Europe Switzerland : u-blox, the leading Swiss provider of GPS receiver technology, introduced the LEA-5T, a high performance, precision timing GPS module capable of a (compensated) time pulse accuracy of up to 15 ns.

Needing just one satellite to operate, the LEA-5T is a cost-efficient, compact and easy-to-integrate solution ideally suited for telecom network synchronization such as UMTS, CDMA or the Chinese TD-CDMA, as well as for applications that need time-accurate data communication between geographically dispersed systems and devices such as NTP servers.

"The revolutionary LEA-5T GPS module brings precision timing at low cost," said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. "The module's compact architecture and affordability enables consumer device applications to benefit from highly accurate timing, enabling applications such as WiMAX base stations for home-based broadband networks," added Mr. Seiler.

The LEA-5T features a Time Mode function whereby the GPS receiver assumes a stationary position, which can be programmed manually or be determined by an initial self-survey. Stationary operation enables GPS timing with only one visible satellite and eliminates timing errors which otherwise result in positioning errors.

A built-in time mark and counter unit provides a globally synchronized time stamping and time-measuring functionality useful in applications such as seismic sensors or other applications with wide-area synchronization needs.

The module is powered by the 50-channel, u-blox 5 positioning engine. Endowed with SuperSense KickStart weak signal acquisition technologies, u-blox 5 GPS chips and modules boast an acquisition and tracking sensitivity of -160 dBm that enables fast, uninterrupted operation, even in challenging, weak signal environments like indoor locations.

Samples can be ordered from www.u-blox.com/shop/ from next week onwards; mass production begins end of April.