STMicroelectronics, Switzerland announced it has launched volume production of its Teseo GPS engine designed for use in certain Garmin Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) and handheld GPS receivers.
ST’s Teseo platform is a turn-key solution that combines reliability and cost-effectiveness with enhanced performance and extended functionality. The integration of ST’s newest GPS solution improves tracking in poor satellite visibility conditions and shortens GPS signal acquisition times. ST Teseo’s TTFF (Time To First Fix) values, the time it takes a GPS receiver to find satellites, rank among the fastest in the industry.
ST’s new GPS chipsets support satellite-based augmentation systems such as WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) that provide additional accuracy and reliability. Teseo’s GPS accuracy expressed in circular error probability (the radius of a circle that represents a 50% probability of a position lying in that circle) is as low as 2 meters. ST’s Teseo devices are ready for compliance with Galileo.
ST’s Teseo solution integrates a high-sensitivity single-chip baseband (STA2058) with embedded flash and an RF front-end (STA5620), complemented with full software libraries. The product is available both in a single-package form (STA8058) and as a dual-chip offering. ST designers are currently working on a System-on-Chip solution that integrates the Teseo GPS engine and an ARM9 core for GPS navigation processing.
The embedded flash memory enables the equipment manufacturer to load the entire GPS software. The TESEO GPS baseband IC integrates a rich set of peripherals, including a CAN 2.0 B active interface, a four-channel 12-bit A/D, I2C (Inter-IC), UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter), SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output), and USB.
