Broadcom announces immediate support for new QZSS satellites launched by Japan

PORTLAND, USA: Broadcom Corp. announced that its single-chip global positioning system (GPS) solution for mobile devices supports the new Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) launched by Japan earlier this month.

The BCM4751 solution has built-in support for QZSS and also supports additional satellite constellations including the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS), making as many as nine additional satellites available for use in navigation.

This built-in support will result in several GPS performance benefits, including improved urban canyon navigation in major cities such as Tokyo and availability of position fixes in more areas than competitive solutions.

Highlights
* The foundation of the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System has just been established with the launch of a new navigation satellite named Michibiki. This is the first of three satellites in this new constellation. The QZSS satellites are meant to provide refined navigation capabilities over existing systems.

* The QZSS satellites require a new set of pseudo random number (PRN) codes, support for which is already built into the BCM4751.

* Broadcom is working closely with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to test reception of live QZSS signals and codes as they become available using the BCM4751.

* The Broadcom BCM4751 is a single-chip GPS receiver used for tracking and navigation, primarily in mobile devices. Its massively parallel, hardware correlator architecture provides faster signal searches, accurate real-time navigation, improved tracking sensitivity and very low average power consumption. The sensitivity and navigation performance of the BCM4751 continue to set the standard for the industry.