Oscillators make the most of Chinese GPS system

C-Mac MicroTechnology has developed a range of TCXO (temperature compensated crystal oscillators) pre-eminently suitable for "Beidou" receivers.

C-Mac MicroTechnology has developed a range of TCXO (temperature compensated crystal oscillators) pre-eminently suitable for "Beidou" receivers.

"Beidou" is a geostationary navigational satellite system that is designed, developed and operated by the People's Republic of China which launched its third "Beidou" satellite May 2003, forming a complete positioning system together with the first two "Beidou" satellites launched in 2000.

It is a regional positioning system mainly covering the country and its neighbouring areas.

It will make China independent of its counterparts the GPS and Glonass positioning systems.

The system is to be used for a wide range of applications including land, sea and air navigation, tracking of vehicles, cargo and people, cartography, smart munitions and geological surveying.

To accurately calculate the position the "Beidou" receiver requires a high precision reference oscillator (TCXO) at 16.32 or 48.96MHz.

C-Mac is offering these frequencies (other frequencies on request) in packages with a footprint of 7 x 5 or 14 x 9mm (48.96MHz in 14 x 9mm only).

The oscillators offer stability as tight as +/-0.3ppm over temperature (-20 to +70C) which enables fast position determination even when the signals from the satellites are weak.

The temperature range can be specified as wide as -55 to +105C (+/-1.0ppm).

The oscillators are available with HCMOS, ACMOS, sinewave or clipped sinewave outputs, which can be disabled (tristate function).

Other options include a reference voltage and frequency adjustment by means of an external control voltage.

Power consumption as low as 1.7mA at 3.3V (16.32MHz, clipped sinewave output) make the TCXO suitable for portable devices.

Samples are available from stock.

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