GPS World

Tag: GNSS compass

  • Arazim Navigation Systems secures new defense order for HPLS-2G navigation units

    Arazim Navigation Systems secures new defense order for HPLS-2G navigation units

    The nearly $1 million contract covers delivery of approximately 100 dual-antenna GPS/GNSS compasses for land-based applications.

    Arazim Navigation Systems, an Israeli manufacturer of inertial navigation systems, has received a new order valued at nearly $1 million from an Israeli defense customer. The order includes 100 units of the HPLS-2G GPS/GNSS compass, designed to provide heading and attitude information for static land-based systems using dual-antenna GPS technology.

    According to Arazim, the HPLS-2G NFS system is a rugged, MIL-STD-compliant device built to operate in harsh environmental conditions and hostile operational environments.

    “This continued trust represents more than another contract; it reflects confidence in the reliability, performance, and ongoing development of our navigation solutions,” Sason Noama, CEO and founder of Arazim Navigation Systems, said. “For years, our technology has supported critical operations where precision and resilience are essential. This order further underscores Arazim’s role as a trusted provider of advanced navigation and situational awareness systems for defense and security organizations.”

  • Slow but steady robots take to the field

    Slow but steady robots take to the field

    Photo: Advanced Navigation
    Photo: Advanced Navigation

    Intelligent navigation-based automation is redefining the farmer’s humble tractor to robotic status. This results in significantly faster field preparation and cropping and dramatically reduced labor costs.

    Any autonomous vehicle requires the highest levels of navigational accuracy, control and safety. For farming applications, this typically means maintaining exact heading at very low speeds, often over bumpy terrain. These requirements make using the right navigational equipment critical to success. The key challenge is maintaining precise placement and movement of the tractor relative to crop rows and field boundaries. Failure to maintain precision can cause rows to be damaged or planted seedlings to be uprooted. The typical accuracy required for precision farming is position to within a decimeter (10 cm) — well beyond basic GNSS. This requires real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and advanced signal processing.

    Sabanto, a U.S.-based farming as a service (FaaS) start-up, was facing this exact challenge. The company needed a precise and reliable navigation solution for its fleet of driverless tractors deployed in a growing number of U.S. states, including Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.

    “The reliability of Advanced Navigation’s GNSS Compass gave us the peace of mind required to operate fully autonomously from Spring to Fall of 2020,” explained Craig Rupp, CEO of Sabanto.

    Thanks to its dual-antenna GNSS and RTK corrections, the GNSS Compass can offer high-accuracy heading. Accurate position is maintained using real-time correction data, delivered from nearby ground base stations, resulting in near-centimeter accuracy under the most demanding conditions.

    Furthermore, the GNSS Compass includes an integrated inertial navigation system (INS) to ensure consistent position accuracy of the tractor in the event of degraded or lost signals from GNSS satellites from heavy canopy or steep terrain. Roll, pitch and heading data also improve the stability of the autonomous platform over difficult terrain.

    Sabanto engineers can now deploy and remotely monitor their fleet of autonomous tractors 24/7. Operators can simply pre-program the itinerary and field boundaries, as well as when to lift and lower tillers, resulting in the tractors planting up to two hectares (five acres) per hour.

  • Plug-and-play compass selected for survey package

    Plug-and-play compass selected for survey package

    Photo: Advanced Navigation
    Photo: Advanced Navigation

    Advanced Navigation’s plug-and-play GNSS Compass was selected by Nortek for its new survey package. Nortek’s scientific instruments apply the Doppler principle to underwater acoustics to measure water in motion, such as currents and waves. The instruments are used by scientists, researchers and engineers worldwide, employed in demanding environments that require state-of-the-art instrumentation that is reliable and easy to use.

    A vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measures the velocity of currents beneath a moving vessel. To correct the measured values for vessel speed and direction, ADCP measurements require accurate velocity and heading information. Besides the use of bottom track within the ADCP itself, such information can be provided externally using a GNSS receiver and a non-magnetic heading source such as a gyro compass.

    Nortek’s ADCP package — Signature VM — offers operational convenience and reduced complexity. As part of the package, Advanced Navigation’s GNSS Compass provides accurate dual-antenna GNSS-based heading that is not subject to magnetic interference. Its inertial navigation system (INS) can maintain accurate heading during GNSS outages of up to 20 minutes. “By making use of today’s modern Ethernet instruments, such as the Signature ADCP and the GNSS Compass, we can guarantee nanosecond time synchronization with Ethernet PTP protocol,” said Herman Huitema, VM product manager at Nortek. “Data from the ADCP can be exactly aligned with the GNSS Compass information.”

  • Hemisphere GNSS releases Atlas-capable Vector V200 GNSS compass

    Hemisphere GNSS releases Atlas-capable Vector V200 GNSS compass

    Photo: Hemisphere GNSS
    Photo: Hemisphere GNSS

    Hemisphere GNSS has launched a single-frequency, multi-GNSS Vector V200 smart antenna with integrated Atlas L-band designed for general marine applications and markets.

    The V200 is being featured in the Hemisphere/Saderet stand (K12) at Ocean Business 2019 in Southampton, UK, from April 9 through 11.

    Powered by Hemisphere’s Crescent Vector technology, the V200 is a multi-GNSS compass system that utilizes GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, and QZSS (with future firmware upgrade and activation) for simultaneous satellite tracking to offer heading, position, heave, pitch and roll output.

    With support for NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000, integrating Atlas L-band corrections, and continuing to offer ease of installation, the V200 packages and offers exceptional value and performance. The V200 excels in providing accurate position and heading information to autopilots, chart plotters and other general marine navigation applications.

    The all-in-one V200 GNSS compass combines Hemisphere’s Crescent Vector H220 OEM board, two superior multipath and noise-rejecting antennas (spaced 20 cm apart), a multi-axis gyro, and tilt sensors in a single easy-to-install and use enclosure.

    The V200 delivers 1.5 degree (or optional 0.75 degree) heading accuracy and Atlas L-band accuracies of 30 cm to 60 cm and offers instantaneous sub-meter accuracy and DGPS-level accuracy.

    Measuring only 35 cm in length, the V200 can be either pole or surface mounted and comes in either 5- or 12-pin options that require only a single power/data cable connection for fast and reliable installations, even in the presence of strong radio transmissions.

    “The Vector V200 GNSS compass represents significant enhancements to our industry-leading models it replaces, providing even greater performance, improved robustness, and excellent value,” said Miles Ware, director of marketing at Hemisphere. “Users now have an even higher performing all-in-one Vector for their marine applications with the addition of BeiDou, Galileo and QZSS, as well as Atlas L-band corrections.”

  • Hemisphere GNSS Offers RTK-Capable Compass Antenna

    Hemisphere GNSS Offers RTK-Capable Compass Antenna

    The Hemisphere GNSS V320 GNSS compass.
    The Hemisphere GNSS V320 GNSS compass.

    Hemisphere GNSS is offering a new RTK-enabled Vector V320 GNSS compass. The Vector V320 smart antenna supports multi-frequency GPS, GLONASS, Galileo (future firmware upgrade required) and BeiDou, and Hemisphere GNSS says it’s “the first of its kind.”

    Designed for the professional marine and marine survey markets, the Vector V320 is the a multi-frequency, multi-GNSS, all-in-one smart antenna capable of both RTK-level positioning accuracy and better than 0.2-degree heading accuracy in a simple-to-install package.

    “The Vector V320 combines our expertise in GNSS and smart antenna design,” said Lyle Geck, senior manager, Product Marketing, at Hemisphere GNSS. “With RTK performance that competes with current industry leaders, extremely accurate accelerometer-aided GNSS heading, and the simplicity of install offered by the smart antenna design, it is an incredible product.”

    The Vector V320 is the latest in a line of GPS/GNSS compasses, including the multi-frequency, multi-GNSS Vector VS330 receiver as well as the Vector V102, Vector V103 and Vector V104 compass smart antennas.

    “There has been a void in the market. Our customers have been looking for a product that provides RTK accuracy together with precision heading in an easy-to-install package,” said Andy Smith, managing director of Saderet Ltd. “The Vector V320 delivers.”

    The Vector V320 GNSS compass is being featured by Hemisphere GNSS at Ocean Business in Southampton, UK, April 14-16, at stand K12.