Looket - Navigation & PMP from SysOnChip,Inc

Technical information about GPS

What are Hot start, Warm start, Cold start?

Inside the SysOn GPS, there is backup battery to shorten the time to get a first fix. This backup battery can be charged with very small power. It save the last position data in order that the chipset can search the signal and caculate the data fast. But when you leave the unit for a long time or the receiver is moved long distance, the last saved data cannot help to shorten the TTFF and it will do a Cold start. When you use the GPS for the first time, it will also have a cold start.
The unit do a hot start when it disconnected and reconnected soon, which usually takes one to ten seconds before TTFF.

SysOn viewer program enables to make hot start, warm start, cold start and factory start manually. The factory start turns back the setting to the first production state.

What does WAAS/EGNOS support mean?

WAAS stands for Wide Area Augmentation System and is a system of satellites and ground stations that provide GPS signal corrections. As is true of the GPS satellites, there is no extra charge or equipment required to take advantage of WAAS/EGNOS. Because the SysOn Bluetooth GPS is WAAS/EGNOS support, it is possible where WAAS(US)and EGNOS(Europe) are available to experience accuracy of under three meters for the majority of tracking time. Our SysOn Smart Blue, CF plus III and CF memory GPS III can use this function.

What is the SiRF chipset?

It is one of the chipsets which calculate position data from the satellite signal. The SiRF chipset shows good performance in speed and accuracy comparing to the other chipset. We, SysOnChip, combined this chipset with our accumulated knowhow in communcation and RF area and produce high performance GPS receivers. Currently ther chipset was developed to SiRF III version, and it is adopted in SysOn Smart Blue GPS and SysOn CF plus III and CF memory III.

How exact is the time and position data from the satellite?

The time from the satellite is most exact. There is automic clock in the GPS satellite and it is known as the most exact clock in the world. It can have 1 second error during 1,000,000 years, so you may regard this as the real time.
The position accuracy is 10 meters at most. And when it receives from a number of satellites and when it use WAAS/EGNOS system, the accuracy will be higher.

Do I have to pay when I use the GPS signal?

The 24 GPS satellites circle the earth on the 6 orbits in about 20,180km from the ground. And the signal from these satellite is free of charge and anyone can use it.

What is PNS and CNS?

The PNS(Personal Navigation System) is the navigation system for walking or enjoying leports. The CNS means car navigation system. Usually CNS system makes use of driving features and PNS consider that people can go not only on the road but also inside the builing. SysOn GPS products support both PNS and CNS.

What does NMEA compliant and SiRF binary mean?

NMEA is an organization that was formed to set a standard among marine hardware manufactures such that all the devices could seamlessly communicate and interact with each other. The NMEA-0183 standard provides a standard messaging protocol that includes many GPS sentences. Since marine navigation was one of the first adopters of GPS technology, GPS manufactures would output the NMEA sentences from their devices for communication and aiding control of the boats autopilot system. Over the years the NMEA-0183 standard has evolved and most GPS support this protocol, and most GPS enabled software applications know how to read the NMEA sentences. NMEA compliant means that the device or application will work within the guidelines set by this standard. In layman's terms NMEA 2.0 compliant means the GPS is compatible with most mapping and GPS tracking applications. For the software application NMEA compliant means the application knows how to interpret sentences originating from a NMEA compliant source.
All the SysOn GPS products support both NMEA and SiRF binary protocol.

To get better GPS signal, what can I do?

The CF type GPS gets best signal when it is upright position to the ground. The antenna part of Bluetooth GPS lies on the upper part of the unit, so it will be difficult to get the signal when you put the Bluetooth GPS upside down. To get the more satellite signal, place the unit in the clear view of sky and no tall buiding nearby. It is difficult to get the signal indoor except for near the window, and inside the car it will get less signal than outside. Furthermore, the metallic coating on the car windshield blocks the signal coming through the window.
When you use inside the car, the nearer to the window, the signal is better.