Trimble’s New Smart GNSS Timing Antenna Adds GLONASS Capabilities for Network Synchronization

NEW ORLEANS, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Trimble (TRMB) introduced today its latest generation of timing receivers—the Acutime™ GG smart antenna with multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) capabilities. Slightly larger than a baseball and housed in a rugged, environmentally sealed enclosure, the Acutime GG provides a pulse-per-second (PPS) output synchronized to UTC within 15 nanoseconds (one sigma). It is a small, accurate and extremely cost-effective solution for adding GNSS timing and synchronization to any application where ease of installation and long-term reliability is critical.

The announcement was made at CTIA’s Wireless 2012 Conference.

Using Trimble’s latest GPS and GLONASS software technology, the Acutime GG smart timing antenna builds upon Trimble’s field-proven expertise. In addition to GPS and GLONASS, the smart antenna also supports Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and the Asian Pacific Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

The new Acutime GG smart antenna is backwards compatible with applications built around previous generations of Acutime receivers. The antenna is an ideal solution for precise timing and network synchronization. It provides an independent GNSS timing source, within the firewall, for a variety of applications including:

• Synchronization and timing of cellular and radio networks
• Network fault detection systems
• Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) applications
• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems

“The Acutime GG smart antenna builds on Trimble’s experience with GPS smart antennas,” said Karen Guldan, general manager of Trimble’s Timing Business. “We’ve implemented the next step in our product line strategy by adding multi-GNSS capabilities without changing the form factor of the product. This step brings the price and performance value needed in today’s expanding wireless market.”

Once powered, the Acutime GG automatically tracks satellites and surveys its position to within meters. It then switches to overdetermined time mode and generates a PPS, outputting a time tag for each pulse. The Acutime GG smart antenna’s Time-Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitor (T-RAIM) algorithm ensures PPS integrity.

Designed for long-term reliability, the Acutime GG smart timing antenna is a pole-mounted GNSS receiver and antenna. It is corrosion-resistant and waterproof and has a rounded top that facilitates run-off from the elements. The RS-422 interface is ideal for the long cable runs required by buildings or towers. Standard cables are available in lengths up to 400 feet. Custom lengths up to 1800 feet are available.

The Acutime GG can operate in extreme temperatures (-40 to +85 degrees Celsius) and hostile RF-jamming environments typically encountered at wireless network transmitter sites. It requires less than 1 watt to operate and outputs Trimble’s Standard Interface Protocol (TSIP) or industry-standard NMEA.

The Acutime GG Starter Kit makes it easy to evaluate the performance of the Acutime GG smart antenna. It includes the Acutime GG smart antenna (RS-422), a 100 foot interface cable, user guide, RS-422 to USB converter, and a Microsoft® Windows® software tool for monitoring and communication.

The Acutime GG smart timing antenna is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2012 through Trimble’s Advanced Devices sales network.

About Trimble GPS Timing
Communication systems, financial networks, utilities, and other critical infrastructure all rely on precision timing for synchronization and operational efficiency. Trimble GNSS receivers provide the precision time and frequency for some of the world’s largest communications and computer networking companies. Trimble offers precision time and frequency products to 3G/4G wireless, broadband and digital broadcast networks. More than 33 years of experience allow Trimble to take GNSS receivers and disciplined clocks to higher levels of integration and performance, providing superior technology, quality and cost benefit to customers.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location — including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

Trimble Introduces Tiny GNSS Timing Receiver to Keep Systems in Sync

Full-featured, Low Cost, 15 Nanosecond Timing in a Tiny Form Factor

NEW ORLEANS, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Trimble (TRMB) introduced today a new embedded Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver with GPS and GLONASS capabilities for timing applications—the Trimble® Resolution-SMT™ GG receiver. With major advancements in performance, ease of integration and software flexibility, the Resolution-SMT GG receiver enables system integrators to add precise GNSS to provide location, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and synchronization to many products or systems where cost or size had previously been a limitation.

The announcement was made at CTIA’s Wireless 2012 Conference.

In addition to GPS and GLONASS, the embedded timing receiver also supports Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and the Asian Pacific Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

Precise timing and synchronization are vital to today’s wireless infrastructure to efficiently control the flow of network information data and maximize the use of bandwidth. Backed by Trimble’s experience and innovation in the market, the Resolution-SMT GG receiver provides a low-cost, easy to use, highly accurate and reliable GNSS timing source for the telecommunications, broadcast synchronization, power transmission and wireless industries.

The Resolution-SMT GG is a complete, ready-to-go timing receiver in a 19mm x 19mm x 2.5mm shielded module. The small, thin, single-sided receiver is packaged in tape and reel for pick and place manufacturing processes. It features a reflow-solderable edge castellation interface so the module can be incorporated in a product design without costly I/O and RF connectors. The modular design also allows for reduced integration time and low implementation risk.

Timing features of the Resolution-SMT GG receiver include:

• Automatic Self-Survey to ensure accurate reference position for improved timing accuracy
• Overdetermined Timing Mode to provide an extremely accurate 1 PPS synchronized to GPS/UTC within 15 nanoseconds (one sigma)
• Timing Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (T-RAIM) to assure high PPS integrity in Overdetermined Timing Mode

The Resolution-SMT GG Starter Kit provides everything a designer needs to begin adding state-of-the-art GNSS timing capability into an application. The Resolution-SMT GG receiver uses Trimble Standard Interface Protocol (TSIP) or NMEA.

The Resolution-SMT GG receiver and starter kit is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2012 through Trimble’s Advanced Devices sales network.

About Trimble GNSS Timing

Communication systems, financial networks, utilities, and other critical infrastructure all rely on precision timing for synchronization and operational efficiency. Trimble GNSS receivers provide the precision time and frequency for some of the world’s largest communications and computer networking companies. Trimble offers precision time and frequency products to 3G/4G wireless, broadband and digital broadcast networks. More than 33 years of experience allow Trimble to take GNSS receivers and disciplined clocks to higher levels of integration and performance, providing superior technology, quality and cost benefit to customers.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

Ekahau Launches Next Generation Wi-Fi RTLS Staff Badge and Pager

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

New B4 Badge Provides Enterprise Users with Simple to Use Wi-Fi Location Tracking Coupled with Staff Safety and Communications Features

Ekahau Inc., the worldwide leader in high performance Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced the launch of its newest Wi-Fi staff badge – the Ekahau B4 Staff Badge and Pager. The B4 features an OLED text display and multiple buttons that allow users to receive text messages over Wi-Fi and to acknowledge receipt or to initiate calls and alarms. A unique feature of the B4 badge is a built-in alarm switch for staff duress events.

The B4 badge builds on Ekahau’s highly successful T301BD staff badge which is being phased out of production. The B4 incorporates the latest SOC (system on a chip) Wi-Fi 802.11g radio, CPU and memory along with several new changes in the physical design that enhance the ruggedness and use of the badges. The B4 can be tracked and located by Ekahau RTLS over any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. The system is typically able to achieve room level accuracy using Wi-Fi as the location method. For areas with poor Wi-Fi coverage or where sub-room location is required, the B4 incorporates an IR sensor that works with the Ekahau RTLS system and the Ekahau LB1 Location Beacons to ensure location accuracy down to within a few feet.

The three call buttons and alarm switch can be programmed to address different calls initiated by the user. For example, a button press can signify a call for assistance in moving a patient, whereas the alarm switch can be used to summon nearby co-workers to help with a life-threatening situation. Due to the system’s unique two-way communication capability, staff members can receive calls for help or other requests directly on the LED display on the badges they are wearing. An audible tone and flashing LEDs alert that there is a new message.

“The new design of the B4 builds on customer feedback we have received over the years as a leading supplier personnel, patient and visitor tracking solutions” said Tuomo Rutanen Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Ekahau Inc. “Ekahau has hundreds of sites where our RTLS system is deployed with our staff badges that are saving lives, improving work-flow and improving operations. We combine precision location, alarming and service request features and a full array of audible, visual and text communications capabilities on the badge itself. These capabilities offer our customers more options to leverage the Ekahau RTLS system to solve both mission critical and every-day problems.”

The Ekahau B4 has a rechargeable battery that allows organizations to run the badges with rapid blink rates and real-time text messaging. Battery life is continuously monitored with multi-color LEDs and the user is alerted if the battery level falls below a specific threshold. The B4 badges can be recharged using a simple AC charger, a USB cable or with a table-top or wall-mount rack charger that charges ten badges simultaneously. Recharge time is approximately 90 minutes and the badges can be configured to last from a few days to several weeks on a single charge.

The B4 starts shipping to customers at the end of May and is available through Ekahau and its resellers world-wide.

About Ekahau Inc.

Ekahau Inc. is the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi-based RTLS solutions. Ekahau’s customers, including several Fortune 500 companies worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau’s solutions are being used in more than 300 hospitals around the world, as well as by manufacturing, retail and industrial companies, government agencies and the military. Ekahau partners include wireless software developers, leading system integrators and international OEM partners, who develop and market wireless enterprise applications. Ekahau is a U.S.-based corporation, with headquarters in Reston, VA, and other offices in Saratoga, CA; Helsinki, Finland; Tokyo; and Hong Kong. For more information about Ekahau, please visit http://www.ekahau.com.

Sequans Introduces LTE Interference Rejection Technology

New technology implemented on Sequans’ LTE chips can double network capacity

NEW ORLEANS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

4G chipmaker Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS – News) has added new technology to its LTE chip platforms called Sequans AIR™ — Active Interference Rejection. Sequans AIR is an innovative interference mitigation algorithm implemented on Sequans’ chips for LTE end user devices. Sequans AIR can increase throughput up to 3.5 times for users at the cell edge and can increase network capacity up to 2 times if all user terminals are equipped with Sequans AIR. Sequans AIR was co-developed with technology partner ArrayComm, an industry leader in multi-antenna signal processing.

“LTE spectrum is limited and interference is becoming an issue for operators as network traffic increases,” said Bertrand Debray, Sequans CTO. “Although network-based interference mitigation techniques are specified in future releases of the LTE standard, these are not available today plus these are limited in how much interference they can remove. We designed Sequans AIR in response to this, and have developed a powerful interference solution that can be implemented on today’s LTE networks for significant benefits to end users and network operators.”

Sequans AIR is designed to work in any LTE network (TDD or FDD), regardless of eNode B, carrier frequency, or channel bandwidth. It works today on LTE Release 8 and 9 networks and will work on future Release 10 and 11 networks. Sequans AIR is designed into Sequans’ latest LTE platforms: Andromeda for LTE handsets and tablets and Mont Blanc for hostless USB dongles, CPE, M2M devices, and mobile hotspots. Sequans AIR represents the latest advances in interference mitigation techniques and works by forming a receive beam toward the useful signal, and spatial nulls in the direction of interfering signals.

“Sequans AIR has been tested and proven at the system level and at the link level,” said Debray. “It has been tested in numerous interference scenarios, using the various transmission modes of LTE, and even in the most challenging situations where there are numerous interfering signals to be rejected by only two UE antennas, the Sequans AIR receiver shows a significant gain, rejecting in some cases twice as much interference as the default receiver.”

Sequans has published a white paper detailing performance results and describing the full benefits of the Sequans AIR technology. Click here to download Mitigating Interference in LTE Networks with Sequans AIR – Active Interference Rejection.

See Sequans at International CTIA Wireless in New Orleans, May 8-10, booth 3110.

About Sequans Communications

Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS – News) is a 4G chipmaker, supplying LTE and WiMAX chips to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers worldwide. Founded in 2003 to address the WiMAX market, the company expanded in early 2009 to address the LTE market. Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices throughout the world, including United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. www.sequans.com; Twitter: www.twitter.com/sequans

Contact:
Sequans Communications S.A.
Media Relations:
Kimberly Tassin, +1-425-736-0569
Kimberly@sequans.com
or
Investor Relations:
Claudia Gatlin, +1-212-830-9080
Claudia@sequans.com

Bsquare Announces Availability of the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960-Based Mobile Development Platform for Smartphones

Developer Tool Gives Early Access to the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 Processor

BELLEVUE, WA–(Marketwire -03/06/12)- BSQUARE Corporation (NASDAQ: BSQR – News), a leading enabler of smart, connected devices, today announced general availability of the next generation Snapdragon® S4 MSM8960 Mobile Development Platform (MDP) for Android smartphones. The MDP provides application developers and device manufacturers with early access to a high-performance Android 4.0 platform for developing, testing, optimizing and showcasing applications and games.

Based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor with asynchronous dual Krait CPU cores, the high-quality mobile phone form factor offers more powerful built-in graphics with the Adreno® 225 GPU and improved power management and multimedia efficiencies. The device also has a higher resolution and larger screen size than prior generation MDPs.

“Getting to market with the best possible application in the fastest possible time is critical for today’s Android application developers,” said John Traynor, Vice President of Products, Bsquare. “Early access to the Snapdragon MSM8960 processor by Qualcomm, combined with best-in-class engineering support and testing solutions from Bsquare, provides a major benefit to application and game developers developing for a wide range of pre-commercial devices.”

As with previous generations of the MDP, Bsquare will support developers and manufacturers using the Snapdragon MSM8960-based MDP with engineering services, technical support and access to the Bsquare Knowledge Base, technical documentation, complimentary tools and Snapdragon MDP software updates. Users of the Snapdragon MSM8960-based MDP can also benefit from the industry-leading TestQuest automated testing solutions from Bsquare, which support testing of Android software and hardware including the Snapdragon MSM8960-based MDP.

“We are pleased to continue our work with Bsquare on the next generation of the Snapdragon MDP,” said Tia Cassett, Senior Director of Business Development, Qualcomm. “The combination of a powerful developer device in the Snapdragon MSM8960-based MDP and industry-leading services from Bsquare means faster time-to-market for Android developers.”

“In our development efforts with the Snapdragon MSM8960 MDP, we found that it really gave us a competitive edge since it gave us early access to a development platform running the latest Snapdragon processors,” said Didier Pippel, Executive Producer, Khaeon Gamestudio. “The Snapdragon MDP enabled us to push our game quality and user experience to the next level with higher-end visual effects and faster performance. Combined with valuable development and optimization tools like the Adreno Profiler, developing on the Snapdragon MDP really helped us deliver a better product in a shorter time and even at less cost.”

The Snapdragon MSM8960-based MDP, available at www.bsquare.com/qualcomm, includes the Snapdragon MSM8960-based smartphone form-factor with a 4.03″ WVGA responsive multi-touch touch screen display, asynchronous dual-core CPUs running independently at 1.5 GHz, Adreno 225 GPU, 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, stereo loudspeakers, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage memory. Qualcomm is helping developers optimize their applications for Snapdragon platforms by providing MDP-specific tools including the Adreno Profiler for optimizing 3D graphics performance and the Trepn® Profiler for optimizing application power usage.

Bsquare will be hosting an informational Webinar, “Using the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960-based MDP for Application Development and Automated Testing,” on March 20, 2012. Register for the Webinar at bsquare.com/events.

About BSQUARE Corporation
Bsquare, a global leader in embedded solutions, applies experience and expertise on leading platforms to create new connections with customers, new business models and to enable new ways of working and communicating. Bsquare serves customers by forging connections among the partners, people, tools and technology needed to create smart connected devices. For more information, visit www.bsquare.com.