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GPS SoC Manufacturers and Vendors

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This page lists GPS SoC (System on a Chip) manufacturers and vendors.

The popular manufacturers of GPS SoCs include u-blox, MediaTek, STMicroelectronics, Qualcomm, Unicore Communications, Navika Electronics, and Furuno Electric Co. Ltd.

What is a GPS SoC?

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. The system comprises a set of satellites orbiting the Earth in six different orbits, providing GPS service to users on the ground. It’s primarily used to determine location, speed, and time.

The GPS system has three segments:

  • Space Segment: Consists of 24 satellites orbiting approximately 11,000 nautical miles above Earth.
  • Control Segment: Comprises five ground stations around the globe that manage the orbiting satellites by transmitting orbital corrections and clock updates.
  • User Segment: Consists of GPS receivers on personal devices or vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks).

GPS tracking system

A GPS SoC is a chip that houses the baseband, RF (Radio Frequency), and interface modules. It typically contains a CPU, memory (ROM, SRAM, Flash), RTC (Real-Time Clock), PLL (Phase-Locked Loop), and PM (Power Management) module on a single chip.

GPS SoCs are now widely used in personal and commercial vehicles, PDAs, cellular phones, laptops, and smartwatches. The figure above depicts a GPS tracking system.

GPS SoC Manufacturers

The following table lists GPS SoC manufacturers with their part numbers and technical features:

GPS SoC ManufacturersDescription
u-blox• Models: NEO-8Q module, NEO-M8 series
• NEO-M8 series module offers concurrent reception of up to 3 GNSS (i.e., GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou).
• NEO-M8 series supports -167 dBm navigation sensitivity.
• NEO-M8 series is backward compatible with NEO-7 and NEO-6 versions.
• Older versions: NEO-6 series variants include NEO-6G, NEO-6Q, and NEO-6M
• Website: U-Blox.com
MediaTek• Model: MT3339
• MT3339 supports GPS, SBAS, QZSS
• MT3339 offers tacking sensitivity of about -165 dBm as claimed by Mediatek.
• Other versions: MT3329, MT3333, MT3337
• Website: Mediatek.com
STMicroelectronics• Model: STA8058 (GPS multi-chip module)
• STA8058 houses ARM7TDMI 32-bit processor, on-chip flash/RAM, DSP, and RF front-end part.
• Interfaces supported are GPIOs, UARTs, SPIs, I2Cs, CAN, USB, HDLC, and ADC
• Website: st.com
Qualcomm• Model: SiRFstar TM IV GSD4e
• Above model houses ARM7 CPU and support interfaces such as I2C, SPI, UART etc.
• Model: SiRFstar TM V 5e B02
• Above model Supports GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS . It houses 16MB flash and 16MB RAM. It supports various interfaces which include I2C, SPI, UART, GPIOs and analog I/O.
• Website: qualcomm.com
Unicore Communications• Model: UM482
• Above model supports GPS L1/L2, BDS B1/B2, GLONASS L1/L2 and alileo E1/E5b satellite signals.
• Moreover it houses ARM processor, floating point operations and broadband ADC.
• Other versions: UM4B0, UM220, UM220
• Website: unicorecomm.com
Navika Electronics (Accord Software & Systems)• Model: Navika-300
• Navika-300 supports 32 channel L1-C/A code GPS SBAS positioning module.
• Above model supports interfaces such as SPI, UART, TWI and USB.
• Output messages: NMEA, ASCII formats
• Other modules: Navika-200 (GPS receiver), Navika-251 (GPS/GLONASS receiver module), Navika-131 (GPS SBAS) , Navika-132 ( GPS SBAS), Navika-450 (IRNSS), Navika-550
• Website: accord-soft.com
Furuno Electric Co. Ltd.• Model: ePV7010B
• Above model supports L1 band and 32 channels with interfaces such as UART/I2C.
• Above model supports GPS, GALILEO, SBAS, GLONASS and QZSS.
• Other models: ePV6010B , ePV7000B
• Website: furuno.co.jp