What about a GSM phone that makes calls?

Barely a day goes by without a new mobile being announced by the major vendors.

Almost without exception though the talk is of the software features of the platform rather than the ability to make a call; that bit seems to be assumed.

But should it be? Our own work with the GSM network is more usually based on sending an SMS text message or a packet of data rather than voice. How ever signal quality is vital for many of our applications where the GSM controller (like our RMC301 for example) may be in a remote location on the edge of cell's coverage area.

In these circumstances selecting the right antenna is vital and yesterday I had a long discussion with one antenna provider that proved to be very useful indeed. Suffice to say that the incorporation of an antenna into a fully embedded device presents more challenges that an external antenna that can be changed if more gain is needed.

GPSIII satellites to be built by Lockheed Martin

It seems that the next generation of GPS will offer 4 times the accuracy of the current system and be harder to jam.

Lockheed Martin have a contract from the US Airforce to provde a prototype and two production satellites with an option for up to 10 more. Eventually it is expected that 32 of the GPSIII systems will be in orbit.

Read the full story here:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19542433

New proposal for customer

For the next few days we'll be refining a proposal based around our GPS and GSM building blocks to create a customised product for a new end customer.

Small size and low power drain are key elements in this design. As usual, time scales are short and the budget is 'constrained'. We love a challenge!

Our first blog entry

Welcome to the new EMM-Tek blog.

It's the place where we can keep you up to date with new products and features from EMM-Tek and anything else we find interesting.

Expect to see blog entries about GSM communications, GPS positioning, tracking, machine to machine communications and more besides.

We hope you'll find it useful and just occasionally fun!