Spire Global has released the company’s first product from Spire Aviation with the launch of its new AirSafe API (application program interface).
Spire Aviation’s AirSafe product uses low-Earth orbit ADS-B technology combined with ground-based collection to provide detail on global aircraft position reports for the world’s aircraft fleet operations.
With more than 70 million position reports every day and growing, AirSafe is positioned to provide best-in-class data over land and the world’s oceans.
The AirSafe product solves the industry’s need for flight tracking data covering both land and oceans at a competitive cost, illuminating trends in aircraft operations, the company said.
Airsafe enables a fixed-based operator to analyze historical data to safely increase productivity by better positioning resources in the future, and then using real-time data to create a proactive alerting system for diversion or air turnbacks.
Spire Aviation is building towards full surveillance of all remote areas of the globe and continues to grow its satellite constellation. Spire’s aggressive roadmap includes launch campaigns to ultimately provide an equatorial ICAO 4D/15 compliant method of aircraft tracking (+/- 15 degrees latitude) and global coverage enabled by inter-satellite links. These satellite launches will produce the an advanced nanosatellite constellation for aviation ADS-B and aviation weather forecasting.
Spire AirSafe also offers Spire’s proprietary weather forecasting products, enabling customers to benefit from fused aircraft location positional data and global winds aloft (Every 1,000 feet MSL) and clear air turbulence forecast.
Learn more about the benefits of working with Global ADS-B data and Spire’s Aviation Weather Forecast during an upcoming webinar.
NavCom Technology Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere & Company, has released the Onyx multi-frequency GNSS OEM board.
Offering integrated StarFire/RTK GNSS capabilities, Onyx features 255-channel tracking, including multi-constellation support for GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo. It also provides high-performance in GNSS receiver sensitivity and signal tracking as well as patented multipath mitigation, interference rejection and anti-jamming capabilities.
Photo: NavCom
The new Onyx GNSS OEM board is a fully upgradeable GNSS receiver, allowing the receiver to be upgraded from free differential GPS signal sources such as WAAS to increased accuracy services with integrated features with StarFire, through software optioning alone.
The software-enabled features are sold in convenient software bundles, but can also be purchased individually, to suit changing application needs. Integrated StarFire is now simply activated via an over-the-air licensing system that sends a StarFire license via satellite directly to the StarFire-capable receiver from NavCom’s StarFire operations center.
StarFire, NavCom’s global satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), provides real-time global 5-centimeter accuracy without a base station.
“The release of Onyx advances NavCom’s ability to grow products and services meeting the customer driven demands of uptime, accuracy, and feature rich capabilities,” said Steve Ault, NavCom’s GNSS product marketing manager. “NavCom continues to innovate the StarFire technology through the advanced capabilities inherent to Onyx which will be fully realized over the life of this new product.”
Guest column by Brian Wynne AUVSI President and CEO
Brian Wynne, AUVSI president and CEO
A recent analysis found that just 10 percent of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) included in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics Database maintained by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) can operate beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of its operator.
While the technology for BVLOS operations has existed for years, under current federal regulations, only the military is permitted to use it. The absence of federal regulation allowing BVLOS operations hinders the full value and benefits that the UAS industry has to offer.
Regulations that provide guidance and rules for operating unmanned systems are necessary for the industry’s advancement. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a proposed rule for UAS operations over people, and the UAS community is eagerly anticipating the agency will offer an additional rule requiring UAS to be equipped with remote identification.
“Remote ID is a crucial next step to gain the confidence of federal defense and security agencies, manned aviation users and the public.”
However, the rulemaking process for remote ID has been delayed by the FAA twice this year and is now slated to be released in December. The need for remote ID cannot be overstated, as the advancement of the UAS industry depends on identifying and tracking UAS flying in the airspace.
Furthermore, remote ID is a crucial next step to gain the confidence of federal defense and security agencies, manned aviation users and the public. With this confidence, UAS can further integrate into the national airspace to perform important BVLOS operations such as inspection of utility rights of way, widespread search-and-rescue missions, and package delivery.
A clear, national regulatory framework and the support of the federal government is needed to drive the adoption of unmanned systems technology and its applications. Currently, the UAS industry is working with our government partners on remote ID and tracking standards, but we recognize that more needs to be done and at a faster pace than the regulatory process allows. That is why the UAS industry is stepping up to explore near-term solutions before remote ID regulations are finalized and published.
In May, AUVSI and the Airports Council International-North America commissioned a Blue Ribbon Task Force on UAS Mitigation at Airports. The task force is working to refine procedural practices and provide a policy framework to address the timely and critical issue of incursions by unauthorized UAS at airports and how best to mitigate this threat, including industry and government recommendations for remote ID. The task force will release a report this year.
Applications of unmanned systems aren’t limited by technology or imagination; they’re only limited by regulations. We need a streamlined regulatory environment that allows for the safe deployment of unmanned systems into our nation’s transportation infrastructure so we can begin to reap the full benefits of this technology.
Galileo and EGNOS were the focus of attention at a special workshop at this year’s Intergeo in Stuttgart, which took place in September. Intergeo is the world’s leading conference and trade fair for geodesy, geo-information and land management.
Intergeo provided an opportunity to give an update on the status of the Galileo and EGNOS programs and to present user case studies at a special workshop focusing on the geomatics market.
In his presentation at the conference, Eduard Escalona, Market Development Innovation Officer at the European GNSS Agency (GSA), stressed the key role of GNSS.
“GNSS is a cornerstone in many areas: It is a fundamental element for cadastral surveying, in the construction sector, in mining, land surveying and mapping activities, for all geographic information systems (GIS), for infrastructure monitoring and for marine surveying. For all of you who are working in these and many other areas, Galileo is now helping to provide the GNSS services you need,” he said.
Dual-frequency boosts market
The European GNSS programs, Galileo and EGNOS, continue to move forward in terms of adoption by the professional market and among general users, thanks in no small part to the development of dual-frequency capability.
Traditionally, mobile, location-based applications have been powered by single-frequency GNSS receivers operating under stringent battery-power and footprint constraints. With a dual-frequency chipset, these devices now benefit from better accuracy, ionosphere error cancellation, improved tracking and better multipath resistance.
Galileo is leading the way in the area of dual-frequency signal delivery, now with more dual-frequency operational satellites in orbit than any other GNSS system. Market uptake of Galileo receivers has been impressive; in addition to the geomatics-related areas of particular interest to the Intergeo public, dual-frequency GNSS chipsets are also appearing in the automotive sector, where connected cars and autonomous vehicles present a clear and pressing need for accurate and reliable positioning information.
New services to come
“To date, more than one billion Galileo-enabled devices have been sold,” said Escalona, “but Galileo isn’t standing still, waiting. We are proposing new services to appear in the coming years.”
These include the much-anticipated High-Accuracy Service (HAS) and a new Authentication Service. “The HAS will be a free, globally available service providing an accuracy of 20 cm, with PPP [Precise Point Positioning] corrections,” Escalona said.
Meanwhile, the Authentication Service (OS-NMA) will provide protection against jamming, spoofing and meaconing on the E1B signal and a separate Signal Authentication Service (SAS) will provide an even higher level of protection on the E6 signal.
“EGNOS is currently working with GPS, but of course we are looking forward to augmenting Galileo in the near future,” said Sergio Cabrera Bona, EGNOS Service Adoption Tools Engineer at the European Satellite Services Provider, whose core activities comprise EGNOS operations and service provision.
“GNSS is critical in all of these fields, whether it is mapping and GIS, farming, forestry, thermal pictures, management of natural terrains,” Cabrera said. He listed other areas, including management and inspection of utilities, power networks, water supply, telecoms, drones, inventory, surveying, field campaigns and determination of perimeters in agriculture as areas where GNSS plays a key role.
“It is not possible to mention all of the activities where you need reliable positioning. What you have to know is that with EGNOS augmentations you already have a horizontal accuracy below one metre and a vertical accuracy below two metres, so this is a very good accuracy,” he said.
There is much more that could potentially be done right now, Cabrera explained. “Most of the professional equipment is already EGNOS-enabled, but in practice users do not always configure their equipment correctly to exploit this capability. EGNOS adoption and support is going ahead full speed, but in the GNSS device market, many users still do not know they can use EGNOS. So the education process remains an ongoing effort,” he said.
Cabrera explained that the EGNOS user support website can be an important part of this educational drive on the top of the help desk. “We have very interesting tools and resources available online. For example, we will have a new EGNOS usability map available very soon on the website. With this tool you will be able to easily see the current availability of EGNOS signals in your location, which will be very useful especially in urban environments, for example. We also have many user support services and there is a new mobile app coming, so please visit our website and take advantage of EGNOS. It is there for you.”
Introducing the GSC
Galileo services improvement expert Pedro Gómez Martínez informed participants about the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), defining both the concept of operations as well as the procedures necessary to provide the services that the GSA offers to Galileo users.
“The European GNSS Service Centre is the single interface between the infrastructure and users of the Galileo open services, commercial service and search and rescue service (SAR),” said Gómez. “So the GSC is a center that provides experts, know-how, evaluation of capability, distribution of information and support for the provision of value-added services provided by the Galileo system.”
The GSC website is a core resource for Galileo users, Gómez said, reporting real-time system status and incident notifications, with a bank of key documents and a full-time help desk. “It is very important for us that this is a two-way interactive service that includes your feedback. We need you to report any incidents that you might experience related to the product, service and data provision. We are very interested in user satisfaction, and we want to know how you respond to improvements. And of course, in general, we are here to promote GNSS in all its forms, in all areas, for all users.”
The GSC launched a new version of its website in the run-up to the InterGEO event. “More than ever we are making it easier for you to engage in dialogue with us and to provide your feedback. This is very important to us with new services coming up in the future,” Gomez said.
Research fundamentals
“One of the very important responsibilities of the GSA is the management of a number of EGNSS research and development programmes,” said Eduard Escalona. “We have Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research Framework Programme. There we have a final call for proposals coming up in November, with a deadline in March 2020. The GSA also is overseeing the Fundamental Elements programme, which is funding research specifically targeted at developing Galileo-enabled chipsets, receivers and related technologies.”
To illustrate Escalona’s point, the presentations featured EU-funded GNSS-related research projects leveraging the accuracy and integrity offered by Galileo. Pere Molina of Geonumerics presented the MapKite project. Funded under Horizon 2020 and now completed, MapKite integrates an unmanned aerial system (UAS) and a mobile mapping aystem (MMS) for simultaneous capture of geo-data from the air and from the ground. Molina showed data from a successful corridor mapping exercise run using the MapKite system.
Operation Shark Bait showed how this vital service can quickly trigger a rescue operation and save lives at sea. Despite a grey day and choppy sea conditions, an emergency rescue was initiated in just over three and a half minutes after intrepid “volunteer victim,” Australian broadcaster and explorer Tara Foster, operated her Galileo-enabled SAR beacon from a small life raft buffeted by the waves just offshore from the port of Ostend.
Operation Shark Bait was a specially designed demonstration of the capabilities of the Galileo SAR service that took place around the new state-of-the-art Belgian Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Ostend with an invited audience of VIPs and media. The whole operation was streamed live over YouTube and the Europe By Satellite (EBS) TV service.
The Shark Bait test took just over three and a half minutes to locate the PLB developed under a GSA Horizon 2020 project. (Photo: GSA)
The scenario was simple. Tara was left alone at sea in a small life raft, but with a 406-MHz Cospas-Sarsat personal locator beacon (PLB). On activating the beacon, the stopwatch started. The time to receive the distress signal, compute her position and alert the relevant rescue authorities was recorded. The Belgian fast rescue boat ORKA R6 then dashed out to sea to pick her up.
Subsequently, a NH90 Cayman SAR helicopter from the Belgian 40th squadron was also scrambled to help transfer “injured” Tara to hospital.
Shark Bait was a great success with just 3 minutes 32 seconds elapsing from Tara activating her Galileo-enabled personal locator beacon (PLB) to the moment commanders at MRCC could dispatch the ORKA to her location.
The location, with an initial accuracy of 100 metres, is provided by the Galileo receiver inside the PLB to the Galileo satellites in view. The Galileo satellites then forward this information to the Cospas-Sarsat infrastructure, where the position is validated.
“The PLB used was developed under one of our Horizon 2020 projects and is the first Galileo-enabled beacon on the market,” said Fiammetta Diani, head of market development at the GSA.
Time saver, life saver
The day started at the MRCC in Ostend with a visit to the operations centre, an inspection of the ORKA Fast Rescue Boat and a chance to talk to Tara Foster before she was “castaway” on the waves.
Dries Boodts, deputy nautical director at MRCC, described the role of the center, which has a single focus on safety at sea. “The globe is divided into Search and Rescue Regions (SRRs),” Boodts said. “The MRCC oversees the Belgian maritime region that extends up to 47 miles off the Belgian coast.”
The region includes major shipping lanes and two large offshore wind energy parks. The MRCC deals with around 450 incidents each year involving a range of craft and issues from collisions at sea to war munitions recovery. It can call on an assortment of assets including its own rescue craft, police and navy vessels and the Belgian air force and the MRCC collaborates extensively with authorities in neighbouring countries.
Galileo is Europe’s contribution to upgrading Cospas-Sarsat, the global satellite-based search-and-rescue system. Since its introduction in 1981, Cospas-Sarsat is estimated to have saved 45,000 lives.
The current MEOSAR (Mid-Earth Orbit Search and Rescue) upgrade is based on the EU’s Galileo satellite constellation that carries a dedicated Cospas-Sarsat payload for the 406-MHz distress beacons that give users free access to global system.
The addition of Galileo (and other GNSS satellites) to the system has already enabled a dramatic increase in performance in terms of better accuracy to locate activated distress beacons and vastly improved global coverage.
“With the Galileo system, all parts of the world will be covered at least every 10 minutes — previously this was up to four hours — and guaranteed location accuracy is reduced from 10 to 2 kilometers,” explained Jolanda van Eijndthoven from the European Commission.
As well as the 23 SAR payloads currently provided by Galileo, with more to come, the EU also provides ground infrastructure including MEO Local User Terminals (LUTs) to pick up the signals relayed from the satellites. These LUTs are not just in Europe, and a fourth facility is o be opened soon on La Reunion island to improve coverage across the Indian Ocean.
Return link reassurance
From the end of the year the Galileo system will also provide a Return Link Service (RLS) that will be able to send an acknowledgement to the victim that their distress signal has been received and help is on its way. This new ability to provide reassurance should deliver a valuable psychological lift to victims and further boost survival rates.
“The PLBs developed under our Horizon 2020 projects will be the first ones on the market to have the RLS capability,” said Fiammetta Diani.
Back on dry land, Tara confessed that the simulation had felt very real to her. “The scariest part was the transfer to the helicopter from the rescue boat,” she said. “The winch was like a lift without a floor and very fast! Stepping from the flimsy life raft to the ORKA was also not easy – those waves were high!”
“The operation went just like clockwork,” concluded Paul Flament Head of the Galileo and EGNOS unit at the European Commission’s DG GROW.
Kinesis is equipping a fleet of luxury vehicles with advanced telematics for the 2019 European Open, held Oct. 13-20 in Antwerp, Belgium.
The European Open has attracted top players including Gael Monfils who is ranked 12th in the world, Belgium player David Goffin and former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.
Fitted to vehicles supplied by Jaguar, Kinesis vehicle tracking will provide real-time visibility of vehicle movements for logistics, security and safety. Kinesis will fit the fleet with GPS devices that transmitting accurate and up-to-the-minute vehicle locations along with driver assessment data, giving 24/7 visibility of the tournament vehicles from any internet connected device.
Photo: Kinesis
Kinesis is working with Tennium, a global tennis platform company that owns the ATP250 tournaments in Antwerp and Buenos Aires and represents a number of world-class players.
The Jaguar Land Rover-supplied vehicles will include high-end cars, limousines and minibuses and will be used to collect players from the airport and transport them between official hotels and the Lotto Arena. The fleet will also be used to transport ATP officials, invited guests and VIPs.
“Knowing where each vehicle is, where it is headed and at what time it is expected to arrive allows us to meticulously plan the transport of some of biggest names in tennis,” commented Karl Van Parys, logistics and transportation manager at Tennium. “With such high-profile sportsmen it is imperative that they arrive on court in good time and relaxed, and the Kinesis system will help us achieve this.”
The Kinesis telematics intelligence will be used by organisers to plan journeys in accordance with a demanding tournament schedule. With visibility from desktops, tablets and mobile devices, the team can respond, in real time, to changing logistics requirements as play unfolds. Kinesis can also deliver driver performance data, including speeding, harsh braking and accelerating and idling, which can be used to improve driver behaviour for health and safety.
“It is a real honour to be involved in such as prestigious event and work alongside some of the most well-known names in the world of tennis,” added Greville Coe, Group Managing Director of Kinesis. “The use of Kinesis telematics to inform decisions relating to tournament logistics as well as player safety and security, shows just how seriously the organisers take their responsibilities.”
As technological advances make GPS/GNSS devices more affordable, our lives are becoming increasingly dependent on precise positioning and timing. Industries such as survey, construction and logistics rely on precise positioning for automation, efficiency and safety.
GNSS time provides the pulsating heartbeat for the backbone of our industry by synchronizing telecom networks, banks and the power grid. A single day of GNSS outage is estimated to cost $1 billion U.S. dollars alone.
GNSS is a reliable system, and to keep it as such, professional GNSS receivers need to be wary of all possible vulnerabilities which could be exploited. Using GNSS receivers that are robust against jamming and spoofing is key for secure PNT (positioning, navigation and timing).
What is GPS/GNSS spoofing?
Radio interference can overpower weak GNSS signals, causing satellite signal loss and potentially loss of positioning. Spoofing, is an intelligent form of interference which makes the receiver believe it is at a false location. During a spoofing attack a radio transmitter located nearby sends fake GPS signals into the target receiver. For example, a cheap software-defined radio (SDR) can make a smartphone believe it’s on Mount Everest!
Figure 1. A cheap SDR can overpower GNSS signals and spoofs a single-frequency smartphone GPS into believing it is on Mount Everest. (Image: Septentrio)
Why GPS spoofing?
Imagine a combat situation. Clearly, the side which uses GPS/GNSS technology would have an advantage over the side which does not. But what if one side could manipulate GPS receivers of their adversary? This could mean taking over control of autonomous vehicles and robotic devices which rely on GPS positioning.
For example, in October 2018, Russia accused the U.S. of spoofing a drone and redirecting it to attack a Russian air base in Syria.
Figure 2. GNSS spoofing could be used to manipulate movement of aerial drones. (Image: Septentrio)
In the last three years, more than 600 incidents of spoofing have been recorded in the seas near the Russian border. These ships appeared to be “transported” to nearby airports.
This type of spoofing might have been introduced as a defense mechanism to ground spy drones. Most semi-professional drones on the market have a built-in geo-fencing mechanism that lands them automatically if they come close to airports or other restricted areas.
Some of the most enthusiastic spoofers are Pokémon GO fans who use cheap SDRs to spoof their GPS position and catch elusive Pokémon without having to leave their room.
Types of spoofing
Spoofers overpower relatively weak GNSS signals with radio signals carrying false positioning information. There are two ways of spoofing:
Rebroadcasting GNSS signals recorded at another place or time (so-called meaconing)
Generating and transmitting modified satellite signals
Spoof-proof: How can you protect your receiver against spoofing?
To combat spoofing, GNSS receivers need to detect spoofed signals out of a mix of authentic and spoofed signals. Once a satellite signal is flagged as spoofed, it can be excluded from positioning calculation.
GNSS receivers can offer various levels of spoofing protection. Let’s compare it to a house intrusion-detection system. You can have a simple entry alarm system or a more complex movement detection system. For added security you might install video image recognition, breaking-glass sound detection or a combination of the above.
Like a house with an open door, an unprotected GNSS receiver is vulnerable to even the simplest forms of spoofing. Secured receivers, on the other hand, can detect spoofing by looking for signal anomalies, or by using signals designed to prevent spoofing such as Galileo OS-NMA and E6 or the GPS military code.
Advanced interference mitigation technologies, such as the Septentrio AIM+, use signal-processing algorithms to flag spoofing by detecting various anomalies in the signal. For example, a spoofed signal is usually more powerful than an authentic GNSS signal.
AIM+ won’t even be fooled by an advanced GNSS signal generator: Spirent GSS9000. With realistic power levels and with actual navigation data within the signal, AIM+ can identify it as a “non-authentic” signal.
Other advanced anti-spoofing techniques such as using a dual-polarized antenna are being researched.
Satellite navigation data authentication
Various countries invest in spoofing resilience by building security directly into their GNSS satellites. With OS-NMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication), Galileo is the first satellite system to introduce an anti-spoofing service directly on a civil GNSS signal.
OS-NMA is a free service on the Galileo E1 frequency. It enables authentication of the navigation data on Galileo and even GPS satellites. Such navigation data carries information about satellite location and if altered will result in wrong receiver positioning computation. While currently in development, OS-NMA is planned to become publicly available in the near future. Also GPS is experimenting with satellite based anti-spoofing for civil users with their recent Chimera authentication system.
Figure 3. European Galileo satellites provide an open authentication service on the E1 signal and a commercial authentication service on the E6 signal. (Image: European Space Agency)
Recently, within the scope of the FANTASTIC project led by GSA, OS-NMA anti-spoofing protection was implemented on a Septentrio receiver.
The strongest shield: signal-level GNSS authentication
The Galileo system will be offering Commercial Authentication Service (CAS) on the E6 signal with the highest level of security for safety-critical applications such as autonomous vehicles. The signal level encryption will be based on similar techniques as the military GPS signals. Only the receivers who have the secret key are able to track such encrypted signals. The secret key is also needed to generate the signal making it impossible to fake. CAS authentication techniques are currently being prototyped at Septentrio in collaboration with the European Space Agency.
Spoof-resilient GNSS means reliable precise positioning and timing, and a peace of mind for everyone touched by this indispensable technology.
We used to divide GPS receivers into consumer grade, resource grade and survey grade. Have these categories been replaced by a continuum of GNSS capabilities?
Clem Driscoll
“In the U.S. commercial telematics market, GPS remains the primary source of location data, with very little reliance on other GNSS networks. A bigger issue is the generation of cellular networks used to transmit GPS data, with 3G network sunsets pending and 5G on the horizon. As autonomous commercial vehicles become closer to a reality, multiple GNSS networks and differential techniques will become essential. These solutions are currently in development.” Clem Driscoll
C.J. Driscoll & Associates
Greg Turetzky
“No. These categories still define important hardware distinctions (such as antenna) and required correction services that define the achievable specifications. Although they all have correlators, they have very different architectures; however, resource and survey have a blurrier line.” Greg Turetzky
Consultant
Members of the EAB
Tony Agresta Nearmap
Miguel Amor Hexagon Positioning Intelligence
Thibault Bonnevie SBG Systems
Alison Brown NAVSYS Corporation
Ismael Colomina GeoNumerics
Clem Driscoll C.J. Driscoll & Associates
John Fischer Orolia
Ellen Hall Spirent Federal Systems
Jules McNeff Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc.
Terry Moore University of Nottingham
Bradford W. Parkinson Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time
New app gives field crews a fast, easy way to record information while mobile
Esri has released ArcGIS QuickCapture, a mobile app designed for rapid and at-speed field data-collection workflows.
Data can be collected from a moving vehicle with the touch of a button and sent back to the office for real-time analysis, leading to faster and more effective decision-making. The new app is designed for road inspections, aerial surveys, monitoring vegetation encroachment and more.
ArcGIS QuickCapture allows users to configure a customized interface that suits their specific project requirements, eliminating unnecessary features and options. This personalization helps users take advantage of the single-tap, big-button system to capture details and photos as they go. The app is intuitive and user-friendly, eliminating the need for extensive crew training.
The new app integrates with the user’s existing IT infrastructure and ArcGIS platform, which simplifies implementation. It uses the existing GPS and camera on smartphones and tablets, and it is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows devices.
For high-accuracy data collection workflows, QuickCapture is also compatible with external GNSS receivers.
“ArcGIS QuickCapture builds upon and enhances our existing field data collection offerings in ArcGIS,” said Ismael Chivite, senior product manager at Esri. “Field crews are demanding user experiences that are tailored to the way they work. QuickCapture is designed to capture GIS data with the tap of a button, while on the go. At-speed road asset inventories and quick damage assessments are examples of workflows where QuickCapture excels.”
High-precision GPS, INS and computer vision come together in a single package called VINS to be demonstrated at the Auto.ai show in Berlin on Sept. 25-27.
Septentrio high-performance GPS/GNSS technology provides reliable absolute positioning inside this innovative computer vision localization system developed by Artisense, a company specializing in vehicle localization and 3D mapping solutions.
Septentrio, a manufacturer of high-accuracy GPS/GNSS technology for demanding applications, is providing positioning technology to Artisense, a supplier of computer vision solutions for automated vehicles.
Artisense incorporates Septentrio GPS/GNSS in their latest visual inertial navigation system (VINS), which will be demonstrated live at Auto.ai show in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 25-27.
VINS combines computer vision, inertial sensors and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) measurements to deliver highly accurate global 3D positioning and orientation information in any environment, even indoors.
“We are very pleased to work with Artisense on this technology and demonstrate how vehicle localization systems benefit from fusing computer vision with high-precision GNSS,” said Jan Van Hees, business development director at Septentrio. “The result of our cooperation is precise localization in any environment offering positioning reliability and redundancy needed for safety-critical applications such as autonomous vehicles or robotics.”
Multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS technology provides reliable centimeter-level global positioning to the VINS system with accuracy required for lane-level maneuvering and V2V warning systems.
Cameras and inertial sensors continue accurate localization as the vehicle moves into tunnels or parking garages with no line-of-sight to GNSS satellites.
Although the system uses a relatively simple MEMs IMU and off-the-shelf cameras, it delivers precision and reliability of a high-end INS system. “Positioning accuracy and reliability are very important to us. Earlier this year we have deployed a large-scale mapping operation in Berlin where we tested a lot of different GNSS receivers. We saw the best results coming from Septentrio consistently,” said Johannes Start, Technical Product Manager at Artisense. “We continue to use Septentrio receivers because they are precise, they acquire RTK (real-time kinematic) fix quickly and reliably and they are easy to integrate.”
The live demo at Auto.ai will offer a ride around Berlin in a car featuring VINS technology. One screen inside the car will continuously display the car’s location. Unlike the GPS of an average infotainment system, VINS will continue accurate localization anywhere, even in tunnels or in parking garages. The second screen inside the car will feature a real-time 3D point-cloud reconstruction of the car’s surroundings.
The GPS World staff reported live from Intergeo Sept. 17-19 in Stuttgart, Germany. The massive trade show, dubbed the “global hub of the geospatial community,” brings together more than 19,000 visitors from more than 114 countries and features approximately 640 exhibitors. Check out the latest industry news, as well as photos and videos from the event.
The GPS World staff is reporting live from ION GNSS+ Sept. 16-20 in Miami, providing news, photos, videos and more. According to show organizers, this year’s conference brings together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, discuss current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas.
