CSR extends GPS indoors

Chipmaker CSR has demonstrated location technology that goes beyond GPS to include data from many other sources, enabling location and navigation inside buildings, according to the firm.

The SiRFusion technology combines location information from the GPS, Galileo, Glonass and Compass satellite systems, along with Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

It also uses data from sensors such as accelerometers, gyros and compasses to provide a kind of inertial reckoning, according to CSR.

The technology, demonstrated at CSR's Locations & Beyond Summit in San Francisco, is set to be available next year in SiRFstarV, the next generation of the firm's SiRFstar GPS chipsets.

SiRFusion introduces a new approach to location and navigation, CSR said.

"Our customers are asking for location technology that can address the emerging needs of location-enabled applications, and indoor location and navigation are key to that," said Ahmet Alpdemir, senior vice president of CSR's mobile business.

SiRFstarV will also rely on crowd-sourced location data fed from a cloud-based database, according to Dave Huntingford, director of product management for CSR's mobile business.

"Unlike many other systems that require manual surveys to build and maintain an indoor Wi-Fi and cellular location database, the CSR Positioning Centre cloud-based server is able to receive anonymous and voluntary location information wirelessly from users' devices, even indoors, to improve the database," he explained.

Combining real-time Wi-Fi and satellite position information with dead reckoning using sensors, plus crowd-sourced location data, allows SiRFusion to achieve indoor position fixes rapidly and accurately enough to make indoor navigation part of everyday life, the firm said.