A surface-mount automotive quality grade GSM/GPRS modem, the LEON-G100 Automotive from u-blox is designed for use in first-mount car telematics applications such as emergency call (such as eCall), Stolen Vehicle Recovery and wireless driver assistance services. In addition, it is ideal for after-market applications including road pricing, wireless toll collection, pay-per-use insurance and AVL / fleet management systems.

“The LEON-G100 Automotive supports increasing automotive industry requirements worldwide for built-in AVL and emergency call systems in new cars. Combined with our automotive-grade GPS receiver chips, u blox now provides the key components for both mobile communications and global positioning to support vehicle safety and security systems worldwide,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO.

The module fulfils specific quality requirements of the automotive industry such as extended temperature range, level 3 PPAP, and ISO/TS 16949 certified manufacturing sites.

The global market for OEM, commercial and after-market telematics devices is expected to grow from approximately 20 million units in 2009 to over 49 million units by 2015. Obligatory AVL tracking systems are already mandated for new cars in Brazil. Emergency call systems such as “eCall” in the European Union is intended to quickly assist motorists involved in a collision anywhere in the EU. To support eCall, an in-band modem option is available for transmitting critical data over the voice channel, such as GPS coordinates and vehicle status, to a response center. eCall implementation is expected in 2014.

LEON-G100 Automotive samples are available mid-October 2010, with mass production planned for Q1 2011. An evaluation kit, the EVK-G26H, is available to evaluate the functionality of LEON and its integration with a u-blox GPS receiver.

For more information, visit the LEON Automotive product webpage.