My brother sent me this press release last week of his company, I meant to post it then but alas my new A/C flooded my basement and got sidetracked.

Anyway, he's been talking about this to me for some time and they've finally released a phase of their rollout. It's amazing how different we are. We're both in IT but he's such an uber geek and I'm just a geek :( Here's the press release:

MEMSIC Launches New Tri-Axis Magnetic Sensor, the Latest in a Series of Sensors Aimed at the Mobile Handset, Consumer and Industrial Markets

ANDOVER, Mass., Jun 23, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MEMSIC, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEMS), a leading MEMS solution provider, combining proprietary MEMS technology with advanced mixed signal processing and system solutions, today announced the release of its new Tri-Axis Magnetic Sensor, the MMC3120XM, which will enable the integration of digital compass functionality into a broad range of industrial, consumer, and mobile handset applications.

MEMSIC's new MMC3120XM augments its family of magnetic sensors and is a key component for developers to provide cost-effective solutions which offer greater precision and ease-of-use. The MMC3120XM can measure the earth's magnetic field regardless of the orientation of the device, which is critical for hand held applications.

In addition, when the product is used in conjunction with MEMSIC's dynamic compensation and automatic calibration software, it is able to correct for the effects of local magnetic interference and provide the user with gimbaled compass functionality without required rigorous procedures for manually calibrating the device. These capabilities lead to a more robust and user-friendly solution, while providing the end-user with much more accurate heading information.

This new magnetic sensor will draw only 400 uA of current, making it highly suitable for power sensitive designs. The MMC3120XM is available today and pricing for the product starts at $2.25 per unit.

About Memsic...
Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, MEMSIC, Inc. provides advanced semiconductor sensor and system solutions based on integrated micro-electromechanical systems or MEMS technology and mixed signal circuit design. MEMSIC's unique and proprietary approach combines leading edge sensor technologies, such as magnetic sensors and accelerometers, with mixed signal processing circuitry to product reliable, high quality, cost effective solutions for automotive, consumer and industrial markets.
SOURCE: MEMSIC, Inc.
MEMSIC, Inc.

Mark Laich, 978-738-0900 x228
mlaich@memsic.com
or
Investors:
ICR Inc.
Garo Toomajanian, 978-738-0900 x240
ir@memsic.com

Here is our little chat about it, he gives some more information about the design.



You co-wrote does that mean the board/chip design is yours or you just helped a manager sound nerdy? ;) Either way I see lots of interesting and practical uses for cell phones. How accurate will this be? Will I be able to navigate within feet or what?
board design was me. chip design engineering group. press release is mostly me because I'm the manager of technical marketing.

At the rate this technology is advancing, you should have a 1 meter per 1000meter accuracy. So if something is 1000 meters from you, you should be able triangulate it within 3 feet. Not bad when you realized that in the 1950's a whole large cargo plane was design to hold the electronic equipment for this same level of accuracy. Look up inertial navigation to see what I mean.

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You know, that is pretty incredible. Not only would it work underground or under cover, but it doesn't have that pesky gravity problem that is going to plague our system of GPS shortly.

Won't that be susceptible to all sorts of interference?

I've asked him that question San plus others. He's in China so it's like 3:30am over there but when he replies I'll get back to you. I'm sure that's been thought of though.

I heard that they are looking at low orbit devices for gps now as afast and easy fix to the current aging system that we are using.

INS system he is referring to is fairly hardened ....3 gyro one for each axis.

He's back and so I asked him this question about interference again.

He said there are two types of distortion they consider, soft iron and hard iron. And he admits that you could white out the sensor in a matter of minutes if you wanted to but you have to consider the usage model. The goal of this is for a phone where you would probably use either the phone or the GPS but not both at the same time. And when you're using it for a GPS/calibrating the chance for white out isn't that much of a concern for the target audience they are aiming for.

Of course I'm paraphrasing, he talked way over my head about tesla measurements and equations.

You could jam something that small pretty much at will, but in terms of day-to-day interference you're not going to be standing in a strong enough EMF field on a regular basis, or for long enough, for it to matter much. With modern processing power you can make an excellent educated guess to whether or not your current reading is any good and estimate until you get another good one.

He mumbled something about a Canadian nickel being able to white it out if you really wanted to.

Would GSM disrupt it?