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Personal Products
| Applications | |
|---|---|
| Title | Personal Products |
| Author(s) | Rui Barradas Pereira. |
| Level | Basic |
| Year of Publication | 2011 |
As GNSS-based products started being used for personal purposes, a broad set of different products and functionalities emerged for multiple user objectives and needs.
Some of these products bring comfort to the user in driving, fitness, recreation or outdoor activities. Products such as personal trackers, sport watches or handheld outdoor receivers can bring new layers of safety to the user and guarantee peace of mind, as well as, the guidance provided by constantly updated information.
The modern smartphones can easily integrate many GNSS applications into a single device.
Overview of Personal Products
Apart from the GNSS-enabled smartphones, which integrate navigation and other applications, such as vulnerable people tracking or location-based services, there are other types of GNSS-based products intended for specific user needs.
In this article are detailed four of the most common GNSS-based personal products.
Handheld Outdoor Receivers
The Handheld Outdoor Receivers are devices conceived for pedestrian navigation, usually in non urban outdoor environments. The handheld GNSS units are self-contained devices which can vary somewhat in size. The smallest ones are about the size of small cell phones. The largest ones are the size of a typical television remote control [1].
These portable devices are used mostly for hiking and hiking-related activities such as hunting and geocaching. The rural environments where the equipment is typically used, are areas where the surrounding vegetation and orography often block GNSS satellite signals. In environments where there is a clear line of sight to the satellites, GNSS technology is able to provide location with good accuracy and continuity of service.
Detailed information about Handheld Outdoor Receivers can be found here.
Sport Watches & Computers
The GNSS enabled sports watches are devices initially targeted for athletes. Nowadays, it has become very important for runners or cyclists to precisely monitor their activities in terms of training features, such as track speed or distance, but also for health monitoring indications, like heart rate. These health monitoring competences targeted the market of this product not only for athletes, but also to a broad spectrum of users, such as persons who need a physical training program to recover from surgeries or diseases [2].
Detailed information about Sport Watches and Computers can be found here.
Phones
With the advent of smarthphones, many of mobile phone devices are now equipped with GNSS receivers and many more are offering the possibility to use GNSS information within its applications.
By bringing the Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technology into mobile phone, these devices will offer a powerful service in terms of reception, coverage and time to find the first valid GNSS position, making the use of this equipments specially important for emergency situations, but also for navigation in highly construction areas or dense forests[3].
Detailed information about Phones can be found here.
Personal Trackers
The GSNN personal tracking is a product feature which allows any person to locate another person, object or animal through the use of a device attached on the tracked person or object that transmits information to the GNSS satellite network.
The person trackers are an emerging trend, partially spread by the popular Smartphones with built-in GPS that can be used to locate a person with a relative lower cost. Some of the of the most common motivation for individual tracking products include the well care of small children and elderly relatives.
The electronic ankle bracelets are an example of personal tracking products, meant to control prison populations, house arrests, law enforcement, theft prevention, or protecting newborn infants in hospital nurseries, among several other uses.
These products have an enormous potential for persons tracking, but also for other fields, such as pets tracking or wildlife tracking, among other uses.
Detailed information about Personal Trackers can be found here.
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