A-GPS Over the Air Test Method: Business and Technology Implications

With the huge growth in usage of Location Based Services (LBS) and the need to meet E911 requirements, the number of mobile cellular devices supporting Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is steadily on the rise. As one of the enabling LBS technologies, A-GPS offers its customers higher position accuracy, quicker location fixes, and improved coverage of service in difficult locations, such as urban and in-building environments. As a result, mobile operators and device manufactures are looking for testing choices that quantify and benchmark real-world device performance. Until recently, all industry-defined A-GPS test methodologies focused on testing the performance of a device over a cabled RF connection, bypassing the GPS antenna and associated circuitry.