SnapTrack GSM Test Group Successfully Completes Most Extensive Pan-European
Tests of High-Accuracy Wireless Location Technology
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2000 7:31:00 AM EST
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov 28, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SnapTrack Inc., a wholly
owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and leader in
wireless position location technology, today announced the completion of an extensive
series of wireless handset location tests across Europe, marking more than one year of
independently audited testing of SnapTrack's Wireless Assisted GPS(TM) system by
Global System for Mobile telecommunications (GSM) industry leaders. The tests,
conducted by members of SnapTrack's GSM Test Group, (an international consortium
of GSM carriers, handset suppliers, applications providers, infrastructure manufacturers
and semiconductor manufacturers), conclusively proved that SnapTrack's technology can
accurately and rapidly locate mobile phones in a wide range of European calling
environments and support seamless cross-border location roaming services.
Wireless handset location roaming trials, using prototype handsets and two types of
miniature GPS antennas suitable for use in small mobile devices, were conducted in and
around the major urban centers of Paris, Bonn, London and Utrecht, as well as other
locations. A single Location Server hosted by France Telecom Mobiles provided
location calculation support for all of the trial locations in Western Europe, and
demonstrated SnapTrack's unique ability to provide cross-border roaming and wide-area
service coverage from a single service center. Callers were successfully located on
successive networks during the trials in a wide range of environments, from city centers,
to rural villages and motorways. CMG Telecommunications teamed with France Telecom
Mobiles and SnapTrack to provide the interface between the location server and the
network Short Message Service Center (SMSC) to test the use of SMS as the data
bearer for wireless position information. This approach allows location transactions to
take place during voice calls and during idle mode. CMG Telecommunications believes
that the Short Message Service turned out to be suitable for this type of application.
For relatively open outdoor sites, including suburban neighborhoods and wooded parks,
typical accuracies were in the 5-10 meter range. Outdoor testing in dense urban and
urban canyon environments, including both narrow, medieval Parisian streets and modern
skyscraper complexes, yielded average accuracies of 30-50 meters, with some results as
precise as 10 meters. Indoor tests were conducted in a variety of commercial and
residential structures in both city center and suburban locations. Included in these tests
were train stations, apartment buildings, office buildings, restaurants, shops and
residences. Typical accuracies for these indoor sites ranged from 30 to 45 meters with
some yields as precise as 20 meters. The roaming tests in London showed very similar
accuracies to the Paris tests, clearly demonstrating the viability of operation across carrier
network boundaries.
"We're looking forward to continuing our work with the GSM Test Group to bring the
benefits of SnapTrack's wireless location system to the market," said Steve Poizner,
president of SnapTrack. "The pan-European roaming trials clearly demonstrate that our
technology can achieve high levels of accuracy -- even in very harsh calling environments
where other location technologies fail to perform. These trials not only demonstrated
SnapTrack's compatibility with SMS, but also that SnapTrack's enhanced GPS
handset-based technology represents the most cost-effective, high quality solution for
seamless cross-border, cross-network location services roaming."
The SnapTrack GSM Test Group Phase I trials in Madrid, Spain, successfully
demonstrated near-commercial location services applications in the GSM environment,
with callers typically pinpointed to within 5-20 meters. During the trials, mobile users
were guided to featured points of interest and to hotels, ATMs, nightclubs and tourist
attractions closest to their calling locations. Recent studies by Strategis Group indicate
that the wireless location services market could generate as much as $32 billion per year
in revenues for European carriers and vendors by 2005.
The SnapTrack GSM Test Group consortium, formed more than a year ago, collectively
supports over 30 million subscribers. Publicly disclosed members include Vodafone
AirTouch Communications PLC (UK and US), BellSouth Mobility DCS (US), BT
Cellnet (UK), Esat Digifone (Ireland), France Telecom (France), Omnitel Pronto Italia
(Italy), T-Mobil (Germany), Telecel (Portugal) and Telefonica (Spain), and applications
developer SignalSoft (UK and US). Prototype handsets were provided to the consortium
for the field trials.
Infrastructure providers CMG Telecommunications (Holland), Nortel Networks (France)
and Siemens Information and Communication Networks (Germany) also participated in
the trials.
SnapTrack's Wireless Assisted GPS system improves upon conventional GPS by
combining information from GPS satellites and from wireless networks to pinpoint a
wireless handset. While conventional GPS receivers may take several minutes to provide
a location fix, the SnapTrack system generally locates callers within a few seconds. With
its GPS Indoors(TM) feature, callers can be located in a wide range of challenging call
environments where conventional GPS will not work, including inside houses and moving
vehicles, under heavy foliage, and in urban street canyons -- usually to within 5-20
meters. The unique SnapTrack Location on Demand(TM) feature also ensures a caller's
privacy, giving mobile phone users control over their own location information.
SnapTrack's technology products permit the design of cellular phones, pagers, PDAs,
and other wireless devices that operate in multiple GPS navigation modes, allowing
out-of-network location coverage and a variety of thin-client applications. SnapTrack's
wireless location technology products require no Location Measurement Units installed in
the network or additional cell sites, and are designed to have minimal impact on cost and
handset form factor. SnapTrack's technology is air-interface neutral and is applicable in
any two-way wireless system: cellular/PCS, satellite, or paging; 800/900 MHz or
1800/1900 MHz; GSM, CDMA, TDMA, PDC or 3G air interfaces.
CMG Telecommunications is the leading global supplier of messaging and Internet
solutions for the wireless telecom industry. CMG develops high-end solutions in close
co-operation with network operators. To date, more than 150 of these quality solutions
have been delivered to over 75 operators worldwide. They are widely recognized to be
the best around, combining minimum operator intervention with maximum performance
and availability. The product portfolio includes the WAP Service Broker(TM), Mobile
E-mail, Short Message Service Centre, Cell Broadcast System and EPPIX (Customer
Care & Billing System). More information about CMG Telecommunications can be
found on the Internet at www.cmgtele.com. CMG telecommunications is a division of
CMG plc (www.cmg.com) a leading European IT services group, providing business
information solutions around the world through consultancy, systems development,
software applications and managed services. CMG was established in 1964 and
nowadays employs around 11,000 employees. The Group is listed on the London and
Amsterdam stock exchanges.
Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SnapTrack is focused on integrating GPS and
two-way wireless technologies. SnapTrack's patented architecture offers anytime,
anywhere, accurate, high-speed location of a wireless caller, even inside buildings where
conventional GPS does not operate. SnapTrack pioneered Wireless Assisted GPS, and
owns patents that are fundamental to the cost-effective deployment of Wireless Assisted
GPS-based location systems. SnapTrack has commercial agreements with Motorola,
Texas Instruments, NTT DoCoMo, Denso, NEC, CTC, Locate Networks, GlenAyre
and DSPC. NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Sprint PCS have all chosen to deploy products
and services incorporating SnapTrack technology. For more information, please visit
snaptrack.com.
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