal is equipped with an omni-directional but linearly polarized antenna, it can receive circularly polarized signals from all directions (albeit with a spatial average 3dB polarization loss). However, the positioning performance of such a terminal will be compromised because a linearly polarized antenna cannot discriminate between RHCP or LHCP, and reflections change the direction of spin of the circularly polarized wave.
More color to the subjects of polarization, pattern, and consequential GNSS accuracy can be gained by focussing on the operation of the dielectric-loaded hexafilar antenna, as an example of a small antenna. Figure 4 shows the measured RHCP and LHCP elevation patterns of an exemplary small hexafilar antenna. These are excellent examples of the signature cardiod pattern shapes of good circular polarization antennas, but they point in opposite boresight directions. A dipole rotating anti-clockwise (viewed from above) in a plane would simultaneously excite a RHCP cardiod elevation pattern in the upwards direction and an oppositely directed, but otherwise similar, LHCP cardiod pattern downwards. If the antenna has no ground-plane and the dipole rotation is planar, the power of the upward RHCP and downward LHCP responses are equal. However, the dielectrically-loaded hexafilar antenna is a synthesis of a small travelling-wave upwardly spiralling dipole, emulating the axial-mode of a helical antenna. As the electrical size of such an antenna is increased, the area of the upwardly directed RHCP pattern progressively increases, and the area of the downwardly directed LHCP pattern progressively reduces. The antenna’s dielectric core enables this right-to-left discrimination within dimensions that are very much smaller than a free-space wavelength of the GNSS signal.
Figure 4. RHCP and LHCP elevation for small dielectrically loaded hexafilar antenna (with no ground-plane).
We can describe the polarization sorting behavior of the small dielectrically loaded antenna in figure 4 as follows. GNSS signals direct from the space vehicles will arrive in the directions of the upper hemisphere of the patterns where the highest sensitivity of the antenna to RHCP is deployed. GNSS signals bounced from a reflective object may also arrive in these upper hemisphere directions, but with reversed polarization: LHCP. In these directions the antenna has a very much lower sensitivity to LHCP, and the GNSS receiving process will accord a low value on these signals that as a result of the low antenna gain will be assessed as relatively noisy.
Signals that arrive at the antenna from directions in the lower hemisphere will certainly have reflected from the ground surface (assuming that the antenna is held upright). These reflected left-hand polarized signals may have been attenuated by absorption losses of materials present on ground surfaces and also reduced in GNSS receiver process weighting by the antenna’s discrimination in favor of RHCP.
RHCP and LHCP Gain
Whilst appraisal of antenna patterns is certainly the most important method for assessing the performance of antennas in different use scenarios, it is nevertheless difficult to report accurately because the three-dimensional data-set is inevitably complex. To provide a meaningful physical basis for discriminating performance between the test antennas for open-field and body-loaded, we propose a single parameter: cross-pole rejection at zenith as one which is directly relevant to GNSS accuracy in a multi-path environment. Figure 5 plots the right hand and left hand comparative frequency responses for open-field and body-loaded use scenarios. Table 1 summarizes these responses.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 5. RHCP and LHCP frequency responses at the zenith direction for conditions of free-space and body-loading. From top to bottom: a) open-field conditions and RHCP, b) open-field conditions and LHCP, c) body-loaded conditions and RHCP, and d) body-loaded conditions and LHCP.Table 1. RHCP to LHCP gain ratio at the zenith direction (θ=0, φ=0) at GPS L1 center frequency (1.575.42 GHz).
In open field, the chip antenna does not have a gain advantage for right-hand versus left-hand polarization and also suffers the highest impairment in gain when body-loading is applied. In this test there is an advantage in favor of RHCP gain for the body-loaded test scenario, but we presume this depends on the mounting position of this particular probe antenna on the test device. Perhaps a mounting position towards the left of the assembly might have incurred a disadvantage of similar magnitude?
The patch antenna has an excellent RHCP over LHCP advantage in open-field conditions, but this advantage diminishes when this solution is body-loaded. This is the least gain-impacted solution as presumably the horizontal ground-plane and much greater device width produce a relatively low body-loading impact.
The most interesting result concerns the hexafilar antenna, for which the RHCP to LHCP advantage actually improved in the body-loaded test scenario. As this device had the same depth, one might have expected it to sustain a body-loading impairment similar to that of the chip antenna, but due to the self-resonant character of the hexafilar element the loss in gain (in this zenith direction) was actually only slightly greater than that of the patch antenna.
The hexafilar element’s CP performance is distorted by the lack of circular symmetry of the vertical ground-plane; therefore in open field this direction has a relatively modest RHCP to LHCP gain advantage of about 5dB. However, when the device containing the hexafilar antenna solution is body-loaded, the re-radiation from reflections from the circuit-board are heavily damped by the phantom head. The radiating source is then predominantly the hexafilar self-resonant element that by design is not itself so significantly impacted by the body-loading scenario. This source is restored to a more autonomous circularly polarized form with an advantage of RHC versus LHCP gain in zenith direction, nearly 13.5dB.
Walk Tests
Free-space and body-loaded test data, together with arguments concerning polarization discrimination and multipath led to an hypothesis that the antennas with the best circular polarization performance should provide the highest GNSS positioning accuracy. We tested the three devices, worn against the lower torso where the body provides a relatively homogeneous dielectric medium, so that position data could be compared with a reference antenna mounted over a large overhead ground plane.
Many walk tests were conducted around different routes in London, which collectively demonstrate the value of circular-polarization discrimination as a key enabler for accurate street-level position determination. One segment (Figure 6) in the vicinity of an iconic tall London building commonly known as the Gherkin showed that, though the circularly polarized antennas closely followed the path of the reference antenna, the linearly polarized chip antenna produced an error of as much as 200 meters. It is possible that the dominant reflector in this case is the Gherkin itself.
Figure 6. Data, central London walk test.
Conclusions
The chip and hexafilar antennas could be integrated tightly into consumer device housings; both experienced gain uplift from the vertically disposed circuit-board ground-plane. The gain uplift from the chip antenna arose as the resonant volume of the device is enlarged as the device size is increased. The gain uplift from the hexafilar antenna arose as a result of constructive reflections from the circuit-board functioning as a vertical ground-plane.
The patch antenna was not the most convenient from the styling point of view because the depth was dictated by the size of the horizontally orientated patch. Consequently the housing was significantly thicker than for the chip and hexafilar solutions, and the patch antenna was not receiving significant uplift from reflections from the housing because the depth limitation constrained the ground-plane to ineffective dimensions.
In body-loaded tests, the chip and hexafilar antennas demonstrated roughly equal radiation efficiency, but the hexafilar provided a significant RHCP advantage. Higher right-hand circular gain was measured for the patch antenna; this was expected due to the greater depth of the housing to accommodate the patch antenna. Urban walk tests showed that the RHCP antennas provided the highest position accuracy.
Whilst the hexafilar antenna did experience some uplift due to reflections from the device circuit board, these were negated when the device was body-loaded. However, the distorting effects of the device ground-plane were also lost, so that the antenna’s advantage of RHCP over LHCP was improved in the body-loading condition.
The GNSS industry has advanced the miniaturization of polarization-controlled antennas for small body-loaded uses. This is gaining currency as enabling polarization diversity in 4G data-communication terminals.
Manufacturers
Sarantel SL1350 antenna was the hexafilar element under test.
Position data for all four devices was measured with Telit SE868 evaluation kits using CSR (now Samsung) SiRFstarIV chipset.
Oliver Leisten is chief technical officer and founder of Sarantel Limited, where Viktor Knobe worked as a student intern from Imperial College London.
Driven by increased demand from developed regions for high-end models, along with an unexpectedly strong push from emerging economies for lower-cost products, smartphones are expected to rise to account for the majority of global cellphone shipments in 2013—two years earlier than previously predicted, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.
Smartphone shipments in 2013 are forecast to account for 54 percent of the total cellphone market, up from 46 percent in 2012 and 35 percent in 2011, according to an IHS iSuppli Wireless Communications Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS. The year 2013 will mark the first time that smartphones will make up more than half of all cellphone shipments.
“This represents a major upgrade for the outlook compared to a year ago, when smartphones weren’t expected to take the lead until 2015,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS. “Over the past 12 months, smartphones have fallen in price, and a wider variety of models have become available, spurring sales of both low-end smartphones in regions like Asia-Pacific, as well as midrange to high-end phones in the United States and Europe. The solid expansion in both shipments and market share this year of smartphones will make them the leading type of mobile phone for the first time, and shipment growth in the double digits will continue for the next few years.”
By 2016, smartphones will represent 67.4 percent of the total cellphone market. Feature Phone Finale
While still accounting for less than 50 percent of the market this year, smartphones will become the single largest cellphone segment by the end of 2012, surpassing feature phones, reported IHI.The rise of smartphones to a plurality share this year means a fall from grace for feature phones, which are a grade above the most basic, low-cost entry-level phones but lack the sophisticated engineering and abundant functionality of smartphones. Feature phones commanded the wireless market as late as last year with 46 percent market share, but their portion will decrease to 41 percent this year, setting a trend of irreversible decline and progressive weakening in their numbers.
By 2016, feature phones will be confined to a market share of 28 percent—less than half the share of smartphones by that time.
A third type of phone, the entry-level and ultra-low-cost handset, will occupy the bottom tier of the market with approximately 14 percent share this year and end up with just 4.2 percent share by 2016.
Wireless Handsets Get Smart
As smartphones become ever more popular and affordable, they will become the focal point of the handset industry, IHS believes. Smartphones will deliver multifunctional capabilities that enhance experiences, while at the same time providing a hardware venue toward increasing average revenue per user, made possible through the extensive data use of smartphone owners.
Growth of the mobile applications development industry, which turns out innumerable applications on a variety of smartphone platforms, will also help maintain the continuing importance of the smartphone segment.
Market Segments into Low-end vs. Midrange/High-end Smartphones
The smartphone market is, in fact, made up of two segments—the midrange to high-end smartphone on the one hand, and low-end smartphones on the other. Already, manufacturers are introducing affordable low-end smartphones equipped with lower memory densities and a more limited feature set into developing countries and emerging markets, encouraging in these regions the use of data plans, which drive greater revenue. Low-end smartphone users will likely be first-time smartphone consumers, and will represent 43 percent of the total smartphone market by 2016.
In comparison, the midrange to high-end smartphone segment consists of users in the developed countries or in the more industrialized urban areas of some developing nations. This group of smartphone users will continue to outnumber their low-end smartphone counterparts, with more than 700 million midrange to high-end smartphone users forecast by 2016.
Apple and Google, now the two leading smartphone platforms, are the leaders in the space.
The intense competition in smartphone platforms has by now resulted in a few casualties, including Symbian from Nokia and WebOS from Palm. No longer will hardware capabilities be the sole determinant of success for smartphones moving forward, IHS believes, as victory in the marketplace will now also rely on many other important factors. These include software capability, a sleek and intuitive user interface, the variety of available applications, strong support from the developer community, and the strength and seamlessness of vertical integration.
Samsung of South Korea became the overall worldwide leader in handsets during the first quarter, displacing Nokia of Finland, which had occupied the top spot for well over a decade and is now at No. 2. U.S.-based Apple, China’s ZTE and LG Electronics, also of South Korea, rounded out the Top 5, accounting for 75.5 percent of all handset shipments—not just smartphones—during the first quarter, up marginally from 74.7 percent in the fourth quarter last year.
Researchers from Rice University unveiled a new multi-antenna technology that could help wireless providers keep pace with the voracious demands of data-hungry smartphones and tablets. The technology aims to dramatically increase network capacity by allowing cell towers to simultaneously beam signals to more than a dozen customers on the same frequency.
Details about the new technology, dubbed Argos, were presented at the Association for Computing Machinery's MobiCom 2012 wireless research conference in Istanbul. Argos is under development by researchers from Rice, Bell Labs and Yale University. A prototype built at Rice this year uses 64 antennas to allow a single wireless base station to communicate directly to 15 users simultaneously with narrowly focused directional beams.
Thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones and other data-hungry devices, the demand for mobile data is expected to grow 18-fold within the next five years. To meet demand, wireless carriers are scrambling to boost network capacity by installing more wireless base stations and shelling out billions of dollars for the rights to broadcast on additional frequencies.
In tests at Rice, Argos allowed a single base station to track and send highly directional beams to more than a dozen users on the same frequency at the same time. The upshot is that Argos could allow carriers to increase network capacity without acquiring more spectrum.
"The technical term for this is multi-user beamforming," said Argos project co-leader Lin Zhong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science at Rice. "The key is to have many antennas, because the more antennas you have, the more users you can serve."
Zhong said the theory for multi-user beamforming has been around for quite some time, but implementing technology has proven extremely difficult. Prior to Argos, labs struggled to roll out prototype test beds with a handful of antennas.
"There are all kinds of technical challenges related to synchronization, computational requirements, scaling up and wireless standards," he said. "People have really questioned whether this is practical, so it's significant that we've been able to create a prototype that actually demonstrates that this works."
Argos presents new techniques that allow the number of antennas on base stations to grow to unprecedented scales. The Argos prototype, which was built by Rice graduate student Clayton Shepard, uses an array of 64 antennas and off-the-shelf hardware — including several dozen open-access test devices called WARP boards that were invented at Rice's Center for Multimedia Communications. In tests, Argos was able to simultaneously beam signals to as many as 15 users on the same frequency. For wireless carriers, that performance would translate to more than a six-fold increase in network capacity. Zhong said the base-station design can be scaled up to work with hundreds of antennas and several dozen concurrent users, which would result in much higher capacity gains.
"There's also a big payoff in energy savings," Shepard said. "The amount of power you need for transmission goes down in proportion to the number of antennas you have. So in Argos' case, we need only about one-sixty-fourth as much energy to serve those 15 users as you would need with a traditional antenna."
Zhong and Shepard said Argos is at least five years away from being available on the commercial market. It would require new network hardware and a new generation of smartphones and tablets. It might also require changes in wireless standards. Those are big hurdles, but Zhong said the potential benefits of multi-user beamforming technology make it a very likely next big step for the wireless industry.
"The bandwidth crunch is here, and carriers need options," Zhong said. "They're going to pay close attention to any new technologies that may allow them to serve more customers with fewer resources."
Research co-authors include Hang Yu and Narendra Anand, both of Rice; Li Erran Li and Tom Marzetta, both of Bell Labs; and Yang Richard Yang of Yale University. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Bell Labs, Alcatel Lucent and the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research.
Polar, a heart-rate training technology company, has released the RC3 GPS wrist device, a new training device with fully integrated GPS.
The RC3 GPS has been developed to provide sports and fitness enthusiasts with an all-in-one training device with the GPS technology built in. Ergonomically designed, with naturally placed buttons, the RC3 GPS has a breathable wristband for maximum comfort, Polar said. Weighing 58 grams and measuring 1.37-centimeters in depth, the device has a huge digital display that makes it easy to read and customizable, allowing a user to display up to three rows of training data.
The RC3 GPS combines the latest GPS technology with “Smart Coaching” — training guidance and features developed by Polar over the last 35 years. The device contains a wide range of easy-to-use heart rate based features including “Sports Profile,” where users preselect a sport and can monitor intensity specific to the demands of that discipline, and “Training Benefit,” where instant intuitive feedback is given straight after exercise.
The RC3 GPS also includes the “Back to Start” GPS feature that directs users back to their starting point in the shortest distance possible. RC3 GPS users can now check out the more adventurous routes and explore them knowing that at the touch of a button they can be directed back to their starting place.
The RC3 GPS uses SiRFstar IV technology. It has a 250 mAH Li-Pol fixed rechargeable battery that allows users to train for up to 12 hours without the need to recharge.
Since 2005, Google has collaborated with hundreds of transit authorities around the world to make a comprehensive resource for millions of riders to find out which bus, train, subway, or tram can take them to their next destination. Today, Google Maps reports it has public transportation schedules for more than one million transit stops worldwide, in nearly 500 cities, including New York, London, Tokyo, and Sydney.
In support of the database, Google is releasing an update to the Google Maps for Android app (version 6.10). Google said it has made some changes to the Transit Lines layer, so that the user can select a specific mode of public transportation (train, bus, tram, or subway) to display on the mobile map, hiding the other modes. This is helpful in areas where there is a tight concentration of several types of public transit, Google said.
Left: Mobile map with all modes of public transit shown; Right: Transit Lines layer in Subway mode (Source: Google)
Google also reported an update to the layout of station pages to be more useful. Users open it by tapping on the name of the station on your mobile map.
Updated station pages show departure times, lines serving the station and the distance to nearby stations
In addition to these new transit features, Google has updated region highlighting, My Places, and Location History displays in Google Maps for Android:
When a user searches for a city or postal code, the borders of that region are highlighted.
Under My Places are new tabs that help users access information from a single place.
If Location History is enabled, users can browse the places they’ve been on a daily basis with an updated Location History dashboard.
Update to the latest version of Google Maps for Android in the Google Play store.
Tallysman Wireless, Inc., has announced the latest addition of the TW4320/4322 to its line of antenna products. The TW4320/TW4322 antennas are small wide-band, high-performance antennas housed in a compact IP67 magnetic mount enclosure, with a three-meter cable and a wide range of connectors.
“Most small low-cost GPS and GLONASS antenna have narrow-band patch elements tuned mid-way, but which are 2-dB down in both signal bands,” said Gyles Panther, CEO of Tallysman Wireless. “The TW4320/22 antennas feature a patch element with a 40% wider bandwidth and a very low noise amplifier which together allows the full benefits of multi-constellational GNSS to be realized.”
The TW4320/TW4322 antenna covers the GPS L1, GLONASS L1, and SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS, and MSAS) frequency bands (1575 to 1606 MHz). It features a small patch element with 40 percent wider bandwidth than previously available in this format. It provides both GPS-L1 and GLONASS signals in the 1-dB received power bandwidth.
The TW4320/TW4322 has a two stage low-noise amplifier with a mid-section SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave). A tight pre-filter is available in the TW4322 to protect against saturation by high-level sub-harmonics and L-band signals.
Features:
• 40% wider bandwidth in the same format
• Axial ratio: 6 dB max
• Low noise LNA: 1 dB
• High rejection mid-section SAW filter
• Available pre-filter (TW4322)
• High gain: 28 dB typ.
• Wide voltage input range: 2.5 to 10 VDC
• IP67 weather-proof housing
Models:
• TW4320 – GPS/GLONASS antenna, three-meter cable, SMA Male 32-4320-xx-yyyy
• TW4322 – GPS/GLONASS antenna, with pre-filter, three-meter cable, SMA Male 32-4322-xx-yyyy
Walgreens, the largest U.S. drugstore chain, announced a partnership with in-store mapping and search startup aisle411. As a result of this partnership shoppers can use their iPhone or Android smartphones to view maps of any of the 7,907 Walgreens stores and locate products down to a particular section of each aisle. Walgreens is said to be the first U.S. national retailer with all of its stores mapped in a mobile application.
With drive navigation nearing maturity, companies are scrambling to develop new offerings. Nokia and others are quickly building indoor mapping arsenals. We are edging closer to the LBS vision that early on defined the market: walk by a Starbucks and get a mobile coupon for a cuppa Joe. Qualcomm’s new Gimbal platform will not only speed the production of more sophisticated personalized apps, but will enable advertising that fits the immediate interests of the end user. Google wants to protect mobile advertising streams and has instituted rules to keep it consumer friendly.
Qualcomm has released Gimbal, a software developers’ kit that will help developers create personalized content, including sophisticated use of location. The platform will create a rush of apps that will utilize end users’ interests, location, and device sensors to create content that responds to an individual’s real-time situation and preferences. The industry is salivating over the type of marketing/advertising opportunities that platforms like Gimbal create. Contextual ads have been demonstrated to be much more effective than generic ads. There are uses beyond advertising, for instance, a reminder to pick up dry cleaning when in the vicinity, or bread when in a market. The Gimbal library is extensive and includes low-power, geofence-based location awareness, image recognition, privacy management, and other features.
In a move to further broaden Nokia, the company is focusing on indoor mapping and now claims more than 4,600 venues in 38 countries, a fast ramp-up from its Destination Maps launch at CTIA in 2011. These maps are more detailed than some others in the market and include escalators, floor levels, ATMs, and restrooms. Dynamic content such as movie listings, flight times, or transit schedules can be added for further value to end-users.
Nooking an LBS. As Apple and Google elbow for mapping dominance, Barnes & Noble has quietly launched maps and navigation for the Nook eReader and opened the door for location-based apps. The company is using the open-sourced OpenStreetMap database via Skobbler to enable developers to create location-based applications for the Nook. OpenStreetMap is a Wikipedia-like open source mapping project that could be the spoiler in the map race between Google and Apple. The Nook utilizes Wi-Fi, but lacks 3G, 4G, or GPS. I’m surprised that Amazon didn’t load the Kindle Fire’s Android version with Google maps.
Samsung Well Located. Leading handset maker Samsung has acquired the handset connectivity and handset location business of CSR for $310 million plus an added $34 million investment in the remaining CSR business. The details of the deal seem to indicate that Samsung has only purchased the technology license for GPS, not indoor location, said Liam Quirke of IMS Research. “If correct, this means CSR is free to sell its indoor location technology to other handset OEMs, and the reverse means that Samsung is not able to do this,” he adds. This is another move by Samsung to vertically integrate its business to cut costs.
CSR acquired Sirf Technology, a pioneer of commercial GPS technology, in 2009. Kanwar Chadha, founder of Sirf and a leader at CSR, has resigned. Chadha has been a cheerleader and visionary for the location industry.
Buy a $60 Massage for $30? Nokia is integrating Groupon daily deals into Windows Lumia device series. Users searching Nokia maps will be shown relevant deals alongside traditional search results. Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Phone 8 operating system overhaul will install Nokia Maps as the default mapping experience. “Scale is critical to our growth,” says Michael Halbherr of Nokia. “That’s why the horizontal nature of the Windows Phone deal is critical.”
Ads that Leave a Bad Taste. Google is trying to rein in the most annoying and sometimes deceptive mobile advertising. Android apps available in the Google Play marketplace will need to follow new rules. The company has introduced stringent new mobile advertising restrictions as well as clarified payment, subscription billing, and spam policies. The new rules aim to stop misleading notifications or warnings that impersonate system notifications. The regulations also target apps that make changes to the functioning of the user’s device, outside of the advertisement. Google ads that force a user to click on ads or submit personal information for advertising purposes is strictly prohibited, and Google states that consumers must be able to dismiss an ad without penalty.
Not First to Know. Did you get the “Mitt’s VP” app so you’d know his choice before the media? “Mitt’s VP” smartphone app for iOS and Android promised to be the first place Romney would publicly announce his selection, but a news leak spilled the beans. The Romney campaign hoped the app would recover a stronger mobile presence after the release of “With Mitt” in May went awry. “With Mitt” contained an unfortunate typo that promised, “A Better Amercia.” An immigration issue?
Save the Date. I’ll be moderating a panel debate, “Opening up the Indoors for Location Services,” at MforMobile’s Location Business Summit 2012, being held in San Jose October 16-17. TheWhereBusiness and NFC Insight are now MforMobile.
Mobile location-based services company Telmap has partnered with Sony Music, allowing users of the Telmap Mobile Location Companion in Germany to choose from a selection of voices that will guide their navigation sessions.
Telmap voices from Sony Music launched in June around the excitement of the European Championships and are available to Vodafone Germany users through Vodafone’s Find&Go app. The launch offered two European Championship themed parody voices recorded by famous German comedian and radio personality Chris Böttcher. In July a new SpongeBob Squarepants voice was introduced and additional voices are in the pipeline. Users can download these voices for a one-time purchase of 4.99€ per voice with no restrictions on usage. Telmap is planning to offer Sony Music themed voices in other territories and through other carriers in the near future.
“We are excited to collaborate with Sony Music in offering a selection of location-specific voices that will provide a fun factor to our users’ navigation experience. This added-value offering plays well into our efforts of delivering a truly local user experience by providing the voices of local celebrities and figureheads who are relevant to specific territories and thereby appealing to specific users.” – said Tsipi Joseph, Telmap's director of marketing.
“With Telmap we have found the ideal partner for us and our navigation system voice program which is active in 27 territories. We plan to expand our product range further in the future and trust that we will realize more exciting projects with Telmap on our side,” said Daniel Federauer, business development manager for Sony Music Entertainment.
Tallysman Wireless, Inc., has announced the latest addition of the TW4320/4322 to its line of antenna products. The TW4320/TW4322 antennas are small wide-band, high-performance antennas housed in a compact IP67 magnetic mount enclosure, with a three-meter cable and a wide range of connectors.