AgEagle will acquire senseFly, a Parrot Group subsidiary, for US$23 million.
AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. is a a provider of drones, sensors and software, and Parrot is a European drone company. Founded in 2009, senseFly develops and produces a proprietary line of eBee-branded, high performance, fixed wing drones for professional use.
The eBee Geo drone was introduced in March. (Photo: SenseFly)
The development positions AgEagle to provide a full-stack fixed-wing drone solution for agriculture, government, engineering and construction, among other industry verticals. SenseFly also brings to AgEagle solid engineering talent focused on advanced research and development, a well-established global reseller network, and a strong portfolio of intellectual property, AgEagle stated in a press release.
The eBee drones are designed to be safe, ultra-light and easy to use. They are in use by thousands of customers around the world in agriculture, government, engineering and construction to collect aerial data. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, senseFly employs 90 people, generating total annual revenues of US$12.5 million in 2020.
“Recognized as the producer of the world’s most widely used fixed wing drones, senseFly is an ideal strategic fit for AgEagle,” said Brandon Torres Declet, chief executive officer of AgEagle.
Moving forward, Parrot will focus its expertise and resources on the growth of its professional quadcopter drone equipment and drone data analysis software activities, according to Parrot founder and CEO Henri Seydoux. “The transaction will provide additional cash and lower operational expends to drive Parrot’s growth and industry standing,” Seydoux said. “With the capabilities of the ANAFI line of professional drones and of the Pix4D software suites, Parrot will continue to address its core market segments: 3D mapping, surveying and inspection, agriculture, and defense and security.”
In tandem with the closing of the acquisition, which is expected shortly, Labossiere will resign as CEO of senseFly. Michael O’Sullivan, who previously served as the company’s head of global marketing, will be appointed managing director of the new AgEagle subsidiary. All other senseFly employees will retain their current responsibilities.
For details relating to the terms and conditions of the acquisition, refer to the Form 8-K to be filed by AgEagle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission upon closing of the transaction and accessible at www.sec.gov.
Brandmotion LLC is collaborating with DENSO Products and Services Americas to offer a one-stop service to cities seeking to equip vehicles with advanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology.
DENSO is a global mobility supplier and Brandmotion develops vehicle integration for V2X deployments. By combining forces, the two companies are offering cities and agencies an easier path to vehicle integration for V2X deployment testing.
V2X technology has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation as the best way to address the chronic death toll on America’s roadways, with nearly 37,000 lives lost and a record 6,721 pedestrians killed at intersections in 2020. Many city managers and state transportation agencies are looking to deploy V2X technology regionally to reduce vehicle crashes and fatalities and improve pedestrian safety.
The DENSO-Brandmotion partnership simplifies the process of equipping vehicles for long-term testing. Many cities have had to assemble the elements of a large vehicle V2X deployment manually, developing specifications and coordinating multiple vendors.
Brandmotion has served the Tampa Connected Vehicle Pilot for five years and provided responsive professional-grade automotive integration and service capability. DENSO is the on-board unit (OBU) supplier to OEMs for phase 4 of Tampa’s pilot project, bringing true Tier 1 development capabilities to the project.
The partnership will provide transportation agencies with the following vehicle-related deployment services:
the DENSO On Board Unit (OBU) platform (Hercules), which has the ability to run and process applications that support both cellular V2X (C-V2X) communications and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) in an automotive environment (while DSRC is still permitted by the U.S. Federal Communication Commission)
a standard set of applications, including blindspot/lane-change warning, electronic emergency brake light, forward crash warning, intersection movement assist, red light violation warning, and traffic signal priority
custom application development for specific agency application goals
thorough vehicle-specific installation planning, vehicle system design and validation
small to large-scale installation and tech support.
Intelligent transport company Cohda Wireless is applying its vehicle positioning solution to the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia to drive safety and productivity.
In its first use for mining, Cohda’s V2X-Locate technology is being deployed at the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine, managed by Rio Tinto, to provide vehicle and personnel location accuracy.
V2X-Locate was initially developed to solve vehicle positioning accuracy challenges inherent in the urban canyons of cities where large buildings, underground parking lots and tunnels interfere with GNSS signals. Using dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) signals, Cohda’s signal processing and positioning algorithms provide highly accurate vehicle position irrespective of GNSS availability or quality.
Cohda Wireless is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Europe, the United States and China. Its V2X (Vehicle-To-Everything) technology connects vehicles with each other and with roadside infrastructure to create a cooperative and intelligent transport environment.
The system can integrate and manage location data from multiple sensor types with sub-meter accuracy throughout the mine site, said Paul Gray, Cohda Wireless CEO. He called it a significant improvement on using a combination of disparate collision avoidance systems across the mining environment, as is usually the case.
“When you have hundreds of vehicles and personnel operating in close proximity underground, a meter matters. And whilst the prevention of injury and death is always the top priority, we also know that the ability to visualize, optimize and monitor vehicles brings significant operational benefits and efficiencies,” Gray said.
More than 200 mining vehicles of all types are being fitted with Cohda’s XBU-V specially adapted on-board units that connect vehicles to each other and to XBU-I roadside units installed in mine tunnels. Mining vehicles are fitted with a human-machine interface that will notify operators to warn them of potential collisions. More than 2,000 personnel will use V2X-Locate-compatible cap lamps, enabling time-of-flight analysis of wireless signals to resolve spatial locations.
The mosaic-X5 and mosaic-H modules are being integrated into ArduSimple’s new evaluation kits, making resilient cm-level positioning easily accessible for testing and prototyping
With these new kits, ArduSimple brings to market triple-band real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS/GNSS as a plug-and-play solution for the most popular development platforms such as Arduino, STM Nucleo, Raspberry Pi, Ardupilot and Nvidia Jetson.
ArduSimple enables developers of robotics, UAVs and autonomous systems to easily try out mosaic, a unique module offering the latest high-performance GNSS positioning technology.
“The mosaic module complements the ArduSimple RTK product portfolio with a higher-end solution for the most demanding applications,” said Marc Castillo, senior consultant at ArduSimple. “Triple-band GNSS brings extra reliability to the RTK solution and removes the headache of transitioning from L2 to L5 band. This, combined with its feature-rich software, will allow our customers to accelerate even more their time-to-market.”
In addition to triple-band GNSS, mosaic module offers unmatched resilience to radio interference. This is especially important in robotic devices where electronic components, such as cameras and servos, are located close to the GPS/GNSS receiver, often interfering with GPS signals, which are weak, and causing positioning degradation. High-accuracy positioning is delivered at a uniquely high update-rate by mosaic-X5 in single antenna mode. Meanwhile, the board which mounts mosaic-H offers all-in functionality with dual-antenna mode for accurate GNSS heading.
“By partnering with ArduSimple we are bringing mosaic to emerging markets where its outstanding performance makes a difference. Mosaic makes accurate positioning so much easier to integrate and use, while giving a competitive edge to new products,” said Gustavo Lopez, market access manager at Septentrio. “ArduSimple is a great partner because they are known in the industry for offering user-friendly and affordable evaluation kits for RTK positioning, complemented by software tools, making integration and rapid prototyping easy.”
The SimpleRTK3B board, which allows evaluation of the mosaic GNSS module, is now available for purchase via the ArduSimple web shop. For more information about mosaic or other Septentrio products visit septentrio.com or contact Septentrio.
The free resources are intended to advance the design of PNT systems and increase resilience of critical infrastructure to PNT disruptions.
The GPS Whitelist Development Guide presents a software assurance approach to addressing potential vulnerabilities and increasing reliability of GPS receivers. The guide addresses data-related requirements in the Resilient PNT Conformance Framework, which provides guidance for defining expected behaviors in resilient PNT equipment.
“We hope this guide and related resources will help industry advance towards a cybersecurity-based approach to PNT resilience,” said S&T Technical Manager Ernest Wong.
Originally released in March 2021 as open source on GitHub, the PNT Integrity Library provides users with a method to verify the integrity of the received GPS data. The update includes:
A compliance check on Interface Control Document (ICD) IS-GPS-200, which is a formal means of establishing, defining and controlling communication between the GPS space and other user systems; and
A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Toolkit, which describes how a perspective end-user of the PNT Integrity Library can assemble a demonstrational toolkit with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware.
“Since GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed, critical infrastructure systems should not be designed with the assumption that GPS data will always be available or will always be accurate,” said S&T Project Manager Brannan Villee. “Application of these tools will provide increased security against GPS disruptions. However, DHS also recommends a holistic defense strategy that considers the integrity of the PNT data from its reception through its use in the supported system.”
ViaLite GPS Link: Blue OEM module and rack chassis card hardware formats shown. (Photos: ViaLite)
ViaLite is supplying Raytheon Technologies with its GPS over Fiber Extension Kit for Microchip GPS servers. The kit provides mission-critical GPS timing and synchronization for systems requiring extremely accurate clock signals.
Standard transmission distances for the extension kit can be up to 10 km, while solutions are available for distances as long as 50 km.
“The ViaLite kit was chosen for its unique performance with Microsemi’s S650 timing server, along with our best-in-class quality, reliability and support,” said Craig Somach, ViaLite director of Sales North America.
The ViaLite GPS link is designed to provide a remote GPS/GNSS signal or derived timing reference to equipment located where no signal is available, such as inside buildings or tunnels. By using optical fiber instead of traditional coaxial cable, extreme distances are possible with no radio frequency loss and zero introduction of noise.
Saab, the Swedish defense and security company, and Maxar recently demonstrated a solution to GNSS-denied navigation by integrating Maxar’s 3D Data and Precision 3D Registration (P3DR) technology into the fighter jet software for the Swedish Gripen E fighter jet.
Saab develops and manufactures the fighter jet for Sweden and other countries.
A camera on the jet captures a livestream of its flight path. Maxar’s P3DR compares that incoming livestream to the Maxar 3D Surface Model of the area stored on the jet. By matching scenes in the livestream to the 3D data in real time, P3DR can determine the jet’s precise location, enabling the pilot to navigate and carry out the mission without GPS.
Maxar 3D Surface Model, immersive 3D data with superior accuracy and global coverage, offers a highly accurate representation of Earth. The data is produced with unique automated technology, delivered rapidly and with high precision. It is based on Maxar’s high-resolution, unclassified commercial satellite imagery, without the need for ground control points. Maxar’s 3D Surface Model product is a key input to the company’s Globe in 3D, a worldwide foundation of 3D data with resolution of 50 cm or better and 3 m accuracy in all dimensions.
The chart across the top of the video indicates the accuracy of the P3DR matching of the livestream video to the Maxar 3D Surface Model. When the camera encounters clouds, it lowers the accuracy of P3DR’s match; however, as long as there is some view of the ground, the accuracy is relatively high.
Maxar’s P3DR is a standalone software solution that automatically geo-registers imagery from any source to Maxar 3D reference data. This real-time capability enables navigation in a GPS-denied environment, safeguarding against signal jammers in an anti-access area denial (A2AD) environment.
Saab put the GPS-denied navigation technique to the test with a Gripen flight demonstration over Sweden. The GIF below demonstrates how P3DR closely overlays the livestream image on the Maxar 3D Surface Model, allowing the pilot to understand where they are on the map.
During the flight demonstration, the Gripen’s GPS receiver was on to monitor the accuracy of the results. The GPS receiver verified that the demonstration’s results were accurate.
The Gripen E jet fighter built by Saab. (Photo: Saab)
A National Resilient Timing Architecture should include delivery by fiber and RF along with space-based, according to the RNT Foundation. (Image: RNT Foundation)
The Resilient Navigation and Timing (RNT) Foundation has published a white paper proposing attributes for a government Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire timing services.
Timing services, most of which are now sourced directly or indirectly from GPS, are essential for myriads of network, transportation, financial, industrial, and other applications. The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 (NTRSA) requires establishment of one or more systems to serve as alternatives and back up GPS timing.
The RNT Foundation’s October 2020 white paper discusses how a national timing architecture fulfilling the requirements of NTRSA could be established relatively easily and inexpensively. It proposes that, rather than building its own system, the government contract for services with commercial providers.
The new white paper outlines some of the requirements and evaluation criteria the government might use when acquiring timing services.
Goals
The paper postulates that the goal of such a procurement should be to establish a federal timing “backbone.” This would fulfill the requirements of NTRSA, which recognizes that timing is critical for many applications and is also the basis for most electronic positioning and navigation systems.
Establishing this backbone will provide users with an alternative and a safety net for GPS disruptions, and at other times enable more resilient and reliable services. As a backbone, it would provide basic, foundational services upon which others would be able to build. The new services would be expected to:
support a wide variety of public and private applications across the nation
be entirely independent from and have minimal or no common failure modes with GPS and other GNSS
provide multiple and diverse methods of timing delivery
serve both fixed and mobile users.
Regarding this last point, the paper notes that mobile devices must know their location before they can make use of timing signals. Thus, the selected system or combination of systems also will have to provide GPS-independent location information at a basic level to mobile users.
Requirements
Successful proposals, the paper envisions, will need to meet a number of requirements including
serving the entire U.S. land area, airspace, and coastal waters to about 200 miles offshore
enabling all fixed and mobile users to access at least one non-space-based source (to ensure no common failure modes with GPS/ GNSS)
timing accuracy in all locations to within 500 nanoseconds of universal coordinated time (UTC); this accuracy should be within 100 nanoseconds of UTC for the 50 largest metropolitan areas
one or more integrity measures to provide users confidence in system(s) accuracy
a very high rate of continuity and availability, similar to that of navigation beacons for aircraft
a performance monitoring and control system.
Evaluation Criteria
Fortunately for the government, numerous systems and companies are already able to provide the needed services. Deciding which to select will likely be a significant effort. Some of the evaluation criteria suggested by the RNT Foundation white paper are:
Annual Cost – While cost will not be the only consideration in this acquisition, the government always has a responsibility to taxpayers to weigh it as an important factor.
Infrastructure Required Per Unit of Coverage Area – This has been cited by the Department of Transportation as a very important consideration. Not only does the amount of infrastructure affect cost, but it also has implications for environmental and community impacts.
Spectrum – Signal disruption by in-band and out-of-band transmissions has been a significant issue for GPS. New PNT wireless and radio-frequency services should pose as few spectrum concerns as possible. Spectrum band reservations, licenses, pre-allocated bands, other bands and adjacent band uses will all be given consideration.
Penetration – While the government may not list this as a requirement, the ability of a service to reach underwater, underground and indoor locations will likely be desirable and part of proposal evaluation.
Resilience – The vulnerability of GPS signals to disruption will undoubtedly make the resilience of potential backup and complementary systems a major issue. The RNT Foundation paper discusses two kinds of resilience – operational and recovery.
Operational resilience is defined as “the ability of a system, combination of systems, or service to resist disruption (e.g.: jamming, spoofing, physical damage negatively impacting service).” One measure of resilience might be the energy needed to disrupt signals.
Recovery resilience is described as “The speed and ease with which a service can return to normal operation” after a disruption.
Cybersecurity – Similarly, cybersecurity is seen as having two components. The first is network security, defined as the degree to which systems are isolated from or connected to networks. Second is signal security, and is how well signals can be protected from infiltration and imitation.
Endorsements for GPS Alternative Timing
Since the “National Resilient Timing Architecture” white paper was issued in 2020, calls for GPS alternatives have intensified, and the white paper itself has received an important endorsement.
On May 7, the telecommunications industry standards group Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) vigorously supported federal funding for GPS alternatives. In letters to leaders in both houses of Congress, ATIS cited “the urgent need for funding the deployment and adoption of Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Systems in U.S. critical infrastructure, including the U.S. telecom industry.”
The need for federal support for timing and positioning backups for GPS was also supported by a two-year old study released by RAND Corporation in May. While the paper went to great lengths to argue against a duplicate GPS-like capability (something no one has supported to the best of our knowledge), it quietly suggested federal support for both a national timing system and location services to serve E-911 systems.
Numerous recent media releases from U.S. Space Force have revealed serious military threats to GPS and other space-based systems. A variety of killer-satellites, lasers and other weapons have turned space from a sanctuary into a potential battle ground. While not specifically calling for alternatives to GPS, the Space Force announcements have made it clear the nation needs to “get the bullseye off GPS.” Establishing at least one terrestrial alternative system similar to those operated by our adversaries will make U.S. satellites and signals much less attractive targets, according to Greg Winfree, former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Federal Funding Needed
Federal funding for improving national timing was specifically supported by a group of CEOs and senior executives from major telecom companies. Acting as the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), the group’s May report to President Biden discussed GPS vulnerabilities and threats, and urged establishment of a capability
“…similar to that reflected in the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation’s paper entitled A Resilient National Timing Architecture. Further, to enhance the ability of commercial entities to afford leveraging this architecture, the Administration should appropriate sufficient funds to lay the foundation for creating this timing architecture, with the Federal Government being the first customer for what will ultimately become a resilient, interconnected network for PNT delivery.”
Federal funding support is necessary, according to NSTAC, because free GPS services greatly suppress market demand for alternatives.
A notice of award was posted Oct. 11 by the European Union for seven contracts to six different companies for demonstration of non-GNSS positioning, navigation, or timing solutions.
The awardees are OPNT BV from the Netherlands; Seven Solutions SL from Spain; SPCTime of France; GMV Aerospace of Spain; Satelles Inc. of the United states; and Locata Corporation of Australia.
Locata received two separate contract awards: one to demonstrate delivery of time, and the other for positioning.
According to the EU project officer, Ignacio Alcantrailla-Medina, some of the awardees will demonstrate delivery of time, some positioning, and some both. Locata received separate awards because the company provided separate responses for timing and positioning.
Eleven different companies responded to the tender, according to the announcement. No information was provided on the unsuccessful bidders.
The EU tender for this project was announced in October 2020. The stated goal of the project is to better understand available non-GNSS PNT technologies. The intent is to identify potential backups for GNSS during an outage. All offered technologies were required to be able to operate independently from and have “no common points of failure with” GNSS.
Alcantrailla-Medina says the demonstration project is expected to last seven and a half months. As part of this, a public event will be held at the EU’s Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy, in March or April, 2022. This will be followed by a consolidated report on the project in May or June.
This consolidated report will be used in the next edition of the European Radionavigation Plan due out next fall, according to Alcantrailla-Medina.
Companies that did not respond to the EU’s tender or were not selected for a contract can still have information about their products and services included in the consolidated report, says Alcantrailla-Medina. Now that all contracts for the demonstrations have been awarded, he is open to receiving the information and can be contacted at:
Ignacio.ALCANTARILLA-MEDINA
European Commission
DG Defence Industry and Space
Unit C2 – Satellite Navigation
Avenue d’Auderghem 45, (BREY 7/297)
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
The mdCockpit app from Microdrones was designed for professional drone users to make it easy to plan, monitor, change and control flights from an Android tablet.
The latest updates — in mdCockpit 2021.3 — include new features that improve flight safety and give more options for surveying in an aim to deliver a premier solution for planning, monitoring, adjusting, analyzing and controlling professional drone flight missions right from a tablet. Robert Chrismon, the marketing manager, and Maude Morin, Software Product Owner discuss the updates in the video below.
Key updates for mdCockpit version 2021.3 are in the Flight Editor, Flight Data and Drone Configuration components of the app.
FLIGHT EDITOR
New layers section in Mission Dashboard
KML as a background layer
Optimized entry point on corridors
FLIGHT DATA
Displays last position of the drone
Drop renamed to Descent in Quick Height Change dialog
Telemetry alerts
DRONE CONFIGURATION
New maintenance program fields in drone config
Reminder of the next inspection or service
Read only homing height
Drone pilots can download mdCockpit onto their Android table through the Google Play store.
TomTom integrates Vaisala’s environmental data capabilities into its Hazard Warnings service to deliver time-critical alerts for road weather hazards
Vaisala — a global leader in weather, environmental and industrial measurement — will bring its accurate insights and actionable road weather data to the TomTom Hazard Warnings service.
TomTom Hazard Warnings creates time-critical signals that alert drivers and automated vehicles to safety-critical incidents as they happen. These incidents include traffic, weather and road hazards.
“More than every fifth traffic accident is a result of inclement weather-related impacts, yet drivers often don’t receive real-time information about weather or driving conditions from their in-vehicle technology — even in new vehicle models,” said Petri Marjava, head of Automotive at Vaisala. “While TomTom has utilized our atmospheric weather data for years, our new arrangement equips its Hazard Warnings service with must-have predictive road weather information. Road weather data takes in-vehicle weather services to the next level by helping drivers stay safe while conveniently optimizing route and travel times in all weather conditions.”
TomTom Hazard Warnings uses Vaisala’s data to deliver early warnings related to weather hazards, such as slippery roads, reduced visibility and strong winds. This data enables better route planning and notifies drivers to prepare and adjust for driving in poor conditions.
In addition to general weather conditions and detailed point forecasts, Vaisala is now providing TomTom Hazard Warnings with road surface measurements and driving conditions forecasts.
The road weather data Vaisala delivers covers continent-wide road networks across the United States and Europe to enhance driver safety, efficiency and convenience, with other geographical regions to follow.
The ionosphere is shown in purple and not-to-scale in this image. (Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein)
Researchers have developed a new mathematical model to more accurately capture how ionospheric scintillation interferes with GNSS signals, reports EOS.
The new model uses a Markov chain. The model’s parameters were drawn from data on actual signal disruptions caused by ionospheric scintillation above Hong Kong on March 2, 2014. The researchers compared its predictions with real-world data and found it accurately emulated the timing and duration of the actual signal disruptions and did so more accurately than an earlier model that did not use a Markov chain approach.
Citation: “Markov Chain-Based Stochastic Modeling of Deep Signal Fading: Availability Assessment of Dual-Frequency GNSS-Based Aviation Under Ionospheric Scintillation” by Andrew K. Sun, Hyeyeon Chang, Sam Pullen, Hyosub Kil, Jiwon Seo, Y. Jade Morton and Jiyun Lee, Published in Space Weather, June 24, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002655
The team’s findings also suggest that dual-frequency GNSS signals can significantly counteract the disruptive effects of strong scintillation, specifically for aircraft navigation.
In the future, this new modeling approach could be extended to improve understanding of other effects of ionospheric scintillation on GNSS signals, as well as their effects at other latitudes.
