# Presentation: 120631

## SnapTrack, Inc.FCC Location Roundtable

*Walter Bell*
*Vice President of Engineering*
*June 28, 1999*

## SnapTrack’s Personal Location Technology

*SnapTrack’s Personal **Location Technology*

- Combine GPS receiving capability with a cell-based wireless network
- Air interface independent
- Divide location determination task between client and server
- Extract key information from the wireless network
- E.g., approximate location, carrier frequency
- Software-based solution
- Use phone’s own DSP chip to rapidly process an information-rich snapshot of GPS data using fast convolution software

## SnapTrackWireless-Aided GPS

- Voice
- &
- Data

- Data

- PSAP Operator

**Server**

- Voice
- &
- Data

**GPS**

**Client**

**GPS**

- SnapTrack Wide
- Area Reference Network

- Wireless
- Network

*SnapTrack**Wireless-Aided GPS*

## Performance v.Conventional GPS

## Comparison toTerrestrial Triangulation

_**SnapTrack Wireless-Assisted GPS**_
- Negligible network impact
- air interface independent
- server software can run on an existing platform
- Can achieve accurate fix with only a single base station as long as cell phone can communicate
- first fix, cold start, 1-sigma accuracies generally range from 3-75 meters, depending on call environment
- average accuracy of 20 meters
- Must use modified handsets

- _Terrestrial Triangulation_
- Extensive network impact
- modifications required to entire cellular network (new hardware and software at most if not all sites)
- new receiver sites must be built to increase accuracy and coverage
- accuracy dependent on cell configuration
- requires at least 3-4 receivers in appropriate geometric pattern to provide accurate fix (unavailable in many environments)
- Severe multipath limitations

**“****Terrestrial triangulation systems are inevitably limited by multipath; wireless-assisted GPS is expected to achieve an order of magnitude better accuracy.”  **- Lucent Technologies, TR 45 filing

## Test Groups

*Test Groups*

- Goals
- Test and evaluate SnapTrack technology, serve as focus for standards activity
- SnapTrack CDMA test group
- AirTouch, Ameritech, Bell Mobility, GTE, PrimeCo, Sprint PCS,U S WEST Wireless,  Motorola, Samsung, LGIC, Hyundai, Denso, Fujitsu, Texas Instruments, VLSI
- Wireless-assisted GPS messages being standardized in TR 45.5
- Baseline text agreed, balloting scheduled for 8/99 completion
- Audited tests have been conducted on two separate CDMA networks in Tampa, Florida (USA)
- At 800 MHz (GTE Wireless) and 1900 MHz (Sprint PCS)
- Prototypes from multiple handset vendors tested
- Recently launched SnapTrack GSM test group: 11 European and U.S. carriers

## Major Field Tests

*Major Field Tests*

- United States
- San Francisco Bay Area: analog (11/97)
- Denver: analog/CDMA end-to-end E9-1-1 trial (8/98)*
- Washington, D.C. : analog (11/98)
- Tampa (SnapTrack CDMA Test Group): CDMA (3/99)
- San Francisco (U.S. Marines Urban Warrior Exercise): GSM (4/99)
- Japan
- Tokyo (NTT DoCoMo): PDC (12/97)
- Kyoto (Manufacturer): PHS (2/98)
- Europe
- Finland (Manufacturer): GSM (1/99)
- Italy (Carrier): GSM (4/99)

- *	With Denver and Adams County PSAPs, SignalSoft, SCC, U S WEST Wireless

## Tampa CDMAField Trial (1)

- Structured field test to validate SnapTrack GPS performance when operating in a CDMA network
- Time and base station ID passed to GPS client in handset
- Network carrier frequency used to calibrate GPS oscillator
- Prototype integration of SnapTrack GPS client with CDMA handset
- 1st step in the GPS/handset commercialization process
- Substantial hardware and software integration
- Validated GPS performance within handset package
- Measured performance with miniature antennas and head blockage

## Tampa CDMAField Trial (2)

- SnapTrack server located on the wireless network
- Used existing circuit switched wireless data service to communicate with the GPS client in the handset
- Next field test will use standards based protocols for data connection, independent of the voice path
- All tests were independent, single, cold start fixes
- Absolute worst case GPS scenario
- Multi-fix averaging (3 - 5 fixes) can be applied to improve yield and precision in difficult environments
- Full range of environments: rural, urban, suburban, vehicles, indoor
- 17 sites selected by wireless carriers to test operational limits

## SnapTrack Technology Evolution Curve

**1998**
**TODAY**
**2000**

**67% CEP Accuracy (meters)**

**Time to Cold Start, Non-Tracking First Fix (seconds)**

**Suburban  Sidewalk**

**Inside Vehicle**

**Inside Residence**

**Inside Shopping Mall**

**Urban Canyon**

***Note: 2000 performance comes from faster DSP and further GPS algorithm improvements***

## Impact on Handset Cost

- SnapTrack’s software based handset solution minimizes incremental manufacturing cost
- Uses existing, standard processors already in handset
- Many opportunities for sharing the few RF hardware components required
- Current estimates from semiconductor and handset manufactures are $7 - 10 incremental cost, including licensing fees, for first generation integrated implementations
- Costs will drop sharply as semiconductor densities and levels of integration increase
- Use of standard processing elements will continually drive down cost, size and power consumption
- Moore’s law on transistor density (same cost and processing power trend seen in PCs)

## Commercial Agreements

*Commercial Agreements*

- Motorola
- equity investment and commercial license agreement
- Texas Instruments
- equity investment and commercial license agreement
- NTT DoCoMo (Japan’s largest wireless carrier)
- commercial license agreement
- Denso (SnapTrack-enabled PDA)
-  commercial license agreement
- NEC (Japan server distribution)
- commercial license agreement