"Pleiades is equipped with control moment gyros, " explained Charlotte Gabriel Robez, the Pleiades project manager with Astrium Geo-information Services.

BBC: Sharp-eyed Pleiades returns first pictures

Many of the chain's franchisees established their businesses in the early 2000s in college towns, where hungry students could order veggie pitas, gyros and smoothies until 3 a.m.

WSJ: Chain restaurants hope longer hours mean more sales

Instead of relying solely on GPS to determine position, the SiRFstarV architecture gathers real-time information from GPS, Galileo, Glonass and Compass (when operational) satellites, multiple radio systems, such as cellular and Wi-Fi(R), and multiple MEMS sensors, like accelerometers, gyros and compasses.

ENGADGET: CSR sharpens indoor and in-car navigation with SiRFstarV, SiRFusion and SiRFprimaII

"When you want to sell hot dogs, fried chicken, gyros and pizza, it's probably a good bet that you're not going to get a good slice of pizza, " said Mr. Riggio, who left his job as a lawyer to run the pizzeria after his father died in 2007.

WSJ: Economics, Sliced