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IMS: GPS Tech Catching Up with Digital Cameras
http://cp.gpsworld.com/gpscp/content/printContentPopup.jsp?id=488688
Feb 1, 2008
GPS World
All the major GPS IC companies are looking at the digital camera
market because of the volumes involved -- more than 100 million
units shipped in 2006 and growing -- and the interest that
digital camera manufacturers are showing in the technology, market
research firm IMS Research said today.
Recent achievements at GPS receiver manufacturers such as Air
Semiconductors, SiRF, Qualcomm, u-blox, Glonav, and Geotate (NXP
Software's spinoff) are finally paving the way for intelligent
integration of GPS in digital cameras. These manufacturers have been
looking at GPS technology for years now and its applicability to
digital photography, and they have all been facing the issue of the
quick usage mode of digital cameras, IMS observed. This conflicts
directly with GPS receiver technology, which can require tens of
seconds or even minutes in order to get a location fix.
Solving this conflict is a key element for a successful uptake of the
technology in the market, the market researcher concluded.
"Camera manufacturers are unsure of traditional solutions because
they are too power hungry, too expensive and take too long to get a
location fix," said Matia Grossi, IMS researcher. "The imminent
arrival of GPS-enabled camera phones has placed increased emphasis on
addressing this capability. Furthermore in the past years their
margins have thinned significantly, with the commoditization of their
products and the competition from the cellular market, making the
issue even more complicated. At the moment there are limited
GPS-enabled solutions, mostly in the high-end SLR market using
external (and expensive) devices."
A new wave of GPS techniques are emerging, however, that will solve
the issue in different and innovative ways, according to the market
researcher. As a result, IMS Research forecasts that the GPS camera
market will show very strong growth over the next five years, growing
from a sub-million unit market in 2006, with a CAGR of more than 200
percent. Currently, two of the most interesting of these techniques
are those brought to the market by Geotate and Air Semiconductor.
In Geotate's Snapspot, the receiver is only on for a fraction of a
second, while the user takes a picture. Snapspot is instantaneous and
user-independent, without eating up the battery, making for a perfect
user case. From the manufacturer's point of view it is a small,
cost-effective way of addressing the geo-tagging market, IMS said.
In Air Semiconductor's Airwave-1 receiver the receiver is always on,
dynamically trading accuracy with power efficiency to find the
optimum balance for each application, according to IMS. The receiver
consumes as little as 1mA (on average) and is independent of the
existing hardware, providing a perfect usage mode for cameras.
"The new solutions that are being presented could finally open the
market to GPS and while it might be too early to expect any major
announcements involving GPS at the 2008 edition of PMA, please watch
this space," Grossi said. PMA is a photography industry tradeshow
taking place this week in Las Vegas.
