The German Ministry of Defense selected Rockwell Collins’ NavHub navigation system to provide GNSS availability to a variety of its military vehicles.
The NavHub system serves as a next-generation GNSS- and Military-code (M-code)-enabled solution for the German Armed Forces.
Customizable for ground and maritime platforms, NavHub provides a variety of vehicle interfaces, meets the standards required by military vehicle operators, and allows users to receive data from multiple secure and open-service GNSS constellations to simultaneously confirm the navigational solution.
Access to multi-constellation GNSS and GPS M-Code will provide a significantly enhanced navigational solution over the current GPS-only solution.
Work under the contract will be performed in Rockwell Collins’ facilities in in Europe.
About the NavHub GNSS navigation system
NavHub (Image:: Rockwell Collins)
Based on Rockwell Collins Selective Availability/Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) GPS receivers, NavHub is strategically designed to meetfast-moving and demanding combat environments.
Through the use of dual-installed GNSS receivers, NavHub provides an assured navigational solution, interfaces and GNSS upgrade path to support modern operations platforms.
SAASM security (expansion to M-code), expansion to multi constellation GNSS
Extended platform interfaces, including Ethernet, USB and CAN
Extended performance in a jammed environment (i.e., 41 dB while tracking and 24 dB during initial acquisition)
“NavHub meets the critical mission need for accurate navigation support for fast-moving platforms and challenging environments,” said Claude Alber, vice president and managing director, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Rockwell Collins. “Our military GNSS receivers will provide significantly enhanced navigational capabilities to military vehicles and will mitigate terrain, forest and urban degradation as it will raise the number of satellites used from 28 to well over 100.”
Taoglas is launching a new RF Filter division specifically developed for Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile applications.
Taoglas, a provider of IoT and M2M antenna products, made the announcement at at Mobile World Congress Americas this week.
Taoglas aims to provide high-quality, small-form-factor, cost-effective and easy-to-implement RF filters.
The new filter division will feature a range of off-the-shelf filters for a variety of applications, including filters for emerging license-free bands used for IoT, L1/L2 and L1/L5 GNSS applications.
Taoglas can also work with customers to develop custom filter solutions.
“Today’s mobile and IoT applications require high-performance RF filters, in a form factor and cost that makes sense for our customers,” said Dermot O’Shea, co-CEO at Taoglas. “We’ve seen the frustrations our own engineers have had in quickly sourcing reliable components for active antenna and electronic designs. Taoglas is eliminating that frustration with its own filter division, applying the same principles for success that we’ve demonstrated with our antenna business.”
The filters are manufactured in Taoglas’ purpose-built production facilities in Taiwan, and shipped immediately anywhere worldwide. Support is available from any Taoglas location globally. Filters are available through regular Taoglas sales and distribution channels.
Skydel Solutions has released SDX Release 17.8, which offers a host of improvements, according to the company. The 17.8 release offers an advanced jamming feature, as well as improvements for Gaussian noise, spectrum view and the graphical user interface (GUI).
The new advanced jamming option provides unique interference testing capabilities for SDX users. It leverages the power of the GPU/SDR combo to create a new way to simulate interferences, enabling transmitter trajectories and user-defined waveform creation.
Skydel Solutions will be exhibiting at ION GNSS+ in Portland, Oregon, in booth #100. Attendees can learn about the new system and watch a demonstration of SDX’s latest features. Also, Skydel’s Iurie Ilie will host a technical session about spoofing on Friday, Sept. 29, at the conference.
With SDX’s Advanced Jamming package, users can:
Create user-defined waveforms. Chirp, CW, BOC, AWGN, BPSK and pulse interference modulation are supported and can be combined at will to create custom, complex interference waveforms.
Create multiple real-time jammers. Users can create a single or multiple jammer transmitters with user-defined waveforms. Up to 100 interferences can be generated in real time.
Add dynamics to transmitters. Users can create more realistic jammers for simulations; SDX’s dynamic jammers can change position relative to the receiver as the simulation progresses. Their power levels are defined from the transmitter’s point of view. During the simulation, SDX automatically calculates the resulting signal at the receiver antenna in real-time and takes into account the transmitter antenna pattern, the propagation loss and the receiver antenna pattern. The transmitter, like the simulated receiver, has six degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the trajectory may even be defined in real-time using the hardware-in-the-loop API.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $45.5 million contract to provide military code (M-code) early use (MCEU) capability to the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Part of the Air Force’s overall modernization plan for the GPS, M-code is an advanced, new signal designed to improve anti-jamming and protection from spoofing — as well as increased secure access — to military GPS signals for U.S. and allied armed forces.
MCEU will provide command and control of M-code capability to eight GPS IIR-M and 12 GPS IIF satellites on orbit, as well as future GPS III satellites, which the Air Force expects will begin launching in 2018.
MCEU is envisioned as a way to accelerate M-code’s deployment to support testing and fielding of modernized user equipment in support of the warfighter.
The Military Code (M-Code) Early Use (MCEU) contract will accelerate deployment of command and control of M-code capability to GPS IIR-M and GPS IIF satellites currently on orbit, as well as future GPS III satellites (like GPS III SV02 above). (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
The U.S. Air Force’s MCEU contract directs Lockheed Martin to upgrade the existing Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) Operational Control System (OCS), allowing it to task, upload and monitor M-code within the GPS constellation. The contract includes new software and hardware development that will be deployed in 2019 to worldwide ground facilities that support the Air Force’s GPS.
“When people think of GPS, they often think of the satellites that provide the signals, but do not remember the important ground system behind it,” said Mark Stewart, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Navigation Systems. “We recognize the ‘ground’ is critical for any major space mission constellation and we are proud that we can help the Air Force with this part of their GPS modernization plan.”
The AEP OCS — maintained by Lockheed Martin under the GPS Control Segment (GCS) Sustainment Contract — controls the 12 GPS IIR, 8 IIR-M and 12 IIF satellites in orbit today. The company has successfully implemented several recent projects to modernize and sustain the system for the Air Force.
In June, Lockheed Martin deployed the first of its state-of-the-art GPS Monitor Station Technology Improvement Capability (MSTIC) receivers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The software-defined MSTIC system replaces 30-year-old hardware, positioning the Air Force to take advantage of commercial off-the-shelf technology enhancements in processing power, reliability and cybersecurity in the future. Six Air Force AEP OCS monitoring stations around the world will receive the MSTIC upgrade by the end of 2017.
In February 2016, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) contract to upgrade the AEP OCS with new capabilities so it could support the more powerful, next-generation GPS Block III satellites. The COps program passed a successful Critical Design Review milestone with the Air Force in December 2016.
Also in 2016, under the GCS contract, Lockheed Martin completed the commercial off-the-shelf upgrade No. 2 (CUP2) project — part of a multi-year plan to modernize the AEP OCS’ technology and enhance the system’s ability to protect data and infrastructure from internal and external cyber threats, as well as improve its overall sustainability and operability. CUP2 is now fully operational and managing the current GPS constellation.
EagleView Technologies is actively flying to acquire post-storm imagery in Florida following Hurricane Irma. With more than 20 planes staged or in the air, EagleView is continuously capturing high-resolution aerial imagery to enable rapid assessment and response to Hurricane Irma relief efforts.
EagleView is a provider of aerial imagery and property analytics for the government, insurance and commercial sectors.
Using both fixed-wing aircraft and drones, EagleView imagery supports post-hurricane insurance claims adjusting, property assessment, public safety and land surveying professionals.
“With these hurricanes affecting so many Americans, we’re putting our planes in the air as soon as possible to begin the image capture process,” said EagleView President Rishi Daga. “From our unique high-resolution post-event imagery to our industry-leading machine learning capabilities, EagleView’s technology can massively accelerate recovery efforts and because of this, we find it crucial to take flight immediately once permitted into the airspace.”
EagleView’s historical image library, dating back to 2002 in Florida, offers insurance carriers, first responders, non-profit organizations and local government agencies the ability to analyze the impact of the storm on homes, commercial buildings and infrastructure by comparing previously captured imagery with the latest post-event images.
Image capture and processing post-Hurricane Irma will take place continuously over several weeks, with EagleView making constant updates to its nearly four-petabyte imagery and data library.
“We have access to an impressive amount of resources in Florida and the surrounding areas, allowing us to provide the largest post-storm image capture capabilities to our clients,” said Jay Martin, senior vice president of operations for EagleView. “Our team is working around the clock to deliver imagery to those who need it most following these devastating weather events.”
EagleView is capturing varying types of aerial imagery throughout Florida. This includes its ultra-high-resolution (UHR) imagery, also known as Reveal imagery, which is the highest resolution aerial imagery available on the market today.
Telephonics Corporation’s subsidiary, Systems Engineering Group (SEG), will demonstrate autonomous UAV control and PULSEbox this month during the Annual Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX), Dahlgren (Virginia) Division event.
ANTX-Dahlgren, being held Sept. 13-14, is a two-day event providing a low-risk environment to evaluate technological innovations at the research and development level before technologies become militarized and integrated at the operational level.
The autonomous UAV control demonstration will include a system manager in a UAV control ConOps scenario. System Manager is a model-based expert system of systems, which can plan, schedule and initiate ConOps processes to provide round the clock automation in the Flight Dynamics Operations Area (FDOA) on NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. This enables NASA to minimize human involvement in controlling satellite maneuvers along with optimizing data downloads.
PULSEbox offers a high fidelity, real-time, RF threat scene generator that integrates SEG’s threat models with optimized hardware. The system will create advanced test ecosystems by providing real-world target simulated threat states and related radar representations in laboratory settings, leading to improved testing of interoperable elements before live-sea testing events of air-breathing and ballistic missile threats, the company said.
“Both the autonomous UAV control and PULSEbox technologies align with the U.S. Navy’s requirements for more autonomous systems with limited human control requirements and more realistic training, simulation and modeling environments,” said Michael Anderson, Telephonics vice president and SEG general manager.
To assist with Hurricane Harvey and Irma emergency response and damage assessments efforts, Remote GeoSystems is donating LineVision software licenses to official agency, volunteer and non-profit drone operators.
In addition to supporting a Texas A&M team responding to Harvey, LineVision is being pre-deployed to volunteers organized by Florida State University’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program to help with the Hurricane Irma search and rescue and damage assessment.
Any other volunteer teams, first responders and non-profit organizations providing essential response and recovery services are encouraged to complete the contact form to request free copies of LineVision software for disaster relief efforts.
LineVision lets emergency response teams easily map drone video of Hurricane Harvey damage assessments. (Image: Remote Geosystems)
The LineVision solution is a commercial software suite for UAV, airborne and terrestrial mobile inspection and survey projects requiring geo-referenced video playback, analysis, collaboration and reporting using standard Esri maps and data, Esri ArcMap and Google Earth GIS applications.
Using the software, anyone with a GPS-enabled video camera, drone or geospatial DVR that can geotag video in the proper format can immediately load their videos and photos to Esri ArcGIS and Google Earth along with compatible geospatial data.
As the video plays, a position marker moves along an aerial or terrestrial GPS track positioned on a map, continuously indicating where the current frames were recorded. Users may also geospatially “navigate” a video recording by simply clicking a single point along an aerial or terrestrial GPS track.
The video then automatically advances to that point in the recording so that users can visually interpret what was recorded at that specific place and time. If something of interest is detected in the video, users may also “snap” an image from the video, which is geotagged and saved for future analysis.
In addition to video, users can import photos and documents from disaster survey and assessment projects. All these imported data types can be saved in a Remote GeoSystems “geoProject” file for data portability, reporting and future analysis in other versions of LineVision desktop, cloud and server applications.
Help with Harvey
Remote GeoSystems was contacted by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), who was deployed with the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management.
All parties involved moved quickly, and within a few hours after being contacted, drone video data collection teams were using various versions of the company’s donated LineVision video and photo mapping software to map and view interactive UAV flight tracks with corresponding videos in Esri ArcGIS and Google Earth GIS software.
The software is being used to help visualize, distribute and share the data available from a record 119 UAS flights that CRASAR conducted over 11 days, including 61 flights on a single day.
“We first learned about Remote GeoSystems’ LineVision software for mapping geotagged video from drones about a year ago, and at that time even did a proof of concept demo for the USCG and first responders,” said Justin Adams, Air Operations Branch Director for Fort Bend County Manned/Unmanned Ops and CRASAR director of operations for Harvey. “Now with the Texas Gulf Coast facing a long and difficult assessment and recovery process and Hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida, it became clear now was the time to deploy this valuable UAV solution to operators and volunteers working the affected areas.
“I have been involved in manned and unmanned aviation for the better part of two decades and Remote Geo offers not only the simplest, but most complete solution for rapid geospatial aerial and ground-based disaster assessment and reporting in the industry.”
Key Features of LineVision
Play videos from single and multi-camera data collection platforms
“Click-on-Map” video navigation
Set a custom geo-fence around the moving position marker
Load Esri ArcGIS or Google Earth-compatible geospatial data files
Save video and photo work as geoProjects for simple project reporting, archive and search
The PC210LCi-11 is designed to increase jobsite efficiency. (Photo: Komastu)
Komatsu America Corp. has launched the PC210LCi-11 intelligent machine control hydraulic excavator.
This second-generation PC210LCi leverages the proven track record and success of the pioneering PC210LCi-10, while adding machine-control joystick functionality.
The technology offers up to a 63 percent improvement in excavating efficiency over a standard PC210LC-11 and traditional stake-plus-grade-checker methods, the company said.
The extra efficiency can save time and money by minimizing the need and expense of grading dozers and grade checkers. It also minimizes the costs associated with over-excavating, including extra materials, fuel and time. It saves time wasted waiting on grade checkers and over-excavation to finish jobs and potentially collect on-time or finish-early project bonuses.
Key features of intelligent machine control technology include:
Full 3D GNSS Capabilities: Not limited like 2D only systems, the PC210LCi-11 features full 3D capabilities, allowing it to dig to grade everywhere on the jobsite a 3D GNSS dozer can.
Work Equipment Automation: GNSS technology tied into machine hydraulics to allow actual automation of work equipment functions — not just the indication/manual-only operation typical of aftermarket offerings.
Machine Control Function Enabled Joysticks: Frequently used machine control functions are now located on the operator’s control lever for increased convenience and comfort.
Stroke Sensing Hydraulic Cylinders: No delay position readout with our proven, robust technology, validated in thousands of machines worldwide.
Intelligent Guidance: Advanced features such as facing angle compass and minimum distance bucket control are delivered in a simple and intuitive manner, with a class-leading 12.1” touchscreen display.
Factory Integrated: Intelligent Machine Control technology factory installed, integrated into the base machine, and validated to the Komatsu quality standards.
“The excavator is productive and precise enough to be a fixture on jobsites from basement and foundation pads to utility work,” said Sebastian Witkowski, product marketing manager for Komatsu America.
u‑blox has introduced a new member of its ZOE‑M8 series of ultra-small GNSS system‑in‑package (SiP). The ZOE‑M8B is a power-efficient GNSS SiP designed available for small battery-powered consumer devices. It combines superior performance with ultra-low power for portable and wearable devices in the fitness, health monitoring and personal tracker markets, the company said.
The ZOE-M8B by u-blox is designed for small consumer products. (IMAGE: u-blox)
Small battery-powered devices are defined by their limited size, weight and power — any GNSS solution targeting this application space must provide exceptional performance while consuming minimal system resources.
The ZOE‑M8B has been designed for this class of applications. It consumes 25 mW on average in most environments (including urban), and as little as 12 mW during instantaneous tracking. This is a three-fold improvement in power efficiency when compared with other variants in the ZOE‑M8 series.
“The ZOE‑M8B SiP offers the best trade-off between power consumption and location accuracy,” said Uffe Pless, u-blox positioning product manager. “This will enable manufacturers to develop entirely new battery-powered devices that integrate GNSS functionality, without comprising performance or the user experience.”
The ZOE‑M8B uses u-blox’s proprietary Super‑E mode of operation, which automatically adjusts the power consumed by the system components based on the external conditions.
The footprint of a design with a chip and individual external components is about 50 percent larger than the printed circuit board (PCB) footprint of the ZOE-M8B. Measuring 4.5 x 4.5 x 1.0 mm, the ZOE‑M8B integrates a GNSS receiver, TCXO, SAW and LNA, making it easy to add accurate location and positioning functionality to almost any device, u-blox said.
The ZOE-M8B is the latest addition to the ZOE-M8 GNSS module family, which consists of the ZOE-M8G for 1.8- powered devices and the ZOE-M8Q for 3.0-volt devices, both focusing on maximum accuracy.
u-blox will display the ZOE-M8B at MWC Americas in booth N.352 (M2M Zone). The show takes place Sept.12-14 in San Francisco.
Taoglas, a provider of IoT and M2M antenna products, has launched a range of high-performance GNSS antennas specifically designed to power the next generation of applications that require highly accurate location capabilities.
These applications include navigation, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), surveying, agriculture, connected cars and autonomous vehicles.
The new antenna range is Taoglas’ most comprehensive series of high-precision GNSS antennas and incorporates new form factors and use of multiple RF bands.
Taoglas’ new range includes systems and antennas that use Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou, as well as GPS L2 or L5 bands.
“Today’s connected devices and applications demand new ways of approaching the age-old problem of location accuracy,” said Dermot O’Shea, co-CEO for Taoglas. “In certain applications, there is simply no room for positioning errors — location accuracy is an absolute requirement.”
The GRS.10 smart antenna. (Image: Taoglas)
The new antenna range includes:
The GRS.10, a smart antenna that includes a high-performance Taoglas GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou) ceramic patch antenna module integrated with a u-blox NEO-M8U GNSS receiver.
The Torpedo series GNSS quadrifilar helical antennas, extremely high-performance wideband satellite antennas for position-information-critical applications. It provides high circularly polarized antenna gain across a wide beamwidth. These are available in a passive (QHA) or active (AQHA) versions.
The BOLT A.90.A.10451111, a new GNSS timing antenna that includes lightning-induced surge protection. It is designed for the base station market. The advantage over other timing antennas is the addition of GLONASS and BeiDou frequencies.
The complete range of precision GNSS antennas also includes:
The MAT.12A. (Image: Taoglas)
The ASFGP.36A.07.0100C, a ceramic GPS L1/L2 low-profile, low-axial-ratio, embedded stacked active patch antenna.
The MAT.12A, a GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou dueling-loop chip antenna evaluation board, which delivers the advantages of a circularly polarized patch antenna with two miniaturized low-profile chip antennas on a smaller PCB footprint at one-fifth the weight.
This week, Taoglas also launched small form-factor ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas designed to work with DecaWave’s chipset and module solutions for applications including asset tracking, follow-me drones, healthcare monitoring, smart home services and other applications that demand high-performance indoor localization capabilities.
Taoglas’ complete range of GNSS and UWB antennas will be on display in Booth N.614 at Mobile World Congress Americas, Sept. 12-14, in San Francisco.
Agency9 has released free global 3D terrain and buildings in CityPlanner, its cloud solution for collaborative urban planning on the web. Agency9 is a provider of software for online 3D visualization of geographic information and maps.
“Agency9 currently serves many customers with web-based 3D visualization tools in CityPlanner. With the release of the free global 3D world in CityPlanner, we aim to further stimulate users transition to 3D using modern planning paradigms — as well as lower the financial hurdle of adopting such services. Bundling free 3D data with the service allows any city in the world to start using CityPlanner instantly, without the lead time of acquiring data,” said Håkan Engman, CEO Agency9 AB.
CityPlanner represents a new generation of 3D tools for the preparation of plans, project communication, and citizen dialogue in smart cities, according to Agency9. CityPlanner is used by many cities for urban planning, promotion, GIS presentation and crowdsourcing.
The free global 3D model has a terrain based on open satellite data and LOD1 buildings generated dynamically from OpenStreetMap building data. Buildings are currently available for the Nordics, expanding globally throughout the year.
“Later this year Agency9 will add large scale paid 3D premium content on a region, national, and continental basis. This further supports market adoption with easy access to 3D data and services.” continued Engman
CityPlanner is available as a subscription service with the new global data included at price plans starting at €220/month. In the Enterprise plan, customers can expand the number of users and capacity to suit organisational needs, as well as use their own 3D data of any size — including highly detailed textured 3D city models.
CityPlanner is available as a free 30-day trial, which includes the free global 3D data.
Esri released a new book, “The ArcGIS Book: 10 Big Ideas about Applying The Science of Where,” as well as a companion website.
According to Esri, the book provides mapmakers with the know-how and hands-on experience to practice “The Science of Where.” In addition, the accompanying website offers information and interactive education resources needed to use web-based geographic information system (GIS) technology to create maps, work with apps, create and use authoritative data, conduct spatial analysis and more.
The book is available in print, as an interactive PDF and online. It explains how to use Esri’s ArcGIS platform to manage and analyze data and then visualize and share that information in maps to gain location-based insight, the company said. The book’s chapters cover web mapping, ready-to-use apps, story maps, 3-D GIS, spatial analysis, imagery and the Internet of Things, as well as curated content from Esri’s Living Atlas of the World.
In addition, the online and PDF versions of The ArcGIS Book are interactive with 10 Learn ArcGIS lessons and links to 250 online maps and apps from Esri and the worldwide ArcGIS community. According to Esri, it also includes a variety of electronic learning resources, including software downloads, videos, case studies, story maps, e-books, open data sites, the Living Atlas of the World and more.
“It’s a multimedia experience,” said Christian Harder, the writer at Esri who co-edited the book with Clint Brown, Esri director of product engineering. “Every graphic and image in the electronic versions of the book comes to life in the interactive versions. This makes it an excellent starting point for people to learn about GIS or communicate to their friends and colleagues what GIS is all about.”
