The quest for ever smaller GPS-enabled equipment, such as mobile phones, PDAs and even watches has just taken a giant step forward with the development of the world’s smallest GPS radio frequency receiver module by a New Zealand company. Auckland electronics company Rakon has just developed a module, as tiny as a baby’s fingernail, and is already fielding calls from GPS manufacturers keen to imbed the product in their own new developments.

Brent Robinson, Rakon's Managing Director, says the tiny radio receiver is a complete 'plug and play' unit, which makes it uniquely simple for GPS designers to embed into their devices.

"It will mean GPS manufacturers can meet market demand to miniaturise devices, while offering improved capability." says Robinson.

"Our R&D team has come up with a high sensitivity unit that can enable quite weak signals to be received, which is a real breakthrough in an industry that needs to have products that will function in urban environments with very high interference."

He says the company is now further developing the unit to provide up to three times greater sensitivity in its next generation, even before the first development is out the door.

Brent Robinson says the miniaturisation of the GPS RF module is strategically very important for Rakon as it provides more value-add on its core technology. He says it has the potential to provide between 20-30% of the company’s revenue over the next two years.