LOST? -- NEVER AGAIN! 

That old excuse, "But I was lost!" may never work again. Not as soon as Sony's latest hand-held navigational device gets into universal circulation.

This GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, known as PYXIS, weighs but 590 grams (including four AA batteries). It can easily determine your location within 100 metres (300 feet) in the Kikkori rain forest of Papua New Guinea, atop Mount Everest or in the inner urban jungle of New York or Toronto. The reasonable retail price -- ($1,200 in Canada) of this portable sophisticated navigational equipment will likely make it a big seller. Just one more Sony wonder to add to the five new products they produced last year -- EVERY DAY! The unit displays distance in miles, nautical miles, kilometres or knots. PYXIS stores altitude and longitude data for 100 destinations, and also shows UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time and local time.

You know what direction you are heading, where you are going (along nine different routes) along with absolute direction and absolute velocity (speed). It works in the air, at sea, and on land, both on mountain tops and during a stroll on the beach.

GPS is a satellite-based navigational system developed and maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). It is operational today and when the system is completed in 1993, it will provide information from 24 satellites. These heavenly bodies will transmit signals carrying an identifying code for each satellite, accurate time information, and navigation data. The Sony GPS receiver automatically selects four satellites, and PYXIS calculates your precise latitude, longitude and altitude ... anytime and in any weather condition, within a time accuracy of 10-8 seconds and with a position accuracy of 30 to 100 metres. The military are trying to determine if the closer accuracy poses any defense threat before allowing the higher quality location data be released to non-military personnel. In wartime this system might be restricted to military operations, possible with the flip of a switch in some command post. This is a remote possibility.

The technology behind PYXIS is based on the World Geodetic System (WGS) which defines the whole earth as an ellipsoid which revolves on its axis. This is how the unit determines latitude, longitude and altitude. System readings may, in some areas, not match a traditional atlas because GPS indicates true bearings not compass (magnetic) bearing. The system operates with six orbits, each tracking four satellites, for a total of 24 satellites operating at an altitude around 20,000 km, on a 12-hour elliptical 24-hour orbit, constantly circling the earth and reporting to ground control stations - and to the hand-held Model IPS-360 PYXIS unit which is receiving the C/A civilian code in direct sequence modulation at a frequency of 1575.42 MHz (Military uses a restricted P code). PYXIS is accurate in speeds up to 530 knots (980km/h). The round pancake-like antennae is 100 X 35 mm and may be mounted on the roof of a car, boat or airplane. The keyboard display unit, with a two-line, 40-character window, is 100 X 63 X 39 mm in size and can be installed at any inside location within seven metres (23') of the outside antennae. The unit does NOT receive indoors. The antennae must be held horizontally outdoors with no obstructions as signals may be restricted when a satellite is low on the horizon. Outside of placing the unit near strong magnets or speakers, in exceptionally dusty locations, in a car parked in the summer sun or on a beach, the unit can take such field punishment as temperatures up to 50C (1220F) or down to -100C (140F), but watch high humidity.

In addition to the AA alkaline batteries, power may also be supplied from a car or boat battery via a 12/24 volt power adapter and cigarette lighter plug-in. Unit memory is retained by a lithium battery with a life of about five years.

The first time PYXIS is used, or after periods of non-use, or in the case of moving to a different coordinate area, the unit has to be "introduced" to the various satellites. This takes 30 minutes. After that it is in instant contact as soon as the unit is switched on. A detailed manual and several accessories come with the unit.

More information: Doug Willox, Vice-President, Sony of Canada Ltd., 405/411 Gordon Baker Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2G6. Phone: 416/499-7669. Fax: 416/499-7147.

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