Wearables and sports tracking, etc.
High-sensitivity GPS/GLONASS receiver dedicated to power-sensitive applications



u-blox announced the launch of the u-blox 8 GPS/GLONASS receiver platform. GPS is a satellite navigation positioning system operated by the United States, while GLONASS is a satellite navigation positioning system operated by Russia. The u-blox 8 is expected to further solidify the position of the u-blox GNSS platform portfolio by efficiently supporting product families sensitive to power consumption. The existing u-blox M8 platform will continue to support applications requiring high navigation performance and maximum accuracy.

It was reported that the u-blox 8 offers significantly improved performance compared to the existing u-blox 7, with reception sensitivity improved by approximately 4 dBm to provide performance of -166 dBm. It was stated that it offers enhanced odometer functions and a newly introduced geofencing feature, and enables sports products to reduce power consumption by half through features such as an optimized power save mode.
In addition, GNSS signal acquisition performance can be further enhanced through AssistNow, an AGNSS (Assisted GNSS) service provided free of charge. They explained that u-blox 8 can be described as a new positioning platform optimized for all battery-powered devices, particularly wearables and sports tracking.

"Low power consumption is very important because many portable applications today rely on small coin batteries. The ublox 8 is designed to achieve both low power and high performance in wearable and tracking applications," says Uffe Pless, Positioning Product Marketing Manager at ublox.

u-blox 8 is pin-compatible with u-blox 7, and u-blox 8 chips and modules will be available in various form factors. Customer samples of u-blox 8 chips and modules are expected to be available within the second quarter of 2016.