Trio develop tester for enhanced GPS

LONDON — Agilent Technologies and Spirent Communications are to join CSR within the enhanced Global Positioning System (EGPS) Forum to create a test system for the EGPS standard.

The EGPS Forum advocates improvement to location technologies in mobile devices and is committed to meeting both consumer and regulatory needs for precise and consistent levels of location information.

The trio have developed a single system that can simulate both GPS and cellular signals to provide a development and test platform on which to build EGPS technologies.

CSR and Motorola announced the intention to create the forum in January this year.

Richard Catmur, location test product segment manager at Spirent Communications said, "We are pleased to be a key contributor to the development of a comprehensive testing capability for EGPS. The system we have developed in collaboration with CSR and Agilent goes much further than test systems developed for earlier Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technologies."


"Agilent is committed to leveraging the RF and data analysis strengths of the Agilent 8960 wireless communications test set to help our customers design enhanced 2G, 2.5G, and 3G devices such as those employing EGPS technology," said Niels Fach, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Mobile Broadband Division.

The EGPS Forum is open to a broad array of participants from the telecommunications industry including handset manufacturers, location technology companies, network infrastructure providers and mobile network carriers. Initial activities of the Forum will focus on evaluating hybrid technologies that enhance GPS by combining satellite measurements with timing measurements taken from cellular networks and on establishing the underlying infrastructure to ensure full interoperability of this technology.

By Colin Holland