Latest Gadget Reviews » GPS

Wireless Indoor Geolocation Techniques

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:57:49 +0000

The advanced wireless indoor geolocation techniques are based on RSS, AOA, TOA, and TDOA; out of these TDOA is the most popular technique for use indoors.

This technique involves the usage of advanced RF location systems and requires only time synchronization in between the receivers to minimize the range difference estimation error; here’s more to it.

Classification

Wireless geolocation can be classified into two basic types:

• Handset based geolocation: The Mobile Station (MS) receives signals from Fixed Stations (FS) and estimates its own location.
• Network based geolocation: In this type, FS receives signals from MS and transmits the details to a Control Station (CS) to compute the MS’s location.

Major Hindrances

Exploiting location details is also very popular for user applications as well as wireless service providers. The two main problems faced in finding the location in indoor areas are intricacies involved in radio propagation and the ad hoc characteristics of the infrastructure. Because of these challenges, many signaling methods and location finding algorithms are being developed for wireless indoor geolocation.

Accuracy of Wireless Indoor Geolocation Techniques

Accuracy of TDOA technique depends up on factors like indoor environment (multipath, NLOS), algorithm used to estimate time or time difference of arrival, number of fixed stations used, algorithm used to compute user’s location and geographical location of mobile station relative to fixed station.

Applications of Wireless Indoor Geolocation

There is a need for these systems in commercial places like hospitals to locate the patients or equipments; similarly military and public safety applications also have a need for wireless geolocation. These networks also help soldiers, police men and fire fighters to accomplish their mission successfully. All these requirements have led to the development of indoor geolocation services.

Wireless indoor geolocation has emerged as an ideal way to render localization and navigation for people and personnel inner buildings where capabilities are limited for outdoor geolocation.

Garmin Nuvi 765T Review

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:57:14 +0000

Garmin Nuvi 765T is a powerhouse package that brings in the goodness of numerous advanced GPS tracking features, and a friendly user-interface at a great price; here’s a brief Garmin Nuvi 765T review.

Garmin Nuvi 765T

You get free traffic updates (but advertisements supported) that are very useful for the drivers. There is an additional battery provided with the Nuvi 765T as well.

The Nuvi 765 has many useful features ranging from visual lane guidance, traffic updates, down to text-to-speech conversion.

The turn by turn navigation of the Garmin Nuvi 765T GPS system is well complemented by text-to-speech conversion. As the vehicle approaches the junctions on highway, the lane guidance of the GPS system gives a display of the serial arrows represented the various lines.

The lanes that are valid for the route of the vehicle are illuminated, while the others are grayed out making it hell a lot easier for the driver to quickly figure things out.

When the vehicle is close to the junction, the map of navigation is replaced with the sleek lines in purple color showing the perfect route ahead.

You get a free leather pouch, and lifetime traffic updates, courtesy Navteq, though the free traffic updates are ad-supported, meaning that you’ll have to bear with frequent text based ads while using the live traffic updates.

If you’re looking for best price on Garmin Nuvi 765T, you should buy Garmin Nuvi 765T on Amazon

What is Muggles: Learn Geocaching

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:36:55 +0000

The term muggles is bound to ring a bell in your ears, if you’re familiar with the Harry Potter series (well, who isn’t?). But, we’re talking about the geocaching term ‘muggles’; not the ‘muggle’ that J K Rowling refers to, in her action-packed fiction series of Harry Potter.

However, ‘muggles’ in geocaching context also refers to someone who’s not aware of the geocaching puzzle, or somebody who encounters a geocache, and destroys it unintentionally. Basically, muggles are those who don’t understand what geocaching is, and are analogous to those who don’t understand magic.

For those who don’t know much about geocaching, here’s a brief overview. Geocaching refers to an outdoor activity involving usage of a GPS receiver to hide and seek containers, which are referred to as the “geocaches” anywhere in the world. A small waterproof container containing a logbook forms a geocache, and the logbook indicates who had discovered it last.

But, just as J K Rowling calls some of the muggles to be fairly smart to understand magic, despite being unable to perform it, the same way, some of the muggles in geocaching context, are smart enough to figure out a geocache. Such muggles don’t spoil the geocache, but rather leave them “as is”.

The behavior of muggles with geocaches is however not at all predictable as some may turn out to be spoilsport and destroy the geocache, while others may not even bother to know what it really is.

The best way to keep a geocache safe from muggles is to attach a note on it, clearly indicating what a geocache really is, and requesting those who’re not part of the geocache treasure hunting to leave the geocache unperturbed.

So, are you one of the muggles, or a geocacher?

Source: Latest Technews

Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx Gps: The Best Handheld Gps for Hunting

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:48:44 +0000

Wondering what is the best handheld gps for hunting? Well, say hello to the Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx Gps. Garmin eTrex Vista HCX handheld gps is one of the top notch handheld GPS devices that you can carry on hunting trips. Of course, you can’t carry a GPS navigator in a separate pack on such trips, so the Garmin eTrex Vista HCX GPS easily fits into your pocket, and doesn’t give any annoying alerts that may warn your prey of your movements.

It is an extremely light-weight, compact GPS unit that has an intuitive menu, bright color screen, easy-to-use interface, and advanced navigation features. It is offered in a water-proof shell; so you don’t need to worry about water splashing on your GPS device in case you clip it onto your belt.

Advanced GPS Compass

The Garmin eTrex Vista HCX GPS also comes along with an advanced electronic compass that allows you to work in sync with your other hunting partners.

Another important aspect to be noted about the Garmin eTrex Vista HCX GPS unit is the sheer fact that its compass functions flawlessly even if you’re standing still, unlike some other GPS compasses that work well only if you’re on-the-move.

Loading Additional Maps

The eTrex Vista HCX GPS unit also supports MicroSD card slot allowing you to load topographic maps of your concern, and it can be of great help in marking your favorite hunting points on the map; so probably, you may want to mark those odd sweet spots that have been lucky enough for you in past.

Countless Waypoints

The Garmin eTrex Vista HCX is a WAAS enabled GPS unit, which has enormous capacity to store waypoints. It allows you to trace back the route accurately, and helping you in chasing your prey no matter how tough it may be, to bring it down!

The Bottom-Line

The Garmin eTrex Vista HCX gps unit provides all the necessary facilities, robust design, and seamless operation to the hunters, making it one of the top picks in the segment.

Its water-proof shell ensures high endurance, while its excellent battery back-up of up to 25hours ensures continuous operation throughout the day (and night!); this simply means that with Garmin eTrex Vista HCX gps on your side, you’ll never have to back-out from the kill, because of low battery, or poor signals.

As far as the pricing is concerned, the Garmin eTrex Vista HCX gps is available around the $300 mark in the market. But, you can find Garmin eTrex Vista HCX Handheld GPS on Amazon for just $216.54 with FREE shipping!