The idea of checking-in to a location via smartphone and social network isn’t as wild of a thought as it once seemed. Through a virtual check-in, people are making real-life connections, tapping others for recommendations on places to visit or to eat and even stirring up a bit of amicable travel-envy among online friends.

Now that people are starting to become more comfortable with the check-in and, more importantly, are recognizing the value of it, Broadcom is introducing technology that is set to change the way mobile devices interact with the places users roam.

In February, Broadcom unveiled the BCM47521, the industry’s first Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which is based on an architecture that not only opens new doors to location-based mobile apps but does so without draining the device’s battery. The software on the chip taps into a concept known as geofencing, a virtual perimeter of a physical location for the purpose of alerting the user when there is an entry to or exit from the geofence.

With traditional systems, monitoring a user’s location with respect to a geofence would quickly drain the device’s battery. Broadcom’s technology is able to intelligently monitor the user’s location as a background task, consuming less power and extending battery life for a better user experience. 

Geofencing is Just the Beginning

Simply sharing your locale (the check-in) is just scratching the surface of what location-based apps can do for consumers and the businesses who want to reach them. Consider this example: the app for your neighborhood coffee shop automatically notifies you about a new blend, offers you a 2-for-1 coupon or even lets you know that you’re two more purchases away from that free cup when you walk through the door.

As the adoption of mobile devices continues to grow and cellular networks, such as those promised by 4G LTE, become faster and more reliable, location-based apps and services have the potential to change how consumers interact with their devices.

Likewise, geofencing creates the opportunities for new business models, allowing the use of mobile tools and services to not only interact with loyal customers but also reach potentially new customers when they come into a geographic proximity.

In fact, getting closer to the customer boosts up engagement rate dramatically, a boon to advertisers. A location-targeted component to an ad campaign can double its effectiveness, according to Verve Mobile, an advertising network that focuses on delivering geofenced or geo-targeted ads. A geo-aware or geofenced campaign might have around a 1 percent click-through rate, compared to an industry average of about 0.4 percent, Verve’s findings show.

There’s a lot of power in those clicks.

“By making it possible to track customers in the physical world as easily as we do on the Web, indoor positioning is poised to bring the power of Web analytics into the physical world, giving us real-time insights into human behavior and habits on a massive scale,” writes Tony Costa, in a Forrester Research Report.

Some of the top players in tech are duking it out for a piece of the location action, including Facebook, which is expected to roll out a proprietary mobile location tracking app next month. Likewise, Google’s Latitude and Apple’s Find My Friends apps are targeting the already well-established Yelp and Foursquare communities.

The Future: “Context Awareness”

Meanwhile, Broadcom is also continuing to work on advanced technologies that are defining location with enhanced accuracy, allowing these sorts of applications to thrive and grow. The BCM47521 does just that by providing advanced multi-constellation support, simultaneously receiving signals from four satellite constellations (GPS, GLONASS, QZSS and SBAS) to utilize the best-quality signals to triangulate locations with pinpoint accuracy.

For consumers, that means faster searches and more accurate real-time navigation. Broadcom’s multi-constellation technology, coupled with advanced signal processing, provides faster positioning performance for an improved user experience, especially in challenging urban environments where buildings and obstructions can dramatically impact accuracy and time-to-first-fix.

Geofencing is one step closer to a concept known in mobile tech circles as “context awareness.” Context awareness goes behyond navigation, check-ins and geofencing to tap into other types of on-the-go connectivity tech, such as specialized sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Near Field Communication to provide consumers with intelligent, relevant information about their surroundings.

Broadcom will continue to innovate for this exciting new arena as consumer adoption, mobile technologies and advertisers grow ever-more sophisticated about their physical and metaphysical “space” in the app universe, and in the real one.

Get the latest geofencing news from Broadcom and by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and reading the blog.

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Industry Buzz:

• GPS Business News: Broadcom Latest GNSS Chipset Features Low Power Geofence Mode
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The real estate mantra — location, location, location — could also be said for our 21^st century connected  lifestyle, in which nearly three-quarters of smartphone owners get real-time location-based information on their phones. If you’ve ever checked into a store on Foursquare or shared your locale on Facebook, you know how easy it is to connect your real life to your digital one.

This connection will soon become much more pervasive, thanks to location-based services, one of the trends to  watch at next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

For years, Broadcom has been working behind the scenes to implement and improve the technologies that make these sorts of services possible. Broadcom has already integrated global positioning systems into smartphone combo chips and has synced phones with satellites for improved accuracy. Now, the company is working on how to use those technologies to help connect companies and consumers.

Location-based technology uses a combination of GPS chips (the very same ones that provide turn-by-turn directions and map apps) embedded in phones and tablets, the location of other phones nearby and data from Wi-Fi hotspots to “triangulate”
the user with pinpoint accuracy. The location is then detected by proximity sensors that interact with a mobile device.

It’s a series of passive communications that doesn’t require action on the user’s part and works just as well indoors as it does outside. Best of all, it can yield powerful connections in real-time.

For example, nearby friends may get an alert letting them know you are close enough to meet up. Or, you can navigate a museum without a guide, while getting useful info along the way. Another practical application: Keeping track of family members as everyone explores different corners of the mall.

The most important application proposed thus far is in retail, where shopping deals and personal services will be sent directly to customers based on their proximity to stores, or even at certain items. This is an important breakthrough for mobile application developers and advertisers seeking targeted results, ones that will guarantee their ads are being seen by relevant customers.

Imagine you’re trolling the grocery aisles searching for canned pumpkin for pie. As soon as you turn down the canned goods aisle, you spot it and pick up a can off the shelf. A company then beams an enticing coupon for other likely ingredients (say, cinnamon, condensed milk or pie crust) to your phone, encouraging you to pick up additional products.

The value of consumer location-based services is expected to surpass $4 billion this year, according to estimates by U.K.-based researcher Visiongain. This increase in value of the raw data coming from the devices and sensors may provide another boost to the location-based market, according to David Petersen, CEO of Sense Networks.

As the next generation of technology that supports location-based services comes into use, so do the opportunities for businesses to hone in on this multibillion dollar industry.

“We take location data coming off of mobile phones; our platform interprets that data and remembers it, for each unique user.” Petersen told Visiongain. “This gives retailers the ability to find loyal customers or prospective customers near their stores.”

On the economics side, these technologies could drive sales for companies, ad revenue for developers and better shopping experiences for customers.

As mobile devices become more “aware” of their surroundings and the sensors inside become more sophisticated, so, too, will consumers’ interactions between the digital world — and  the real one.

Not heading to Vegas? Get the latest CES news from Broadcom and our partners by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and reading the blog.

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Consumers are demanding more from their phones and they want it all in an affordable package.

With each iteration of mobile phone technology, they’re seeking out devices that do more and do it faster.  No longer are they content with phones that simply download files or share photos and music.  Instead, the expectation has grown to encompass an interactive mobile experience, including emailing, shooting video, running apps of all types, and sharing it all with friends. That’s on top of slick, techy features such as touchscreen functionality and location-based services.

Orange Optimus recently launched Valencia, a sub-$100 smartphone that’s made more affordable by Broadcom’s turnkey combo chip technology.

This demand is on par with the rise of the smartphone — nearly 50 percent of American cellphone owners use one, according to Nielsen.  Driving adoption is the expanding market for low-cost, high-functioning smartphones, a sweet spot for Broadcom.

Broadcom’s helping smartphone manufacturers get their products to market faster and at a lower cost to the consumer, with a dual-core HSPA+ (high speed packet access) processor that is set to usher in a better mobile experience.  By integrating advanced features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS and at faster speeds, Broadcom enables Android handset makers to affordably deliver a high-caliber smartphone experience at a lower price point.

The challenges are different in emerging markets, where operator subsidies aren’t common. In those regions, “off the shelf” technologies from chipset providers like Broadcom can have a significant impact in making smartphones more available and more affordable.  These so-called “turnkey” platforms simplify and streamline the manufacturing process by essentially providing a ready-made platform of processors, hardware components, and software applications.  With these designs in hand, manufacturers can develop and get their smartphones to market more quickly – and at a lower cost.

When the manufacturers can build them for less money, they can sell them for less money – and that has widespread ripple effect, not just for the buyers and sellers of the devices, but also for the other related economies tied to them – from those who build and sell smartphone apps to those who make a living by selling accessories for the devices.

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When Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite-based navigation technology was introduced in the 1990s, consumers were thrilled with its course-plotting capabilities. People folded up their paper maps and tossed their Thomas Guides in favor of TomTom and Garmin devices, and more recently nav-capable smartphones. It wasn’t long until consumers realized that personal navigation applications worked well in ideal environments, but not so well in others.

Today, improving navigation technology has become a central focus for device developers. Many more satellites—including the Russian GLONASS constellation—have become available, and tapping into the breadth of available satellite data offers a remarkable performance advantage. Broadcom’s next-generation chip, the BCM4752, dramatically boosts location and navigation performance by leveraging more than twice the number of satellites over GPS alone.

This new Broadcom solution uniquely shortens the “time to first fix” (TTFF), especially in urban environments. TTFF is the time it takes a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-enabled device to establish its initial location. Reduced TTFF is essential for the new crop of sophisticated location-based services. Faster delivery of mapping data is the number-one priority among GPS users.

The Best Navigation Needs Fast, Pinpoint Accuracy

TTFF occurs as a GNSS-enabled device—such as a personal navigation system or smartphone with integrated positioning technology— finds, receives and processes signals from multiple satellites, and then calculates its position. Broadcom’s new chip dramatically reduces that time with advanced signal processing that efficiently references a greater number of satellite signals. Four separate satellite constellations (GPS, GLONASS, SBAS and QZSS) provide access to the 59 satellites currently in orbit, and Broadcom’s solution is the first to reference all of these simultaneously to provide the fastest, most accurate location data.

Broadcom designers have made hardware developments that allow the chip to unite the availability of four satellite constellations for improved performance. By using the best possible signals at any given moment—regardless of constellation—the BCM4752 chip is able to compute location more quickly and with pinpoint accuracy, delivering a more satisfying user experience. This new technology is up to 10 times more powerful than previous product generations, while reducing power consumption by 50 percent.

Better Mapping Services with More Data Sources

The BCM4752 and its software also have the ability to combine GNSS signals with other kinds of radio signals to calculate location. While competing chips rely on satellites alone for determining location, Broadcom’s new solution can use data from accelerometers, compasses, gyroscopes and altimeters that may be installed in the device. It also uses other radio-frequency signals like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and cellular. This breakthrough is especially useful indoors where GNSS signals may not reach, opening a whole new realm of innovative consumer uses including social media applications and local merchant advertising.

Broadcom’s renowned expertise in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular and other radio frequency technologies combines with this breakthrough GNSS chip to use more signals than ever before, more efficiently, for an improved end-user experience that goes the distance.

Related Reading:

• Enhanced Navigation Satellite Technology Opens Doors for Location-Based Services
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