Motorola Unveils Latest in Family of Single Chip GPS Devices

CHICAGO, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), working with IBM Microelectronics, today announced a breakthrough technology for adding accurate location sensing to virtually any portable electronics product.

The new technology, called Motorola Instant GPS, is a self-contained, single-chip, assisted global positioning system (A-GPS) receiver small enough to fit into a wristwatch. Because it is the first truly single-chip GPS solution, it is expected to lead to a new generation of portable electronic products such as cameras that time- and location-stamp photos, PDAs with maps and real time navigation and E-911 compliant cellular phones that can find friends, family members, restaurants and nearby shops with goods on sale.

Motorola Instant GPS is the first truly single-chip GPS solution in the world, combining Motorola's GPS design with IBM's leading-edge silicon germanium (SiGe) chip-making technology. The companies worked together to integrate IBM's technology to optimize the design. IBM plans to manufacture the new GPS chips for Motorola; samples are available immediately for OEM suppliers of portable electronic devices.

"Location awareness is a fundamental human need," said Tim McCarthy, director of positioning systems for Motorola Telematics. "By their very nature, portable consumer electronic devices are always on the move. Knowing your precise location at any instant allows your device to offer a whole range of new applications that will lead to an explosion of growth for location- based services. With this combination of Motorola and IBM technology, portable electronic product designers can now add location awareness as easily as they can add a real time clock."

"IBM's technology enabled Motorola to reach its performance goal of detecting GPS signals so faint they'd be comparable to those received in Chicago from a light bulb burning in Korea," said Walt Lange, associate director for foundry services, IBM Microelectronics. "Our silicon germanium technology can be used to combine the function of many chips into one, helping reduce size and power consumption, while improving performance. Our work with Motorola is another example of our commitment to making advanced technologies available to our foundry customers."

"By utilizing our single-chip solution, manufacturers of portable electronic products are able to minimize risk and time to market, without reengineering current product designs" added Dave Huntingford, Motorola GPS Marketing Manager. "The Instant GPS chip is a single-chip solution as opposed to alternatives that use two or three chips or require extensive overhead added to the portable's host microprocessor. It's smaller, consumes less power and is much easier to integrate into portable electronic products."

About the Technology

Continuing Motorola's tradition of high quality reliable Oncore(TM) GPS solutions, Instant GPS sets the standard for innovation and ease of use. Other features include:

Simple Integration

The interface between the Instant GPS chip and the host processor is kept simple, allowing customers to separate the microprocessor and GPS designs. This eliminates demanding interrupt structures found in embedded GPS receivers, allowing a faster time to market.

Highly Compatible

Instant GPS can be used with industry standard mobile-centric assist messages for compatibility with almost any cellular network. By not completing its position calculation in the network, the device eliminates network overhead and potential issues associated with network centric GPS systems.

Low Power Consumption

Instant GPS consumes a small amount of power, which can be further reduced with an extensive array of power management modes such as position-on-demand. Utilizing the customer configurable software power management tools, Instant GPS can be placed in standby, further reducing power consumption.

Single Mixed Mode Device

Fabricated in IBM's leading 0.25-micron SiGe process, the Instant GPS breaks new ground by integrating both the 1.5GHz RF front end and the digital baseband processing into a single die. Measuring 7mm x 7mm with minimal external components required, Instant GPS leads the market for smaller, low cost, high performance A-GPS.

Low IF Architecture with Fractional Synthesizer

Designed with a Low Intermediate Frequency (IF) RF architecture to improve jamming immunity, Instant GPS enables easier co-location with transmitters such as GSM and Bluetooth(TM) wireless technology. An onboard fractional synthesizer allows existing 12 to 26MHz reference oscillators within the target product to be reused. In addition, a separate reference oscillator is not required for functionality, allowing for substantial cost and space saving benefits.

Future Compatible

Instant GPS is able to withstand the demands of increasing miniaturization and reductions in operating voltage. Able to support 1.8v to 3.3v interfaces, Instant GPS allows flexibility in processor selection and requires no redesign demands in the event of a die shrink in the host processor.

Instant GPS also can be easily added to many consumer electronics products enabling a wide range of consumer mobile information products to have positioning capability. This technology makes a new generation of products possible, such as cameras that time- and location-stamp photos, PDAs with maps and real-time navigation, E-911 compliant cellular phones with emergency assistance that can find friends, family members, restaurants and nearby stores with goods on sale.

Motorola Automotive

Located in Farmington Hills, Mich., Motorola Automotive is a leading, global supplier of automotive electronics, telematics, communications, and software systems. Motorola Automotive is a division of Motorola Integrated Electronic Systems Sector (IESS), a leading provider of advanced electronic products and systems for customers integrating electronics into their products.

With annual sales of approximately $30 billion, Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. More information can be found at www.motorola.com/automotive . For more information on Motorola's GPS products, please visit www.motorola.com/gps .

About IBM

IBM Microelectronics is a key contributor to IBM's role as the world's premier information technology supplier. IBM Microelectronics develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor and interconnect technologies, products and services. IBM makes chips for a wide range of devices from the world's most powerful computers to the smallest cell phones. Its superior integrated solutions can be found in many of the world's best- known electronic brands. More information about IBM Microelectronics can be found at: www.ibm.com/chips .

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by their proprietor and used by Motorola, Inc. under license.