L3 Technologies’ WESCAM division has received an order from Airbus Helicopters to provide 37 MX-15 electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imaging systems for installation on multiple fleets of H225M Caracal helicopters.
The systems will be installed in France before being delivered to two foreign governments for military deployment.
“This order expands L3’s international business base while creating a new market opportunity for our leading WESCAM products,” said Michael T. Strianese, L3 chairman and chief executive officer.
“L3 WESCAM is proud to have been chosen to supply its MX-15 systems, as it highlights our role as a trusted global supplier of advanced imaging technologies to the OEM marketplace,” added Mike Greenley, president of L3 WESCAM. “Additionally, it confirms that the highly specialized optics and leading technologies in L3’s systems continue to meet the needs of emerging mission portfolios, ranging from combative military to time-sensitive response and recovery operations.”
The first delivery of 19 units will support a variety of missions, including search and rescue, aeromedical evacuation and assistance and disaster relief.
The second delivery will provide a highly detailed, multispectral view of combat search and rescue, naval operations, medical evacuation and military transportation efforts to mission operators.
L3’s MX-15 can be configured with up to six imaging and laser payloads, each of which shares the highest level of stabilization. It incorporates a GPS receiver and antenna, with options available for a GPS time sync interface and GPS data interface.
Sensor options include a high-definition (HD) thermal imager, color low-light continuous zoom, daylight step zoom spotter, day/night spotter, laser rangefinder and a laser illuminator. L3’s MX-15 can be found on additional models of Airbus helicopters, including the H125 and UH-72A.
L3 WESCAM serves all segments of the airborne, land and maritime markets with advanced EO/IR imaging and targeting systems (MX-Series) and modular system solution kits (MatriX).
MX-Series turrets are operational across 74 countries and on more than 137 different types of platforms, and are supported by more than 14 globally deployed authorized service centers and a team of field service technicians who are available for dispatch 24/7 to anywhere in the world. L3 WESCAM is a unit of L3’s Sensor Systems business segment.
Martek Marine has deployed the Centrik system to manage its UAS operation, the same system used by major airlines.
Centrik is a cloud-based aviation management software solution specifically tailored for RPAS/UAS operations. It encompasses all aspects of operations: safety, quality, compliance and risk management, while providing comprehensive reporting functions, the company said.
Centrik gives visibility of every single electronic flight bag and enables sharing of audit information direct with the Civil Aviation Authority or any interested third parties.
It maintains a complete training record for every single member of staff, allowing us to see instantly who has which qualification and who needs to renew their training.
It also compiles all assessment results, delivers alerts management when training certificates are about to expire and provides handy checklists of core competencies.
Martek UAS.
Pushing UAS capabilities to enable a multitude of compelling use cases can only happen with the approval of the relevant Aviation Authorities who are requiring us to demonstrate the highest level of operational standards and business oversight.
“Thinking that you can manage a major UAS operation with old fashioned spreadsheets, folders and emails is fundamentally flawed — akin to putting cartwheels on a Tesla,” said Paul Forster, head of UAS Operations. “Investing in Centrik is another statement of our intent to be the world-leader in UAS operations, to compliment our well documented $multi-million investments so far in the world’s best maritime UAS/RPAS.”
Harxon has introduced an advanced, high-speed, Bluetooth-enabled wireless rover radio.
The HX-DU1603D, designed for GNSS/RTK surveying and precise positioning, will be showcased this September at the Intergeo trade show in Berlin, Germany.
The HX-DU1603D is a lightweight, ruggedized UHF receiver designed for data communications between 410 MHz and 470 MHz in either 12.5 KHz or 25 KHz channels, which can be widely used in GNSS/RTK surveying and GNSS precise positioning fields.
It is equipped with a Bluetooth transceiver for wireless communications with external devices. It features a 6800 mAh rechargeable internal battery and configurable transmit power between 0.5W and 2W. Its IP67 waterproof capability allows long operating hours outdoors, the company said.
The HX-DU1603D rover radio is easy to operate and use. It is equipped with a 1.9-inch display screen that supports frequency, protocols, power display, serial port baud rate and air baud rate. By deploying these technologies, users can instantly communicate with GNSS precise positioning receivers with the same protocols throughout the world.
The rover radio HX-DU1603D has joint Harxon product lines, including 25W base radio HX-DU8602T with simplex and 35W base radio HX-DU8608D with duplex.
A manufacturer of refinery infrastructure was about to finish the assembly of a radiant box when a thumbnail-size notch was noticed in one of the pipes just before it was to be installed. The radiant box facility is used in the process of refining hydrogen under very high temperature (1,300 to 2,000°F) and pressure (45 to 360 psi).
The Elios by Flyability is a collision tolerant drone.
The notch was noticed near the end of the assembly process of the 144 40-foot-high vertical pipes composing the radiant box. The refinery owner insisted that each of the installed pipes be inspected thoroughly before moving to the final stages of testing and firing up the radiant box.
The refinery manufacturer faced a difficult problem. Made of a particular heat-resistant alloy containing 30 percent chrome, the pipes need careful treatment — contact with another alloy could damage them, which made use of scaffolding impractical. Instead, the customer turned to Industrial SkyWorks and its indoor inspection drone, Elios by Flyability.
The complexity of the location, the large number of pipes, and the fact that they could easily be mixed up required a meticulous work approach by Industrial SkyWorks. The two-man UAV crew set up a charging station just outside the building. Four flights were needed per pipe to ensure complete coverage. Using the onboard lights of the Elios, the UAV flew to the top of each pipe and descended slowly, recording video.
The Elios drone flew continuously for nearly five days in a dry and dusty environment, imaging both sides of each pipe. Once finished, the crew presented high-resolution video of each pipe to the satisfied client.
Resulting savings are estimated at 75 percent for cost and 85 percent for time, the company said. For instance, using a UAV avoided the need for workers to work at height with the associated safety procedures.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are conducting a joint GPS/Galileo space receiver experiment onboard the International Space Station (ISS). This will be the first time that a combined GPS/Galileo receiver will operate in space.
The project aims to demonstrate the robustness of a combined GPS/Galileo waveform uploaded to NfASA hardware already operating in the challenging space environment: the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) software-defined radio testbed.
Testing activities include analysis of the GPS/Galileo signal and onboard position/velocity/time (PVT) performance; processing of code- and carrier-phase GPS/Galileo raw data for precise orbit determination (POD); and validating the added value of a space-borne dual-GNSS receiver compared to a single-system receiver under the same conditions.
This collaboration was initiated in 2014 and a Technical Understanding was signed in 2016.
Many new space applications may not be possible if constrained to using the limited signal availability associated with any single constellation of GNSS satellites.
This research therefore seeks to demonstrate the enhanced capabilities brought by the use of satellites from two or more GNSS constellations in the space domain. The net result will be more resilient space operations, greater mission flexibility, and enhanced PVT performance.
The project is currently in the testing and verification phase, and it is expected that the final implementation of the combined GPS/Galileo waveform on NASA’s SCaN Testbed on-board the ISS will be completed in September/October 2017, so that the initial operations of the first combined GPS/Galileo receiver in space can start in the October/November 2017 timeframe.
The researchers plan to present preliminary results at the UN International Committee on GNSS (ICG)-12 in Kyoto, Japan in December.
From ESA’s side, ESOC’s Navigation Support Office (NavSO) and ESTEC Experts for Radio Navigation Systems and Techniques (TEC-ESN) are involved in this project.
The overall project management from ESA’s side and POD aspects are covered by NavSO, and ESTEC’s Technical Directorate is in charge of the Galileo waveform development and implementation of the SW on the FPGA in cooperation with NASA. This activity is done with technical support from industry participants such as Qascom. Industry participation is a vital component as new markets for multi-GNSS receivers and complex space applications continue to emerge.
From NASA’s side, the project is sponsored by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. Integration and experimentation activities are being performed by the NASA Glenn Research Center.
NASA has initiated an international effort within the ICG to develop a fully interoperable multi-GNSS Space Service Volume (SSV), where a combination of constellation services will be available well above low-Earth orbit (LEO) to support newly emerging geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and high-Earth orbit (HEO) missions — ranging from more precise station keeping to extend GEO belt capacity and maneuver recovery to enabling formation flyers and satellite servicing operations.
WERNER ENDERLE is head of Navigation Office, Ground Systems Engineering Department at the European Space Operations Centre of the European Space Agency.
JAMES J. MILLER is deputy director, Policy & Strategic Communications – Space Communications and Navigation in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters.
Anomalous GPS Signals from SVN49
By Fabio Dovis, Nicola Linty, Mattia Berardo, Calogero Cristodaro, Alex Minetto, Lam Nguyen Hong, Marco Pini, Gianluca Falco, Emanuela Falletti, Davide Margaria, Gianluca Marucco, Beatrice Motella, Mario Nicola and Micaela Troglia Gamba
Researchers at the Navigation Signal Analysis and Simulation (NavSAS) Group of the Politecnico di Torino detected in mid-May the presence of anomalous spikes in the L1 signal spectrum. The origin of the spikes was identified to be transmission of a non-standard code from a non-operational GPS satellite (GPS IIF-9, SVN49). Here we report on signal observations and address possible impacts on GNSS signal processing.
On May 17, 2017, during outdoor data collection, NavSAS researchers detected two spikes in the L1 spectrum, with sufficient power to be clearly visible on a display processing raw digital samples at the receiver’s intermediate frequency.
An initial check looked for a possible interfering source in the experimental set-up, since it was quite complex with multiple pieces of electronic equipment. The likelihood of this source was soon dispelled as the same kind of spectrum was visible on a spectrum analyzer (SA) connected to an active survey-grade GNSS antenna on the lab roof; results shown in FIGURE 1.
The spectrum is centered at 1575.42 MHz, with the SA set to a frequency span of 5 MHz. Connecting the SA to different survey-grade antennas on the roof, we found no remarkable differences. The spikes continued to appear on subsequent days, becoming clearly visible around 13:00 UTC and disappearing around 19:00 UTC.
Figure 1. L1 Spectrum of the received signal at 16:51 (Central European Summer Time; 14:51 UTC) on May 19, 2017, at the NavSAS Lab, Torino (located at 45°03’54.98767″ N, 7°39’32.28920″ E, 311.9667 meters).
Exclusion of Terrestrial Sources. The 24-hour repetition period of the phenomenon, along with the shape of the spectrum, could indicate the presence of a signal anomaly from a GNSS satellite. In a battery of tests, we probed the L1 spectrum in a wider area using assorted equipment.
For various reasons, we ended up focusing on a non-operational satellite: SVN49, launched March 24, 2009. We concluded that transmission of a non-standard code (NSC) from this satellite was the origin of the problem in the L1 spectrum.
Transmission of NSCs for testing purposes is foreseen in the GPS Interface Specification, IS-GPS-200. GPS satellites can switch off regular broadcasts of C/A code and P/Y code and transmit a non-standard C/A code and non-standard Y code.
Such operation is intended to protect users from receiving and utilizing erroneous satellite signals in case of unhealthy conditions on the spacecraft. Strictly speaking, this case cannot be formally considered as an “anomaly,” because the transmission of non-standard codes is documented in the IS-GPS-200.
Therefore, the transmission of an NSC can be considered a normal operation in itself, though it may reflect a problem with the transmitting satellite.
In this case the choice of the spreading sequence, which is likely a square wave, allowed the total power of the signal to be concentrated in just a few spectral components, thus originating continuous-wave-like in-band signals.
The distribution of the harmonics, the main components of which are at ±500 kHz, and the presence of the odd harmonics only, matches an earlier case in 2006 of a transmission of an NSC modulated as a binary-phase-shift-keying (BPSK) sequence with alternating logical 0s and 1s, transmitted at the C/A code chipping rate (Rc=1.023 megachips per second). The hypothesis of the BPSK with Rc=1.023 megachips per second spreading signal has been verified by simulation.
However, the NSC is designed to have negligible effect on tracking other healthy GPS satellite signals. Nonetheless, an NSC transmission can have a non-negligible impact in performance of user equipment.
When a GPS satellite is switched to NSC mode, a receiver immediately loses its capability to track that satellite signal. This is not the case with SVN49, as it is currently declared non-operational. However, due to the modified code sequence, a further effect is possible: the NSC introduces irregular components at a sustained level in the GPS signal spectrum.
According to Notice Advisory to Navstar Users (NANU) 2017001, SVN49 was broadcasting standard signals as PRN04 (though set unhealthy) since the beginning of the year; NANU 2017042 announced that PRN04 was to be re-allocated to SVN38 on May 18.
This switch matches the dates when we started to see the spikes, since, probably, SVN49 started that day to use the “square wave” for the spreading.
Implementing the square wave local code, it has been possible to successfully acquire and track the NSC.
The real-time software receiver N-Gene has been forced to acquire and track in real time the signal coming from SVN49. The receiver decoded the navigation message transmitted by SVN49, which exhibits a regular format, even if marked with an unhealthy flag.
Impact on Receiver Processing. Interference with harmonic components such as those generated by the use of a square wave could strongly impact a GNSS receiver in the acquisition and tracking blocks, because the interference power is dispersed over the whole search space by the correlation with the local code, compromising the acquisition accuracy and impacting other functional blocks.
The impact of interference spectral lines depends on their location within the frequency band. This is due to the almost periodic nature of the GNSS signals. The spectrum of a GNSS signal has components spaced at multiples of the inverse of the code period (for example, 1 kHz for GPS C/A code) with different power allocated to each component depending on the shape of the code spectrum.
The effect is larger in the case of matching of the interference spectral components with the ones of the GNSS signal. Furthermore, in this case, the strongest harmonics are close to the L1 carrier frequency and are not mitigated by the front-end filter since they fall within its narrow bandwidth.
The overall GNSS scenario has changed a lot recently. Galileo and BeiDou are also present, and Galileo signals, due to the different structure and code periods, have spectral lines spaced at 0.25 kHz. The frequency modulation of the interfering signal due to the variable Doppler shift is thus even more likely to hit some of the spectral components of these signals.
We are investigating further to assess the impact of the interfering signal from SVN49 on Galileo-based high accuracy applications.
U.S. Air Force Response
The 2nd Space Operations Squadron is performing maintenance on a presently non-operational satellite. SVN49 is broadcasting non-standard C/A and non-standard Y codes as described in IS-GPS-200. Space professionals continue to conduct safe and responsible command and control of the constellation to continue to provide accuracy that exceeds established system requirements.
As always, GPS users who experience issues should address them through the appropriate channels: military users should contact DSN 560-2541, commercial 719-567-2541 while civilian users should contact the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center at 703-313-5900.
Very Respectfully,
Nicholas J. Mercurio, Capt., USAF Director, 14th Air Force/JFCC SPACE Public Affairs
“Connect your compatible smartphone to the center display to access select apps, your calendar and playlists or navigate with Google Maps.”
That’s the description of the navigation offering on the official Chevrolet Bolt website. One of General Motor’s (GM) most advanced vehicles, the electric Bolt doesn’t offer native GPS navigation as an option.
As H. Kesteloo of Electrek blogs, almost all new vehicles for sale in the United States either come with GPS navigation or offer it as an option. GM is betting that Bolt drivers will prefer their smartphones over built-in GPS systems.
Is it a risk? Probably not, considering that apps such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps are more frequently updated, offer real-time traffic information and are often easier to use than factory-installed systems. Plus, the apps are free (with a data plan, of course) compared to a feature that once cost as much as $2,000 on a new car.
Instead, Chevrolet is offering Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay, which seamlessly integrate the Apple and Google built-in maps apps — all of which assumes the driver has a smartphone charged, ready and in range of a wirelss connection.
“Will this be the beginning of a new trend?” Kesteloo asks. “Are we going to see more vehicles without integrated GPS navigation offerings? Perhaps offering a built-in $300 iPad Mini makes sense — the Bolt already has its own wireless internet connection.
“With a future of self-driving cars quickly approaching, native GPS will still be a critical component,” he notes.
Renesas Electronics, an automotive semiconductor supplier, is offering an advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) and automated driving platform: Renesas autonomy.
As the first rollout under the new platform, Renesas released the R-Car V3M high-performance image recognition system-on-chip (SoC), optimized primarily for use in smart camera applications, as well as surround view systems or even lidars.
The R-Car V3M SoC complies with the ISO26262 functional safety standard, delivers low-power hardware acceleration for vision processing and is equipped with a built-in image signal processor, freeing up board space and reducing system manufacturers’ costs.
The R-Car V3M SoC for smart camera applications is on the Renesas autonomy platform.
Autonomous vehicles will be required to sense the environment, control the vehicle and conduct synchronized communications with the cloud. A wide range of technologies is necessary to realize these functions, and each technology needs to maintain high reliability to synchronize without any flaw.
At the same time, these technologies are continuously advancing, which is why there is a growing demand for a total end-to-end solution.
Renesas autonomy delivers a comprehensive portfolio that includes scalable hardware, software and IP building blocks. It consists of Renesas’ sustainable and scalable SoC and micro-controller (MCU) roadmaps.
The platform also gives system manufacturers access to Renesas’ 195 technology partners in its ADAS R-Car Consortium, improving development efficiency and speeding time to market.
For the implementation of demanding algorithms, the Renesas autonomy platform provides system manufacturers the option to select the most suitable IP cores, including hardware accelerators, offering functional safety and flexibility within an architecture capable of the highest performance at the lowest power consumption.
NASA’s UTM. On May 25, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-designated Nevada UAS Test Site and its NASA partners flew five different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to test NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM).
The flights demonstrated multiple operational scenarios, including parachute-initiated emergency supply deliveries and aerial survey operations.
The UAVs were flown beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight (BVLOS) using strategically placed visual observers and sophisticated command and control, communication and detect-and-avoid technologies.
The test is part of a three-week national campaign, which NASA is leading in close collaboration with the FAA and industry partners on a more complex version of its UTM technologies at six different UAS Test Sites around the nation.
Demonstration in France. In France, Delair-Tech flew a UAV for 30 miles, simulating powerline inspection. Delair used a regular, commercial 3G cellphone network to control the drone for the test — an innovative demonstration that long-distance drone operations can be safe and simple to achieve.
Canadian Deliveries.Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (DDC) hit a pivotal milestone toward commercializing its drone logistics platform after achieving BVLOS in test flights. Systems tested include DDC’s FLYTE management system, avoidance technology and communications platform.
During flights in Alberta, DDC’s Mission Control Centre in Toronto, 2,500 kilometers away, successfully monitored and record telemetry in real time. DDC could become the first drone logistics-compliant operator approved by Transport Canada.
Hemisphere’s Atlas-enabled Platinum VADER smart antenna.
Plantium, in Santa Fe, Argentina, is a full-service provider of precision agricultural guidance systems to some of Argentina’s largest farming operations.
The company makes its own guidance and control devices, installs them and offers farmers real-time, remote support if required. Plantium uses the Atlas GNSS Global Correction Service as the primary means of providing precise, real-time location corrections to its customers, and their receivers are based on Atlas-ready OEM boards from Hemisphere GNSS.
“We design, manufacture and sell precision agriculture systems,” said Federico Baulies, robotics engineer for Platinum. “As a part of our SBOX7 + DirectDrive + VADER system, Atlas really helps with all of these. Atlas tools give us the ability to diagnose and solve problems in real-time — probably its best feature.”
“As soon as we hear of an issue, from operators or from alarms built into our monitors, we can collect several working variables — such as interference and satellite noise — immediately, from our offices, and diagnose many problems instantly,” Baulies explained.
Argentine farmers benefit from remote problem-solving with the Hemisphere Atlas-enabled Platinum VADER smart antenna.
“That means we do not have to wait for 30 minutes to see if our client will get convergence — we know right away. A lot of that capacity is built right into the Hemisphere OEM boards or from the way the Atlas service is designed.
“These diagnostic tools also help on the customer’s end,” Baulies said. “The Atlas service and Hemisphere’s OEM boards make clear user interfaces possible, and end users are rarely confused about the state of their equipment.”
Once a problem is diagnosed, Plantium engineers can implement fixes quickly, using cellular connectivity.
“We can often diagnose and fix a problem remotely, sometimes in the same phone call,” Baulies said.
Trimble has introduced Penmap for Android, a cloud-connected application for field surveying and high-accuracy geographic information system (GIS) data collection that works on mobile handhelds, smartphones and tablets.
Trimble Penmap for Android focuses on core survey and mapping tasks such as cadastral and boundary surveys, as well as establishing local control, stake-outs, quality checks and asset management for utilities. It provides both professional surveyors and field workers with an intuitive, easy-to-use map-based interface to manage features and attributes for high-accuracy GIS and complete survey documentation.
The application is also ideal for use in the energy distribution industry for locating infrastructure and recording critical information on encroachments, clearways and existing monuments, the company said.
The application runs on a variety of Android devices, including the rugged Trimble TDC100 handheld, and supports full-featured Trimble GNSS receivers such as the Trimble R10, R8s and R2 receivers.
Trimble Penmap for Android is optimized to integrate with the new Trimble Catalyst service, a software-defined GNSS receiver that connects to the small, inexpensive plug-and-play DA1 antenna, and allows surveyors to choose an accuracy level from meter to centimeters to suit their application needs.
Together, Penmap and Trimble Catalyst — both purchased through a fixed monthly subscription — offer an on-demand, lightweight and low-cost professional surveying system that provides value, convenience and flexibility, the company added.
“The addition of Penmap expands our portfolio to address the needs of organizations that require a value-packed, flexible survey system,” said Matt Delano, general manager of Trimble’s Land Administration solutions. “Surveyors using the Penmap application with Trimble Catalyst can easily manage seasonal shifts in survey activity by scaling up or down without a capital investment. Survey managers will find it an efficient way to carry out field checks without tying up expensive equipment used by their field crews. They can simply use a phone, the Penmap application, a Catalyst subscription and the DA1 antenna.”
Trimble Penmap for Android includes the Penmap Project Manager, which is used to set up projects, create templates and add team members.
Penmap Project Manager works with the Trimble Connect platform for storing and transferring data between the field and office.
Trimble Connect, which is also included in the Penmap subscription, is a collaborative cloud-based platform that enables organizations to set up and deploy projects to their field users. Information collected in the field is synced back to the office in real-time where it is stored, managed and communicated to team members.
Data can also be exported from Penmap Project Manager into back-office systems in a variety of file formats for viewing and sharing.
Australian tech firm Cohda Wireless has trialed its vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) technology on city streets for the first time.
The technology was originally designed to allow cars and motorcycles to avoid collisions by talking to each other.
In collaboration with Telstra and the South Australian Government, Cohda Wireless has conducted the first test of V2P technology over a mobile network in South Australia’s capital, Adelaide.
The system uses mobile technology to provide an early-collision warning to a driver and also alerts a pedestrian or cyclist via a smartphone application.
This innovation could become available in the 16 million smartphones in use in Australia and could potentially be extended to the two billion smartphones worldwide, the company said.
Cohda Wireless CEO Paul Gray said the trials highlighted the impact of vehicle-to-everything communications on community safety.
“Giving vehicles 360-degree situational awareness and sharing real-time driving information is the only way we can create safer roads for the future,” Gray said. “Cohda’s ongoing partnership with Telstra also demonstrates Cohda’s ability to deliver Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) solutions, an important part of the complete V2X system.”
The technology makes use of available 4G networks to allow riders, drivers and pedestrians who are further away to reliably receive necessary information.
Before a driver turns a blind corner the system will notify them of any pedestrian or cyclist crossing the adjacent street.
It was tested using other common scenarios, such as a car and a cyclist approaching a blind corner, a car reversing out of a driveway, and a car approaching a pedestrian crossing.
The trial was funded in part by the South Australian government’s AU$10 million Future Mobility Lab Fund to boost local testing, research and development of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies.
Cohda commands about 60 percent of the global vehicle-to-vehicle communication market.
It previously developed a “digital protective shield” system, which transmitted information such as vehicle types, speed, position and direction of travel between cars and motorcycles, at a rate of up to 10 times per second to ensure a high level of accuracy.
This service could be transmitted to any device within a several hundred-metre radius.
Telstra Chief Technology Officer Håkan Eriksson said the technology would make Australian roads safer, more efficient, and better-prepared for the future of autonomous vehicles.
“The most important outcome of V2X technology is the increased safety for road users, as the impact of human error can be minimized by helping vehicles communicate with each other and react to their surroundings,” he said. “This is the first time V2P technology has been trialled in Australia on a 4G network, and is an important step on the journey to fully-autonomous vehicles on Australian roads.”
South Australia has a history of involvement with autonomous car research and in 2015 held the first driverless car trials in the Southern Hemisphere.
It hosts a number of leading autonomous car companies including Cohda Wireless and its innovative V2X (Vehicle to everything) technology and RDM Group, which opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Adelaide earlier this year.
South Australia is also a leading driverless car research hub and earlier this week the University of Adelaide managed to improve artificial vision systems by studying dragonflies and other insects.
Rohde & Schwarz and MediaTek have successfully completed the verification of location-based services (LBS) in the U-plane and C-plane for Assisted Beidou (A-BeiDou), China’s GNSS satellite positioning system.
The R&S TS-LBS test solution allows mobile manufacturers, chipset manufacturers, test houses and network operators to verify chipsets and mobile devices in order to obtain permission to operate them in a particular network.
The successful A-BeiDou verification of the MediaTek device under test (DUT) using the Rohde & Schwarz test system marks an important milestone in the GNSS evolution of positioning and navigation. According to Rohde & Schwarz, this was the first time that the setup could be used to validate and verify a device for A-BeiDou location-based services.
The R&S TS LBS from Rohde & Schwarz is a test system for testing GNSS and network-based LBS. It consists of an R&S CMW500 as the base station simulator and an R&S SMBV100A GNSS simulator. The R&S CMW500 provides assistance data to the DUT and the R&S SMBV100A simulates the BeiDou satellites. The R&S TS-LBS test system can be used to obtain GCF and PTCRB certification as well as network operator-specific certification for chipsets and mobile devices.
“We are delighted to collaborate with MediaTek and to contribute our test and measurement expertise to the development of A-BeiDou location based services,” said Alexander Pabst, vice president of Systems and Projects within the Rohde & Schwarz Test & Measurement Division. “Rohde & Schwarz already has a strong global footprint with testing solutions for A-GNSS, such as A-GPS or A-GLONASS, and for OTDOA/eCID. Thanks to our close cooperation with our partners, Rohde & Schwarz is committed to accompanying the evolution from existing to new satellite systems such as A-BeiDou with our innovative test and measurement solutions.”
“MediaTek is committed to developing and testing the latest mobile technologies and standards to drive the industry forward,” said TL Lee, general manager of the Wireless Communications Business Unit at MediaTek. “We have worked closely with Rohde & Schwarz to develop and validate the test solution for A-BeiDou LBS, verifying the A-BeiDou proof-of-concept trial system based on the R&S TS-LBS and MediaTek DUT. This represents an exciting step forward in the evolution of LBS technology, enabling the mobile ecosystem to verify chipsets and mobile devices on the new LBS technology.”
L3 Technologies’ WESCAM division has received an order from Airbus Helicopters to provide 37 MX-15 electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imaging systems for installation on multiple fleets of H225M Caracal helicopters.
