Several new chipsets and smartphones announced during MWC 2018 feature Galileo capability
Whether it is dual frequency chipsets or new smartphones, European GNSS was behind many of the technology announcements made during Mobile World Congress 2018.
As the world’s premiere mobile technology trade show, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is traditionally technology driven. But, according to Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer at ABI Research, this is starting to change. “The mobile community continues to peddle technology rather than offer holistic solutions,” he says. “But enterprises want solutions, not an alphabet soup of three letter abbreviations.”
Answering this call for solutions are the GNSS mass market innovations on display in Barcelona during MWC 2018. Whether it is chipsets, smartphones, drones, robots or autonomous vehicles, most depend on GNSS – including Galileo – to translate this technology into actual solutions.
Here we look at the role European GNSS plays in some of the announcements coming out of MWC 2018.
Dual frequency chipsets
Although much of the news coming from chipset manufacturers like Intel, Qualcomm and Mediatek was about 5G connectivity plans, several also launched new dual frequency chipsets. Traditionally, mobile, location-based applications have been powered by single-frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery power and footprint constraints. When using a dual frequency chipset, however, mass market devices benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved code tracking pseudorange estimates and better multipath resistance – among other benefits.
“With connected cars and autonomous vehicles quickly becoming a reality, there is a clear need for accurate and reliable positioning information,” explains GSA Deputy Head of Market Development Fiammetta Diani. “Dual frequency chipsets are the answer for these types of safety-critical applications.”
Following Broadcom’s recent launch of the BCM47755 – the world’s first mass-market, dual frequency GNSS receiver device for smartphones – several other manufacturers followed suit by announcing their own dual frequency chipsets at MWC. For example, uBlox launched its F9 chip for industrial and automotive applications. The chip uses GNSS signals in multiple frequency bands (L1/L2/L5) to correct ionosphere-caused positioning errors and deliver a fast time to first fix. By supporting all GNSS constellations, including Galileo, the chipset improves performance by increasing the number of satellites visible at any given time. Last but not least, thanks to on-chip Real Time Kinematic (RTK) technology, the F9 also offers improved levels of accuracy.
Not to be outdone, STM came to MWC to promote a dual-frequency chip dedicated to automotive safety-critical applications. Being developed as part of the GSA-funded ESCAPE project, the Galileo-enabled chip is being enhanced to receive and process the upcoming Galileo Open Service authenticated signals – a key differentiator of European GNSS.
New Galileo-enabled smartphones
Since 2016, when the first Galileo-enabled smartphone was launched, more and more manufacturers have started to include Galileo in their flagship models. “A growing number of premium smartphones are integrating Galileo in order to provide users with better accuracy and availability, especially in difficult environments,” says Justyna Redelkiewicz, GSA’s Market Development Officer in charge of LBS.
In-line with this trend, both Sony and Samsung launched new, Galileo-enabled phones during MWC 2018. Sony’s new flagship Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact smartphones and Samsung’s S9 and S9+ models are each equipped with a Galileo-enabled processor. All four phones are also shipped with Android Oreo 8.0, which gives users access to GNSS raw data.
The GSA highlighted the growing role of European GNSS in smartphones by having a range of Galileo-enabled devices on display at their booth. Visitors who had a smartphone that was already using Galileo received a free ‘I #UseGalileo’ t-shirt to commemorate their MWC experience.