Sarantel antenna acquires GPS signals in vehicles

Sarantel Inc.?s F02 SmartAntenna can acquire GPS signals inside a vehicle or truck as efficiently as a traditional external device. Tests conducted by the company have shown that when mounted in the foot-well of a production car, the device provided its first fix in under 15 seconds from a warm start and tracked a minimum of 6 satellites during an urban test route.

The SmartAntenna F02 combines Sarantel's omni-directional GPS antenna with Fastrax's low power Trax02/4 GPS receiver chipset. The antenna's GeoHelix design offers high levels of immunity to RF interference to simplify the integration process. It offers a dimension of 32-by-32mm and 10.8mm deep, weighs under 30g, and consumes 100mW at 2.7V in continuous operation.