The device combines u-blox GNSS, 4G and Wi-Fi technology, eliminating the need to equip vehicles with a separate mobile Wi‑Fi hotspot.
According to the companies, the StartLink TrackerWi‑Fi is suitable for applications for connected cars, telematics, vehicle diagnostics, fleet management, vehicle security, usage-based insurance, and rental and leasing service companies.
The internet of things (IoT) and connected-car initiatives are providing rental car companies and transportation and logistics firms with tools to track vehicles, preemptively detect and diagnose disturbances from a distance, and monitor the behavior of their drivers in real time. ERM has more than 1.8 million vehicle fleet-tracking devices deployed on roads world-wide.
As onboard Wi‑Fi becomes increasingly widespread, many companies are fitting vehicles with Wi‑Fi hotspots to offer drivers and passengers internet access. With its integrated Wi‑Fi hotspot, ERM’s StarLink TrackerWi‑Fi lets users tap into the cellular 4G connectivity to transfer telematics data to the fleet manager. This makes it possible to send real-time telematics data to the driver’s smart device or onboard infotainment system, and it also reduces the number of SIM cards needed from one per device to one per vehicle.
Sourcing the GNSS tracking, cellular 4G LTE, and Wi‑Fi technology from u-blox played a key role in achieving the device’s fast time to market. By using u‑blox’s pre-tested positioning and communications modules with integrated software, the manufacturer was able to cut the time needed for production and development by several months.
“We saw an opportunity to provide more values to our customers by adding Wi‑Fi hot spot functionality to our StarLink Tracker, our leading telematics product, but knew that we had to be quick to stay ahead of the game,” said Kfir Lavi, senior vice president of ERM Advanced Telematics.
“Our partners are always at the top of our priorities, and we are working to adapt our offerings to the market demands and the changing needs of their customers. Working with u‑blox as the provider of the positioning and wireless communication technology helped us move from concept to commercialization in under six months and provide our partners with an advanced product in a short time,” Lavi said.
“This successful collaboration demonstrates that we have evolved from a provider of individual technologies, namely GNSS positioning, cellular 4G connectivity, or short range radio communication, to a provider of solutions that bundle these technologies,” said Thomas Seiler, CEO of u-blox. “We are seeing increased demand for such bundled solutions and are convinced that the close integration of our technology portfolio offers our customers the unique ability to jump-start even challenging projects on extremely short notice.”
The BHI160BP position tracking smart sensor. (Photo: Bosch Sensortec)
Bosch Sensortec has released the BHI160BP, a position tracking smart sensor that uses integrated inertial sensors to improve GPS location tracking.
Bosch will exhibit the new sensor at Electronica Munich, Nov. 13-16.
When used with a GPS or GNSS module, the BHI160BP enables users to take full advantage of pedestrian position tracking with up to 80 percent saving in system power consumption compared with a typical GNSS-only solution, without compromising on accuracy, the company said.
Users benefit from greatly extended battery life and longer charging intervals for wearable applications such as smartwatches and fitness trackers as well as mobile devices such as smartphones.
The new position tracking approach is set to enable a new class of compact devices with even smaller batteries, Bosch claimed.
The BHI160BP tracks a person’s position by intelligently applying an inertial-sensor-based algorithm for pedestrian dead reckoning. To maintain accuracy, it calculates the user’s relative location based on data collected from the inertial sensors and then recalibrates itself every few minutes to obtain the absolute position provided by the GNSS/GPS module. This means that the GNSS/GPS module can be kept in sleep mode for most of the time, which drastically reduces a device’s power consumption and extends its operating time.
“Pedestrian position tracking is a crucial application for mobile applications; unfortunately, GPS modules can rapidly drain a device’s battery capacity — especially when the battery is as small as in wearable devices,” said Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO of Bosch Sensortec. “Our new position tracking smart sensor solves this problem and enables users to navigate reliably while extending the operation of GPS tracking in their devices from several hours up to several days.”
With the BHI160BP, a device can maintain solid accuracy even when the GNSS signal is blocked or weak, such as near tall buildings or indoors, the company added. This ensures accurate pedestrian navigation at all times, even in shielded indoor areas such as subways, Bosch said.
The BHI160BP is a new member of Bosch Sensortec’s BHI160 family and adds application-specific functionality for position tracking. It provides a ready-to-use solution that can be quickly and easily integrated into a system design without requiring an update to a new GNSS module, thereby significantly cutting time to market, Bosch said.
While the current configuration is optimized for use with GNSS receivers (such as GPS), the BHI160BP can also support most of the common global localization technologies. According to the company, the BHI160BP can handle gesture recognition and 3D orientation, with 3D calculations performed by the sensor itself rather than by an application processor.
The new BHI160BP draws 1.3 mA in active operation mode and integrates the company’s Fuser Core microcontroller and a six-axis inertial measurement unit. The BHI160BP offers a variety of customized virtual sensors, such as a calibrated accelerometer, orientation and wake-up gesture, within a single device. It BHI160BP can be extended by connecting additional physical sensors, such as a magnetometer, over a secondary interface.
The new BHI160BP comes in a compact 3 x 3 x 0.95 mm³ LGA-package and is pin-to-pin compatible with the BHI160. It will be available via distribution in December.
Agriculture equipment maker Case IH is enhancing the robustness of its RTK+ correction signal network by adding the European Galileo system to the compatible satellites with which it works.
The move will increase levels of signal reception and reliability for farmers using Case IH RTK+-guided autosteering and related technologies.
Real-time kinematic (RTK) systems typically depend on signals from the American GPS or Russian GLONASS satellite networks, both designed primarily for non-civilian use. To give European Case IH users a reliable alternative when using RTK+-guided steering systems with their sub-1.5-centimeter repeatable accuracy, Case IH AFS RTK+ now also uses Galileo.
The addition of Galileo to the global GNSS constellation helps minimize the risk of signal failure, a key driver for the integration of its signals into the Case IH AFS RTK+ signal system. European satellite network independence is a principal objective, but Case IH AFS RTK+ is also designed to be compatible with existing and planned GNSS satellites and interoperable with GPS and GLONASS.
Galileo benefits farmers by minimizing downtime from waiting for lost signals to be regained, and ensures consistent efficient use of seed, fertilizer and crop protection products through parallel passes with minimal overlap, thereby maximizing crop potential.
“The use of GNSS technology is opening up new productivity levels and opportunities in European agriculture, providing farmers with an unprecedented level of knowledge about their crops, livestock and operations while making the sector more efficient, economically competitive and environmentally sustainable,” said Maxime Rocaboy, product marketing manager, AFS technology, at Case IH.
“Enhanced RTK+ accuracy through incorporation of signals from the Galileo satellite system is a core way in which we can help Case IH tractor and combine users be innovative and competitive as they seek to help develop a sustainable agriculture to feed an ever-increasing world population in an environmentally responsible way,” Rocaboy said.
UUV Aquabotix Ltd. has been granted a United States patent for a “Remotely Operated Vehicle Camera Apparatus.”
Many underwater vehicles operate with a single stationary camera, an interior-based moveable camera or multiple cameras. Each of these configurations may have significant drawbacks and ultimately limit their functionality and usefulness, the company said.
For example, a forward-facing camera can be used for navigation but is limited if the operator would like to record information around the vehicle in a reconnaissance mission.
To address this challenge, Aquabotix developed a fully rotatable camera apparatus for attachment to its own or other vehicles. The camera apparatus can be mounted to the side of a vehicle and configured to rotate, enabling an operator to have a completely unobstructed 360-degree view in an underwater environment. This connector can also be used for mounting rotatable underwater light sources.
Based in Sydney, Australia, and Fall River, Massachusetts, Aquabotix is an underwater robotics company that manufactures and sells commercial and industrial-grade underwater drones for commercial, high-end consumer and military applications. It also offers commercially available swarming underwater drones.
NovAtel’s GPS Anti-Jam Technology (GAJT) now rides into battle and military exercises aboard the Canadian Army’s Artillery Observation Post Vehicles (OPV) that have been fitted with the GAJT‑710ML antenna.
OPVs are highly mobile vehicles that perform observation, reconnaissance and patrolling missions, surveying and acquiring strategic targets and relaying instant, accurate target coordinates acquisition to artillery fire command systems. With their exposed position on the frontlines of the battlefield, OPVs can encounter severe GPS jamming aimed at crippling their capabilities. OPVs require reliable Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) not only to safely and effectively navigate on the battlefield, but to provide reliable information to artillery in the rear.
GAJT provides protection for GPS navigation and precise timing receivers from intentional jamming in electronic attacks, ensuring that the satellite signals necessary to compute position and time are always available.
“GAJT allows us to have confidence that the position information from the GPS constellation is assured.” said Major Mike Moulton, the project manager in the Directorate of Land Communication Systems Program Management.
NovAtel’s GAJT is a retrofittable system. A military-off-the-shelf (MOTS) product, it comes in versions suitable for land or sea applications and smaller platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The antenna works with an array of military and civil receivers, including the Army’s handheld Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR), other military receivers using SAASM and M-Code, and with civil receivers.
“GAJT scrubs off unwanted signals. It differentiates between what we can recognize as a signal coming from a satellite and something anomalous, which could be interference or deliberate jamming,” explained Peter Soar, NovAtel’s Business Development Manager for defence. “GAJT does not contain a GPS receiver, but works with the receiver that’s already installed. So GAJT faithfully passes the good satellite signals to the receiver which then operates functions such as integrity monitoring in its normal way. GAJT is in use operationally and has been shipped to 16 allied nations around the globe.”
GAJT is a null-forming antenna system that ensures that satellite signals necessary to compute position and time remain available. There is no need to replace the GPS receiver that’s already installed, as GAJT works with both civil and military receivers operating in the GPS L1 and L2 bands. It is ready for M-Code, is a non-ITAR product and is readily available to authorized customers.
Trials with the Canadian Army’s testing unit validated the technology, maintaining access to the GPS signal in an adverse signal environment. It also gave NovAtel engineers a detailed unclassified report on the trial findings and recommendations. The feedback helped NovAtel modify GAJT into a stronger product. The GAJT-710ML antennas were delivered earlier this year, and the Army worked with General Dynamics Missions Systems Canada, the prime contractor for the mission systems on the OPV, to integrate the antenna aboard the vehicle.
“GAJT is a Canadian success story. It is 100 percent produced in Canada and sourced from Canadian components. I think that the Directorate of Land Communication Systems Program Management have shown there is excellent technology in Canada that can be leveraged to meet the Army’s requirements in a very rapid manner,” added Moulton.
This story uses some quotes that first appeared in “Out of a Jam,” an article by Chris Thatcher in Canadian Army Today.
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System prevented broadcast of corrupt navigation, timing data.
The GPS Operational Control System’s launch and checkout system will control launch and early orbit operations and the on-orbit checkout of all GPS III satellites. (Image: Raytheon)
Raytheon Company’s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, has completed several cybersecurity vulnerability assessments that tested the system’s ability to defend against both internal and external cyber threats, the company said.
GPS OCX, based at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, prevented the broadcast of corrupt navigation and timing data in all tests, bolstering the program’s readiness for the GPS III launch in December, the company added.
“We’ve built a layered defense and implemented all information assurance requirements for the program into this system,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “We’re cognizant that the cyber threat will always change, so we’ve built GPS OCX to evolve and to make sure it’s always operating at this level of protection.”
GPS OCX is the enhanced ground control segment of a U.S. Air Force-led effort to modernize America’s GPS system. The program has implemented 100 percent of the Department of Defense’s 8500.2 Defense in Depth information assurance standards without waivers, giving it the highest level of cybersecurity protections of any DoD space system.
The first tests took place April 2-13, and were led by a contracted “blue team” that aimed to breach the system from within its information assurance boundary.
The second round of tests took place May 16-20, and were led by an Air Force “red team” of cyber-penetration testers who tried to breach the system’s IA boundary from outside. The system worked as designed, validating it is secure.
The assessments took place on the launch and checkout system, GPS OCX Block 0, which was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 2017 as a fully cyber-secure satellite ground system.
Representatives from the global automotive industry gathered at the the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress in Copenhagen in September. At a “Galileo for Mobility” session, panelists showed off new products and discussed the benefits of GNSS for the deployment of multimodality, new mobility services and digital platforms by transport authorities, industries and users.
Their goal: to make safe driverless road transport a reality.
Autonomous driving with multi-GNSS
Cover image of Galileo for Mobility leaflet. (Image: GSA)
Germany’s ANavS GmbH provides position and attitude solutions with centimetre-level accuracy. Fast fixing is achieved by using three GNSS constellations and the company’s patented RTK fixing technology. The system combines multi-GNSS (GPS + GLONASS + Galileo), inertial sensors, vehicle data, visual odometry and feature mapping, as well as LiDAR and radar. Tight coupling of GNSS and all of these other systems ensure reliable positioning even in areas with limited satellite visibility.
ANavS managing director Patrick Henkel said, “Our sensor fusion framework delivers precise position and attitude information for navigation. It also generates real-time, highly accurate maps with high resolution. The platform can be used for the whole range of transport applications from road transport to maritime and drone navigation, as well as in robotics, surveying applications and of course in agriculture for precision farming.”
The system is particularly well suited to autonomous driving applications because of its high accuracy, high availability and continuity, and, with Galileo, its integrity, according to Henkel. The ANavS module is available in different versions, with one, two or three integrated GNSS receivers, depending on the level of performance required.
Sensor fusion with non-connected vehicles
Swedish truck manufacturer Scania led work on the EU-funded project, Precise and Robust Positioning for Automated Road Transports (PRoPART), demonstrating a high-availability positioning solution for connected automated driving applications. The system implements sensor fusion using information from both the on-board vehicle sensors and an off-board road infrastructure traffic sensor, accounting also for non-automated and non-connected road vehicles.
“We are benefiting from the high multipath mitigation enabled by the Galileo binary offset code, and there is a substantial improvement of reliability of the carrier phase ambiguity resolution,” said senior engineer Fredrik Hoxell. “All of this makes Galileo a really good addition to our sensor platform,” he said.
Big data contribution
Digital mapping is of course a critical resource for autonomous driving applications, and Tom Jensen of the veteran manufacturer of personal navigation devices TomTom stated “We have been compiling data from our GNSS receiver users for 10 years. We have 500 million devices currently running and today we have about 90 trillion data points!”
TomTom has dedicated itself to fusing that data for the generation of detailed maps that can be updated within minutes, for understanding traffic flow and traffic changes in near real time. “Now we want to open that up for the users,” he said. “We are meeting with public authorities, governments, decision makers who we know can use this information, for the roads, for the infrastructure, to plan their projects in the best and most intelligent way.”
Preventing terrorist attacks
The H2020-funded TransSec project coordinated by Daimler AG Trucks targets a solution to the recent rise in vehicle-based terror attacks across Europe, often employing heavy trucks to attack pedestrians.
Oihana Otaeguim, head of ITS at TransSec project partner Vicomtech, said, “We are developing and evaluating autonomous systems to detect and prevent trucks from being misused, to prevent these incidents from occurring. The trustability provided by Galileo is very remarkable. We have achieved advances in GNSS positioning, map data and map matching. On-board environment sensors and V2X communication are all combined in a local dynamic map. This can then be used for movement monitoring, critical area alarm, pre-crash object detection and for the implementation of non-defeatable emergency manoeuvres.”
The project team is also concerned with developing new and more effective methods to combat GNSS jamming and spoofing, which represent further threats to security in the context of automated driving technologies. Here, Galileo’s unique authentication feature will play an important role.
3D mapping
Japan’s Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, Automated Driving for Universal Services (SIP-adus) conducts several activities previewing the next generation of road transport systems: the human-machine interface in for autonomous and semi-autonomous driving, and the application of automated driving technologies in buses. The goal is precise stopping at bus stops with almost no space between the bus and the curb, to facilitate boarding and exiting for wheelchair users and elderly passengers.
“The project is validating the specifications and accuracy of a high-accuracy 3D mapping function,” Satoru Nakajo of the University of Tokyo said, “including data updating and distribution systems, and of the critical linkage of dynamic data delivered via road infrastructure.”
Public transport on demand. Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) will replace an existing fixed bus line with low demand with a flexible service that adapts bus routes according to the actual demand, improving the service and engaging new users without increasing public expenditure. The Galileo-based technology platform will consist of a mobile app and a system that manages requests, confirmations and cancellations, finds the best routes, and monitors distances travelled and payments.
Shared taxis. The pilot aims to alleviate Thessaloniki’s city centre congestion by reducing the number of trips from two eastern suburbs to the city. Ride sharing will be offered to commuters through 20 taxis provided by Taxiway at a flat rate.
Service aggregator. The Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app gathers mobility services available in Barcelona, Madrid and other big cities in Spain. It includes public transport, sharing services by motorbikes, bikes and cars, and bike parkings in these cities, improving accuracy and availability in urban areas, enabling a fast and smooth transition between transport modes, and offering the user a door-to-door and seamless multimodal trip experience.
Campus shuttle. The pilot will link autonomous electric vehicles to major hubs in a university or hospital campus (location to be determined).
Vehicle sharing. The Clem’ project will operate a last-mile transportation service to the community in Plateau de Saclay, an urban campus under development in the suburbs of Paris designed to welcome 85,000 students, workers and inhabitants by 2025. The pilot will include sharing a mixed fleet of 10 geolocated electric cars and 20 electric bikes.
This account drew heavily from published reports by the European GNSS Agency (GSA), available in full here.
Imagination Technologies has introduced a comprehensive GNSS IP offering. The Ensigma Location GNSS IP core supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou as well as several satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) including WAAS and EGNOS.
With Ensigma Location GNSS IP, companies can integrate position, navigation and timing (PNT) services while keeping power consumption to a minimum, the company said.
The Ensigma GNSS IP is designed to be used with a wide range of GNSS receivers.
The IP is optimized for battery-powered remote internet of things (IoT) sensors and edge devices, wearables, health monitors, consumer mobile products, automotive after-sales products such as insurance boxes and road tolling equipment, and asset tracking devices.
A growing number of battery-operated products must support PNT services. Consumers want to track their devices, but don’t want to recharge batteries frequently. In industrial and agricultural environments, users need to track mobile assets to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs, but it isn’t possible to frequently change batteries across numerous devices in disparate locations.
In addition, new regulatory requirements mandate the use of location services in some products, for example, to address spectrum sharing requirements in IoT devices and base stations.
Key features of the Ensigma GNSS IP include:
Ultra-low power operation
Ability to share location information with external wireless technologies such as LTE or Wi-Fi
Options to share peripherals such as memory and system clock to enable reduced total system cost
High sensitivity for indoor location
Support for assistance information using external sources such as LTE and Wi-Fi to improve time to first fix
Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) detection and mitigation
With Ensigma GNSS IP, customers can choose a configuration, from standalone to highly integrated, that works best for their specific system implementation, the company said. The IP can be configured for lowest power or highest integration, and is designed to fit into any existing solution with the optimum level of design and resource reuse.
The Ensigma GNSS IP builds on the Ensigma connectivity engine, which incorporates an ultra-low power CPU core. Imagination employed many innovative GNSS techniques to build on the efficiency of this platform to ensure low-power consumption.
The GNSS IP includes dedicated hardware blocks which enable much lower power compared to a software only solution. In addition, the GNSS IP not only supports continuous fix techniques, but it also supports power-efficient “capture and process” for devices that only require periodic location updates, the company added. This feature further conserves battery life by capturing data, such as fitness information from a wearable device, and storing it for later processing.
The initial solution is optimized for use with SaberTek’s ultra-low power GNSS receiver.
Skycatch has announced an on-premise data processing and GNSS base station, the Skycatch Edge1, manufactured in partnership with DJI and now available worldwide.
Edge1 base station. (Photo: Skycatch)
Tested and optimized for the Skycatch Explore1 and DJI Phantom 4 RTK drones, the self-positioning Edge1 allows commercial drone users the ability to process and receive data without the need for internet or cellular connectivity, the company said.
Field teams can fly their drone, process the data and receive centimeter-level data outputs in 30 minutes or less, directly to a tablet. 2D maps and 3D point clouds are available for viewing and sharing directly from the tablet.
The Edge1 concept began as a companion to the Skycatch Explore 1 drone. Now, a new generation of the Edge1 will support all DJI drones, including the recently released DJI Phantom 4 RTK, and will process any 2D geotagged images.
In addition to a survey-grade GNSS base station, the Edge1 includes built-in WiFi, LTE, reliable sub-5-centimeter accuracy, and delivers high-quality data outputs, the company added. Built around a state-of-the-art compute module, the Edge1 is also capable of running deep learning algorithms to extract more insights from collected data in near real time.
“It’s truly a revolutionary product that we’re excited to make available to the DJI community, and the construction and mining industry at large,” said Christian Sanz, founder & CEO of Skycatch. “With the partnership and support of DJI, the Edge1 will be assembled with precision execution in their world-class manufacturing facility, and will be available faster to the customer.”
“As the commercial drone industry has grown, the amount of data collected by our enterprise users is unprecedented,” said Jan Gasparic, director of strategic partnerships at DJI. “We are glad to work with Skycatch to manufacture the Skycatch Edge1 GNSS base receiver, enabling enterprise customers, especially those in the construction industry, to process data from their DJI drones on-site and in real-time.”
Skycatch is an industrial data collection and analytics company focused on indexing and extracting critical information from the physical world, using a combination of hardware, software and artificial intelligence. Built for enterprise, its turnkey solutions are deployed across global project sites with largest construction, mining and energy companies.
Kespry and DJI are partnering to offer the DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone as part of the Kespry stockpile measurement solution for mining and aggregates companies.
The solution delivers the Kespry autonomous flight and aerial intelligence experience for stockpile measurement using a DJI drone. It enables large aggregates and mining companies to standardize and capture stockpile data across all their sites in the Kespry platform, while continuing to use Kespry 2s drones to support mine and site planning operations, Kespry said.
Integration of data captured from a DJI drone is the next innovation in the development of the Kespry industrial sensor platform.
Kespry provides inventory management and mine planning data to more than 200 mining and aggregates companies. As these customers scale their use of drone data, they are looking to standardize on a single platform to organize and analyze that data across sites, geographies and product divisions — even when those sites are highly distributed, Kespry said.
The addition of the DJI Mavic 2 Pro to the Kespry lineup is designed to enable even more site data to be centralized in the Kespry cloud. It will be available with a new, cost-effective purchase point designed to support using Kespry across more sites.
“Drone data is now the standard approach for measuring stockpiles at mine sites, however, millions of dollars are wasted through reconciling inconsistent data from different platforms and the time involved getting that data ready for analysis,” said George Mathew, CEO and chairman at Kespry. “Our goal with the addition of the Mavic 2 Pro to our solution is to respond to our customers wishing to use the Kespry aerial intelligence platform across all mine sites to standardize how stockpile data is generated — lowering their costs and helping drive the profitability of every site.”
“DJI is excited to have Kespry offering the Mavic 2 Pro as part of its aerial intelligence platform portfolio,” said Jan Gasparic, director of strategic partnerships, DJI. “Pairing the Mavic 2 Pro with Kespry’s industry leading AI, ML, and analytics capabilities will be of enormous benefit to mining companies that are looking to take advantage of drone technology in a portable and powerful package.”
According to the companies, the integration of DJI’s drone and sensors into the Kespry platform is the latest innovation in the delivery of an industrial sensor network, closely following Kespry’s recently announced high-resolution thermal capabilities for industrial inspection.
This expansion in the range of data that can be explored and analyzed in the Kespry platform further enables customers to protect and maximize their assets across industrial sites.
The Kespry platform is now capable of processing and analyzing a wide range of sensor data, enabling the future creation of industry-specific applications, including those under current development with leaders in the energy sector.
“We have sites in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, so with the Kespry platform and DJI drone, we’ll be able to fly multiple sites at one time,” said Justin Dermont, accounting manager at Russell Standard. “I could be flying in Erie while my partners fly in North Carolina, but still be able to get the data in real time to the Kespry cloud.”
“Having DJI as part of the Kespry system will help with the flexibility and the timeliness of us being able to take inventory at multiple locations, especially when we have to take inventory at the end of production, or month end, to make sure we have accurate readings,” said Craig Schiebel, controller at Russell Standard. “Being able to take inventory simultaneously at multiple locations is huge.”
“We’re growing our business and recently acquired some new sites,” said Kyla Jungclaus, senior accountant at Brannan Companies. “We need all of our inventory to be done in just a couple days, so introducing the DJI drone to have another pilot surveying at some of our other locations will get inventory done even faster. I know that our measurements will be consistent and accurate even if I don’t do them myself, and I can manage them all in a single account in the Kespry cloud.”
Kespry is offering the Mavic 2 Pro as part of its fully-managed, end-to-end annual subscription model. Kespry customers that choose the Mavic 2 Pro for stockpile measurement will benefit from the full Kespry experience, including its acclaimed support, training, customer success team, and drone up-time guarantee.
The Kespry stockpile measurement solution with DJI will be available Q1 2019.
Spaceopal has launched NAVCAST, a GNSS precise point positioning (PPP) service featuring high-accuracy positioning enhancement for end users worldwide. NAVCAST aims to actively support and to accelerate widespread adoption of Galileo.
NAVCAST provides Galileo and GPS real time orbit and clock corrections based on an algorithm RETICLE (REal-TIme CLock Estimation), developed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR e.V.).
Galileo and GPS observations, from more than 100 receivers of the worldwide IGS network, are used to estimate the current corrections which are broadcast to registered users relaying on the standard NTRIP protocol.
NAVCAST corrections improve the user error down to the centimeter level, making it attractive for a large number of applications, the company said.
Users can appraise the accuracy levels and convergence times achievable using NAVCAST (Galileo + GPS) corrections combined with a precise point positioning (PPP) engine, on the Spaceopal website. The underlying PPP engine (dual-frequency, ionosphere-free observations) estimates the local troposphere delays and fixes the carrier-phase integer ambiguities.
NAVCAST can be considered as proof of concept and Spaceopal’s contribution to high-accuracy GNSS services. NAVCAST corrections, which are broadcast over the Internet, could be in future via satellite constellation (such as MEO satellites).
From November 2010 until end of June 2017, Spaceopal was the prime contractor responsible for Galileo operations under the Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) Operations Framework contract, the company said. Spaceopal GmbH will continue to operate the Galileo satellite fleet under the Galileo Service Operator (GSOp) contract. Spaceopal is actively supporting the completion of the system to expand the services up to full operational capability by 2020.
