A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the January 2022 issue of GPS World magazine.
Surveying
Base Station
Receives all available GNSS signals
The Trimble R750 GNSS modular receiver is a connected base station for use in civil construction, geospatial and agricultural applications. The R750 provides high-accuracy base-station performance, giving contractors, surveyors and farmers more reliable and precise positioning in the field. The R750 also can be used to broadcast real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections for a wide range of applications, including seismic surveying, monitoring, civil construction, precision agriculture and more. Access to all available satellite signals provides improved performance and reliability when used with a Trimble ProPoint GNSS rover. ProPoint gives users improved performance in challenging GNSS conditions, with improved signal management.
Trimble, trimble.com
Flight Planning
Updated for safer UAV surveying
The mdCockpit app was designed for professional drone users to make it easy to plan, monitor, change and control flights from an Android tablet. The updates in version 2021.3 include features that improve flight safety and give more options for surveying with an aim to deliver a premier solution for planning, monitoring, adjusting, analyzing and controlling professional drone flight missions from a tablet. Updates include an improved flight editor, flight data collection and drone configuration. Drone pilots can download mdCockpit through the Google Play store.
Microdrones, microdrones.com
OEM
LTE Module
With 2G fallback for Latin America
The LE910S1-ELG LTE Cat 1 module is designed for internet of things (IoT) applications in Latin America that need a combination of performance, affordability and voice support in a compact form factor. It provides 2G fallback, making it suitable for areas that have not upgraded to 4G. With an embedded GNSS receiver, the cost-optimized LE910S1-ELG is suitable for tracking applications such as fleet management, stolen-vehicle tracking and recovery, and other mobile IoT applications that need to maintain a reliable connection when moving around in a country, region or multiple regions. The power-saving embedded GNSS receiver enables the use of GNSS positioning even when the cellular modem is switched off.
Telit, telit.com
Flex Power
Capability now on constellation simulator
A new positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) test capability commonly referred to as programmable power — or flex power — is available on the Spirent GSS9000 constellation simulator and can be applied to existing scenarios. Flex power is the reallocation of transmit power among individual signals in GPS satellites, providing a countermeasure against GPS jamming. Spirent simulators fully support programmable power for M-code, Y-code and C/A (coarse acquisition) code.
Spirent, spirent.com
GNSS Module
Automotive qualified with INS and dead reckoning
The Teseo-VIC3DA is the latest member of the Teseo module family, designed for vehicle positioning. It combines the Teseo III GNSS integrated circuit with the 6-axis MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) and dead-reckoning software to provide super-high-resolution motion tracking for advanced vehicle navigation and telematics applications. Teseo III offers robust positioning capabilities by simultaneously receiving signals from GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou and QZSS constellations. The module enables competitively priced in-car navigation, fleet management and insurance-monitoring applications.
STMicroelectronics, st.com
PNT Platform
Protects critical infrastructure from GNSS vulnerabilities
The scalable aPNT+ platform meets the latest guidelines for resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), providing end-to-end control and timing network visibility for robust protection against the catastrophic risks that PNT disruption poses to national security and essential assets such as power grids. Even without GPS or GNSS timing, the solution provides an intelligent, end-to-end self-recovery system designed around a three-fold framework, integrating multi-layer detection, multi-source backup and multi-level fault-tolerant mitigation.
ADVA, adva.com
Timing Antennas
IP67-compliant for outdoor and marine environments
A new series of GPS/GNSS timing antennas cover the L1 and L5 GPS bands, providing axial ratio and higher accuracy for the reception of satellite timing signals and reference frequencies for enhanced phase synchronization in precision network deployments. Their high gain, low noise figure of 2-dB and high out-of-band rejection allows for use of longer and cost-effective cables for easy and flexible installations. Built-in surge protection supports a wide range of GNSS including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo, as well as Iridium.
RadioWaves, radiowaves.com
Mapping
Imaging System
Designed for utility and infrastructure mapping
True View 435 is an economical platform for utility-grade mapping, with superior ground-capturing capabilities for lightly vegetated areas. The next-generation compact 3D imaging system has the sensitivity needed for infrastructure mapping. Its position and orientation system is the Applanix APX-15, achieving accuracy of better than 5 cm RMSE and precision of better than 5 cm at 1 sigma.
GeoCue, geocue.com
Long-Range Scanner
Includes integrated GNSS receiver
The VZ-2000i long-range 3D laser scanning system combines user friendliness with fast, accurate data acquisition. The flexible system includes an integrated GNSS unit for a high-accuracy real-time kinematic (RTK) solution. Other peripherals and accessories include a SIM card slot for 3G/4G LTE, WLAN, LAN, USB and other ports. A new processing architecture enables execution of different background tasks onboard in parallel to the simultaneous acquisition of scan data and image data, such as point-cloud registration, georeferencing and orientation via an integrated inertial measurement unit.
RIEGL, riegl.com
Transportation
Vehicle Antennas
Designed for Intelligent connected cars and trucks
Two new GNSS antennas are designed for vehicles equipped with advanced sensors, controllers, actuators and other devices. They are enabled for intelligent information exchanges between the vehicle and everything (V2X), connecting autos with GNSS, 5G, Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband and more. The integrated antennas support dedicated short-range (DSRC) and cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication, embedding a premium GNSS antenna with high gain for consistent and reliable precise positioning service. They also allow for multiple input and output of data to achieve swift internet download speed in 5G networks.
Harxon, harxon.com
NVIDIA AV Support
Receiver now supported on autonomous platform
The PwrPak7-E1 GNSS receiver is now supported on the NVIDIA Drive Hyperion autonomous vehicle (AV) development platform. Selected for its robustness and precise position output, the PwrPak7-E1 will be offered with NVIDIA’s autonomous driving test fleets worldwide. Drive Hyperion is a fully operational, production-validated and open AV platform that reduces the time and cost required to outfit vehicles with autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI) features. The PwrPak7-E1 also is now compatible with NVIDIA’s DriveWorks v4 software release.
Hexagon | NovAtel, novatel.com
Splitter
Provides signals to two GNSS receivers
The TW162A automotive-grade smart power GNSS signal splitter supports the full GNSS spectrum: GPS/QZSS-L1/L2/L5, QZSS-L6, GLONASS-G1/G2/G3, Galileo-E1/E5a/E5b/E6, BeiDou-B1/B2/B2a/B3 and L-band correction service frequency band. It offers fail-over and fault-identification features. The splitter accepts power from all attached GNSS receivers; if one receiver fails, the next attached receiver automatically provides power to the splitter and antenna. If the antenna fails and does not draw current, all connected receivers will sense a current draw lower than 1 mA, indicating an antenna fault. The TW162A offers high performance in terms of noise figure, isolation and linearity.
Tallysman, tallysman.com
ADS-B Receiver
Enhances airport situational awareness
The pingStation 3 integrates 978 MHz and 1090 MHz ADS-B receivers, a GPS receiver, an antenna and a power-over-Ethernet (POE) interface into an easy-to-install, rugged weatherproof enclosure. With a selection of non-proprietary and industry-standard data interfaces, such as JSON and ASTERIX CAT 021, pingStation 3 is designed to integrate into a multitude of end-user applications, including airport displays, UAS Ground Control Stations (GCS), Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Solutions, and Flight Information Displays (FID). When paired with the VTU-20 airport vehicle ADS-B transmitter, pingStation 3 improves the situational awareness of ATCs and the safety of airport operations by reducing the risk of runway incursions.
uAvionix, uavionix.com
UAV
Defense UAS
Flexible UAV and control software combined
Ascent AeroSystems’ Spirit coaxial unmanned aerial system (UAS) offers a versatile and durable system for mission-critical operations. With a modular, plug-and-play payload design, the Spirit’s open architecture allows operators to add or upgrade software to unlock new operating capabilities without the need to design or develop a new aircraft. Autonodyne’s additive software solution allows the Spirit to perform autonomous tasks either individually or as a team with multiple vehicles, from a single operator and control station.
Ascent AeroSystems, ascentaerosystems.com
Autonodyne, autonodyne.com
Evaluation Kits
Now include mosaic Septentrio modules
Two Septentrio modules are being integrated into ArduSimple’s new evaluation kits — the mosaic-X5 GNSS module and the mosaic-H heading module. The new kits make resilient centimeter-level positioning easily accessible for testing and prototyping. ArduSimple’s kits provide triple-band real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS/GNSS as a plug-and-play solution for the most popular development platforms such as Arduino, STM Nucleo, Raspberry Pi, Ardupilot and Nvidia Jetson. It enables developers of robotics, UAVs and autonomous systems to try out mosaic, a unique module offering the latest high-performance GNSS positioning technology.
Septentrio, septentrio.com; ArduSimple, ardusimple.com
Geospatial Data
Drones as a service
A drone network solution offers on-demand imagery to customers in Germany at resolutions up to 50 times higher than available from commercial satellite data providers. The Beagle M drone and sensors can deliver image data at 1-cm per pixel many times faster than satellites and regardless of cloud coverage. The company’s charging hangars enable quick flights. After completing an autonomous inspection flight (up to 200 km on a single charge), the drone returns to its hangar where it charges for its next mission. The drone takes just 90 minutes to become fully charged, and can then advance to its next mission without any physical contact between operator and aircraft.
Beagle Systems, beaglesystems.com
