Here Network Positioning concept. Photo: Here Technologies.
Here Technologies and MediaTek announced a collaboration to enable the Here Network Positioning solution on select MediaTek chipsets. Here Network Positioning employs proprietary technology to determine a device's location based on mobile network and Wi-Fi signals.
As part of this collaboration, MediaTek offers to device manufacturers a 4-in-1 combo solution based on the MediaTek MT2503 product family, an integrated ARM-based System in Package (SiP) design that contains Bluetooth, multiple Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, and an integrated 2G modem. In one of the first implementations, 3G Electronics, a China-based Internet of Things (IoT) customer of MediaTek, recently introduced a children's smartwatch series called KidsWatch, which is powered by MediaTek chipsets featuring Here's Network Positioning solution in products sold outside China.
Here positioning services can look at the list of which cellular and Wi-Fi networks are available and derive the device's position. By knowing which signals are in range, the device can work out exactly where it is, according to Here. Since this technology uses the existing measurement technology of smartphones and most other connected devices, network positioning does not require any additional power consumption and reuses the signals already obtained.