The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) announces the Manual of Photogrammetry, Sixth Edition is now available for purchase through the ASPRS Bookstore.
ASPRS announced that under the leadership of J. Chris McGlone, PhD, CP, as editor-in-chief and George Y.G. Lee, Ph.D., technical editor, the manual covers photogrammetry in depth, as well as its constituent technologies, providing the student, practitioner, or researcher with a single valuable reference resource.
The topics addressed within the manual include:
• Mathematics: the perspective geometry which underlies the imaging process and its current usage in computer vision, the statistical modeling of measurement error, and the basic photogrammetric operations of resection, intersection, and triangulation, coordinate transformation
• Image acquisition: the physics of optical systems and imaging chips, digital airborne and satellite sensors
• Digital photogrammetry: image processing, computer vision, and their applications in photogrammetry
• Photogrammetric operations: flight planning and GPS/INS utilization
• Photogrammetric products: standard product types and formats and their associated accuracy standards
• Current applications: mobile mapping vans, close-range industrial photogrammetry, space measurements, and forensic photogrammetry
• Bibliography: each chapter has an extensive bibliography to guide further study
ASPRS reports that these topics are covered by contributing authors who combine years of experience with many aspects of photogrammetry and familiarity with the state-of-the-art; many of the authors have been pivotal in defining the current state-of-the-art of digital photogrammetry.
The overall outline of this sixth edition is slightly modified from that of the fifth edition. The emphasis is again on digital methods and products, while material on film cameras and analog plotters has been deleted. The mathematical content has been further expanded, especially the treatment of replacement sensor models, along with discussions of digital image processing and computer vision algorithms.
When a team of firefighters, first responders, or soldiers operates inside a building, in urban canyons, underground, in foliage, or under the forest canopy, the GPS-denied environment presents unique navigation challenges. An enhanced personal inertial navigation system (ePINS), based on a strapdown navigation solution using a mid-grade IMU and wavelet-based motion-classification algorithms, can track positions with errors of less than 2 percent of distance traveled in both indoor and outdoor environments.
By Yunqian Ma, Wayne Soehren, Wes Hawkinson, and Justin Syrstad
Numerous pedestrian navigation applications are currently available or proposed for development. Some of them include localization for coordinating firefighters, first responders, or soldiers. In these applications, the safety and efficiency of the entire team relies directly on the location and orientation of each team member. Operations in high signal interference areas such as cities, rugged terrain, forest, or indoor spaces deliver intermittent or no GPS signal. An alternative to GPS-based location is required.
In this article, we introduce an enhanced personal inertial navigation system (ePINS) solution specifically designed for environments where GPS is unavailable. ePINS combines an array of state-of-the-art sensors and fusion algorithms into a personal navigation system that provides accurate location information for pedestrian applications.
The ePINS concept.
The ePINS solution has the following benefits:
Accurate positioning in GPS-denied environments;
Small, lightweight unit can be easily carried by first responders, rescue workers, or soldiers;
Ruggedized packaging to withstand difficult first responder and military environments.
Features of the ePINS unit include:
State-of-the-art micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) gyros and accelerometers, barometric altitude sensor, and advanced navigation software;
Advanced motion classification algorithms that accurately identify and measure user activity;
Immunity to magnetic disturbances.
Related Work
In the field of personal navigation, it is common to find systems that rely on sensors that need infrastructure (for example, Wi-Fi positioning) or sensors that actively emit electro-magnetic radiation (such as Doppler radar). These requirements are major drawbacks for communities such as dismounted soldiers in hostile environments.
Other approaches exploit the so-called Zero-velocity update (ZUPT) mechanism, which resets the inertial measurement unit (IMU) velocity errors during the stationary phase of motion. However, implementation of such schemes relies on sensors embedded in footwear, which is not readily accepted in many user communities.
To address these drawbacks, Honeywell has been developing advanced aiding techniques for personal navigation that do not rely on infrastructure and compute a self-contained, relative-navigation solution based only on passive sensors. One technique that Honeywell has developed uses displacement estimation from human-motion models. This technology has been implemented in the ePINS prototype and shows promising performance.
The human-motion model uses IMU measurements as inputs and was developed to infer distance traveled. It generates a displacement estimate that is used as a measurement in the navigation filtering process. The first version of this model was matured under the DARPA individual Precision Inertial Navigation System (iPINS) program. The iPINS system used an IMU, GPS, barometer, and motion classification to estimate a person’s position in both indoor and outdoor environments. In this system, IMU signal characteristics (e.g., peaks and valleys in the accelerations induced by walking) were exploited to differentiate between walking and running. Honeywell recently expanded the human-motion model to identify more specific motion types using a new wavelet motion classification method.
System Description
Figure 1 displays the hardware architecture of the ePINS, a small battery-powered, highly integrated electronic system. The ePINS processing platform is an ARM11-based, i.MX31 system-on-module, paired with support electronics. In addition to the processing platform, the ePINS assembly includes a MEMS IMU, a barometric pressure sensor, a digital magnetometer, and a GPS receiver.
Figure 1. ePINS hardware architecture.
The MEMS IMU provides inertial measurements for strapdown navigation. The IMU’s small package size, light weight, low power consumption, and impressive performance make it attractive for use in the ePINS system. The device is less than 5 cubic inches and weighs less than 0.35 pounds. It consumes about 3 watts of power with a typical current draw of 600mA at 5V.
The ePINS software system is shown in Figure 2. The navigation software runs within Honeywell’s Embedded Computing Toolbox and Operating System (ECTOS IIc), which provides a layered, customizable, and reusable software architecture for implementing navigation, guidance, and control software. A Honeywell-developed simulation tool for offline analysis and development of ECTOS-based software was also used in ePINS development and testing.
The ePINS demonstration device can achieve path performance of less 2 percent distance traveled for walking motion after 1 hour of operation, independent of the magnetic environment. Current performance, packaging characteristics, and interfaces are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. ePINS performance objectives and physical specifications.
Algorithm Description
Figure 3 depicts the overall sensor integration and data processing scheme used in the ePINS device.
Figure 3. Sensor integration using the ECTOS extended Kalman filter.
Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The EKF estimates the navigation and sensor errors and computes the resets applied to the strapdown navigation solution to increase its accuracy. Error models for the navigation sensors (IMU, barometric altimeter, magnetometer, GPS, and motion classification) are contained in the EKF. For the ePINS device, the virtual measurements from the step-length model and the strapdown navigation solution are fused by the EKF to assist in bounding the time dependent error growth of the strapdown navigator, which in turn helps maintain calibration of the inertial sensors. A key output of the EKF is the navigation confidence, which is an estimate of the accuracy of the navigation solution.
An important aspect of the EKF and step-length modeling is the residual test that the EKF supports. This test provides a reasonableness comparison between the step-length model estimate and the distance predicted by the strapdown navigation system. This capability significantly increases the robustness of the navigation solution, especially when the user is engaged in motions not recognized during motion classification.
Human-Motion Model. The human-motion model includes two components: wavelet motion classification and step-length model estimation. The wavelet motion classification identifies the type of motion the user is performing, and the step-length model acts as a virtual sensor that quantifies the motion as a distance-traveled estimate.
Wavelet Motion Classification. Human motions are very diverse and highly irregular. Determining what motion is being performed is a challenging problem of classification. Honeywell’s solution is based on wavelet transformation of IMU data. Predefined, or known, characteristics of a variety of motions (such as walking, running, crawling, etc.) are cataloged and stored to a device’s memory. Estimates of those same characteristics for a user are then computed in real time and compared to the catalog of stored information to find the best match.
Generating the catalog of stored information is an offline task that begins by “segmenting” recorded IMU time domain data into individual steps. An example of the output of the segmentation process is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Segmentation of the IMU data using the y-axis accelerometer signal.
Figure 5 displays the segmentation results for two different walking styles (in red and blue) across approximately 15 example steps. As is evident from the graph, walking has characteristics that are common across users, for example, the sharp peaks in the z-axis acceleration caused by foot-ground impacts. Once the data has been segmented, a wavelet transformation on each data channel is performed. Wavelet transformation for many users over many different motion types takes place offline. Subsequently, a wavelet descriptor is built for each motion type based on the transformations into the wavelet domain. With this method, a wide variety of information (that is, descriptors) suitable for input to a classifier is captured about each motion. These descriptors are then cataloged and stored in memory on the ePINS device.
Figure 5. Sample steps for two subjects (red) and (blue).
Finally, for the online phase, the wavelet descriptor of the incoming IMU data is calculated by performing a wavelet transformation on each data channel. This descriptor is then compared to the pre-computed and stored descriptors to classify the motion. FIGURE 7 shows an example of the motion classifier output, where a running motion was used as an input. The classifier successfully determined the motion type (blue field), frequency and phase of the input motion, depicted by the tallest rectangle in the figure.
Figure 7. Classification results from a query of running at a certain frequency and phase (depicted by the dark sphere).
Step-Length Modeling. Once the current motion is identified, a step-length model specific to that motion is used to aid the navigation algorithms. The model for each motion type is obtained by first collecting data that measures step length and step frequency. From this data, the step-length models can be computed by performing a regression analysis of the step-length vs. step-frequency data. Since the step-length models act as a virtual sensor, the models must be as accurate as possible to achieve better system performance. To attain model accuracy, an accurate data collection method is needed.
For ePINS development, step-length models for multiple users have been identified from step-length and timing information using a precise GPS truth reference system. Step-length regression calculations then determine the step length as a function of step frequency (that is, inverse of the step time period). An example of GPS truth data and the corresponding regression model are shown in FIGURE 6 for walking motions.
Figure 6. Step length versus frequency for the walking of subject.
Although basic step-length models are created offline, online calibration of the step-length model can be performed by the EKF if GPS is available during operation. Online calibration tends to increase the overall position accuracy, as variations in the step-length models are likely due to slight variations in biometric differences across humans, terrain features, and even mission plans and duration.
Heading Determination. Heading initialization is one of the key concerns during system start up. In its current operational use, the ePINS device may perform a dynamic or a static initialization of heading. The static method requires the user to survey the system’s initial heading to an accuracy value that is usually specified by mission performance objectives; the absolute position accuracy is dependent upon the accuracy of the initial heading.
The dynamic method is a general method for heading initialization; it is performed without input from the user, but is possible only when GPS is available. This method of heading initialization does not use any a priori information about heading and requires an EKF implementation with a large-azimuth error model. This method requires an additional period of time in which the heading error uncertainty converges.
User Interface. During a mission, the user can interact with the navigation system and monitor its output on a display. The current ePINS prototype offers two-way communication via a serial connection. The serial communication is made wireless by the addition of a Bluetooth interface. Users can use this link to monitor the status of the navigation solution and to send commands to the device.
Honeywell has developed an application for the Android platform for this purpose. One of the key features of the interface design is that the navigation system outputs data in a standard NEMA format. Thus, publically available Android applications, not just proprietary applications, can also receive and display the navigation solution output by the ePINS device.
Honeywell’s personal navigation application displays the user’s traveled trajectory in real-time. The application can be adapted to include building floor plans as well as other navigation information.
Results
The ePINS prototype has been evaluated both in simulations and indoor/outdoor experiments. The navigation results presented here were obtained in February 2012 at a Honeywell facility (FIGURE 8). First, the user completed the heading calibration, and then online step parameter estimation in the presence of GPS was performed. Once calibration and training was completed, the GPS was disabled to simulate a GPS-denied environment outdoors. The user than transitioned to indoors (with GPS still disabled), and walked a course inside that included walking up and down stairs (FIGURE 9) and ended in a conference room (FIGURE 10).
Figure 8. Course for the Honeywell facility demonstration.Figure 9. The user walking up stairs.Figure 10. The user at the end of the demo.
Over these conditions, the ePINS system performed robustly and within performance specifications. Live demonstrations and testing showing similar levels of performance were performed at the 2012 Joint Navigation Conference (JNC) and at military test sites in California and Indiana.
Summary
The technical approach of the ePINS solution to the problem of personnel navigation in GPS-denied environments is based on a strapdown navigation solution maintained using a mid-grade IMU and advanced motion-classification algorithms. We integrated an array of sensors and software into a system that provides accurate position information and is suitable for use by first responders, soldiers, and other personnel where GPS is unavailable. ePINS works well for a variety of pedestrian motion types, including walking, running, crawling, walking upstairs, walking downstairs, sidestepping, and walking backwards. The motion classification and modeling method is extensible to other motion types.
We tested the ePINS system in indoor and outdoor environments. FIGURE 11 depicts the future ePINS concept, and TABLE 2 presents its future physical characteristics.
Figure 11. Future ePINS concept and mounting position.Table 2. Packaging characteristics of the future ePINS.
Acknowledgments
This article is based on a presentation made at ION GNSS 2012.
Manufacturers
The ePINS processing platform uses Honeywell Agile Navigation and Guidance Integrated Electronics support electronics. It includes a Honeywell HG1930 MEMS IMU, a Bosch Sensortec BMP085 barometric pressure sensor, a Honeywell HMC6343 digital magnetometer, and a NovAtel OEMStar GPS receiver.
Yunqian Ma is a principal scientist at Honeywell Aerospace. He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is currently the program manager of the GPS-denied navigation program and the next-generation personal navigation program.
Wayne Soehren is a senior technical manager at Honeywell Aerospace. He was the program manager for the development of Honeywell’s first MEMS-based GPS/INS, which developed the core capability now used in Honeywell’s IGS-2XX family of MEMS-based GPS/INS products. He holds an MSEE from the University of Minnesota.
Wes Hawkinson is an engineering fellow at Honeywell Aerospace. He holds a BSEE/CE from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Justin Syrstad is a guidance and navigation scientist. He received a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Aibotix GmbH, maker of a new generation of vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), announced that Leica Geosystems, a global leader in capture, modeling and visualization of 3D spatial information, has licensed the Aibotix X6 for worldwide distribution. Aibotix X6 features advanced, multi-sensor, intelligent guidance systems that make the X6 the safest and easiest to operate commercial UAV.
Aibot X6
According to the announcement, UAVs are becoming increasingly important in many of the applications served by Leica Geosystems’ solutions. These include agriculture, asset & facilities management, cadastral mapping, disaster & emergency management, engineering, environmental, forensics, general industrial, mining, and public safety. Unrestricted positioning of various measuring technologies will spawn new applications as the full potential of this transformative UAV technology unfolds.
“For many critical applications, access is risky, impossible or simply too time consuming using conventional methods or platforms,” said Rüdiger Wagner, General Manager of Solutions at Leica’sGeospatial Solutions Division. “We chose Aibotix because it is one of the best aerial platforms available for safe, reliable maneuvering of important payloads, not only in tight spaces,” he added. “This UAV mirrors the high standards for which our brand is known, making it the right choice for global distribution now. Going forward, I am confident that Aibotix with their strong product roadmap and skilled team are well positioned to keep leading the market with true innovations. That’s just what we need as we continueto think forward.”
Joerg Lamprecht, managing director of Aibotix, said, “Leica Geosytems is synonymous with spatial information products, and an ideal partner for distribution of our UAVs. This is exciting teamwork from two companies that deliver pioneering solutions to difficult problems, especially when one has been doing so for nearly 200 years. Existing segments will be benefit and new markets will be discovered as great products from Leica Geosystems reach new heights in more places on Aibotix UAVs.”
Under this arrangement, Aibotix reports that it remains an independent company with direct sales and additional distribution channels in other markets. Information about Aibotix X6’s performance specifications is available at www.aibotix.com.
Denver International Airport (DIA) has fully implemented its new arrival and departure procedures, the next phase in the Federal Aviation Administration’s mass overhaul of U.S. airspace, called NextGen. Denver is among the airports at the front end of the adoption process, and is highlighted in an in-depth feature in the Denver Post.
According to the article, “The recently completed phase at DIA trims arrival and departure fuel costs by eliminating several intermediary steps. The traditional system requires an airplane to come into and out of cruising altitude by firing its thrusters at every new altitude level, wasting hundreds of pounds of fuel… The traveling public will not likely notice an immediate difference in travel time, but proponents hope that the early investment pays off in the end.”
The FAA predicts that NextGen improvements will reduce flight delays by 38 percent and lead to a 1.4-billion-gallon total reduction of fuel burn by 2020.
ST-Ericsson, a joint venture of STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, has sold its mobile connectivity GNSS business to Intel.
ST-Ericsson, which focuses on mobile and wireless chips, announced the sale on Tuesday without naming the buyer. An Intel spokesman later said the U.S. chipmaker bought the assets.
According to ST-Ericsson, the sale “represents another step in the execution of Ericsson’s and ST’s announcement of March 18, 2013,” when the company announced it was winding down the joint venture. Ericsson will assume 1,800 employees and contractors, with the largest concentrations in Sweden, Germany, India and China. ST will assume 950 employees, primarily in France and in Italy.
In addition to the assets and intellectual property rights associated with this business, 130 employees in Daventry, UK, Bangalore, India, and Singapore are anticipated to join Intel at closing of the transaction, and will be added to Intel’s already-existing GPS assets.
The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and standard conditions and is expected to be completed in August. ST-Ericsson estimates the proceeds from the sale, combined with the avoidance of employee restructuring charges and other related restructuring costs, will reduce the joint venture’s cash needs by approximately $90 million.
“Today’s transaction validates the leading innovation developed by ST-Ericsson in mobile navigation systems and marks a further important step towards the execution of our shareholders’ decision to exit from ST-Ericsson” commented Carlo Ferro, President and CEO of ST-Ericsson. “I am pleased that this organization will continue to develop leading-edge technologies and delighted that the team found a new home at a leading player in the semiconductor industry.”
Since the recent CTIA conference wasn’t the buffet of location news, one potential deal could really set the industry on fire going into the summer months. Google and Facebook both are rumored to be in talks to purchase Waze. Some say this would mean Facebook would transform into a mobile advertising company, with local ads, if it were the winning bidder. Google’s rumored interest would block the social media giant’s momentum in that marketplace.
by Kevin Dennehy
In what could be one of biggest deals in the location industry, both Google and Facebook have been rumored to be interested in buying Israel-based mapping and navigation company Waze. Published reports indicate the deal could be worth $1 billion.
Some industry analysts are skeptical that a deal could be valued that high, which would place it in the same realm as Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing service Instagram.
“We really do not know if Facebook is willing to spend a billion dollars on Waze, but if the deal happens, (Facebook) must have considered its options. How could this be? First, I suspect that Facebook is certain it will grow beyond its current boundaries to become the world’s most valuable company,” said Mike Dobson, Telemapics president. “Operating under this mindset, a billion dollars is peanuts, and they will not care if everyone else thinks they overpaid. In other words, Facebook might not be basing its calculation on the same ‘time-value of money’ that the rest of us are using. Second, if the economics do not really matter to Facebook, the more important question is ‘What advantages would Facebook accrue by acquiring Waze?’”
Dobson believes that Waze map databases are not competitive with Google or such commercial providers as Nokia or TomTom. “In essence, Waze does not offer competitive map coverage, competitive data quality, competitive data attributing, or a useful source of POI data. More importantly, I suspect that the Waze database will be a major league headache if Facebook plans to use it as the basis for its mapping activities supporting local search,” he said. “Further, I doubt that Waze understands enough about local advertising to help Facebook realize its most important goal of becoming a powerhouse ad agency capable of creating its own captive local search market, comparable or exceeding that enjoyed by Google.”
Another industry insider, Marc Prioleau of Prioleau Advisors, said that quality and coverage of the maps would make the deal successful — if it really is going to happen. “The rumor mill on Waze seems to be quite active so it is hard to know if there is substance there. Waze has built a very innovative traffic application, and they use the user data to build a digital map data set,” he said. “The value of the company would be tied largely to the quality and coverage of that data set and the perceived ability of a big platform like Facebook to build that out into a truly serviceable worldwide map.”
Waze is a mapping company built through crowdsourcing map and traffic data over mobile phones, which is the “magic” Dobson believes Facebook finds beguiling about the company. While Waze claims 45 million users, its active base is more likely around 10-15 million, Dobson said. “Conversely, if you stop to consider the amount of data you could generate if all of Facebook’s mobile users were gathering mapping data through an app built on Waze, then the company might be willing to gamble on the acquisition,” he said. “Providing analytics on the behavior and location of its mobile users to advertisers and other interested parties could be a huge opportunity. On the other hand, there are numerous paths to this endpoint, not just Waze.”
Dobson said if he were to advise Facebook on the acquisition, a suggested course of action would be that the company write their own crowdsourcing application and build a good quality map database through licensing and direct and indirect map compilation techniques. “My off-the-cuff estimate is that this could be done for less than the cost of the Waze acquisition. Beating Waze into a quality map database is going to be an expensive — well beyond the acquisition cost — and time consuming effort. Perhaps the most glaring lack in the potential Waze acquisition is the absence of a suitable POI database, which, in my opinion, is the most critical need that Facebook will have in local search.”
Dobson said he suspects that Facebook’s competitors are not concerned about the company’s potential acquisition of Waze. “Those who already in the mapping business — Google and Apple — will anticipate that it is likely that Waze could become a significant distraction for Facebook and delay the company effectively competing in the local search market. As far as the competitors are concerned, the longer it takes Facebook to mobilize its efforts in local search, the better,” he said. “In business, as in life, strange choices are made. Perhaps Facebook sees a future in Waze that depends on strategies being implemented by the company that we know nothing about. I hope so, as a good dose of innovation is just what the local search market needs.”
Distinguishing itself is another reason Facebook may be interested in Waze. Providing mapping and traffic capabilities may bring more consumers to its mobile users.
The company is also is redesigning its mobile pages platform to enable local merchant information, according to published reports. These new improvements may even challenge Foursquare and Yelp.
There were questions whether the deal with Facebook will go through as published reports indicated that Waze’s research and development activities would remain in Israel rather than go to California, where Facebook’s headquarters are based.
Google Interested in Waze to Cut off Facebook at the Location Pass?
The rumor mill is heating up as Internet giant Google and Apple are said to also be interested in Waze. “I saw a report indicating that Google was interested. If so, it would seem that this would be a move to deny Facebook access to Waze,” Dobson said. “Google already derives a significant amount of information from passive crowdsourcing — recording the GPS traces of the devices of their users — and I am not sure that the acquisition would provide them any opportunities that they are not already exploiting. Of course, we might remember that Garmin, who had no intention of buying TeleAtlas, made a bid and significantly raised the price that TomTom paid for the mapping company.”
Other analysts say while there have been several news articles on why Google should buy Waze, it all could be poorly informed speculation. Others say that the Israel tech press is quick to spread rumors. One analyst said, “I hear that the talks are legit, but my guess is that the deal in discussion is not $1 billion.”
TeleCommunication Systems (TCS), a provider of mobile communication technology, announced that its TCS VoLTE9-1-1 service is first into production with Tier-1 wireless carriers, including two of the largest North American operators. The fully customizable solution enables 4G/LTE carriers to provide both 911 call routing and originating coarse/precise location information, including the 10-digit callback number, to public safety access points (PSAPs).
Initially, wireless carriers deployed 4G/LTE solely for data use. Without VoLTE9-1-1 capabilities, carriers must process emergency calls over 3G networks (circuit-switched fallback), even in areas where LTE is deployed. However, with TCS’ VoLTE9-1-1 service, they can now process 911 calls in an all-LTE environment, enabling them to reclaim or reuse 3G spectrum.
“As carriers increasingly move toward LTE networks, the ability to handle 911 emergency communications is critical,” said Thomas Ginter of TCS. “By leveraging VoLTE9-1-1, network operators are helping to ensure subscribers receive the responsiveness they need in an emergency situation, while expanding coverage to areas where 3G coverage is lacking.”
TCS VoLTE9-1-1 features:
Call routing to the PSAP: The TCS VoLTE9-1-1 service routes a 4G/LTE-originated 911 call using coarse location via the route determination function component.
PSAP telecommunicators can call back if disconnected: The TCS VoLTE9-1-1 service remains fully backwards compatible, supporting necessary functions such as providing PSAPs with full 10-digit subscriber callback numbers.
Re-bid by a PSAP for precise location after call routing: The location retrieval function allows a wireless carrier complete flexibility in choosing its underlying high-accuracy location technology and supports updated/precise position requests.
Emergency voice call continuity for location service: Location continuity and location delivery to the PSAPs are supported in usage scenarios where the 911 call switches from 4G/LTE to 3G/2G networks.
Expansion beyond voice: As wireless networks advance, multimedia objects such as text, audio and video can be transferred to a compatible termination point with LTE IP networks, for example, an NG ESINet and i3 PSAP. Leveraging an all-IP network makes it easier and more cost effective to interconnect services.
Small cell support: The TCS VoLTE9-1-1 solution supports small cells, including femtocells, microcells, and picocells, which are now commonly used in dense urban, indoor areas and enterprise networks.
TCS supports half of all U.S. wireless E911 calls, serving more than 140 million wireless and IP-enabled devices. The company holds more than 280 patents, 43 of which relate to public safety, and more than 360 pending worldwide.
Swiss u-blox introduces the surface-mount MAX-M5Q, a compact satellite positioning module that supports GPS and GLONASS, as well as Japanese QZSS satellite GNSS systems. High-performance GPS/GLONASS parallel operation is also supported to enhance positioning speed and accuracy.
Designed for use in rugged environments and wide temperature range, MAX-M5Q is intended for industrial machine-to-machine (M2M) applications as well as Russia’s ERA-GLONASS emergency call system. MAX-M5Q enhances positioning in poor GNSS satellite visibility conditions as well as in high latitude and polar regions, u-blox said.
“With parallel GPS/GLONASS operation, MAX-M5Q is able to track all 50 and more U.S. and Russian satellites to deliver incomparable speed, accuracy, and positional availability,” said Thomas Nigg, vice president of Product Marketing at u-blox, “Its compact size and high-reliability makes it an ideal positioning solution for mobile resource management and ERA-GLONASS emergency call applications.”
With dimensions of 9.7 x 10.1 x 2.5 mm, MAX-M5Q is the newest member of u-blox’ MAX GNSS LCC module series. Additional features include autonomous A-GPS that reduces warm start TTFF by as much as 90%, and an embedded data logger which can store location information to internal Flash memory for up to 16 hours at 15 second intervals.
Hemisphere GNSS has rolled out the R330 GNSS receiver, a versatile, fully featured positioning system. R330 delivers accurate and robust positioning through a variety of differential correction methods including SBAS, L-Band, Beacon and RTK, the company said. With its wide range of functionality and ease of use, the R330 is suitable for a variety of land and marine applications.
The R330 GNSS receiver combines the functionality and front panel display of all previous R-series products. Customers can start with sub-meter positioning accuracy and upgrade the receiver with subscriptions that add functionality and improves performance capability to centimeter-level accuracy. To provide the most reliable solutions, R330 is capable of tracking multiple frequencies and multiple constellations including GPS and GLONASS. Users can easily switch between the various DGPS correction options without any downtime. The R330 GNSS receiver is compatible with many of the Hemisphere GNSS’ multi-frequency antennas.
The small, rugged receiver includes a display and status indicators for a user-friendly experience, Hemisphere GNSS said. A standard USB flash drive can be used for data logging.
“The functionality and performance of the R330 receiver can be custom-fit to positioning applications such as pipeline, marine, and volumetric surveys, GIS mapping, vehicle tracking, machine control, meter monitoring and many others,” said Ron Ramsaran, senior product marketing manager at Hemisphere GNSS. “R330 customers will benefit from the reliability, value, and upgrade options that can be added to meet changing needs.”
R330 features Hemisphere GNSS’ exclusive Eclipse SureTrack technology, enabling a more robust RTK solution with fewer dropouts in congested environments and a fast reacquisition when dropouts do occur. Long-range RTK baselines of up to 50 km are achievable with R330.
The R330 GNSS receiver will be available in June through the Hemisphere GNSS Precision Products global dealer network.
The chief designer of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System said China will advocate the use of the system, which will be compatible with new devices, “so that Beidou can function properly and independently even if something goes wrong with the GPS.”
Sun Jiadong, chief designer of BDS and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, made his comments in an interview with The Beijing News, as reported by the Chinese government’s website.
He added that this compatibility is the only way to ensure the protection of national information. “Safety issues abound in economic areas,” said Sun. “Ordinary people may have few concerns about the security of information but it is of vital significance.”
The development of Beidou also largely depends on the government’s involvement. “Even though the enterprises spare no effort in developing the system, the products they make would not be available for mass production, which will in turn be reflected by the prices. The government has to promote the research and development of the system,” Sun said. Sun cited the governments of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou as examples of local governments that were effectively helping to develop the BDS.
The use of Beidou could go beyond basic navigation functions and extend to the civilian market. It would take longer for the BDS to be available for civilians, said Sun. The use of Beidou on mobile phones relies on the development of a small and power-efficient chip. Otherwise the phone cannot be used.
When asked about when and how the cost of developing the BDS will be recovered, Sun reiterated that Beidou was developed to ensure the security of national information, and not to make profits.
The Beidou global navigation system will be available by 2020 with the launching of more than 30 satellites.
skobbler brings together hybrid online and offline worldwide maps and full turn-by-turn navigation in a low-priced app with the launch of GPS Navigation & Maps for Android.
skobbler is looking to exploit the weaknesses of established Android navigation alternatives with the fully featured GPS Navigation & Maps, which offers an improved experience compared to both Google Maps and high-priced third-party alternatives, skobbler said. GPS Navigation & Maps is effectively two apps in one, with both online and offline turn-by-turn navigation and digital mapping for smartphones.
Using open-source digital map OpenStreetMap and powered by the skobbler NGx map engine, GPS Navigation and Maps has full online and offline capability. The £1 price includes worldwide online functionality as well as an installable map of one country of choice for offline use. From here, users have the option to in-app purchase individual cities, states, countries and continents to use offline, and worldwide maps are available as standard for online use. Existing users of ForeverMap 2 will receive a free upgrade to GPS Navigation & Maps. New users can either purchase the full app or try GPS Navigation & Maps’ free app with unlimited online functionality and a 14-day navigation trial.
While Google Maps is free to download and use, its offline functionality is restricted. Users cannot perform any searching or routing tasks without an Internet connection, which means that when abroad or in low signal areas they either have to pay expensive roaming costs or spend a significant time without map coverage, limiting its usability while traveling, skobbler said. Expensive alternatives such as Co-Pilot Live or TomTom UK & Ireland/Europe do offer premium features and offline navigation, yet none of them give users a choice of which areas they want to use online and which offline. Most premium sat nav apps generally cannot be used as travel apps at all, as their pure map functionalities are limited at best. GPS Navigation & Maps is the perfect blend. Offering the best of both worlds for a fraction of the price, it can be relied upon to deliver any place, at any time, and being two great apps in one offers a fantastic cost-to-benefit ratio and unbeatable flexibility for consumers, skobbler said. Individuals can build their own navigation and maps app depending on what resources they use the most, and more effectively manage the limited storage space on their devices, skobbler said.
GPS Navigation and Maps has full turn-by-turn navigation, worldwide mapping and all features of the software accessible both online or offline. This unique move, and market first, is made possible thanks to skobbler’s NGx map engine, which delivers a seamless browsing experience with ultrafast real-time rendering and stunning map visuals, skobbler said. NGx also offers a range of unique map styles to, for example, accentuate color density for outdoor use to improve clarity. Maps are highly customizable with control over features such as online/offline functionality, map display (style and zoom), routing, map matching and more.
“We’re very proud to launch the first navigation product utilising our powerful NGx mapping engine,” said skobbler CTO Philipp Kandal. “Being the first and only company on the Android platform to offer full online and offline capability for both mapping and navigation, we hope both new users and our existing customers will be won over by the high performance and flexibility GPS Navigation & Maps offers. We’re already working on future updates and have a few powerful additions lined up to improve the app’s functionality and flexibility even further in the coming months.”
Additional maps beyond the free map provided will be available via in-app purchases for offline use. In keeping with the low price for the initial app purchase, add-ons are similary competitive and are priced at £0.77 for cities, £1.11 for states, £2.22 for a whole country, £4.44 for a continent and just £7.77 for the entire planet, so users can quickly and easily supplement their map coverage as they see fit.
skobbler is committed to providing regular updates to users to keep maps fresh and accurate, and promises a range of new premium features in future updates. GPS Navigation & Maps is now available from the Google Play Store, with existing ForeverMap 2 users able to upgrade for free.
The full version of GPS Navigation & Maps, including one free offline country map, can be downloaded.
Accord Technology’s NexNav GPS receiver will be supporting FreeFlight Systems with its recently awarded FAA Capstone Retrofit Project. In March 2013, FreeFlight and Accord announced their collaboration to develop practical and cost-effective ARINC 429 WAAS GPS solutions that enable aircraft operators to meet ADS-B, RNP (0.3) and other performance-based navigation mandates, worldwide.
The NexNav Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) will integrate with FreeFlight’s upgraded automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) avionics to fulfill the requirements of the second phase of the FAA Capstone Project.
“This is an excellent example of how we are working closely with FreeFlight Systems to create state-of-the-art NextGen solutions that are not only meeting upcoming mandate requirements but doing it in a cost effective manner,” stated Hal Adams, Chief Operating Officer for Accord Technology, LLC.
The Accord Technology NexNav product line revolves around two key receivers, NexNav mini and NexNav MAX. The receivers are at the heart of embedded customer solutions whether as a Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) or embedded in the Line Replacement Unit (LRU) as a stand-alone GPS solution.
NexNav mini was the industry’s first GPS receiver and sensor qualified to fully support the known worldwide and U.S. FAA ADS-B GPS source requirements The NexNav mini and MAX are compatible with EGNOS and other Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) to the extent they are is compatible with WAAS.
