Low-Power, Sparse-Sampling GPS Receiver

The term "microGPS" denotes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver design concept that combines relatively simple, lightweight, low-power-consumption hardware with portable, efficient software. The power demand of a microGPS receiver can be made low because it is designed to sample sparsely; that is, to "awaken" from a "sleep" mode only occasionally to sample GPS signals during short intervals. MicroGPS was conceived for navigational use aboard some small Earth-orbiting satellites for which full-fledged GPS receivers would be too complex, massive, and power hungry, and for which positioning errors as large as a few hundred meters would be acceptable as part of the price of low mass and low power consumption. The microGPS concept may also prove attractive for terrestrial applications that involve similar design tradeoffs.