Case Study: Private Russian Company achieves a low-cost, compact GPS navigator with electronic compass with Promwad

Private Russian Company - Customer Case Study

Promwad worked with a private Russian company in the navigation systems market to create a compact personal GPS navigator for hikers, travelers, and outdoor enthusiasts. The challenge was to build an easy-to-use device that could store a point, guide the user back to it, and operate without any setup, while staying small, lightweight, and affordable for the low-end market.

Promwad delivered a GPS compass based on the Transystem EB-500 GPS module, Freescale MC9S08QE8 microcontroller, and Honeywell HMC1042L digital compass, with custom LCD display and power-saving firmware. The solution provided distance and direction guidance, saved coordinates in memory, and improved usability through a compact ergonomic enclosure and revised antenna placement; the result was a low-power, low-cost product with a production target under $30 per unit in batches over 10,000, completed in about 6 man-months over 4 months.