Broadcom Upgrades Its A-GPS Data Service and GPS LTO Product/Service with GLONASS Satellite Support

Broadcom Corporation a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications,announced the upgrade of its Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) data service to support the delivery of GLONASS (the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System)assistance data for mobile and personal navigation device (PND) users. This service supports two new Broadcom GPS system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions(announced earlier today) that feature dual constellation support for GPS and GLONASS:

• BCM47511 -  Integrated Monolithic GPS Receiver
• BCM2076 - Multifunction Monolithic IC with GPS and GLONASS AGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM Receiver/Transmitter.

In addition to this upgraded A-GPS service, Broadcom also announces that it has upgraded its current GPS Long Term Orbit (LTO) data product and service to support the GLONASS constellation starting with today's introduction of the BCM47511 and BCM2076 GPS SoC solutions. LTO extends the usability of GPS and GLONASS assistance data for up to 7 days and ensures the fastest possible fix time in mobile wireless devices. This augmented data service is a key element for realizing the full effectiveness of the GLONASS constellation and nearly doubles the number of satellites that can be used for navigation.

GLONASS is the Russian equivalent to the U.S. GPS system, and is a complementary and alternative satellite navigation system. By adding GLONASS support, the BCM2076 and BCM47511 GPS receivers will have the ability to use an additional 21 GLONASS satellites currently (24 projected in the future), on top of the existing 30 U.S. GPS satellites, nearly doubling the number of satellites that can be used fornavigation. In urban areas, many GPS satellites are blocked by buildings, so the additional 21 satellites offered by the GLONASS system will provide significant improvements in location performance and accuracy over currently available GPS receivers.

LTO data offers network traffic reduction benefits while improving the user experience. GNSS receivers require a current set of GPS and GLONASS orbit data for a satellite's range measurements to be incorporated into a navigation solution. Without LTO, GLONASS orbit data must be refreshed to a mobile wireless device every half hour (a notably shorter period than the 4 hour refresh requirement for GPS orbit data). With LTO, both GLONASS and GPS orbit data is refreshed every 7 days, saving on network traffic and ensuring the best possible navigation performance.

• Wireless devices with LTO functionality can provide an initial fix time within seconds, instead of the minutes that may be required to download orbit data from the satellites themselves.
• In deep urban canyon environments where weak signal conditions often prohibit the refresh of GPS and GLONASS orbit data, LTO becomes a critical element for sustaining high-fidelity GPS/GLONASS navigation
  performance for users.
• GLONASS orbit data is also supported in Broadcom's Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (AGNSS) server that enables fast, easy wireless downloads for devices with regular network access, or in use cases that don't require the extended performance that LTO allows.

Broadcom's cutting-edge LTO location infrastructure provides 99.999 percent uptime and uses orbit modeling algorithms, integrity monitoring and operational protocols evolved from its original GPS LTO product, which has been in continuous commercial operation since 2002.

• Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, Broadcom's LTO infrastructure will serve approximately 2.3 billion LTO downloads every month -- a number that will grow on a weekly basis as devices and the use of location-based services both proliferate.
• The Broadcom LTO product is part of the company's Location Based Services (LBS) and currently serves over 180 million mobile wireless devices worldwide -- a figure that will increase as the benefits of GLONASS become enabled by the Broadcom BCM47511 and BCM2076 GPS SoC solutions.

The BCM47511 SoC solution is Broadcom's latest generation of standalone receivers, featuring both integrated GPS and GLONASS offers faster signal searches, accurate real-time navigation, improved sensitivity in the urban canyon environment and very low average power consumption.

The BCM47511 is the latest generation of standalone, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) solutions, adding GLONASS functionality, while remaining pin-compatible to the popular BCM4751 GPS SoC solution so customers can quickly upgrade their products to include the benefits of GLONASS navigation support. The BCM47511 also supports the Space Based Augmentation (SBAS) and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) constellations to deliver the best possible navigation performance in any geography.

The BCM47511 provides an optimized standalone GNSS solution for smartphones, mobile handsets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players and portable navigation devices (PNDs).

• The GPS core of the BCM47511 uses a host-based system architecture that splits processing functions between the GPS chip and the CPU on the host system, significantly decreasing system cost, while allowing customization or optimization of GPS/GLONASS navigation software algorithms on the host. This software is compatible with Broadcom's existing GPS solutions, the BCM4750 and BCM4751, enabling rapid adoption while accelerating time-to-market
• The host-based architecture permits the GPS software processing tasks to be divided among the chip and the host CPU, so that the BCM47511 performs most of the computationally intensive operations, leaving the host software to implement the final calculations that may be affected by carrier and platform specific requirements. As a result, processing demands on the host CPU are minimized and no real time requirements are imposed
• The BCM47511 provides low power consumption and an ultra low power tracking mode
• The BCM47511 also includes on-chip low drop-out (LDO) regulators to supply the GNSS TCXO and optional low noise amplifier (LNA), reducing overall bill-of-materials (BOM) cost
• Broadcom provides GPS Location Library software API and GPS protocol client software that gives designers complete access to the BCM47511's advanced capabilities

Since it ispin-for-pin compatible with Broadcom's popular BCM4751 SoC solution,customers can quickly upgrade their products to include GLONASS navigation support.

The BCM2076 combo chip is a cutting edge Bluetooth + FM + GPS solution for portable and wireless devices that require Bluetooth, GPS, and a FM receiver/transmitter. It offers audio, Bluetooth 4.0 and improved audio compression that reflects Broadcom's ongoing focus to improve the user experience.

• Features dual constellation support for both GPS and GLONASS. In addition, to these supported satellites, the BCM2076 combo chip also supports and uses augmentation satellites such as SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) and QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System).
• The Bluetooth core is optimized for low power while maintaining high receiver sensitivity and is fully compliant with Bluetooth 4.0.
• Also integrated is Broadcom's popular SmartAudio® technology that enhances voice quality by supporting Packet Loss Concealment (PLC) and Wide-Band Speech
• Its FM+RDS/RBDS receiver core is enhanced to support an internal or external FM antenna.
• It also includes on-chip low drop-out (LDO) regulators to supply the GNSS TCXO and optional low noise amplifier (LNA), reducing overall bill-of-materials (BOM) cost.
• Integrated InConcert® collaborative WLAN coexistence technology mitigates potential radio interference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and reduces the complexity of designing them into mobile devices
• Burst buffer operation (allows the host to sleep for 90% of the time during music playback, recording and A2DP operation)
• MP3, AAC+ on-chip decode for low power music playback
• Programmable 5-band audio equalizer)

The BCM2076 combo chip is backwards compatible with Broadcom's popular BCM2075 Bluetooth + FM receiver/transmitter.Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. 

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2010 revenue of $6.82 billion, holds more than 4,800 U.S. and 2,000 foreign patents, and has more than 7,800 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the demand for Broadcom's Assisted-GPS and LTO products and services incorporating GLONASS and our ability to improve the satellite navigation user experience. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM2076 GPS combo chip solution and the BCM47511 GPS standalone chip solution include, but are not limited to:

• the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's GPS technologies and products;
• our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets;
• competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification,availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products.