Air Semiconductor samples 1mA Always-On GPS receiver

[RobBrady]

Air Semiconductor samples 1mA Always-On GPS receiver
Airwave-1 fully operational and sampling to customers

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Air Semiconductor has announced that it has supplied its first customers in Japan with fully working Airwave-1 single-chip GPS receivers. This means that Air has met its shipment target for first samples and can confirm that, during initial testing at Air, the devices met every major performance specification.

Airwave-1 is the world’s first and only Always-On GPS receiver requiring as little as 1% of the power drawn by current GPS solutions. The fully integrated, single-chip consumes just 1mA while continuously tracking the user’s location and consequently can also provide instant location updates.

“Proving our first product works is a major milestone for the company,” said Stephen Graham, Co-founder and VP Marketing at Air. “I am really pleased with the initial traction we have in the digital camera market and supplying working chips on schedule validates our technology.”

Tom Arran, GPS analyst at IMS Research, stated, "With the emergence of geotagging we expect GPS to become a common feature in the camera market with a CAGR of over 100% in the next five years. The Airwave-1 chip is well positioned to address this market as it meets the unique GPS design requirements for the camera environment."

The first customers for Airwave-1 are digital camera manufacturers who can exploit instant and continuous location to geotag (location-stamp) photographs the instant they are taken. Unlike other technologies, Airwave-1 achieves this completely transparently without impeding the experience of the photographer.

Airwave-1 operates in an entirely novel way by providing continuous location tracking and hence also eliminating time-to-first-fix. It uses an adaptive technology which maintains a constant watch on its location but can almost instantly focus to provide a pin-point fix. The single-chip contains all RF and digital hardware and the software needed to calculate location data. It outputs location data in a format that enables simple integration into consumer devices.

Production volume of Airwave-1 for all customers will begin in the second half of 2009.

About Air Semiconductor

Air Semiconductor has developed a breakthrough technology which will allow battery operated devices to be continuously aware of their location. Air’s technology delivers the lowest power GPS solution for all kinds of battery operated, mobile devices including cellphones, digital cameras and laptops, enabling proactive, next generation location services and providing extensive benefits for end-users. Founded in 2006, Air is a fabless semiconductor company located in Swindon, UK, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA and Yokohama, Japan.

www.air-semi.com
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Robert Brady

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