Customized GNSS Antenna Enables Absolute Cycling’s The One Cycling Computer to Balance a Sleek Design with High Performance
Every meter matters to cyclists looking to beat their personal records. That’s one reason why Absolute Cycling developed The One, a handlebar-mounted computer that tracks the ride, lets the cyclist navigate with ease, and displays all other kinds of key metrics.
About the size of a smartphone, The One uses global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology to provide continuous, highly accurate tracking of the rider’s location. It features Absolute Cycling’s patented Absolute Positioning Technology (APT), which employs a sophisticated algorithm to integrate data from multiple sensors, maximizing precision in speed and route tracking. Additionally, with Absolute Altitude Technology (AAT), The One reduces the latency in displaying gradients by 50%, improves gradient accuracy, and minimizes altitude error from 10% to just 1%, even in the most challenging environments.
The Challenge
Absolute Cycling collaborated with Valeur Designers to create a sleek and elegant design for The One, that stands out in a sea of utilitarian-looking cycling computers.
“You have your dream bike,” the company says. “A cycling computer should be an extension of that. Not some ugly plastic thing. The One is designed with the precision and elegance of Danish aesthetics. It’s durable, trustworthy, elegant.”
But that design also created some big RF engineering challenges. The One is clad in a great looking and durable aluminium case, which attenuates GNSS signals, and the case’s only opening is around the three buttons. The space between the buttons also is small, which makes it impossible to squeeze in an off-the-shelf GNSS antenna and still leave enough clearance.
The Solution
To balance form and function without compromises, Absolute Cycling turned to Taoglas, which designed a custom GNSS antenna capable of fitting inside The One and around the buttons. At this point, Absolute Cycling had finalized the design and materials for The One, which meant Taoglas couldn’t suggest changes to accommodate an off-the-shelf antenna.
The custom Taoglas FXP614.A is a flexible antenna. It covers 1559-1610 MHz and supports all four major GNSS services: GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo. This multi-constellation support is ideal for cyclists who want to use The One when traveling in other parts of the world. It also enables Absolute Cycling to sell The One to a global market rather than just in its home base of Western Europe.
Absolute Cycling procured the FXP614.A through the Taoglas CSA.50 custom GNSS test service, which is ideal for devices and use cases whose unique, demanding requirements can’t be met by off-the-shelf antennas. This process included simulating a design, building prototypes of it and testing them first in an anechoic chamber and then at the system level. The Taoglas engineering team also defined the optimal antenna feeding mechanism.
Absolutely Cycling took advantage of two additional services. The Taoglas GSA.30 GPS Acquisition & Tracking Sensitivity Testing service uses a GPS constellation simulator and anechoic chamber to measure conducted tracking sensitivity. This process includes steps to confirm whether the antenna has been correctly integrated into The One. The Taoglas GSA.40 testing service covers aspects such as power and mounting requirements, and testing The One in a static, open-sky scenario.
“We did a LOT of research into this and, through that, found Taoglas to be the best option!”
Harm Giesen CTO, Absolute Cycling
The Outcome
“The custom antenna solution was key to boost the performance,” says Harm Giesen, CTO of Absolute Cycling.
Customization also meant that The One didn’t have to be modified to accommodate the antenna. Instead, it preserved the sleek, upscale aesthetic that Absolute Cycling and Valeur Designers envisioned.
Finally, the CSA.50 service also reduced development costs for Absolute Cycling and expedited The One’s time to market. Those are two more of the kinds of benefits that the company anticipated after comparing potential antenna suppliers.
Supplementary Information
- Absolute Cycling website: www.absolutecycling.com
- Taoglas CSA.50 Custom Antenna Design Service
- Taoglas GSA.30 GPS Acquisition & Tracking Sensitivity Testing Service
- Taoglas GSA.40 GNSS Field Testing Service