Antenova GNSSNOVA M20071 GNSS receiver module

Antenova has launched the GNSSNOVA M20071 — a GNSS receiver module for small tracking devices that operate from Li-ion batteries, where a lower power requirement is a clear advantage. These are typically small mobile trackers, pet trackers, personal fitness devices and location trackers for bikes and e-scooters.

The product tracks the GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou constellations simultaneously to improve position accuracy, particularly in urban environments. Based on the latest-generation chip from Mediatek, it draws 17 mW of power when receiving GPS only and 21 mW receiving all constellations. Standard GNSS modules typically draw 90–100 mW of power, so power consumption of 17 mW gives a significant increase in operational time (over 500%). Designers can either build a product to run five times longer or specify a smaller battery to save space in the design.

The module contains an integrated SAW filter and LNA, TCXO and RTC to improve performance and speed up first position fix. It measures 9 x 9 x 1.8 mm; pairing this with one of Antenova’s compact SMD antennas makes a compact RF solution and a way to realise slimmed down tracker designs. The company offers several GNSS antennas to enable a compact RF product to be designed.

The product includes EASY (Embedded Assist SYstem), which speeds up TTFF (time to first fix). It generates synthetic ephemeris data rather than downloading it from the satellite, thus reducing power consumption. The warm start time using EASY is around 2 s, compared to 25 s without EASY. For applications that wake up periodically to get a position, EASY further reduces total power consumption, so a smaller battery can be specified. The module also includes EPO, which is Assisted-GNSS. EPO receives assistance data from a website to speed up the TTFF.