| 摘要 |
Apparatus for determining the present location of an observer on the Earth's surface, the apparatus including an antenna to receive Global Positioning System (GPS) signals from two or more GPS satellites and a credit card size GPS signal processing Smartcard attached to the antenna that receives the GPS signals and determines and displays the present position of the antenna. In one embodiment, the signal processing card includes a frequency downconverter to downconvert the frequency of the GPS signals received, a digital signal processor and associated memory device that is programmed to determine the present antenna location from the GPS signals received, and an information transfer device linked to a nearby host computer or other electronic device for further data processing and display. In other embodiments, the antenna, or the antenna and the downconverter, are contained on a separate card. In another embodiment, the antenna, downconverter, digital signal processor and an information transfer device are contained on a separate smart antenna card. In all these embodiments, the Smartcard device can be linked to a host computer or other electronic device to display the observer's present position on a map or to provide further processing of the GPS signals received. The card containing the information transfer device can be connected to components on a separate card by a cable or wireless link. The card interfaced with the host computer is constructed according to PCMCIA standards, with a thickness of about 3.3, 5 or 10 mm.
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