 | Qualcomm tackles indoor location with new generation of chips |
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Qualcomm is building indoor positioning into its IZAT platform in hopes of making indoor location-based services just as common as outdoor services. The upgrades are going into its current generation of smartphone chipsets, but Qualcomm is working with Cisco on a network-based platform as well. Qualcomm hopes to make mobile phones just as adept at pinpointing your location within a building as they are at tracking your presence on city streets. The company announced on Thursday an ambitious plan to extend indoor positioning capabilities to all future handsets and Wi-Fi networks powered by its chips using a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular triangulation technologies as well as sensor data and cloud-based assistance servers. Qualcomm already has quite a bit of history in the location field. A decade ago it launched the GPSOne program with the aim of putting assisted-GPS chips in almost every Qualcomm-powered phone in order to meet government emergency location requirements. Qualcomm estimates that its location engine has been integrated into more than 1 billion phones and devices. Meridian is a mobile-software company for location-based businesses. Used by everyone from the Venetian Hotel-Resort-Casino to the New York City subway system, Meridian’s platform is the first for developing both indoor navigation and location-based services for mobile apps. “Location-based apps will revolutionize how businesses reach mobile consumers and enhance their experiences in a variety of public places, particularly indoors,” said Kiyo Kubo, chief executive officer of Meridian. “By working with Qualcomm and its partners, we can take full advantage of the latest mobile and network capabilities to create innovative apps with indoor positioning that deliver real value to consumers and businesses.” http://gigaom.com/mobile/qualcomm-tackles-indoor-location-with-new-generation-of-chips/ http://www.qualcomm.com/chipsets/izat http://www.qualcomm.com/media/releases/2012/11/15/qualcomm-atheros-and-cisco-announce-indoor-location-technology-collaborati http://www.qualcomm.com/media/releases/2012/11/15/qualcomm-expands-market-leading-izat-location-platform-enable-indoor-posit SOURCE: GigaOm.com, Qualcomm.com |
