Inside of the Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS exposed

No, I have not opened up my Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS to see what is inside, but others did.

You can click here to go and see some interesting photos of the internal electronic parts of the Nuvi 255w device after the cover is opened up.

And here is a professional technical write-up on the internal of Garmin Nuvi 205, which is a smaller and more compact unit with 320x240 display in the Garmin 2x5 family.

Click here to see the interesting photos of the internal of Garmin Nuvi 205 (with label description).

From these information, we can guess that our Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS is having:

• STMicro Cartesio (STA2062) processor
  
• Rx Networks GPStream SAGPS chipset
• STMicro STA5620 single-chip RF front end
• 32MB DDR SDRAM
• 2GB Sandisk iNAND internal flash memory
• Rechargeable 3.7-v/1250 mAh Li-Ion battery
• Sharp-manufactured LCD touchscreen

Garmin Hotfix technology powered by Rx Networks GPStream SAGPS chipset

Newer Garmin Nuvi GPS including the 205, 205w, 255, 255w, 265T, 265WT, 275T, 500, 550, 750, 760, 770, 780, 755t, 765t, 775t, 785t, 850, 880, 5000, etc. have a new selling point of Hotfix technology.

Garmin Hotfix enable the GPS to be super fast within seconds in locating the satellites during startup. In fact, my Garmin Nuvi 255w can even work as if staying connected to satellites for a few minutes, when it started up indoor in the middle of my house.

This is made possible by using predictive calculations of satellite positions, which enables the behaviour of GPS satellites to be modelled based on broadcast ephemeris readings for accurate prediction of satellite positions up to a few days ahead. A single broadcast ephemeris reading allows the accurate prediction of satellite orbits which are developed and refined every time new broadcast ephemeris is obtained.

Some people are guessing that the Hotfix feature is based on SiRF InstantFix inside the newer version of SiRFstarIII chipset. However, we've just found out that Nuvi 255w is using STMicro Cartesio application processor instead, so it is not SiRF InstantFix which plays the magic.

In fact, the Garmin Hotfix technology is powered by Rx Networks GPStream SAGPS chipset. The GPStream Self Assisted GPS (SAGPS) is a derivative of GPStream Predicted GPS (PGPS) technology. GPStream PGPS is a 3rd generation Assisted GPS (AGPS) solution addressing the limitations of 1st and 2nd generation products, which is made available to some handphone devices with AGPS feature.

Click here to read more about Rx Networks GPStream SAGPS technology.

For those who are interested to know where I got the information about Garmin Nuvi 255w is using STMicro Cartesio application processor and Rx Networks GPStream SAGPS technology, it is mentioned in Page 10 of September 2008 edition (Volume 11 Issue 9) of Telecom Trends newsletter.

Cartesio chipset used in Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS

I've been wondering what kind of GPS chipset is inside my Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS. Some say it is the famous SiRFstarIII, some say it is the Taiwanese MTK chipset, but I find out that it is actually the STMicro Cartesio.

In fact, all the current Garmin Nuvi 2x5 series of GPS are using this Cartesio automotive-grade infotainment application processor with embeded GPS receiver. It features the System-on-Chip (SoC) technology which combines the host CPU and a high-performance 32-channel GPS correlator, and also a large set of peripherals and interfaces.

Here are some of the technical information about the STMicro Cartesio (code name STA2062):

• High performance ARM926 333-MHz CPU
• High performance 32-channel GPS correlator
• Bus/DDR frequency is 166 MHz
  
• 32 KB embedded ROM for boot
• 2 banks of 64 KB embedded SRAM
• 0.5 KB embedded SRAM for back-up
• 4 GB total linear address space
  
• Operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C

Click here for more information on the STMicro Cartesio.

My GPS usage experience shows that this STMicro Cartesio is performing pretty good.