GPS World

Tag: report

  • DJI: Drones rescued 65 people in 2017

    At least 65 people have been rescued by drones in the last year, according to a new report issued by DJI, a civilian drones and aerial imaging company.

    The report gathers accounts from news outlets and public safety agencies around the world, and includes 27 separate incidents on five continents.

    The report, “More Lives Saved: A Year Of Drone Rescues Around The World,” is available for download. It highlights how improved drone technology, rapid adoption by first responders, and smart aviation regulations have combined to increase the pace of drone use in critical public safety missions.

    In conjunction with an earlier report released in March 2017, DJI has now counted at least 124 people around the world rescued by drones.

    The new report found drones have

    • dropped buoys to struggling swimmers in Australia and Brazil,
    • spotted unconscious victims in sub-freezing weather in England and America, and
    • found stranded people in fields, rivers and mountains.

    “Drones allow rescuers a way to find missing people, deliver supplies like food and life vests, and cut search and response times from hours to minutes,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI vice president for policy and legal affairs. “When laws and regulations allow public safety agencies to deploy drones easily, rescuers are able to save time and money, protect their personnel, and most importantly, rescue people from peril.”

    More than one person a week was rescued by a drone over the last year on average, the report found, including at least 18 found by thermal imaging cameras that can sense a person’s body heat even in darkness or when hidden by thick brush.

    In one case, police in Lincolnshire, England responded to a car crash on a dark rural road on a cold night but were unable to find the driver. A drone with a thermal imaging camera spotted the driver in a ditch away from the crash scene, and captured the dramatic moments when it guided officers to find him. See video below.

  • Galileo provides healthy signals 97.33 percent of the time

    Galileo provides healthy signals 97.33 percent of the time

    Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has undergone its first performance report since it started work at the end of last year, and it passed with flying colors, said the European Space Agency.

    The European GNSS Agency, GSA, through its GNSS Service Centre, has published the first of its regular quarterly performance reports on Galileo. This European GNSS (Galileo) Initial Services Open Service report, now available online, covers the first three months of 2017 and documents the good performance of Galileo Initial Services to date.

    The report shows the 11 satellites then operating in the Galileo constellation were able to provide healthy signals 97.33 percent of the time on a per satellite basis, with a ranging accuracy better than 1.07 m and disseminating global UTC time within its signal to within 30 billionths of a second on a 95 percentile monthly basis.

    “Galileo Initial Services were declared by the European Commission on 15 December 2016,” said Joerg Hahn of ESA’s Galileo System Office.

    “It was thanks to the tremendous effort of ESA’s Galileo team working closely together with colleagues from the commission and GSA that this milestone could be achieved: the key pillars for reaching are the currently deployed Galileo satellites in combination with the global Galileo ground segment infrastructure, defined and implemented by the ESA team with their respective industry partners.”

    The Initial Service performance levels achieved by the system are monitored using two complementary monitoring platforms: the Time and Geodetic Validation Facility, an independent precision time-measuring system accurate to a billionth of a second — using an ensemble of atomic clocks located at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands — and the Galileo System Evaluation Equipment, GALSEE, based in Rome.

    The steadily declining Signal in Space Ranging Error (SISE) of the Galileo constellation from 2014 to the present.

    In the future, the independent monitoring of the services will be carried out by GSA’s Galileo Reference Centre, currently taking shape beside ESTEC in Noordwijk. The results for the first quarter of 2017 show the measured performances are generally far better than the minimum performance levels identified in the Service Definition Documents.

    “Looking back over the ranging accuracy of the Galileo constellation from the time of the very first positioning fix in 2014 to the present, the overall performance trend for the Open Service is very positive,” Joerg said.

    “It has reached values of less than 1 m in recent months, being already competitive with other satellite navigation systems.

    “The high-quality ranging service enables user level positioning with a typical accuracy of around 3 m on the ground and 5 m in altitude during periods when four satellites are visible. With the limited infrastructure so far deployed, current horizontal position fixes can be achieved during more than 80 percent of the time with accuracies better than 10 meters.

    “This user level performance is expected to improve with the launch of more satellites making the provided Galileo services more accurate, more available and more robust for end users.”

  • First Galileo open service performance report published

    Click for PDF.

    The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has published its first Galileo Open Service quarterly performance report.

    The report, which covers the first three months of 2017, is available online in the GSC Electronic Library, or directly here.

    Following the Declaration of Initial Services in December 2016, the GSA will publish a new Galileo Initial Services Open Service report after each quarter. The quarterly reports aim to provide the public with the latest information on the Galileo Open Service’s performance.

    The document reports on such parameters as:

    • Galileo Initial Open Service ranging performance
    • Galileo Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) dissemination and Galileo to GPS time offset (GGTO) determination performance
    • Galileo positioning performance
    • Timely publication of Notice Advisory to Galileo Users

    Each of these parameters is examined with respect to their minimum performance levels (MPLs), as declared in the European GNSS (Galileo) Open Service Definition Document (OS-SDD).

    Highlights from Q1 2017

    In the first quarterly reporting period after the Declaration of Galileo Initial Services, the measured Galileo Initial Open Service performance figures generally exceeded the MPL targets specified in the OS-SDD by significant margins.

    Some highlights from the report:

    • Availability of the Galileo ranging service at the worst user location, with monthly values of 100 percent, is significantly above expectations, where the MPL is 87 percent.
    • The signal in space ranging accuracy shows a 95th percentile monthly accuracy better than 1.07 [m] for individual space vehicles.
    • Availability of the Galileo UTC time determination service was achieved, with a monthly value of 100 percent, compared to the [OS-SDD] MPL target of 87 percent.
    • Availability of GGTO determination (not declared as a service in this phase) was 100 percent in January and March. February showed a slightly lower figure of 96.44 percent, although still well above the [OS-SDD] MPL target of 80 percent.
    • Excellent values were achieved for UTC time dissemination service accuracy. The measured Galileo Initial Open Service performance figures generally exceeded the MPL targets specified in the OS-SDD by significant margins.

    For up-to-date information, check the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) website. For all support related to Galileo, contact the Galileo Help Desk. The Help Desk allows close interaction with users, both to support the exploitation of Galileo services and to collect relevant information on signal performance as observed by the users themselves.

  • Implications of BeiDou explored in US congressional report

     

    The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has issued a staff report titled “China’s Alternative to GPS and Its Implications for the United States.”

    The report examines the objectives behind Beijing’s decision to develop the system as an alternative to GPS, its efforts to build an industry around the system, and the effects this might have in security, economic and diplomatic terms for the U.S.

    “The system’s primary purpose is to end China’s military reliance on GPS, although China’s associated industrial policies will likely affect U.S. firms operating in China’s market. Industry professionals assess there are no inherent risks to products such as smartphones receiving data from BeiDou.”

    China’s BeiDou is projected to achieve global coverage by 2020.

    The commission was created through a congressional mandate in October 2000, and is responsible for monitoring and investigating national security and trade issues between the United States and People’s Republic of China.

    Beidou constellation

    Key Findings

    • China has sought to field its own satellite navigation system in order to (1) address national security requirements by ending military reliance on GPS; (2) build a commercial downstream satellite navigation industry to take advantage of the quickly expanding market; and (3) achieve domestic and international prestige by fielding one of only four such systems yet developed, cementing China’s status as a leading space power and opening the door to international cooperation opportunities.
    • Industry professionals assess there are no inherent risks to products such as smartphones receiving data from Beidou. While concerns have been raised that malware in devices could allow China’s government to track users, experts (1) are not aware of ways to feasibly transmit malware through a navigation signal and (2) assess that manufacturers will be unlikely to include Beidou’s unique messaging function due to cost factors. Restrictions on technology purchases from China by U.S. government and military users can help guard against malware being physically installed.
    • Beidou is of foremost importance in allowing China’s military to employ precision-guided conventional strike weapons—a central feature of Beijing’s efforts to counter a U.S. intervention in a potential contingency—if access to GPS is denied.
    • GPS and Beidou signals are both provided for free and are not in “competition” for market share. Also, the satellite navigation industry is trending toward “multi-constellation” receivers that work with all systems. This means that the U.S. firms that currently dominate the downstream satellite navigation industry will likely be able to incorporate Beidou functionality and continue to compete, although prospects in the China market may narrow.
    • China plans to expand Beidou coverage to most of the countries covered in its “One Belt, One Road” initiative by 2018, indicating it sees the system as playing a role in its economic diplomacy efforts. China has also sought to incentivize countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East to begin using Beidou, and seeks to build a network of ground stations throughout Asia to improve the system’s accuracy.
    • In response to these developments, the United States can consider allowing government and military users to take advantage of multi-constellation devices, while continuing to monitor the industry to assure that security threats do not materialize; promote interoperability to ensure its firms remain competitive; and continue to invest in maintaining its leadership in space.
    Current coverage of BeiDou constellation
    (from report).

  • FAA reviewing micro UAS report

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now reviewing the report and recommendations of the Micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee. The agency had tasked the group to develop recommendations for performance-based regulations that would let certain unmanned aircraft operate over people not directly involved in the flight of the aircraft.

    The rulemaking committee, which began meeting March 8, worked under a tight deadline of April 1 to deliver its report. The task force included a diverse set of aviation stakeholders, including UAS manufacturers, UAS operators, consensus standards organizations, researchers and academics.

    “We commend the committee members for their sincere dedication and for producing a comprehensive report in such a short time,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “This type of collaborative government and industry partnership is exactly what is needed to keep pace with this rapidly changing industry and will serve as a model for future rulemaking advisory tasks.”

    The ARC’s consensus report recommends establishing four small UAS categories, defined primarily by risk of injury to people below the flight path. For each category, the group recommends assigning a potential risk linked to either weight or impact energy. The report also addresses operational restrictions and standards to minimize the risks associated with each category.

    The FAA will use the information in the report to develop a flexible, performance-based proposed rule. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal based on the ARC’s recommendations.

    View a copy of the report.

  • Most Railroads Will Miss Positive Train Control Deadline

    Most railroads will miss the Dec. 31, 2015, deadline for implementing positive train control (PTC), according to a report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Congress established the deadline in 2008.

    An automatic train control system — many of which use GPS — was not installed on the commuter rail route where an Amtrak train left the track in May.

    The FRA sent its “Status of Positive Train Control Implementation” report to Congress this week. The report is mandated by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.

    “Positive train control is the most significant advancement in rail safety technology in more than a century,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “Simply put: it prevents accidents and saves lives, which is exactly what we seek to do at the Department of Transportation every single day. We will continue to do everything in our power to help railroads install this technology.”

    The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began calling for train control systems like PTC in 1969, and the FRA was involved in establishing PTC standards with stakeholders for more than a decade before the 2008 mandate. Three years before Congress passed the PTC mandate, the FRA issued its final rule that established uniform PTC standards for railroads willing to voluntarily install the technology.

    Positive train control prevents train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zone limits and a train going to the wrong track because a switch was left in the wrong position.

    In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act, requiring all Class I railroads transporting poisonous-by-inhalation hazardous (PIH) or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous (TIH) materials, and all railroads providing passenger service, to implement Positive Train Control by Dec. 31, 2015.

    The FRA has provided assistance and support to railroads to help them become PTC compliant. Those efforts include:

    • Providing more than $650 million to passenger railroads, including nearly $400 million in Recovery Act funding.
      Issuing a nearly $1 billion loan to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to implement PTC on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
    • Building a PTC testbed in Pueblo, Colo.
    • Working directly with the Federal Communications Commission and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to resolve issues related to spectrum use and improve the approval process for PTC communication towers.
    • Dedicating staff to continue work on PTC implementation in March 2010, including establishing a PTC task force.

    “The Federal Railroad Administration will continue to use its resources and expertise to help railroads achieve the critical goal to have Positive Train Control implemented,” FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg said.

    Read the full report.

  • Joint U.S./China Engineering Report on GNSS Now Available

    The National Academies Press has released Global Navigation Satellite Systems, the report of a joint workshop of the National Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering held in Shanghai,  China, on May 24 and 25, 2011.

    According to the NAP, “The workshop featured presentations chosen based on the following criteria: they must have relevant engineering/technical content or usefulness; be of mutual interest; offer the opportunity for enhancing GNSS availability, accuracy, integrity, and/or continuity; and offer the possibility of recommendations for further actions and discussions. Global Navigation Satellite Systems is an essential report for engineers, workshop attendees, policy makers, educators, and relevant government agencies.”

    The 268-page report is available in both printed and electronic form. One may download either individual chapters or the complete report for personal use free of charge.

  • New CoreLogic Report Shows Tornado and Hail Risk Extends Far Beyond Great Plains States

    CoreLogic announced the release of its Tornado and Hail Risk Beyond Tornado Alley report. The new research findings from CoreLogic, based on historical weather patterns, reveal that severe weather risk extends far outside the narrow eight-state corridor in the U.S. Midwest, commonly known as “Tornado Alley,” traditionally considered to be the area in which tornado and severe hail risk is highly concentrated.

    U.S Tornado Risk (Source: CoreLogic, 2012)

    According to CoreLogic, the report was developed to provide the insurance industry additional insight into the true extent of tornado and hail risk in the U.S. following a record-breaking year of weather related disasters in 2011 and has been released in tandem with the launch of two new CoreLogic risk assessment products, Wind Probability and Hail Probability. These data layers will provide insurers with a unique level of spatial and content granularity to assess property level wind and hail risk.

    “The extensive destruction wrought by convective storms in 2011, which produce hail, strong winds and tornados, captured the attention of the public and forced many insurance companies to rethink the way they assess natural hazard risk,” said Dr. Howard Botts, vice president and director of database development for CoreLogic Spatial Solutions. “The apparent increase in the number of incidents and shift in geographic distribution of losses that occurred last year in the U.S. called the long-held notion of risk concentration in Tornado Alley into question, and is leading to changes in risk management policy and procedure.”

     

    The Tornado and Hail Risk Beyond Tornado Alley report analyzes hazard risk at the state-level across the U.S using the new CoreLogic wind and hail data layers. Key findings include:

    • Tornado risk actually extends across most of the eastern half of the U.S. rather than being confined to the Midwest.
    • According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), of the top ten states with the highest number of tornado touchdowns between 1980 and 2009, only three actually fell within Tornado Alley.
    • At least 26 states have some area facing extreme tornado risk.
    • At least 11 states have significant areas facing extreme hail risk, and almost every state east of the Rocky Mountains has some area facing a moderate or higher level of hail risk.
    • The area of highest hail risk extends outward from the central Great Plains to include states as far east as Georgia and the Carolinas.

    U.S. Damaging Hail Risk (Source: CoreLogic, 2012)

    CoreLogic reports that unlike most generalized wind and hail data, which provide a risk rating for large geographical areas, the new CoreLogic risk assessment products pinpoint and predict the probability of a wind or hail event using 10 x 10-meter property-level grid cells. Developed using highly scientific models, these new data layers are much more precise than the more traditional calculations based on ZIP codes or counties. Using a probabilistic rating in addition to a general risk rating allows users a more precise understanding of the risk of damaging winds and hail for properties in question. Individual addresses or a complete portfolio can be evaluated and the usual ranges of “high” or “medium” risk are now broken down into specific probability ranges.

    “Insurers cannot afford to rely on inprecise data,” said Botts. “Decision-making based on general risk rating over large geographic areas is little more than a best guess and can lead to common errors, such as incorrectly identifying properties or assigning risk to the wrong property. The additional precision of the products CoreLogic is introducing today provides insurers with the information necessary to better assess wind and hail risk, minimize loss and maximize underwriting profits.”

    According to the announcement, the new CoreLogic Wind Probability product predicts the likelihood of multiple damaging wind events including tornadoes, hurricanes, straight-line winds striking an individual property and takes into account special wind areas (isolated areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in which the magnitude of the local wind speeds is affected by local conditions). Additionally, the model used to derive both the wind and hail data layers also factors in short-run randomness of events. Used together, the wind and hail data layers offer an industry-leading level of accuracy and the most complete picture of the risk that is inherent in these weather related events. Both of the wind and hail products offer nationwide coverage and can be integrated directly into existing geospatial or underwriting systems, or can be accessed via the Xiance™ Desktop, a platform that CoreLogic recently introduced to provide insurers easy access to precise hazard risk and premium tax data.

    For a complete copy of the Tornado and Hail Risk Beyond Tornado Alley report, which includes charts, images and risk maps for the top 16 states outside of the traditional Tornado Alley corridor with the greatest exposure to tornado and hail disasters, visit www.corelogic.com/about-us/researchtrends/tornado-hail-research-report.aspx.  For more information regarding the CoreLogic Wind Probability and Hail Probability products visit www.corelogic.com/products/wind-and-hail-risk.aspx.