Qualcomm Announces Broad Support for Galileo Navigation System

Qualcomm has announced that its new Snapdragon socs and modems support the European Galileo navigation system. Socs such as the Snapdragon 820, 652, 650, 617 and 435 can communicate with the satellites in combination with the right software.

In addition to the socs for smartphones, the lte modems with type numbers X16, X12, X7 and X5 also contain support for Galileo. These modems are for example in laptops, hotspots and routers that offer 4G support. In recent years, Qualcomm has already implemented support for Galileo in a number of chipsets, including the Snapdragon 810. In the announcement, the soc maker says that it will now broadly support the European navigation system.

Qualcomm calls the positioning system in its products IZat. This includes the combination of the American GPS, the Russian Glonass, the Chinese Beidou system, Wi-Fi, and now also Galileo in the new socs and modems. According to Qualcomm, Galileo support allows users to access more than 80 different satellites to determine their position.

Galileo is a European navigation system, which should eventually consist of thirty satellites. Fourteen satellites of the system are currently active. The system can work in combination with GPS and Glonass, and should therefore enable more precise location determination. Finding a first fix should also be faster. Furthermore, the Galileo GNSS works better at higher latitudes than GPS; this is particularly important in Scandinavia. The system should be complete by 2020.