By Ruizhi Chen, Yiwu Wang, Ling Pei, Yuwei Chen, and Kirsi Virrantaus.
A simple and flexible smartphone-based 3D navigation solution uses geocoded images that require neither 3D modeling nor real-time rendering of 3D scenes, making it energy-efficient and cost-effective. Real-world images can be also replaced with screen snapshots of the 3D scenes rendered from existing 3D models. Field tests demonstrate energy efficiency, consuming roughly half the power of a model-based solution with real-time rendering of 3D scenes.
After the September 12 launch of the Apple iPhone 5, which comes equipped with Apple’s own Maps application, users soon found their efforts to navigate thwarted by mislabeled cities, misplaced landmarks, lack of’ transit directions, and strange satellite imagery.
Today, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized to customers for the flaws in the Maps app in a letter posted on Apple’s website. The Maps app replaced Google Maps as the standard iPhone mapping application, but Cook is now suggesting customers use the online Google Maps or download other mapping applications while Apple works to fix its application. Google Maps was standard on previous versions of the iPhone. Apple’s newest mobile operating system, iOS 6 doesn’t support Google Maps, so users would have to use that application through the Internet.
Here is the text of Cook’s letter:
To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.
We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.
There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.
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.
Trimble has introduced the Juno T41 handheld computer, bringing a smartphone-inspired option to industries demanding a rugged field computer for data collection and mobile workforce management. The Juno T41 handheld is a developer-friendly computing device for real-world field conditions, with either Windows Embedded Handheld or Android operating systems, Trimble said.
“With the release of the Juno T41, we are providing a rugged handheld that delivers the capabilities and convenience of a smartphone,” said Jim Sheldon, general manager of Trimble’s Mobile Computing Solutions Division. “It’s slim, ergonomic design is thinner and lighter than other rugged computing products in its class today. Powerful, connected, compact and easy-to-use, the Juno T41 handheld computer is ideal for any mobile professional or demanding consumer.”
The initial launch of the Trimble Juno T41 computer features:
Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 or Android 2.3.4 “Gingerbread” operating system in choice of 10 languages
Multi-touch user interface with capacitive stylus compatibility
8 MP camera with dual LED flash and geo-tagging
3.75G cellular data, SMS text and voice capability option
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.
Now GNSS smartphone application developers can benefit from a range of new features from Version 2 the European Commission’s free EGNOS Software Development Kit (SDK), reports the European GNSS Agency (GSA). The SDK helps developers to easily implement EGNOS corrections coming from the signal in space or the Internet, and make use of EGNOS advantages when using location-enabled applications.
The EGNOS SDK is a European Commission project that aims to foster the use of EGNOS in location-based services (LBS) applications for smartphones. It has been designed to allow application developers to take advantage of the benefits of EGNOS, and to use these in software they develop for mobile devices. The EGNOS SDK is the only toolkit — in an open-source library — that implements integrity and EGNOS corrections for a more accurate position than GPS alone can provide.
New EGNOS SDK features and improvements include:
Tracking feature: Allows application developers to choose different options to display their GPS and/or EGNOS and/or R&D position over the smartphone’s map.
Skyplot view: Enables to display the position of the overhead EGNOS and GPS satellites with a time span of +12h or -12h. This feature shows information about the number of EGNOS satellites available, the number of GPS satellites used for the computation of the R&D, EGNOS and GPS positions, and the number of satellites not used.
Advanced Skyplot view: Provides an augmented reality showing a live video streaming of the sky and can identify EGNOS and GPS satellites in real time.
R&D Position Type menu: Displays six features proposing innovative ways of computing a position by deviating from the EGNOS standard EGNOS DO-229D, to get even greater accuracy:
The Increased satellite constellation improving the satellite constellation used by adding GPS satellites not monitored by EGNOS.
The Best satellite constellation selecting the most suitable GPS satellites geometry for the computation of the position.
The 2D Positioning displaying the position even if only 3 GPS satellites are in view (4 satellites are normally the minimum needed to compute a position). This is important in urban situations, where surrounding buildings can obstruct a clear view of the sky, making it difficult to track four satellites or more.
The Fast correction with no RRC improving the positioning by eliminating the jumps that the Range Rate Correction (RRC) might cause in the fast corrections applied to the pseudorange (PR) measurements.
The Best Weight Matrix rating the satellites involved in the position computation on the basis of the most beneficial weight matrix.
The SBAS ranging function enabling SBAS geostationary satellites to be used in the same way GPS satellites are used to compute a position
As far as integrity is concerned, the user can define different levels of integrity to be displayed (Horizontal Protection Level (HPL)): aviation, maritime or 85 percent.
Since its initial release in November 2011, the EGNOS SDK is providing a useful tool to application developers who need the additional accuracy provided by EGNOS accessible in smartphone applications, according to customers:
“I am interested in the toolkit because I started a project that aims at developing an application based on smartphones” – GeoMatica
“I found the toolkit interesting, especially SISNet, in Finland the EGNOS signal is low…the corrections I receive with SISNet are more reliable than those I could receive with the satellite” – VTT
Google announced on their Lat Lon Blog that Google Maps for Android now works when it's disconnected from the internet. Users can select and save a region of a map from more than 150 countries for use offline.
"Having an Internet connection has always been a key requirement for using Google Maps for Android… until now," said the blog post dated June 27, 2012.
Whether travelling internationally, carrying a WiFi-only device, heading underground on the subway or restricting your mobile data usage, you can now save up to six large metro areas (e.g., Greater London, Paris, or New York City and surrounding area) and use Google Maps for Android to find your way.
For example, Let’s say you find yourself traveling to London this summer. Before you head off on your trip, simply find the area that you’ll be visiting. Then select “Make available offline” from the menu and verify the area that you would like to save. Below the map, you’ll see we estimate the file size for you, so you know how much space it will take on your device. Once you confirm your selection the map will immediately start downloading.
Save an area and go to My Places to see all your offline maps
If you have GPS enabled on the device, the blue dot will still work without a data connection so you know where you are, and if your device has a compass you can orient yourself without 3G or WiFi connectivity.
So whether you’re traveling internationally or underground, we hope offline maps will help you get around.
Google announced it is also releasing a smoother and faster Compass Mode for Street View within Google Maps for Android. The device becomes a window into a 360-degree, panoramic view of the outdoor or interior location through Business Photos. To experience the improved qualities of this feature you need a device with Google Maps for Android, Android 3.0 or higher and a gyroscope sensor plus version 1.8.1 of Street View on Google Maps.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski joined major police department chiefs, including New York City Police Commissioner Raymond E. Kelly, Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, wireless carriers, and Senator Chuck Schumer to announce new initiatives to combat cell phone and data theft.
Genachowski commended police departments and members of Congress, in particular Senator Schumer, for calling attention to a growing epidemic of robberies targeting smartphone users. Genachowski announced an industry commitment to develop a shared, centralized database that will record unique identifiers of stolen wireless devices to prevent their reuse, thereby making it harder for thieves to resell stolen wireless devices. Legislation, sponsored by Senator Schumer, will ensure that authorities have the tools they need to crack down on efforts to evade this technological solution.
According to the FCC, there is a growing epidemic of robberies involving smartphones and other cell phones:
More than 40% of all robberies in New York City involve smartphones and other cell phones.
The situation is getting worse: In Washington, D.C., cell phones were taken in 54% more robberies in 2011 than in 2007, and cell phones are now taken in 38% of all DC robberies.
Other major cities have similar statistics, with robberies involving cell phones comprising 30-40% of all robberies.
Robberies are, by definition, violent crimes, and there are many instances of robberies targeting cell phones resulting in serious injury or even death.
A recent Symantec study indicates that a loss or theft of an unsecured smartphone often results in access to sensitive personal data.
Chairman Genachowski, with the support of major city police chiefs and the wireless industry, announced new initiatives by wireless carriers, initially including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint who cover 90 percent of US subscribers, to deter theft and secure customer data:
Implement a database to prevent use of stolen smartphones.
Within six months, when Americans call their participating wireless provider and report their wireless devices stolen, their provider will block that device from being used again. This system will be rolling out globally using common databases across carriers over the next 18 months.
Encourage users to lock their phones with passwords.
Smartphone makers will notify and educate users in the most highly visible ways—through messages on the smartphone itself and through “Quick Start” user guides—about how to use passwords to deter theft and protect their data.
Educate users on lock/locate/wipe applications.
Wireless providers will directly inform their customers about how to find and use applications that enable customers to lock/locate/and wipe smartphones remotely.
Public education campaign on how to protect your smartphone and yourself.
The wireless industry will launch a campaign, with media buys, to educate consumers on how to protect their smartphones and themselves from crime.
Progress benchmarks and ongoing dialogue.
The wireless industry will publish quarterly updates and submit them to the FCC on progress on these initiatives.
Accountability.
The FCC will engage the public safety community and wireless carriers in an ongoing dialog, with regular, quarterly meetings, to ensure that the most effective technological processes are in place to deter smartphone theft and data exposure.
The FCC will launch a proceeding if progress on the above deliverables falls behind schedule.
Legislation expected to criminalize tampering with unique hardware IDs on cell phones.
Members of Congress are planning to introduce legislation that will make it a federal crime to take steps to evade the effective deployment of a stolen phone database, including by tampering with hardware identifiers on wireless devices.
Criminalizing tampering with unique hardware identifiers has been an integral part of successful foreign deployments of stolen cell phone databases and the deterrence of cell phone theft.
Smartphones are taking over the world, and not just modern industrialized societies. A Broadcom executive predicted today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that, with costs going down for less expensive models, smartphones will not only be the first phone of any kind for many people in India and other developing nations, it will constitute their first Internet experience.
There’s a whole lot of change coming for North America and European users, too, and much of that is being envisioned, enthusiastically promulgated, and occasionally even demonstrated at this global village of 60,000 modcom movers and shakers that congregate here every year. Just a few examples:
granting access to one’s location data for only a set period, from 15 minutes to 4 hours, via Glympse.
location-based display advertising, not just coupons, but glossy little ads on your screen, called up by proximity to the advertiser, via Sofialys.
centimeter-accurate indoor navigation, to the product on the shelf and not to its competitor product next to it on the same shelf, via Wi-Fi and near-field communication (NFC), Broadcom again but others including LocAid are talking about it too.
An alarm clock function on your phone that will wake you (or let you sleep) at exactly the right time for that morning, based on real-time traffic and weather conditions on your commute route, from Airbiquity.
All this with either a few deft touches of the smartphone screen, or automatically enabled.
And this is just the location aspect of smartphones, which represents maybe 5 percent of what’s being talked about here. Tons of other apps for health and entertainment and more.
The 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show is underway. The Ford Evos concept car is having its debut and overtakes the company’s Sync offering, with a high level of social networking and connectivity features. A departure from the Sync approach of vehicles as smartphones on wheels, this plug-in hybrid is designed to always be connected to the cloud. Some of the distractibility found in the Sync has been diminished. The driver’s “personal cloud” makes automatic adjustments to music, temperature, traffic checks, and navigation that reflect learned personal choices of the driver and her schedule. Hooking a car up to the cloud comes with significant risks. Moving from stand-alone isolated in-vehicle systems to the connected network world carries the threat of being hacked and exposed to viruses. iSec researchers demonstrated unlocking and starting a car by sending text messages to its alarm system. The problem, however, is much broader than having a car stolen.
White Flag. The industry has surrendered mobile check-in to Foursquare. It isn’t often one gets to report on a Facebook failure, but after one year of disappointing traction, the company has abandoned Places. A location-based social network offering, Facebook Places allowed users to share location at venues, and see who among their contacts were checked in nearby. When Places launched a year ago, it wasn’t clear if start-ups like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Whrrl could compete with Facebook. Yet the day following the Facebook Places launch, Foursquare sign-ups swelled with a record number of new users. Dennis Crowley of Foursquare asserts that they have captured 10 million users by “being about what people are currently doing,” while Facebook records what people have done in the past. Facebook users won’t be able to check in, but can add location to a tag.
No More Gowalla Badges. Unable to compete with Foursquare on check-ins alone, Gowalla is shedding some of its check-in bells and whistles and adding social travel guides for travelers. These location-based communities emphasize image sharing and storytelling and are now available in 60 cities worldwide. Gowalla is also featuring content from National Geographic and other travel-oriented sites.
Looking for Metrics. Local, location-based search is a key driver for mobile advertising. Google has 200 million active mobile map users in more than 100 countries. Navigation is search’s bosom buddy. “In general, I think you can look at navigation as a type of conversion, for example, after searching for directions,” says Suroijit Chatterjee of Goggle, as reported by The Where Business. “Better attribution models are needed, however, in order for revenue generation to develop further.”
Fourth Amendment and Location: Law and Order Edition. In November, the Supreme Court will hear the most important fourth amendment case in years, and it is all about location. The question is whether the police need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect’s vehicle and track movements. The court case arose from an investigation of a Washington man who was suspected of being part of a cocaine selling operation. The police had obtained a search warrant, but installed the tracking device one day late.
Literary Location Judges. Recent rulings from judges across the country that have included tracking of cell phone locations have sided with protection of privacy. It is common for judges to invoke George Orwell’s 1984 and its depiction of a futuristic police state that keeps citizens under constant surveillance. In November, the Supreme Court Judges will address the specific question of whether the placement of a tracking device on a vehicle qualifies as a search, and if the surveillance by location technology is different from conventional methods such as tailing suspects and stake-outs, which do not require a warrant.
Navv Revamps. Navv has recreated itself in the navigation industry by adding social networking into its personal navigation offering. Users can share their locations, itineraries, or current routes to their Facebook wall, directly from the app. Check-ins via Foursquare are automated. In March, the Navv navigation app was removed from the Apple App Store in a now-resolved argument with Apple over rights to the navigation app’s name.
Mark your Calendar. Don’t miss LocNav 2011, October 18-19 in San Jose. The Where Business has co-located its annual Location Business Summit and Navigation conferences to create an even bigger show. I’ll be moderating the panel, “Connecting People Places and Things: Advertising and Social Networking in the Location Ecosystem.” My guests include executives form Expedia, Nokia, Yahoo, and A&G. See you there.
The October issue of Wireless Pulse will be published one week later than usual to allow reporting on the LocNav show.
It is a significant first, an iconic moment, a big deal. You will want to remember where you were when you heard that smartphones started to outsell personal computers. According to a report by market research company IDC, consumer electronics makers shipped 100.9 million smartphones worldwide in the last three months of 2010, an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. PC shipments didn’t do as well, edging up just three percent to 92.1 million. The falling prices of smartphones have contributed to this trend. The numbers are skewed by the longer life of a computer compared to a smartphone, which frequently is replaced within two years. For many of us, one doesn’t supplant the need for the other.
Are car companies and content providers allowed to wed? At the Navigation Strategies, USA, conference, it was a striking new world with the automotive industry anxious to engage with application providers. Some of the interesting tweetable snippets from leading automotive and content providers:
“There is a three year development cycle with automotive. But now you can integrate an app into a vehicle in four weeks.”
“Maps used to an end onto itself, but now it is a way to organize information.”
“People will pay for connectivity in the vehicle, but may only be willing to pay during the time when it is needed.”
“People will pay for traffic, but you need to educate them on what it has done for them. This month you saved x money in gas, this amount of time navigating around traffic.”
“No one needs a map for their commute. They need their alarm clock to wake them early when their commute route is congested.”
“Content providers can only avoid the ‘free monster’ with value added services.”
“Navigation is now about smartphones and how to integrate with the car.”
Augment my reality. I’m not the only one charmed by Wikitude (no, not WikiLeaks) from Austrian-based Mobilizy. I took a walk around a hotel parking lot with Wikitude’s Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis imagining the possibilities of Wikitude Drive, augmented-reality navigation for vehicles or pedestrians. Intended as a heads-up display, it is currently shown as a smartphone mounted on a dashboard that displays the scene ahead of you, exactly as you see it with your eyes. However, the navigation route is drawn on top of the real scene. There is an option, particularly important at night, to switch out of augmented reality to see the route as a street map. Wikitude Drive was the grand prize winner of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. World Browser, another product by Wikitude, identifies objects around you. Point your phone and it will (try to) identify your surroundings, such as landmarks, mountains, or buildings.
Location-based social networks. I recently hosted a webinar on location-based social networks (LBSN). It is a hot topic: I had registrants from 42 countries. LBSNs are mobile apps based on developing a social community that broadcasts a user’s location and other content. LBSNs have an element of gaming that fuels and rewards usage, helps people find their friends or make new friends that share the same interest and proximity, and often provide offers and coupons from brands. A hallmark of many of these applications are check-ins, which is a manual or automated process of letting one’s community know one’s location: “I’m at Frankie’s Pizza.” There are too many LBSNs to list, but they include Booyah!, Whrrl, foursquare, Gowalla, SCVNGR. If you are interested, the webinar is available for download.
My webinar guests were Brian Cho of Booyah!, maker of MyTown, and Chad Reed of Pelago, maker of Whrrl. MyTown is an LBSN game that proves the concept with 3.7 million users. Sessions average 55 minutes a day and at its peak had 1.1 million daily sessions. Advertisers drop items into the game that may depend on the player’s location and sometimes a clue cannot be unlocked without a visit to a retail location. MyTown drove more than 800,000 visits to H&M, a clothing retailer.
Wirrl focuses on building affinity societies, and currently has 5,000 special interest societies, such as mountain biking, the Red Bull Society, and Mexican food lovers. Society members make recommendations to other members of their affinity group and a sophisticated algorithm builds up individual preferences. Whrrl’s revenue comes from brands that offer contests and prizes that match society members’ interests and locations. Reed says they use contests, instead of coupons or offers, to allow brands to control costs and add excitement.
Making money. I’m often asked for advice from content providers on making money when consumers are increasingly expecting applications to be free, and some applications, such as navigation or mapping, are getting dangerously close to becoming a utility. One strategy is to add value in a way that is challenging for other companies to cookie cut. An example is Navx, a company based in Paris that provides fuel prices for up to 100,000 gas stations with hourly updates. Consolidating the data isn’t a fully automated process so it is unlikely that companies like Google, or the like, will want to get their hands dirty. Navx also identifies parking spaces, speed traps, and charging stations for electric vehicles.
Probe sharing. Adding live connectivity to enable traffic and other services is critical for personal navigation device (PND) providers that are competing for market with smartphones. The recently announced TomTom GO 2505 is stepping up with improved traffic (updated every two minutes) from probe and traditional sources, as well as local search, fuel prices, and weather. TomTom is anxious to get its users hooked and is providing a 12-month trial subscription out of the box. Part of the traffic data set is provided by its own users, and Tom Murray of TomTom reports that more than 90 percent of its customers opt-in to contribute the data.
The World Mobile Conference is under way. It’s looking like it is all about smartphones and tablets. More later.
At the opposite end of this book, my esteemed colleague Eric Gakstatter gives you his Top Five news stories of the recently passed year, from a system point of view. Spend five minutes here in this column, and I’ll toss up the Top Ten for GNSS business, as reported in this magazine.
Not the biggest money deals or revenue generators, at least not in the short term. But the most significant in terms of breaking new ground, pushing out frontiers, integrating with other technologies — the modes through which industry grows and prospers.
I’m leafing through my back copies in reverse order. This listing goes not by prominence, but by reverse chronology.
PNDs Up, Then Down By 2015. When you are doing well, rest assured that someone is gaining on you. Smartphones will gradually take over the personal nav market. Stay flexible, innovate, and be prepared to change horses in midstream.
Rockwell Delivers New MUE. While military user equipment gave this industry its start, the receivers themselves have always lagged behind product available to civil users. Still, security features in the GB-GRAM-M foreshadow what all receivers may eventually require.
Triumph V.S. from JAVAD. Supercharged with capabilities, a veritable surveyor’s arsenal, and probably a gamechanger — whether or not it makes it in the marketplace. A visionary product.
NovAtel OEMV-1DF. Almost every month, another smallest-yet consumer-grade GPS receiver emerges. But when high-precision, dual-frequency receivers grind down their footprint and power requirement, you know this is a future wave that will sweep everything along. Not the only tiny high-performance OEM receiver, mind you, just the latest.
LLC Rusnavgeoset. The joint venture between Trimble and a Russian company will help drive the commercialization of GLONASS, an aspect that system has not yet truly seen. We all talk about the second GNSS of choice, but the second commercialized GNSS is what we really want.
Smartphone Explosion. The flipside to the first story. This year’s models from Apple iPhone, Google Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and all their kin, if not built around location as Apple claimed, certainly have it as core feature. The flip of the flipside: pricing for the GPS component is cut-throat. Absolutely the worst you’ve ever seen.
GPS-Enabled USB Drive. That’s all it takes — well, download some software and buy a contract — to make a laptop location-aware.
Spirent Assisted-GLONASS Testing. One more sign that the Russian system, against betmakers’ odds, may yet become the trusty sidekick. Soon, if your mobile doesn’t have it, it’s not top-of-class.
One-Chip Receivers-Plus. Hardly breaking news, since it’s been talked about and even done, sort of, for years. TI, Broadcom, Qualcomm, CSR, and silent runners like Sony and Panasonic are all adding some communication transceiver(s) to GPS and squeezing them onto a single piece of silicon.
No News Is Big News. Actually not reported here or anywhere, because neither party wants to reveal anything, but some of the biggest deals are cut by chip manufacturers (such as STMicroelectronics, to name just one), with automobile makers around the world. Like it or not, the car/truck is the dominant mechanical paradigm of our age. And if location is in it . . .
We are indeed fortunate to be part of, and partners in, such a vital scene. Best wishes for this New Year.
Trimble has introduced the 
