PCI Express Mini cards provide GPS functions

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Apr 23, 2009

Alpha Micro Components has announced that it has added U-blox PCI Express Mini cards to its GPS product portfolio.

The PCI Express Mini cards enable next-generation laptop, netbook, mobile internet devices and ultra-mobile PC OEMs to provide GPS and location-based services including personal navigation, services/people finder and geo-tagging.

The cards, which come in two sizes, deliver a high GPS tracking sensitivity, which offers customers an extremely robust solution for seamless navigation.

The GPS PCI Express Mini card is based on the U-blox five positioning engine, which delivers very fast time to first fix (<1s).

It is equally effective with lower cost antennas and enables a better performance, even in dense urban environments.

Requiring only an external antenna, the card comes in two sizes - PCI Express Mini card (PCI-5S) and PCI Express Half Mini card (PCM-5S) - to accommodate diverse needs.

The cards use U-blox's Supersense technology, which can track extremely weak GPS signals to -160dBm.

The Mini cards also include U-blox anti-jamming algorithms, so they are highly immune to noise generated by the PC bus, mobile phones and any other electronic devices in close proximity.

The cards are available now with drivers that support Windows XP and Windows Vista.

A driver for Windows 7 will be available shortly.