After two months the project has been launched here are some fresh news.
The first hand-made prototype has been done and is successfully working. The hardware is based on a Sirf-III chipset connected to a Microchip microcontroller. The overall system is connected to iPhone / iPod touch through the serial port. The client application on the iPhone / iPod touch can activate / deactivate the GPS to reduce power consumption when it is not needed. The actual power consumption in use is about 82mA. When the GPS is not activated the power consumption is 7mA. Some work is in progress to reduce the latter.
Here is a photo of the current draft prootype:
The client application update the user position each second and display on the Map application. Unfortunatly it means that user should be connected to the Internet because at each update a request will be sent to the Map servers.
The next parts of the project are:
- Produce the PCB of the current prototype (work in progress…)
- Create an application with local maps (like the PSP Maps application) to be able to use the GPS without Internet connection. The map would be downloaded from Google maps and then stored on the iPod / iPhone for further use.
Any help about the last part is really appreciated. If you feel capable to develop a part of it, fell free to try and send results using the Contact page of the Xwaves main website (http://www.xwaves.net/).
Here is a little presentation video of the current project state:
