U-Blox

Swiss-based u-blox has acquired Swedish company connectBlue AB, a provider of industrial-grade short range radio modules which support Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11/wi-fi industry standards that enable the last hundreds of metres of connectivity between equipment and the internet. According to u-blox, the acquisition greatly enhances its portfolio of positioning and cellular wireless communications solutions with short range communication products and broadens the u-blox module offering bringing millions of

Wireless communications provider u-blox has announced strong top and bottom line growth in its financial report for 2013. Consolidated revenue US$249 million, a growth of 27.0 per cent compared to 2012; gross profit improved from US$92 million to US$1.2 million, with a continued good profit margin of 36 per cent; operating profit (EBIT) increased from US$25.99 million to US$34.1 million, a growth of 30.9 per cent compared to 2012; net profit increased by 44.3 per cent from US$19.3 million to US$27.8 mill

Supporting LTE category 4 download speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s and upload of 50 Mbit/s, u-blox’s new Toby-L2 and MPCI-L2 modem series is said to support high-bandwidth automotive, networking and video applications with 2G and 3G fallback. The ultra-compact LTE modules with UMTS/HSPA+ and GSM/EDGE, GPRS fallback are suited to vehicle infotainment systems, tablets, notebooks, ruggedised mobile terminals and high-speed M2M applications such as digital signage, remote security and video systems, where backwa

Equipped with an on board u-blox GPS satellite receiver module, a microdrone from German light-weight vertical take off and landing vehicles (VTOLs) manufacturer, microdrones, has successfully completed a high-precision aerial journey over the Alps from Switzerland towards Italy. Precise GPS coordinates and elevation were crucial for navigating obstacles and completing the flight in punishing weather conditions. Carrying a high-resolution video camera, the autonomous microdrone completed 18 pre-programmed

U-blox has launched its next generation core positioning technology platform u-blox 7. Supporting all deployed as well as soon-to-be deployed Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), the platform is based on the UBX-G7020 multi-GNSS receiver IC which the company claims has the lowest power consumption on the market by at least a factor of three as compared to other standalone solutions.

German camera-accessory manufacturer Bilora has announced the Bilora photo-geotagger, based on the u-blox Capture & Process GPS solution. The hot-shoe accessory allows virtually any SLR camera to instantaneously capture position anywhere in the world each time a photo is taken. With specially developed PC/Mac software, photos are matched with fixes and geotagged with latitude/longitude and street address details which can be displayed on a satellite map. Photos can be conveniently stored and recalled based

Switzerland-headquartered U-blox, a specialist in positioning and wireless semiconductors, has acquired UK-based Cognovo, a company specialising in software defined modem (SDM) chip development technology. The acquisition extends U-blox’ chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

U-blox has expanded its high-speed wireless connectivity reference design offerings to include full High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) capabilities: 7.2 Mb/s download and 5.8 Mb/s upload speeds. The N731 is a mature design combining a powerful baseband processor, RF transceiver, antenna multiplexer and power amplifier components to support eight bands of HSPA / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS / GSM functionality including data, voice and SMS. "The N731 is a truly state-of-the-art 3.5G modem design, perfect for high-speed m

Switzerland-headquartered U-blox has announced the acquisition of UK-headquartered 4M Wireless, a company that designs and develops leading software and test solutions that are crucial for developing fourth generation (4G) mobile wireless devices based on the latest Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. The acquisition will give U-blox ownership of advanced protocol stacks that are licensed to chipset vendors whose products enable 4G user equipment for applications with needs for high speed data connectivity

Switzerland-headquartered u-blox has announced the successful demonstration of an enhanced LEA-6H GPS module which also supports Glonass navigation. The Russian Glonass satellite system is an alternative as well as complementary system to the US-based GPS. It currently has 22 deployed satellites, with the complete constellation of 24 satellites needed for complete global coverage scheduled for the end of this year.