What is the biggest challenge facing the UAV industry? Go to gpsworld.com/17marpoll to give us your opinion by March 22 and you’ll also be entered in a drawing to receive a $50 gift card.
Here are the possibilities on offer, plus an “other” category for you to specify something bigger if you think we’ve omitted anything.
Better quality images and video
Better, smaller, more lightweight sensors (inertial, Lidar, infrared, spectral, etc.)
Integration of other sensors with GPS/GNSS
Applications and command-control on mobile devices: smartphones and tablets
Virtual and augmented reality
Competition from satellite and aircraft imagery/mapping/other
Air traffic control and the FAA regulatory environment
Other (please specify)
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Watch this space for continuing coverage of developments in UAV navigation and related issues, with in-depth reporting from the upcoming AUVSI Xponential conference in May.
The January reader poll asks you to answer the question: “What are the most important factors to consider in selecting a GNSS vendor?” Answer the poll by Jan. 25 for entry to a drawing for a $50 gift card.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
A: Very worried. Just about any connected device can be hacked, including iPhones or Android phones, regardless of fingerprint recognition technology or complex passwords. Hackers can listen to conversations or access the location positioning via flaws in a portion of mobile networks called Signaling System 7. Hackers using common software-defined radio tools have discovered a cheap way to make a GPS emulator to falsify the GPS location of smartphones and in-car navigation systems.
Headshot: Paul McBurney
Paul McBurney, Founder, CEO, Gopherhush Corp.
A: Mobile phone users will share location-based information of business travel mileage, driving
behavior for usage-based car insurance, toll-road usage, or even time cards. The best way for the receiving party to protect against location hacking or even errant fix data is to require cross-checking of the location data with multiple location sources based on GNSS, OS network location, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth reference points, and even the phones sensors. It’s RAIM against hacking.
Headshot: Todd Humphreys
Todd Humphreys, Professor, Director, Radionavigation Lab, University of Texas
A: We usually don’t mind some people knowing our position some of the time, but it’s uncomfortable to think that a hacker or a government could accurately track our position whenever they want. Your credit card number is a lot more valuable to the average hacker than your location, so the danger of location theft is low, unless you’re the special target of someone’s profiling or blackmail scheme. As for a hacker corrupting a location, this is a serious problem that needs addressing if connected cars are ever to trust one another’s data.
Geomatics specialist Larry Tinney won the $50 gift card in our January drawing among takers of the Reader Poll. You can win too! Take the poll below by Feb. 22 to answer the question: What is the biggest challenge in simulating GNSS environments for testing products under development? All poll takers will be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift card.
