Sarantel promises better GPS phones

AS ANY NOKIA N95 owner knows, the GPS capability currently built into a typical mobile phone is extremely flaky. Sarantel reckons it can solve the problem with an antenna designed specifically for handsets.

David Wither, Sarantel's CEO, claims his engineers have taken a Nokia N82 apart and proved to themselves that locational accuracy is to less than one metre is possible.

The problem with existing GPS antennae, Wither argues, is that the human body absorbs radiation which adversely affects the antenna's accuracy.

By using dielectric (ceramic) material, Sarantel claims it's possible to have a GPS phone that will work in your pocket – not held two feet in front of you as is currently the case.

The catch lies in persuading mobile phone vendors that the GPS antenna is import.

"Handset designers are like alcoholics," Wither quipped. "It's extremely difficult to get them to recognise that they have a problem."

He points out that Nokia, for example, has already invested heavily in navigation – especially through its acquisition of mapping expert, Navteq.

Now handset manufacturers are beginning to recognise that consumers expect their handset to be able to distinguish what side of the street they're on so they can find they way while walking around a city.

First that requires an antenna with sub-metre accuracy and secondly it requires the mapping companies to provide maps that can tell the user where the nearest Zebra crossing is.

Wither also maintains that handset manufacturers will need to build electronic compasses into mobile phones in order to tell which way the customer is facing.

Sarantel estimates that - given a large enough order - it is already feasible to get the component cost for its LBS Pro antenna down below $1 – the pricing level required by handset vendors.

The company isn't proud. It's perfectly prepared to licence its product, too. "We'd like to be the ARM of the antennae world," Withers joked.

And, indirectly, the G1 phone will help because one of the main weapons of Android handsets will be Google Maps. Which will bring the whole question of accuracy nicely into focus for Sarantel.

Oh. Did we mention that Sarantel is also based in Britain?

Well, it is. µ

See also
Nokia buys GPS expertise to snub Qualcomm