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SiRF Technology, Inc. was a pioneer in the commercial use of
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
technology for consumer applications. The company was founded in 1995 and was headquartered in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. Notable and founding members included
Sanjai Kohli
Sanjai Kohli is an electrical engineer and entrepreneur known for his work developing consumer Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. In addition to his recognition for GPS work, he founded multiple startups and is the CEO of MIPS Technolog ...
,
Dado Banatao
Diosdado P. Banatao (born May 23, 1946) is a Filipino entrepreneur and engineer working in the high-tech industry, credited with having developed the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transceiver chip, the firs ...
, and Kanwar Chadha. The company was acquired by British firm
CSR plc
CSR plc (formerly Cambridge Silicon Radio) was a multinational fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Its main products were connectivity, audio, imaging and location chips. CSR was listed on the London Stoc ...
in 2009, who were in turn subsequently acquired by American company
Qualcomm
Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...
on 13 August 2015.
SiRF manufactured a range of patented
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
chipsets and software for consumer navigation devices and systems. The chips are based on
ARM
In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...
controllers integrated with low-noise radio receivers to decode GPS signals at very low signal levels (typically -160
dBm
DBM or dbm may refer to:
Science and technology
* dBm, a unit for power measurement
* DBM (computing), family of key-value database engines including dbm, ndbm, gdbm, and Berkeley DB
* Database Manager (DBM), a component of 1987's ''Extended Edi ...
). SiRF chips also support
SBAS to allow for differentially corrected positions.
SiRFstarIII
SiRFstarIII architecture is designed to be useful in wireless and handheld
location-based services
A location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, ent ...
(LBS) applications, for 2G, 2.5G, 3G asynchronous networks. The SiRFstarIII family comprises the GRF3w RF IC, the GSP3f digital section, and the GSW3 software that is API compatible with GSW2 and SiRFLoc. The chips have been adopted by major GPS manufacturers, including Sony, Micro Technologies, Garmin, TomTom and Magellan.
SiRFatlas IV
SiRFatlas IV is a multifunction location system processor and is meant for entry-level Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs). The SiRFatlas IV is a cheaper version of the very popular, but rather expensive SiRFPrima platform.
Has GPS/Galileo baseband, LCD touch-screen controller, video input, 10-bit ADC and a high-speed USB 2.0.
SiRFstarV
SiRFstarV chips, launched in 2012, are capable of tracking
NAVSTAR
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sys ...
,
GLONASS
GLONASS (russian: ГЛОНАСС, label=none, ; rus, links=no, Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, r=Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, t=Global Navigation Satellite System) is ...
,
Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
,
Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
,
SBAS, and future GNSS signals. The SiRFusion platform integrates positioning from GNSS, terrestrial radio solutions such as Wi-Fi and cellular, and MEMS sensors including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and compasses. SiRFusion can then combine this real-time information with cellular base station and Wi-Fi access point location data, ephemeribased aiding information from the CSR Positioning Center (CPC) to generate accurate and reliable position updates.
Acquisition
On 10 February 2009, UK wireless chip company
CSR announced it was buying SiRF in a share deal worth $136 million.
[ ]
References
External links
SiRFstar V 5e - Qualcomm
{{Open Handset Alliance Members
Global Positioning System
Electronics companies of the United States