GPS World

Category: Applications

  • Mobile Epiphany – Round Two

    Don Jewell
    Headshot: Don Jewell

    Many of you may remember my one and only software review of a product called Touch Inspect back in December 2009, by a Denver, Colorado (Aurora)-based company called Mobile Epiphany. At the time this is how I began my initial brief review of the software program:

    “The software is called Touch Inspect, and it is essentially a computerized, geospatially aware, data-collection application with an amazing user interface. But having said that, just so you understand the basic intent of the program, I have to also say that it is so much more than a computerized data-collection application. Calling Touch Inspect a typical computerized data-collection application is like comparing a skateboard to a Ferrari.”

    At the time I promised an in-depth review the software “real soon.” Well, real soon has turned into 16 months, and not a single week has gone by that I have not received several e-mails wanting to know more about the software and asking when the next review would be published. So for all of you who have been waiting, this is the promised in-depth review of Touch Inspect version 2.0, which the company now promotes as customizable software tools under the more apt heading of “Mobile Business Process Software.” But the base program is still known as Touch Inspect.

    Bottom Line Up Front — BLUF

    When you brief senior military officers today, as I have occasion to do, it seems that they all want the first chart to be the BLUF chart. It is a version of the old military briefing idiom that goes like this: Tell me what you are going to tell me and then tell me and then at the end tell me what you told me. So I will start by saying that my original assessment of Touch Inspect has not changed, unless it is to have become even more enamored with this incredible software. I have an even broader vision of its uses, especially for warfighters, whether their primary function is combat, maintenance, inspection or logistics. This software applies to first responders as well. You be the judge.

    Versatility and Visions

    When I was first briefed on this unique software program back in 2009, my first thoughts were that this is indeed a great inspection software program, but I can think of so many more uses for it. My first thought was that it would be wonderfully useful as a mobile IED (Improvised Explosive Device) database, inspection, and information-gathering program. In fact, it was so obvious that I was off wool-gathering about IED databases during the briefing that the CEO of Mobile Epiphany, Dr. Glenn Kletzky, stopped his presentation until I rejoined the real world. But this is what hearing about this incredible software does to you. It makes you think of all the possibilities and capabilities it makes available to our warfighters and first responders. I was happy to hear from Glenn that my reaction, thinking that Touch Inspect is so much more than a top-notch mobile inspection tool, was to become a commonplace reaction amongst almost everyone who saw or heard about the software.

     

     

    Today, Touch Inspect, running under numerous pseudonyms, is being utilized by our government and others in ways we just can’t discuss in this venue. It is being tested and/or used in the construction industry, in oil and gas operations and exploration, in utility related industries, in the telecommunications industry, in human services and tracking, as well as in healthcare, just to name a few of the myriad user communities. There are other users that I am not allowed to list because this software really gives you an unfair advantage over those not utilizing its considerable and unique capabilities. Suffice it to say that almost everyone who views a demonstration of this extremely flexible asset and process/procedure-focused software thinks of something useful for it to accomplish, and sometimes it even involves inspecting something.

    My first thoughts of using Touch Inspect for activities surrounding IEDs has evolved considerably. Not only can the Mobile Epiphany software be used to house an interactive mobile database with all the knowledge we have gained about IEDs, but when the software is running on a rugged mobile device with GPS, communications, and cameras, as well as other sensors, it enables the user to:

    • Take a picture of the device and annotate that image
    • Look up other items in the database with automatic prompting of what the user should look for
    • Instruct the user how to interact with the IED (other than the obvious precaution of ‘run’ or proceed very carefully)
    • Assist users in identifying the type of IED and the associated dangers
    • Automatically gather data such as location to include GPS or specific grid coordinates, altitude, and heading and whether other IEDs have been found on the same site previously or in the surrounding area and can automatically identify those locations on an internal or externally obtained map
    • Record the time of the observation and the position of the observer, for review at a later date.

    If the IED is a common type or one seen previously by EOD or Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel, the software can be configured to instruct the user on disarming the device, if he/she is crazy enough to do that, and if disarming is indeed an option; it does all this with preprogrammed software that ensures all the necessary data is collected. If the user is a novice, which can be automatically determined by the user’s login and granted permissions, the software can automatically prompt the user at every step, or in the case of an experienced user, the software can make use of an accelerated or “fast-flow” mode that eliminates many of the more basic steps or procedures and gets to the required data collection and instructional screens without delay.

    In short, the software is flexible in the extreme, to the point that I can make the statement that I see uses for it every day, especially for our warfighters and first responders, and I sincerely hope that it makes its way into the .mil applications store for the DoD soon. It is a software product and capability/advantage our warfighters desperately need.

    Platforms

    When I wrote my first review, the Touch Inspect software (version 1.0) ran only on handheld devices that used the Windows Mobile Operating System. Today, it runs on all versions of Windows Mobile (5, 6, 6.1 and 6.5) as well as running on all versions of the full Windows operating systems (XP, Vista, and W7). Furthermore, the full Windows version of Touch Inspect runs on all PC-based slates and tablets in either orientation (portrait or landscape) and can be resized from full screen to a minimal window size, thus sharing the screen with other applications.

    Today the software is also in the process of being ported to Android and Apple platforms. The Android operating system versions will be released in the third quarter of 2011 and the Apple versions will be released in the fourth quarter of 2011.

    Although Mobile Epiphany is growing by leaps and bounds, according to Dr. Kletzky, I predict that the company will really take off when the Android and Apple versions hit the street. If you can’t tell, I am as excited about this software as I am about my iPad and
    iPhone because it will take the usability of these highly desired and much utilized mobile platforms, especially for warfighters and first responders, to new heights. The software and hardware combined will present an awesome potential that will greatly enhance our warfighters’ and first responders’ productivity and safety. For example, since these are the most popular and prevalently used devices in theater, the U.S. Army is considering a plan to provide Android and Apple mobile devices to the warfighters. So why not provide the warfighters with the very best and most flexible software, along with its very friendly user interface as well? Provide the warfighter with devices and software that they will actually use and customize to their needs. The combination of top-of-the-line mobile devices and Mobile Epiphany software will save time, money, and lives. But, of course, Windows is already in very wide use today throughout our armed forces, and this software is ready right now to help those existing users.

    I’m convinced the combination will prove to be an invaluable tool for mission planning, data collection, intelligence gathering, and post mission debriefs, as well as a tool for the everyday tasks that must be conducted in a prescribed manner — such tasks as pre-flights, repair procedures, facility and equipment inspections, and anything else that requires a complex procedure or checklist today. I don’t want to dumb down this versatile product and call it an automated and/or interactive checklist, because that is just one of the more mundane but important uses of the software. And I don’t want you to forget the instructional capability of the software. You can have complex procedures where every step is accompanied by multiple reference high-definition media to ensure success at your task, like a parts blow-out or a wiring diagram, right on your mobile device. Whether you need to learn a new complicated business process or a new series of military procedures, the Mobile Epiphany software has the ability to take you through it step-by-step flawlessly, with seemingly endless potential branches in any scenario, until you are confident that you have mastered your task. Glenn Kletzky explained it this way: “Once you have procedures or processes of any sort established, and you have users who perform and confirm those steps on paper or on screens, it is then just another small step to convert those steps, complete with branching logic based on a user’s input, into Touch Inspect.”

    “Although it is critical to ensure quality data collection and disciplined procedural adherence to process, it is also a step ignored by most software programs,” Kletzky said. “Once these steps are rapidly configured into the Touch Inspect’s Business Process design tool in combination with the available branching logic capabilities, viola! you have a process that can be customized to the user’s needs.”

    The Algiz 7 running Touch Inspect.

     

    The Real Deal

    Never being one to totally trust marketing hype, I showed up at Mobile Epiphany’s facility a few weeks ago with three very different GPS-enabled mobile computers. I brought the latest Trimble NOMAD, being used by thousands of our warfighters today, a borrowed first-generation GD (General Dynamics) rugged MR-1 computer, which I reviewed for our readers two years ago in April 2009, and the most recent computer I reviewed, just last month in fact, the Handheld Algiz 7. I then challenged Glenn to load version 2.0 of the Touch Inspect software on all three machines and we would see how they fared.

    So while Glenn was giving me the latest updated briefing on and future plans for the Mobile Epiphany software, his technicians loaded the software and the results were amazing. The rugged GD computer was the oldest machine, being a very early version (Hint: there is a much more modern and totally waterproof version of the MR-1 available today from GD). My borrowed device is several years old and still operating with an antiquated version of the Microsoft XP operating system, with a small amount of RAM, compared to today’s latest machines. But once loaded, the Mobile Epiphany software screamed on the machine. Everything from zooming in on annotated images, slipping and zooming in on maps, rolling through flick lists of assets, etc., all animated smoothly. It ran as fast, once loaded, as the two newer machines, which sported much faster processors and double or triple the RAM. This just goes to prove that the software does adapt well to various platforms and operating systems. You don’t need to have the latest and greatest hardware and tons of RAM to run this software. That to me is a testament to the hard work the Mobile Epiphany software engineers have put into making this a truly adaptable mobile software tool, that really comes alive on a PNT-enabled device.

     

    The GD MR-1 running Touch Inspect.

     

    Adaptability

    For those of you who are saying, yeah, great, sure it is customizable, but I don’t have millions of dollars and months or years to customize the Touch Inspect software to make it do what I need it to do. Oh contraire, mon ami. On-the-fly process and workflow customization is another major strong suit of this software, and it differentiates it from any other software I have ever used.

    Dr. Glenn Kletzky is actually the CEO of two very successful IT companies, Mobile Epiphany and iBeta. iBeta is a 12-year-old software quality assurance and testing laboratory for software ranging from enterprise class applications for government all the way to the video game industry. And he and his team have been at this for some time, and they have experienced the agony of the software development life-cycle (SDLC). It is not uncommon for robust mobile applications which include geospatial and process capabilities to require no less than 18 months to design, develop, test, and fix prior to being ready for deployment. Additionally, the SDLC requires a team of skilled programmers and testers to meet those deadlines. And even that speed can only be achieved using tools known as Rapid Application Development or RAD tools. Glenn likes to say, we (Mobile Epiphany) took that process from 18 months to 18 hours, and the 18 hours requires no software developers. All that is required is a subject matter expert (SME) in the field for which you are customizing the software and a single person who knows how to configure the process using the technology’s easy-to-use configuration toolset. Yes, you heard me right: just 18 hours versus 18 months. Talk about time, cost savings, and flexibility.

    Mobile Epiphany accomplishes this feat through a process known as Rapid Application Configuration or RAC, and it is possible because of Mobile Epiphany’s new approach to rapid application creation and deployment. You do not have to go through the traditional lengthy process of designing the application itself and the screen appearances, or even the work flows. This is because the application and all the relevant workflows required for a geospatial, process-based application already exists. The software has already been designed, developed, and tested. The person in charge of configuration simply “configures” the application (easy to learn — no programming at all) with a rapid customization tool included in the
    configuration tool set, known as the “Business Process Designer.” And this configuration tool, along with others, can be learned by non-programmers in a matter of a few hours. This means our warfighters, who already customize and download specialized applications on their non-government mobile devices, can now totally customize Touch Inspect software via the RAC process, on the fly, in the field, in less than a day, to do exactly what they need it to do. And after one person configures the work flow or process required, it can be sent wirelessly or by wire to two or two thousands other users. I know this sounds impossible and too good to be true, but I have personally observed the process and then customized the software myself, and believe me if I can do it, anyone can. And the beauty is that the customization process and version control are seamless. They appear to the user to just be another part of the application because they are, and that is a large part of the appeal of the Mobile Epiphany software.

    What makes Mobile Epiphany Software So Different?

    When I asked Glenn how he had managed to develop software with such incredible and user-friendly capabilities, he simply said: “We listened to our customers and our users, and we figured out a way to simplify the process of giving them what they need. They asked for powerful and flexible software with a friendly user interface that could be customized in the field, on the fly and that’s what we gave them.” It should be noted that Glenn worked with video-game designers in his company, who are not programmers, to develop the entire interface.

    Now- anyone in the software business knows that in order for a powerful software program to accomplish useful work and still be simple to operate, there must be a tremendous amount of capability hidden inside an intuitive interface with a definable hierarchical process and this is what Mobile Epiphany software epitomizes.

    So indeed Mobile Epiphany has built a very useful business process software tool that incorporates:

    • Robust hierarchical lists with image and data lookup built-in. After all, images can be a big part of the procedural discipline and data collection and process.
    • A powerful and advanced branching logic engine: think Boolean logic and powerful and/or <> = rules and searches made easy.
    • Using math as a method to determine branching logic requirements, and making math easy and natural for the user.
    • Ensuring there is a hierarchical approach to everything (if you require it) with drill downs at every level to ensure you won’t get lost in the process.

    To add authenticity, intended use specificity, and ownership for the user, Mobile Epiphany spent hundreds of programming hours making it easy for the user to “skin” or customize his own application’s appearance. It is all Touch Inspect underneath, but it can make the interface appear to be user purpose specific, with art placed onto the interface not only as a user trademark, but also as an integral part of the buttons they press to complete their unique workflow and process. Indeed, with the Mobile Epiphany software, customer branding can be displayed in many ways, obvious or subtle, on every screen if necessary, and it can all be accomplished within the confines of the original software. As the saying goes today, there is a GUI (graphical user interface) and/or an app for that, and in this case they are built-in.

    For example, if a fire department is using the software, the program displays an almost endless variation of maps and/or floor plans plus a database of chemicals that have toxic fumes when exposed to heat. Both maps and encrypted data can be stored directly on the device (no network connection required in order to keep working) or it can be brought in through secured online connections (real-time) to map and data servers. The software readily accommodates PNT (position, navigation and timing) inputs, as well as geospatial information system data, from numerous sources, and seamlessly incorporates those inputs and displays the information as needed by the user, in more ways than you would imagine. The system’s server even has a complete set of web services and APIs (application programming interfaces) so that the data trapped in legacy systems and only accessible through fixed terminals can now be made mobile through integration to the Mobile Epiphany servers.

    If you want or need more diversity, then rapid customization on the fly is only a few hours away. You don’t need a separate development team or costly software development program. All the customization capabilities are built into the Mobile Epiphany software, and you can test the results of your changes as you go along. Remember, all that’s required are the subject-matter experts who have a process that needs to be made mobile. The software also features a powerful report-building and report-running tool, a business process design tool for rapid application configuration (RAC), an enterprise description and security administration tool so that you can decide who in the organization (or what group of people) can gain access to which data, as well as a data exploration tool for rapid look-up of data via an easy-to-use query engine.

    Reports

    All the customization and rapid configuration tools and capabilities sound great, but what about the reporting tools? What happens when you need to interface with the office IBM mainframe or a distributed military server network and then need to print or produce reports in a standard format with legacy reporting requirements? Not a problem; the Mobile Epiphany software can integrate to any legacy system on the company server or network seamlessly and produce reports in most all required formats.

    There are web services and APIs (application programming interface), which allow the software to be integrated to any other existing system or network. It is a combination push-and-pull process. While the software does not need any other back-end system to function (it is a full, end-to-end system), it can also function as powerful middleware for existing systems. The way Touch Inspect collects data and tracking geospatial metadata, it retains a rich layer of metadata on the assets and users in the system (as well as images and signatures that are also date, time, and geotagged) that most systems may not be designed to store and report on. Therefore, the integration of data from a legacy system into the Mobile Epiphany servers acts not only to mobilize the data, but to extend the capability of the legacy system, storing the geospatial metadata and other aspects of data that the legacy system was not designed to retain.

    Integration to other systems is certainly not a requirement to make use of the software. As stated previously, it is a full stand-alone, end-to-end system. But the Mobile Epiphany software works in such a unique way that customers can take advantage of the capability until their systems can be modified to store and forward the encrypted data as needed. Although Mobile Epiphany hosts their clients’ data in their servers in the cloud, the server technology need not be hosted by Mobile Epiphany. The Mobile Epiphany server technology is also available to customers who want to host and secure their own data behind their own firewalls. Like the new IBM commercial says, “We have to start thinking about data differently,” and once you experience the amount of rich metadata that the Touch Inspect software produces, you will understand why this is a popular capability.

     

    Bottom Line at the End – BLATE

    The Mobile Epiphany software is a valuable tool that our warfighters and fir
    st responders need to have in their arsenal now. The software by itself is a revelation, and when combined with real-time GPS data, it becomes a true force multiplier. The Mobile Epiphany software provides the warfighter and first responder with a capability that, once used, they will not want to be without.

    The Mobile Epiphany software is so easy to use and customize, and the user interface is so intuitive, that users are typically up and running and customizing the software in a matter of hours. When contrasted with the horrible user interface and proprietary software on the current MGUE (Mobile Government User Equipment) issued today, the Mobile Epiphany software is a simple no-brainer. Let’s make sure we provide our warfighters and first responders with the latest and greatest software and most friendly user interface available today; in my opinion, that is software from Mobile Epiphany. I will go so far as to say that if the current version of the handheld DAGR (Defense Advanced GPS Receiver) were running Mobile Epiphany software, it would be a valuable tool that warfighters would actually enjoy using, despite all its other shortcomings. I can say this because reportedly all the embedded DAGRs that are currently in use perform their tasks well, as long as the user does not actually have to interface directly with the device. What our warfighters actually say about the current DAGR user interface and operating system, we can’t print. But you can imagine. So it’s nice to know there could be a fix. Now I just need to get Rockwell Collins and Mobile Epiphany in the same room.

    But, hey. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just go to the Mobile Epiphany website and view the numerous video demos and tutorials. Or call the company and request a test drive. I am convinced you will agree with my assessment. Please click on the e-mail address below, and then drop us a line and let us know what you think at[email protected].

    This week (11-15 April 2011) I will be attending the 27th Annual National Space Symposium, the largest space symposium and exhibit in the world today, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the beautiful Broadmoor Resort. Tough duty, but somehow I will prevail. Be sure and check the GPS World website for my daily blogs, as I am sure the LightSquared debacle will be a focal point of many discussions. (For a list of all GPS World blogs, click here.)

    Until next time, happy navigating.

     

  • How Does the Potential AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile Affect the Location Industry?

    Now that CTIA is over, and without a lot of location-based services news at the Orlando show, the time is ripe to examine the potential blockbuster AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile and how it affects the location industry. In the meantime, is Apple trying to get its mapping initiatives stronger to compete with other heavyweights? Does this include trying to be its own map database provider?

     

    The potential blockbuster acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T raises some eyebrows in the location industry, not because of the consolidation of two major wireless carriers with navigation programs, but for spectrum availability issues. At least one analyst believes so.

    “I think AT&T has been very open in indicating that one of the major reasons for the acquisition of T-Mobile was a response to the spectrum crunch,” said Michael Dobson, TeleMapics president. “According to Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, their customers’ data usage has grown 8,000 percent over the last four years and is predicted to grow 8 to 10 times larger over the next five years. During the CEO Roundtable at CTIA, de la Vega indicated that the proposed deal will help to alleviate the spectrum crunch that both AT&T and T-Mobile are experiencing in key markets by allowing them to more efficiently use the allocated spectrum. I should note that details on how the spectrum would be used more efficiently as a result of the potential acquisition were not addressed at CTIA.”

    Dobson said Robert Roche of CTIA’s comment were illuminating. Roche indicated that data usage in 2010 grew by 110 percent compared to 2009 and totaled 388 billion megabytes of data. Note that this “data” total does not include the more than two trillion minutes of air-time generated by wireless users or the 2 trillion text messages sent by them during the same period, Dobson said.

    “In 2010 data accounted for approximately $50 billion of the total $160 billion, or services revenues realized by the wireless carriers. In 2000, data revenues for carriers were $211 million out of $55 billion in wireless service revenues,” he said. “In essence, data revenues have increased from less than one-percent of the revenue pie to almost one-third of present revenues over the last 10 years.”

    While it is impossible to ferret out the size of the data usage total that could be attributed to location services, Dobson says there is little reason to assume that it does not mirror the trend in data growth in general. “If AT&T can advantage itself by easing its spectrum crunch through the acquisition of T-Mobile, it could result in the company being more interested in navigation and LBS than in the past, especially if the action takes the heat off of them in the cellular call performance horse race with Verizon — for instance, fewer dropped calls,” he said.

    As an interesting side note, CTIA’s Roche indicated that texting has grown from an average of 14 million messages a month in 2000 to 187.7 billion messages during the 31 days of December 2010, Dobson said. “How many of these were related, in some manner, to location services or casual navigation — not a formal navigation service — remains unclear, but it is likely that many of these messages are about the user, where the user is, and where you can meet them,” he said. “Location and navigation are at the core of many social interactions, but finding the business strategy to unearth the value remains the problem for both the industry and the carriers.”

    Is Apple Trying to Improve Mapping?

    According to a number of recently published reports, Apple is starting to recognize that Google may have its stuff together on mapping technology and use. Recently, Apple had a job opening for an iOS Maps application developer — with rumors that it plans to redesign the iOS application — and even create its own maps database.

    “It is always difficult to know what Apple’s corporate strategy is in any area, much less one, like mapping, that is not in the limelight. While it is quite apparent that Apple will make some strategic move in mapping/location services, the nature of the strategy will likely be determined by Apple’s goals for its nascent advertising business aimed at mobile handsets,” Dobson said. “Those who use an iPhone have probably used the resident map app that is linked with a contact list. While the map data is provided by Google, the rest of the application was designed and developed by Apple. Clearly, they have experience in working with location data, as well as having augmented these skills through two modest acquisitions of companies who knew how to ‘munge’ data.”

    Dobson suspects that Apple will come out with some enhanced location software, featuring its usual slick interface and well-thought-out application. “However, the interesting question for the industry is whether or not Apple needs to be a map database provider in order to differentiate itself and its phones from the competition,” he said. “Android (Google) phones are powered by Google Maps, Nokia phones by Ovi Maps, and Windows phones by Bing Maps and soon by OVI Maps (Nokia) — although each of these is merely an instance of Navteq, which is, of course, owned by Nokia.”

    Dobson isn’t sure whether Apple needs to be a map supplier to be successful in the mobile advertising business. He said that the question, however, is whether or not Apple would be comfortable having a potentially substantial revenue streams dependent on the good will of a “foreign,” and possibly antagonistic, map supplier who is also a mobile competitor, or owned by one.

    “On the other hand, Apple is always upsetting the applecart. For example, I understand that one of the major traffic providers in the U.S. is developing a street-level database for the country’s top 20 urban areas,” he said. “When I first heard about this, it did not make much sense to me, since it is difficult to get into the navigation business with a piece of data here and a piece of data there. However, when I thought of this development as a strategy supporting an advertising play, it became a little more sensible. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what Apple intends until someone spills the beans, but it sure is fun speculating.”

    Is CTIA Becoming a Throw-away Show?

    Some industry observers have noticed the lack of real news at the CTIA conferences…and Dobson is one of those folks. “I have become disenchanted with CTIA and consider the show a throw-away. Anything interesting at CTIA must occur behind closed doors, because it certainly does not appear on the stage or on the exhibit floor,” he said. “On the other hand, perhaps I am too harsh; after all, these folks want to sell services and hardware and are not particularly interested in the details, as long as whatever it is, is hot,” he said. “My disdain for the lack of inquisitiveness at CTIA was sparked by a former Verizon President Denny Strigl, who has written a book about how to be a good manager.”

    At the conference Strigl said a manager needs to focus on four things — and only four things — to be successful as a manager. His recommendations: 1) grow your revenues, 2) add new customers, 3) retain old customers, and 4) cut costs. I realize that Mr. Strigl was generalizing, but it often seems that the CTIA audience sees data as a product to sell, but does not have a clear idea about the companies that provide quality data and the markets they serve, especially the location and navigation markets.

    “Please note that this is not sour grapes. Apparently unlike Mr. Strigl, I think that innovation in product development needs to be near the top of a manager’s to-do list. However,
    the innovation at CTIA seems to have come from Apple, Google, and others who decided how to take advantage of this weakness in the carriers’ philosophy,” Dobson said.

    In other LBS news:

    • I will be reporting at the O’Reilly Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, California, this month. If there are location topics you think I should know about and cover, please send me an e-mail.

  • GPS Surveying/Mapping Current Events

    Trimble Navigation has made a fair number of strategic acquisitions in the past ten years. Spectra-Precision and Tripod Data Systems were acquired early last decade. Applanix, Seco Manufacturing are some you’ve heard of, but there’s been a fair number of companies that you’ve never heard of, typically ones that allow Trimble to entrench themselves deeper into their core vertical markets (engineering, construction, GIS, MRM, etc.). Trimble has always strived at providing a complete solution (hardware, software, sensors, etc.) and it’s one of the reasons they’ve been so successful.

    Within the past 30 days, they announced two acquisitions that are higher profile and you may have noticed.

    The first acquisition was Measurement Devices, a UK-based company specializing in laser rangefinders. The acquisition is not surprising as the ground-based (terrestrial) laser scanning business is growing. Actually, I should clarify, I’m not sure it was an acquisition or what kind of acquisition it was since there’s been no press announcement on it that I’ve seen, but it doesn’t matter. Obviously, something happened because this week Trimble announced the Trimble LaserAce 1000 handheld laser rangefinder, which is clearly based on MDL technology.

    Trimble LaserAce 1000

    The second acquisition was a bit more surprising to me and some of you, but probably a smart move on Trimble’s part. Trimble announced they acquired certain assets of OmniSTAR’s land applications business. OmniSTAR also has a significant offshore client base (oil & gas) so apparently that wasn’t included in the sale. The acquisition does include OmniSTAR’s land business for North/South America, Europe/North Africa/Middle East/India, Asia Pacific, and South Africa.

    The OmniSTAR acquisition is pretty smart, at least for the medium-term. Trimble has been quietly (until now) growing their GPS correction service business. Their VRS Now service, a subscription-based RTK Network, provides both RTK and decimeter corrections in many parts of the world already. OmniSTAR will only enhance Trimble’s subscription offering. In the short-term, they will have a strong portfolio in the real-time corrections business with Deere/Navcom being the only other major player offering satellite-based world-wide subscription services. However, the Deere/Navcom system (StarFire) is focus on agriculture and doesn’t have much support from receiver manufacturers/integrators outside of the agriculture market like OmniSTAR does. With Trimble’s acquisition of OmniSTAR’s land business, Deere/Navcom might look at the non-ag markets differently. It will be interesting to watch.

    The longer-term competition for real-time decimeter correction are the public (free) SBAS such as WAAS (North America), EGNOS(Western Europe/No Africa), MSAS (Japan), and GAGAN (India). They are all slated to implement the new civil L5 signal. Once that happens, albeit 5-10 years from now, decimeter accuracy will be at your fingertips, free of charge, if you’re using an L1/L5 capable receiver and in an SBAS coverage area.

    Speaking of Deere/Navcom, just this week they showed signs of non-agriculture life by taking a step to enter markets outside of agriculture with the introduction of their pole-mount SF-3040 GNSS receiver. Although somewhat of a “me too” product, it does include the capability of accessing their StarFire network, which makes it unique.

    Deere/Navcom’s SF-3040 Pole-Mount GNSS Receiver

     

    Seeing how OmniSTAR seems to be a popular subject this week, newcomer Geneq added another OmniSTAR receiver to their product like this week. Claiming to be the smallest GPS L1/L2 OmniSTAR receiver in the world, they introduced the SXBlue III-L GPS that’s able to use OmniSTAR’s HP and XP corrections services. If you recall, a few months ago, Mike Whitehead and I collected 24 hrs. of OmniSTAR HP-corrected data as part of some experimenting we did for the January webinar. I ran the data through a rigorous statistical software program that randomly tested the accuracy of the data. The horizontal accuracy (at the NSSDA 95% confidence level) was 9cm.

    Geneq SXBlue III-L GPS

     

    LightSquared Saga

    I feel I need to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on with LightSquared. As crazy as it sounds, I could see the FCC pushing this through unless the GPS community makes a lot of noise. Bear in mind, I don’t think it’s an ‘all or nothing” deal. LightSquared is not going to rollover. For sure, the testing will show it jams GPS to some extent. I’m confident of that. At the end of the day, I think they will push for some sort of compromise, a compromise that would likely mean that GPS functionality would be degraded, possibly signal strength degradation. The high-precision users (sub-meter and below) will take the hit because those receivers try to squeeze as much from GPS as possible, so a few dB of signal strength is very important.

    On April 21, we are hosting a free webinar entitled “LightSquared and GPS: Our Story So Far”. I’ll be on the webinar dicussion panel as well as some people who are a lot more intelligent than me. My role is to bring a high-precision user community perspective to the discussion. If you want to gear up on the LightSquared issue, the webinar is a good opportunity.

    To help visualize the issue, following is a graphic I lifted from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website. I’ve inserted the GPS center frequencies (L1, L2, L5) as well as frequencies that LightSquared wants to use. If radios worked with nice, clean lines, we’d be in good shape. LightSquared would stay below 1559 MHz and GPS would stay above 1559 MHz. But it doesn’t work that way. High-precision GPS receivers use a wide radio front-end for improved performance. It can be as much as 25 MHz wide. 1575 MHz (GPS L1 center frequency) minus 25 MHz = 1550 MHz. LightSquared base stations are broadcasting at 1,500 watts. A certain amount of noise is going to invade the 1559-1610 MHz range that GPS uses. Furthermore, mobile devices built to use LightSquared’s signal may also invade the 1559-1610 MHz range. The water starts to become muddy very quickly. Bear that in mind when viewing the chart below.

     

    Source: FCC

     

    Click here
    to view the latest article from GPS World on LigthtSquared and GPS.

    Lastly, it’s not too late to take action. Following is a response I received from Oregon U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley after contacting his office about my concerns.

    I haven’t heard anything more since I received this letter on March 25, 2011, but I trust Mr. Merkley’s staff is querying the FCC about this. The more attention we draw to the issue, the better.

    Thanks, and see you next time.

    Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GPSGIS_Eric

     

  • New Technology in Forestry: Are You Ready?

    In the early 1990s, I recall being tasked with training a group of foresters on how to use a new-fangled handheld data collector the company I worked for had developed, along with various pieces of software on it for traversing, timber cruising, vegetation surveys, profiling, etc. Being fairly young and somewhat inexperienced, I didn’t fully understand the challenge of trying to convince a group of seasoned foresters to put away their pencils and “Rite in the Rain” tally cards and pick up an electronic gizmo in which they punched in their cruise plot info, traverse bearings, and various other pieces of field data. Of course, being involved in the development of the new-fangled handheld data collector, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Who could deny the value of error-checking to check for typos, graphic plot of traverses, and no transcribing back in the office?

    It’s too bad none (of mostly none) of the foresters in the room felt the same way.

    “I see how it will help the office people, but what’s in it for me?” questioned one.

    “It takes longer for me to punch it in the data collector than it does to write it down,” argued another.

    Upon sensing the building resentment, the HFIC (Head Forester In Charge) stood up in front of the room full of 40 or so foresters and said, “Well, folks, this is the direction we are going, so you need to get with the program.”

    Eventually, most of them adopted the new technology and some even embraced it. But some of the more technologically-resistant folks would go as far as using “Rite in the Rain” paper to record data in the woods only to return to their truck and enter it into the data collector. However, I believe after a period of time they became quite adept at data entry in their truck, so much so that the data collector eventually made its way into the woods with them.

    That was 20 years ago. The 80386 was the mainstream computer CPU, e-mail was still a novelty, websites were few and far between, and a mobile phone was about the size of lunch box.

    DuraRite “Rite in the Rain” Pocket Notebook

    Since that time, it seems like the forester has been bombarded with one mind-bending technology after another.

    Sorry to break the news to you, but technology is not settling down anytime soon. Following is a taste of where I think some of the technology is heading. In this issue, you’ll also read from my colleagues their take on the various technologies they work with on a regular basis.
    GPS

    Of course, GPS is close to my heart as I have written for GPS World magazine for many years and have been involved with GPS for more than 20 years. My first 10 years in GPS were spent developing GPS mapping products while the past 10 years have been spent as a power user of all sizes and shapes of GPS receivers, from ultra-miniature receivers giving mediocre accuracy to some of the highest -precision receivers ever made.

    Since GPS has been around a long time, you may think that is has reached a level of technological maturity. In some respects, you would be right. It’s been used by foresters since the late 1980s, albeit it has evolved significantly since then.

    In the early 1990s, GPS mapping receivers used for forestry were backpack configurations with handheld data recorders. WAAS didn’t exist, DGPS/beacons didn’t exist, Bluetooth didn’t exist, RTK Networks didn’t exist, and Selective Availability (SA) was active. SA meant that GPS autonomous accuracy (without any sort of correction) was about 100 meters. To improve accuracy, users had to post-process their GPS data using GPS base-station data. Public GPS base stations were virtually non-existent, and the Internet access was not commonplace, so most folks had to install, manage, and maintain their own GPS base stations.

    In May 2000, one of the most significant events in GPS history took place. The U.S. Government turned off SA. Overnight, the autonomous accuracy of GPS receivers increased ten-fold. It was never turned on again, and years later it was announced the feature wouldn’t be designed into future GPS satellites. It is gone forever.

    Since then, GPS availability and accuracy has increased due to a number of GPS system advancements as well as GPS receiver advancements. The price of GPS receivers have also dropped significantly. In 1990, a GPS receiver designed for 2-5 meter accurate mapping was priced at more than $10,000. Today, a sub-meter accurate GPS receiver can be purchased for under $2,000. That trend is going to continue. In fact, GPS is going to change a lot more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 10 years.

    Last year, the U.S. government launched a new generation satellite (model IIF) that adds another signal for civilians called L5. Once enough satellites are in orbit broadcasting L5 (as soon as 2015), you’ll likely see very inexpensive, high-accuracy GPS receivers.

    The beauty of the L5 signal is that it’s supported by other GPS-like systems such as Europe’s Galileo. The European Union is scheduled to launch its first two operational satellites this summer with the second pair scheduled for launch in early 2012. The first 18 Galileo satellites are projected to be in orbit by 2015. Since Galileo satellites use the same L1 and L5 frequencies as GPS satellites, a receiver designed for GPS is easily designed for Galileo, too. One advantage of a GPS/Galileo receiver is that you’ll have more satellites in view, and for foresters working under tree canopy or on steep terrain, this will make mapping a lot easier and quicker. For example, today you might have 6-7 GPS satellites in view while you’re in the woods. With future GPS and Galileo satellites, you might have 12 or 13 satellites in view.

    GPS receivers are becoming cheaper, better, and faster. Similar to personal computers, GPS receivers have declined in price and will continue to decline in price. Don’t be surprised if you see high-precision GPS receivers for mapping being sold for $100-200 in the future. WAAS is going to support L5, too. Today, the best accuracy you can get from WAAS is around two feet. Once WAAS supports L5 (around 2020), it will be able to provide accuracy of around four inches to inexpensive L1/L5 dual-frequency receivers.

    The Russian satellite system (GLONASS) has brought a lot to the table for surveyors and engineers in the past 10 years. In 2000, it seemed the GLONASS program was dead in the water and heading for extinction. The Russian Federation has done a fantastic job of revitalizing GLONASS to the point that GLONASS has become a standard feature on high-accuracy GNSS receivers across the surveying and engineering industries. The value of GLONASS is not accuracy, but rather availability. If you’re in the woods and having trouble tracking enough GPS satellites, GLONASS can add another 5-6 satellite signals, which can be the difference between getting a shot or not in dense tree canopy.

    While GLONASS used to be a feature only offered in high-accuracy surveying receivers due to its complex design, you will start to see mid-range GPS mapping receivers utilizing GLONASS. It’s also likely you’ll see consumer GPS receivers offering GLONASS as well because in the past couple of months, two of the GPS chipset companies introduced GPS/GLONASS chips for the consumer market.

    Bottom line: GPS receivers are going to get significantly more accurate, cheaper, and work in more places than they do today.
    Satellite Imagery

    At the Esri conference la
    st summer, Lawrie Jordan, Esri’s director of Imagery Solutions and founder of ERDAS, said this is the most exciting time to be involved in imagery in his 40-year career.

    Commercial satellite imagery quality and availability is the best it’s ever been. It wasn’t that long ago that five-year-old, three-meter-pixel resolution, black/white satellite imagery was the norm. Today, GeoEye, DigitalGlobe, RapidEye, and Spot Image are delivering an amazing amount of digital imagery at even more amazing resolutions on a regular basis. Jordan predicts that in less than five years, every square inch of the Earth will be imaged (by satellites) constantly. He said we are already half-way there.

    There is no better technology than satellite imagery for capturing the devastating impact of large-scale natural disasters such as the March 11, 2011, earthquake/tsunami in Japan.

    The following image (half-meter resolution) of Miniami Sanriku Cho, Japan, was captured by the GeoEye-1 satellite on November 15, 2009, prior to the earthquake/tsunami.

    Courtesy: GeoEye

    The next image (one-meter resolution) was taken on March 12, 2011, a day after the fifth strongest earthquake in recorded history struck off the coast of Japan, creating a massive tsunami that caused devastating flooding and resulted in extensive infrastructure damage and loss of life.

    Courtesy: GeoEye

    The following one-meter resolution image was shot by GeoEye’s IKONOS satellite on March 23, 2011. According to GeoEye, this is the Indian Gulch fire burning near Golden, Colorado. As of March 24, the fire had consumed 1,500 acres and was 25 percent contained. GeoEye says this type of imagery may be used to assess and measure damage to forest and other types of land cover — especially when compared to a false-color image of the same area.

    Courtesy: GeoEye

    Bottom line: Commercial satellite imagery is becoming more readily available and at higher resolutions than ever before. Look for that trend to continue.

     

    Lidar

    Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology that is sometimes referred to as 3D scanning. Traditionally, LiDAR is thought of as an airborne technology with a scanner mounted in an aircraft that can map huge swaths of ground, collecting elevation data in order to create a digital elevation model (DEM) for topographic surveys and other types of analysis. While collecting the data is relatively quick (albeit expensive), a huge amount of data is collected and must be processed.

    According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), two problems have hindered Lidar for scientific applications beyond creating bare-earth DEMs.

    1. The high cost of collecting Lidar data.
    2. The steep learning curve on research and understanding how to use the entire point cloud.

    While airborne Lidar has been around for quite some time, terrestrial (land-based) Lidar has made a strong push in recent years, and has even made its appearance on mainstream television (Crime Scene Investigation – CSI on CBS, 2005). Working on the same concept of 3D scanning, terrestrial Lidar is not used from thousands of feet in the air looking down, but rather on a tripod scanning a room, or scanning a bridge from 200 feet in the distance.

    Courtesy: Wikipedia

    Personally, I coordinated a 3D scanning project many years to create a 3D model of a wrecked SAAB 9000 as part of an accident reconstruction project. The process of scanning was very quick. It was completed within a couple of hours. The process of creating a deliverable (this was circa. 2003), however, was another story. It was a very labor-intensive project that took weeks. Today, software to create a deliverable from these big “point cloud” files has improved dramatically and more increasingly, third party software developers are creating software tools that assist users in working with these data sets.

     

    Terrestrial 3D scanners first started making their appearance in the land surveying and civil engineering professions. 3D scanners are an efficient way to create complex as-built maps such as in refineries.

    Courtesy: Wikipedia

    They still have somewhat of a steep price tag today, but they were especially expensive when they were first introduced, well over $100,000 at that time.

    But terrestrial 3D scanning is hitting its stride and finding its way into other industries besides surveying and engineering. Yes, even forestry. Albeit in its early stages of development, 3D scanners are being hauled into the woods.

    Take a look at the following illustration courtesy of TreeMetrics of Ireland.

    Courtesy: TreeMetrics Ltd

    According to TreeMetrics, millions of points are collected with each 30 meter scan. After downloading the scan data, software filters irrelevant data and creates a 3D profile of each tree. The DBH, height, taper, straightness and volume are calculated for each tree. Trees that weren’t scanned due to heavy branches or other obstructions are modeled. Stem data files are then produced from which simulation models can be developed that will be used to estimate the product value before a tree is harvested. If harvesting is not done at that time, data is recorded and can be compared to future scans to monitor growth and health.

    Bottom line: 3D scanning, especially terrestrial 3D scanning, is a technology you’ll see in the not-so-distant future, maybe even in the woods. Prices of 3D scanning equipment will continue to decline while software to handle the massive point clouds will continue to become more powerful.

    GPS, satellite imagery, and Lidar are only three of a number of advancing technologies that foresters will see working their way into their toolkit. Mobile phones are also advancing at a rapid pace, becoming significantly more powerful and performing many more tasks than just a phone. The more advanced mobile phones have a GPS chip built inside as well as street maps and aerial photos a la Google and Microsoft. If you look back at mobile phones 10 years ago and compare them to today’s phone, it’s hard to imagine where they will be 10 years from now. They could quite possibly be the central piece of office equipment for all your communications and document management.

     

     

    Thanks, and see you next week.

    Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GPSGIS_Eric

  • Tamper Resistance

    By Oscar Pozzobon, Chris Wullems, and Marco Detratti

    Modern GNSS will provide access control to the signal through spreading-code encryption and/or authentication at the navigation data level. This will require support within the receiver for secure cryptographic keys and the implementation of security functions. This article reviews vulnerabilities of these security functions, and reviews design considerations to mitigate attacks.

    The threat of spoofing attack on GNSS has led to the design of signals and receiver technologies addressing this problem at signal, data, and receiver levels. Transportation, governmental, financial, and access-control applications demand trusted position velocity and time. Security functions in the receiver require implementation of cryptographic functions and key storage in the receiver. We can distinguish three uses of cryptographic keys and functions:

    • signal access control;
    • navigation data authentication and access control; and
    • position, velocity, time, and signal authentication state privacy and integrity.

    The need to protect the cryptographic functions and keys, software, hardware, and data communication of next-generation secure GNSS receivers against attacks is imperative, to prevent signal spoofing and signal and position access to an hostile party. Here we provide guidelines that can support the design of tamper-resistant GNSS receivers.

    Signal access control is achieved through spreading-code encryption. The spreading sequence is encrypted with a stream cipher, and the receiver needs the key in order to locally reproduce the signal and perform operations of acquisition and tracking. If the stream cipher frequency is considerably lower than the original code chipping rate frequency, such as the GPS W-code with respect to the P-code, other codeless and semi-codeless techniques can be used for signal tracking. However, these techniques lie outside the objective of this study that will focus on the need for keys to decode the signal, and the requirements to protect them.

    Direct sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) access-control schemes can be implemented with a binary-stream cipher that acts as pseudorandom spreading sequence, or the spreading sequence can be modulo 2 summed to a stream cipher at the same or different frequency. The encryption module in the transmitter needs the key and initialization vector (IV) to perform the encryption operation. It is assumed that the transmitted signal (neglecting signal amplitute) will be:

    Eq-1(1)

    where Oak and Obk are the publicly known spreading codes such as the C/A and P-code of GPS for every K satellite, SCk is the is the stream cipher (W code for GPS) and Dk is the transmitted data. After the AD conversion the signal will be:

    Eq-2(2)

    where e(n) is the thermal noise introduced in the sampling process.

    After the carrier removal by multiplication with sin (2π fIFn) to obtain the quadrature arm containing the encrypted signal, and after the application of a low-pass filter to cut the 2π (2 fIF) frequency, the remaining signal for every satellite is:

    Eq-3(3)

    The encryption module in the receiver needs the key and IV to recreate the local signal and perform code acquisition and tracking. Cryptographic keys in GNSS are assumed to be secured in the ground and space segment, and the ground control center performs operations of key loading to the satellites. However, key loading to the GNSS receiver is a sensitive operation. An adversary might obtain the keys and use them to access the encrypted signal in other receivers.

    A malicious key recovery could be used to generate false encrypted signals, leading to a risk of signal spoofing. Key loading to the receiver can be achieved with a public key encryption and public key infrastructure, where the stream cipher key and IV are encrypted with the receiver public key, and only the receiver private key can decrypt the cipher key and IV.

    The receiver private key and stream cipher key must be protected by a tamper-resistant module to prevent attacks. Figure 1 shows a high-level block diagram of a GNSS receiver with functions to access encrypted codes. There are two areas to be protected, depending on the security objectives:

    Limit access of the signal to a restricted group: prevent signal spoofing. The red blocks shows the critical components to protect these objectives, including the storage of the secret keys, the stream cipher generation, and the final local secret code (LSC) replica (4) which is a noise-less signal from which the stream cipher can be easily obtained by modulo 2 sum of the local not-secret Obk code (5).

    Eq-4(4)

    Eq-5(5)

    The red blocks should be protected in order to avoid key recovery or cipher stream analysis by an attacker.

    P-1
    Figure 1. Signal access control sensitive blocks.

    Control access to Position, Velocity and Time (PVT). The yellow blocks show the critical components that should also be further protected in order to limit the PVT access. The tracking functions provide information such timing and pseudorange measurement that can be used for positioning, and the communication line should be protected. The navigation processing block performs the position and time solution, and the access to the data shall be protected.

    Data Authentication, Access Control. A system might provide access control and authentication to the navigation data only. In such a design, the spreading sequence is publicly known, while the data is encrypted or contains authentication messages. The security objectives can be distinguished as:

    ◾ Access control to data of the acquisition and tracking functions. If fundamental parameters for the position solutions are encrypted (such as transmission time and satellite position) and therefore unavailable, a GNSS receiver could attempt the PVT solution with standard approaches. Therefore the Navigation Message Encryption (NME) restricts the access of PVT only to the user group that has the cryptographic keys for the navigation message decryption.

    ◾ Navigation Data Integrity. Navigation data can be authenticated (with cryptographic authentication schemes such as Message Authentication Schemes [MAC] or digital signatures). The objective of Navigation Message Authentication (NMA) is to provide an enhancement to the integrity of the messages towards intentional attacks. Such design can be an option in order to reduce the signal spoofing risk, as an attacker needs to rely on the messages (with a receiver-spoofer architecture for example).

    Figure 2 provides an high-level architecture of a GNSS receiver block diagram that supports NMA and/or NME. The red blocks shows the sensitive parts that must be protected. In case of NMA the key that verifies the integrity (for example, a public key certificate) must be stored securely to avoid an attacker substituting the key and spoofing the navigation data with alternative keys (for example, the root CA could be stored in ROM). A trusted clock component is included in the diagram, as it can be an interesting option to consider in order to avoid NMA spoofing attacks.

    P-2
    Figure 2. Schematic of assistance solution.

    PVT and Signal Authentication State Integrity and Privacy. Many applications require a PVT integrity to be cryptographically verifiable. Applications that require secure tracking systems (anti-theft, hazmat tracking, road toll, navigation statistics for insurance companies) and information security applications based on GNSS (location-based access control and geo-encryption) require PVT integrity. It is trivial to tamper with the data communication between a GNSS receiver and a final application (for example, interfering with the serial output of the chipset) and generate false PVT, in a data-spoofing attack. In Figure 2 the cryptographic keys used to add integrity to the PVT messages are typically different from the keys used for NMA or NME, and are application-specific. Such an architecture could be also the choice for differential corrections authentication, where the navigation processing block could verify the integrity of the correction data before aiding the position solution algorithm.

    Attacks on Security Functions

    This section identifies attacks that can compromise the functions of the previous section. Attacks to the signal are not pertinent to this work. We distinguish the attacks in two main categories: physical attacks and side-channel attacks. Among physical attacks, we distinguish:

    Microprobing. This refers to techniques that attempt to access the physical components of GNSS receiver such as the baseband processor and RAM/ROM memory chip surface to observe and manipulate sensitive data. A microprobing attack can be targeted to recover the cryptographic keys.

    Focused Ion Beam. FIB is a technique for deposition and ablation of materials in semiconductors, where chip material can be removed with micrometer resolution. It consists of a vacuum chamber with a particle gun. FIBs are used by attackers for manually probing the signal of interest. A micrometer hole is created to reach the signal of interest and filled with platinum, terminating with a pad. The signal can then be connected to an external probe.

    Software Attacks. These happen through vulnerabilities of the communication interface or security protocols, or through malicious firmware upgrades in the baseband processor.

    Eavesdropping Techniques. These monitor sensitive communication lines (such as baseband to HW correlator where the spreading code could be observed).

    The most common side-channel attacks are timing, power, and fault analysis, in which an attacker seeks to exploit side-channel information in order to recover a cryptographic key. The most effective mitigation strategy against such attacks is to design and implement the cryptosystems with the assumption that information (time and power) will leak. Different types of side-channel attacks and their respective countermeasures are:

    Fault-Generation Techniques. These are used to investigate ciphers and extract keys by generating faults in the system, either by intentionally causing faults or by natural faults that occur. Faults can be most often caused by changing the voltage, tampering with the clock, changing temperatures, and applying radiation of various types.

    Timing Analysis. This class of attack allows cryptanalysts to extract keys by analyzing the time taken to execute cryptographic algorithms. Every logical operation in a computer takes time to execute, and the time can differ based on the input; with precise measurements of the time for each operation, an attacker can work backwards to the input.

    Simple and Differential Power Analysis. SPA or DPA is a class of attack that allows cryptanalysts to extract secret keys and compromise the security of smart cards and other cryptographic devices by analyzing their power consumption. Differential power analysis attacks use statistical analysis and error-correction statistical methods to obtain information about the keys.

    Electromagnetic Radiation Analysis. This is concerned with the monitoring/recording of radiation for the purpose of obtaining information about the operation of associated hardware, which could be used ultimately to determine cryptographic keys. Fluctuations in current generate radio waves, making whatever is producing the currents, in principle, subject to a van Eck (TEMPEST) attack. If the currents concerned are patterned in distinguishable ways, which is typically the case, the radiation can be recorded and analyzed in order to infer information on the operation of such hardware.

    Acoustic Analysis is concerned with the observation of the acoustic emissions from a chip in order to obtain information about the code being executed. Information about the operation of cryptosystems and algorithms can be obtained in this way. Flowing currents heat the materials through which they flow. Those materials also continually lose heat to the environment due to other equally fundamental facts of thermodynamic existence, so there is a continually changing thermally induced mechanical stress as a result of these heating and cooling effects. That stress appears to be the most significant contributor to low-level acoustic (that is, noise) emissions from operating CPUs. If the surface of the CPU chip, or in some cases the CPU package, can be observed, infrared images can also provide information about the code being executed on the CPU, known as a thermal imaging attack.

    Mitigation Strategies

    We derived several design considerations to mitigate attacks from our experience during the development of the Trusted Innovative GNSS rEceiveR (TIGER) project. The TIGER is a tamper-resistant GNSS receiver which provides PVT integrity, signal spoofing and jamming detection, and signal state attestation with an open GNSS signal.

    Cryptographic subsystem. This is designed for resistance against timing-based attacks. Timing-based attacks targeted to the cryptographic module can be prevented by careful implementation of the cryptographic functions. A non-exhaustive list of countermeasures that can be considered for mitigation of timing-based attacks includes:

    • Ensure that the time a cryptographic operation takes is independent of the input data or key bits. These operations should take the same number of clock cycles.
    • Ensure that the software implementation of critical code does not contain conditional branches (i.e., IF statements). Functions should use operations such as AND, OR, or XOR instead .
    • Ensure time taken for multiplication and exponentiation is the same, such that an attacker cannot learn how many multiplications and how many exponentiations have been performed. A simple method is to always perform both multiplication and exponentiation.
    • Addition of delays such that all operations take the same amount of time, although this can have a detrimental effect on performance. The addition of random delays can increase attack difficulty.

    Protection from Electronic Level Interception/Monitoring. One approach for mitigation of microprobing attacks is the use of a tamper-detection mesh. A tamper mesh acts as a continuously powered sensor in which all the paths are continuously monitored for interruptions and short-circuit. For single-chip solutions the mesh is integrated as a top-level metallization layer. For multichip solutions the mesh can be developed in order to cover all the sensitive components. In both cases the tamper-detection mesh is connected to a supervisory circuit that performs an action if tamper is detected such as zeroization of the cryptographic keys and the memory content.

    The designer of the mesh must be careful in the pattern design in order to avoid entry points or escape routes that can easily provide access for an attacker. Such vulnerability was found for example in the ST16SF48A tamper mesh. One approach considered in the TIGER security mesh design is the combination of a tamper mesh glued with epoxy to a metal shield (Figure 3). The mesh is wired internally to a security supervisor and linked via connectors. Any attempts to lift the metal shields or tamper the mesh will trigger the security supervisor (SUP) that immediately erases the keys and memory. Furthermore the metal shield limits the electromagnetic emissions, reducing the risk of TEMPEST attacks.

    P-3
    Figure 3. TIGER tamper mesh concept.

    Designing the PCB in order to run sensitive signals (such as data communication lines) in the inner layers is another security enhancement that has been integrated in TIGER. TIGER has been designed also to support the GORE Secure Encapsulated Module, which is an envelope that completely covers the module and is connected to the internal security supervisor. This tamper mesh is targeted at FIPS 140-2, Level 4, DoD, NSA Type 1 security and CESG Enhanced Grade security.

    Security Supervisor Circuit. A security supervisor can be an option to monitor the tamper mesh status and other physical attacks. The concept of a security supervisor is to store the cryptographic keys in a secure memory, and erase them if a security event is triggered. Security supervisors support the security level requirements of FIPS 140-2 and Common criteria with functions as real-time clock, tamper comparator, tamper logic inputs (for case switch, for example), temperature sensor (required for FIPS 140-2 level 4), and nonimprinting key memory.

    A security supervisor has been integrated in TIGER (Figure 4) to support these security functions and facilitate the certification process. The cryptographic keys are loaded to the security supervisor in a non-inprinting key memory via a security processing microcontroller, which performs encryption functions and GNSS security processing such as secure timing synchronization, spoofing, and jamming detection. The non-inprinting key memory addresses the security risk created by the tendency of the memory cells to exhibit charge accumulation or depletion in the oxide layers of the devices composing the memory cells.

    P-4
    Figure 4. TIGER hardware security components.

    Standard Memory cells suffer from charge accumulation or depletion in the oxide layers when the data is stored over a long period of time, leaving an imprint of the data that was stored. This data can be recovered also after a memory clear operation.

    The non-inprinting key memory addresses this security risk as the technology has been designed and developed to eliminate the problem of oxide stress with a continuous complementing of the device’s SRAM powered by the back-up battery. In case of tamper event the entire memory is cleared leaving no traces in specific sectors.

    Tamper-resistant coatings (TRC). This is referred as the use of a protective layer of resin or thermal spray ceramic that limits the direct access to PCB traces and components. Although it can make the attacker’s job harder, with the possibility to break the outer layer traces or components at the first attempt, it does not stop subsequent microprobing attacks once the hardware design has been discovered.

    Conclusion

    Future secure GNSS receivers should be designed with the considerations presented here in order to protect sensitive signals and the position and time data integrity.

    Acknowledgment

    The TIGER project received funding from the Galileo Supervisory Authority, via the European Community’s framework programme ([FP7/2007-2013][FP7/2007-2011]) under grant agreement n° 228443.

    The material in this article was first presented at the ESA/IEEE NAVITEC 2010 conference, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, as “Security Considerations in the design of tamper resistant GNSS receivers.”

    Oscar Pozzobon is the technical director and co-founder of Qascom S.r.l. Italy. He received a diploma in computer science engineering and a degree in information technology engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, and a master’s degree in telecommunication engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia.

    Chris Wullems is a co-founder of Qascom S.r.l. Italy. He has been engaged in projects that range from secure tracking for hazardous and safety-critical applications to development of GNSS receiver security technologies.. He received his Ph.D. from Queensland University of Technology in Australia.

    Marco Detratti received a M. Sc. in electronic engineering from the University of Perugia, Italy, and a diploma of advanced studies from the University of Cantabria, Spain. At present he is with the European GNSS Agency (GSA) acting as market innovation officer. His research interests include evolution of GNSSs, implementation and prototyping issues of GNSS receivers, and emerging applications of GNSS technologies.

  • GIS In Action 2011 Conference

    I spent a day at the GIS In Action 2011 in Portland, OR this week. While it was a relatively small conference (~200 attendees), the former Governor of Wyoming and current Esri Director of Policy & Public Sector Strategy, Jim Geringer, was the keynote speaker who had a interesting perspective.

    The most interesting part of Mr. Geringer’s keynote was not really about GIS, at least not technically. He posed the question “If you had 10 minutes at the top, what would you talk about?”

    It’s an interesting question. What if you had your 10 minutes at the top? What would you talk about? The “top” may be your state Governor or it could be your organization’s IT department chief, Budget Director, or anyone else with little knowledge about GIS but who makes policy and/or budget decisions that affect your department’s GIS.

    Mr. Geringer, undoubtedly one who was on the receiving end of many of these 10 minute lightning talks, emphasized that you’ve got to make your talk relevant to something that is on that person’s list of current topics. Following is a slide that Mr. Geringer displayed when talking about this subject.

     

     

    For example, if there’s a severe drought in your state, it might be in the Governor’s Top 10 list of concerns. In that case, you might emphasize the importance of GIS in analyzing the water resource problem and how it might help develop solutions. Another example might be criminal activity in your city. If you were to have 10 minutes with your City Mayor, you could explain how GIS could be (or is) used to analyze trends in criminal activity so that crime-fighting resources might be more efficiently allocated.

    I think the Governor’s point well-taken. It’s very easy (I’m guilty of it as much as anyone) to get caught up in our own world of technology and forget how to explain to people outside of our geospatial industry how important geography is in most challenges we face.

    Another interesting subject the former governor discussing were the top 10 issues facing state government, from his perspective.

     

     

    His point is well-made that all of these issues have a geographic element to them.

    To emphasize the #1 issue facing U.S. state governments, he presented the following slide.

     

    And, of course, a conversation about GIS trends would not be complete without a discussion about the explosion of mobile devices.

     

     

    Another presentation I attended at the conference was one from Jon Aschenbach who discussed a snowboarding half-pipe mapping project on Mount Hood in Oregon.

    The problem was that the operator didn’t know exactly where to position the half-pipe during the fall before the snow fell. If they didn’t position it correctly, they would have to move it mid-season, due to lack of snow, at a cost of $10,000+.

     

    The elevation difference from the top of the half-pipe to the bottom of the half-pipe is nearly 1,000 feet.

     

     

    The crew collected topographic data when the snow was largely melted to understand the best placement for the half-pipe. If they place the half-pipe optimally, they will avoid rocks emerging in the late spring as the snow begins to melt and enjoy a longer season and avoid having to move the half-pipe.

     

    During the winter, the crew took measurements to understand the depth of the snow at certain locations on the half-pipe.

     

     

    One of the challenges was finding a solid surface to locate the GPS base station and also to optimize the range of the spread-spectrum RTK radios.

     

     

    According to the presentation, Mount Hood receives an average of 550 inches of snowfall each year. It’s high elevation helps retain snow into the summer. It’s a world-class area for skiing and snowboarding. Olympic snow ski and snowboard teams train at Mount Hood during the summer.

     

    Thanks, and see you next week.

    Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GPSGIS_Eric

  • On the Edge: Making Peace: Surveyor’s GPS Device Serves as Mediator in Kenyan Land Dispute

    By Noah Kertich

    Early morning on February 2, 2011, I went to work in my job as a road surveyor in the Bungoma District of Kenya. Here, land disputes are common, though the government is trying to reduce the conflicts by issuing land titles and certificates.

    I carried with me a small handheld GPS, the Magellan Explorist 100. While I was using it, a stout man in early fifties approached me and introduced himself as a surveyor, too. He was very interested in the way I was walking around with the “gadget,” trying to locate a control point. He asked me how the gadget worked. I explained it to him, showing him how its easy to use in general boundary surveys. He was satisfied, and we exchanged contacts and parted.

    A month later, he called me for help. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me there were a group of land owners, or members, who were about to kill each other in a dispute over a 128-acre farm they had bought. These members had each contributed money to buy a single parcel with the intention of subdividing it fairly. They were engaged in a disagreement about the boundaries and the subdivision of the farm. The gentleman asked me if I could take a survey of the farm sometime in the next few days. Concerned about the conflict, I answered, “Yes, in hours not days.” Still, it wasn’t until two days later that he could assemble the members of the disputed farm and called me to mark the boundaries for them.

    I arrived at the farm with my Magellan GPS and my laptop. To my dismay, I found that some of the members were armed with crude weapons, ready to fight each other. I asked them to be peaceful and wait for just a few hours while I surveyed the site.
    I started picking the boundary corners of the farm all around the permiter. I was through with that task in less than 35 minutes. This parcel of land was to be divided into 18 pieces. I uploaded the data manually to my laptop, then I did the subdivision using AutoCAD Land Development 2000.

    After two hours and fifteen minutes, I called the members and told them to ready themselves to be shown the boundaries of their property.

    I walked around the property with them, guided by my handheld GPS, to each boundary beacon. After one and a half hours, the warring members were shaking hands and laughing, saying “So, it was that easy!”

    The dispute had ended, and was solved peacefully. My small Magellan Explorist 100 acted as a peace mediator.

     

    Noah Kertich is a surveyor with H Young Construction EA Ltd., which is under contract with the World Bank in conjunction with the government of Kenya. Kertich graduated from the Kenya Institute of Surveying and Mapping in 2004 and received a diploma in photogrammetry and GIS from Icaros Geosystems, Israel, in 2008.

  • Webinar Brief – A Closer Look at L5: The Future of High-Precision GNSS

    Yesterday I conducted a webinar titled “A Closer Look at L5: The Future of High-Precision GNSS.” Preparing for it was quite interesting, so I thought I’d share some of the slides I produced (and had produced) for the webinar. I think you’ll find them interesting.

    The webinar was focused on discussing the value of the new L5 civilan frequency for GPS/GNSS receivers. An interesting challenge in preparing for the webinar was my attempt at estimating what a satellite constellation of satellites (GPS and others) broadcasting at least L1 and L5 would look like four or five years from now. The point of it was to illustrate that a useful constellation of satellites broadcasting L1 and L5 (as well as L2C) is potentially only four to five years away.

    In that timeframe, there are potentially 30 satellites that would be healthy and broadcasting navigation signals on the L1 and L5 frequencies that we can use. How is that possible?

    Both GPS and Europe’s Galileo support the new L5 civil frequency (as well as L1). The U.S. has already launched one of the new GPS model IIF satellites. The IIF is currently healthy and broadcasting three civil frequencies; L1 C/A, L2C and L5. There are 11 more of the IIF satellites being built. It’s estimated that all 11 will have been launched into their orbits by ~2015. On the other hand, the first 18 Galileo satellites have been contracted to be built, and it’s estimated that the 18 will be launched into their orbits by ~2015. The Galileo satellites are designed to support L1 and L5 (as well as others). That’s a total of 30 satellites broadcasting L1 and L5.

    In an ideal world and in the best interest of the civilian user community, the Americans and Europeans would coordinate orbits planes/slots of the 30 satellites so they would be in an optimal configuration (steady # of visible satellites, reasonable PDOP) for the user community. But, I seriously doubt that’s going to happen.

    So, the next best thing is to attempt to estimate what an “uncoordinated” constellation of 30 GPS/Galileo satellites would look like in 2015 (assuming the launch schedules hold). Fortunately, our friends at the Galileo Supervisory Authority (GSA) have already mapped out the orbit plane/slot data for the 18 satellites. Without that data, none of these projections would have been possible.

    GPS was a little tougher to estimate. The U.S. Air Force doesn’t have (or at least they don’t share) a long-range plan for where the next 11 IIF satellites are going to be inserted in the GPS constellation. They look out one satellite at a time. That’s understandable because the health of the GPS constellation changes over time. However, the U.S. Air Force does present a “watch list” of the weaker satellites in the constellation so we have some idea of where the new ones are going to be placed.

    Once we compiled the information from the Galileo folks and our projections on where the next 11 IIF GPS satellites will be inserted, we were able to come up with some interesting plots I’d like to share with you.

    All of the following satellite visibility plots are based on my location in Portland, Oregon, USA, and with a 15º elevation mask. Using a 15º elevation mask is pretty conservative so the plots are pretty conservative if you’re working in an open-sky environment like in agriculture.

    The first plot is of the 12 GPS IIF satellites only. You can see there’s an average of about three IIF satellites in view between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Thanks to Analytical Graphics, Inc. for help generate the following plots.

     

     

    The next plot is of the 18 Galileo satellites. You can see there’s an average of 4-5 Galileo satellites in view between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

     

     

    The next plot is of both the 12 GPS IIF satellites and the 18 Galileo satellites. You can see there’s an average of 8 GPS IIF and Galileo satellites in view between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

     

     

    Finally, the last plot is of the 12 GPS IIF satellites, 18 Galileo satellites, and the 19 remaining legacy GPS satellites (broadcasting L1 and L2). You can see there’s an average of 12 GPS IIF, Galileo, and legacy GPS satellites in view between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

     

    For a different perspective, here are 3D orbit plots of the 18 Galileo satellites and the 12 GPS IIF satellites.

    3D orbit plot of 18 Galileo satellites

     

    3D orbit plot of 12 GPS IIF satellites

    There are several more plots similar to these in my webinar for different locations around the world including London, Rio de Janeiro, New Dehli, Perth, and Bangkok. In the webinar presentation, I also provide more details about the benefits of L5. You can view a recording of the webinar by registering here. After registering, you’ll receive an e-mail with instructions on how to view the webinar.

    Thanks, and see you next time.

    Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GPSGIS_Eric

  • Trimble Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire OmniSTAR Assets for Land Applications

    Trimble today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets related to the OmniSTAR GNSS signal corrections business from Fugro N.V. The acquisition is expected to significantly expand Trimble’s worldwide ability to provide corrections services for land based agriculture, construction, mapping, and geographic information system (GIS) and survey applications.

    Trimble and Fugro also entered into a multi-year service agreement which includes Fugro’s ongoing operation of its correction network and satellite service broadcast systems that power the OmniSTAR service. Fugro’s offshore marine business is unaffected. Closing of the transaction, anticipated in the first quarter, is subject to certain closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

    OmniSTAR provides space-based GNSS correction services that can improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver for precise positioning applications. These are the four levels of OmniSTAR service:

    • VBS offers sub-meter positioning.
    • XP service delivers better than 20-centimeter accuracy.
    • HP service delivers greater than 10-centimeter accuracy.
    • The new OmniSTAR G2 service combines GPS-plus-GLONASS-based corrections to provide decimeter level positioning.

    Trimble pioneered RTK technology in the early 1990s, which enabled high-accuracy corrections for field applications. RTK is now recognized as the industry leading technology for centimeter-level positioning. To further improve accuracy, Trimble subsequently introduced VRS technology in 2000 and shortly after that Trimble VRS Now Service.

    “With the addition of the OmniSTAR services and our strong relationship with Fugro, we will offer a full range of high-precision positioning capabilities which now includes satellite-delivered corrections,” said Patricia Boothe, general manager of Trimble’s newly-formed Positioning Services Division. “Today, our agriculture customers use OmniSTAR services to perform planting, harvesting, variable rate application and many other operations. Our expanded portfolio will provide not only farmers, but also surveying, construction, and GIS professionals with more options to satisfy their particular accuracy, delivery, and financial needs.”

    “Trimble and OmniSTAR have enjoyed a long standing relationship,” said John Waits, president of OmniSTAR. “The transfer of land-based GNSS signal corrections assets marks the next phase of our efforts to bring a broader range of positioning services to our combined customer base, on land and offshore. The OmniSTAR and Fugro teams remain committed to providing industry leading corrections services for customers who own a variety of GNSS receivers.”

    The OmniSTAR business will be reported as part of Trimble’s Engineering and Construction segment.

  • A Look at the Rugged Handheld Algiz 7

    The warfighters have spoken. My correspondence lately has been full of questions about tablet and handheld computers. My sources at AT&T and Verizon tell me that the number of iPads in Iraq and Afghanistan have doubled in the last year alone. The problem is that Apple iPads and iPhones, for all their ubiquity, are not rugged in any sense of the word. Enter Handheld US with the Algiz 7.

    Algiz-7-on-snowy-ground-W

    The warfighters have spoken. My correspondence lately has been full of questions about tablet and handheld computers. Out of every 10 letters or emails, seven contain comments or questions about tablet type or handheld computers.

    Ever since the Apple iPad came bursting onto the portable computer scene, everyone else has been trying to produce a competitor. Now that the iPad 2 has bowed, everyone is once again behind the eight ball and struggling to catch up.

    My sources at AT&T and Verizon tell me that the number of iPads in Iraq and Afghanistan have doubled in the last year alone. Skype calls are the most frequent way our warfighters stay in touch with their loved ones. Viewing those you care about on a high-definition 10-inch color screen beats a MARS call any day!

    The problem, of course, is that Apple iPads and iPhones for all their ubiquity are not rugged in any sense of the word. You can make them more rugged with the excellent line of Otterbox cases I have reviewed in the past, but the fact remains that the iPad and iPhone are still not built from the ground up to be a rugged computing device, no matter how badly we think we treat them in our day-to-day work and commuting environment.

    The Swedes at the Gates

    Enter Handheld US, an affiliate of Handheld Group AB, a Swedish firm located in Lidkoping, which is a thriving metropolis of about 30,000 hardy inhabitants. Not surprisingly Handheld Group AB and Handheld US specialize in rugged handheld computers, like the Algiz 7, that are designed and built from the ground up for the rugged outdoors, for first responders, and for the military war zone environment.

    ROE – Rules of Engagement

    As many of my regular readers know, I review rugged military-compatible handheld computers on a regular basis. As with all the rugged computers I review, I put them through a series of torture tests. The ones that fail you never hear about, because I have a policy of never writing a bad review. Why should I waste my time and yours? After all, we both want to know about products that work as advertised, right? I know I do and be assured, BLUF, bottom line up front, the Algiz 7 lives up to its reputation as a rugged handheld or tablet computer that from all reports functions well in rugged military theaters such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Warfighters

    Several of our warfighters are currently using the Algiz 7 as well as many of the other Handheld US derivatives, many of them from companies such as Trimble that are repackaged and resold by Handheld US. To date it has been my experience that as a first responder or warfighter you cannot go wrong with any of the rugged Handheld US computers I have had the pleasure to review.

    Torture Tests

    As far as my torture tests are concerned, they usually involve lots of water, snow banks, and freezing temperatures, with some mud and ice thrown in for good measure, along with a few drops from several feet onto hard frozen ground. When I looked up Handheld Group AB and found their location in Sweden, it immediately became clear that the Handheld Group AB folks can test their computers the way I do almost any day of the week for a large portion of the year, just by stepping out their front door. Even so, I assiduously ran the Algiz 7 through all the torture tests and it survived admirably. Plus unlike many of the nearly sea-level tests in Sweden, my tests are performed at about 7,000 feet above sea level or higher, more closely resembling the altitudes in parts of Afghanistan.

    Specifications

    The word Algiz can mean many things, but is usually translated as “elk,” and that is a rugged animal. I see them occasionally in my backyard and they certainly survive in some rugged environments in the Rocky Mountains, so the name is fitting. The Algiz 7 certainly sounds better than the Elk 7.

    The Algiz 7 is a rugged handheld Windows 7 computer with integrated GPS capability perfect for today’s warfighters in many respects.

    We have been batting the word “rugged” around for some time, and now might be a good time to define exactly what rugged means. I have told you about my unofficial tests that are based on some of the MilSpec (military specifications) standards and their readily available definitions. However, it is interesting to see how Handheld defines rugged. Handheld defines rugged in its literature as pertaining to environmental specifications, of which the three most common and useful are:

    • Temperature range,
    • MIL-STD-810F/G
    • IP

    Fortunately for users, these specifications are almost always prominently listed on the product data sheet, but what the heck do they really mean? How do they translate into real-world requirements, especially in battlefield conditions?

    The temperature specification defines the operational temperature range of the unit. Working with a unit above or below this specification may well cause the unit to fail when you need it most.

    I have defined MIL-STD-810F/G several times in the past, but for all the first-timers, it is a standard issued by the United States Army’s Developmental Test Command. The standard consists of a series of various environmental tests to prove that equipment qualified to the standard will survive in the field. The MIL-STDs (military standards) were originally designed specifically to test military equipment, but are now used to test a wide range of both military and civilian products, including mobile computers with GPS capabilities.

    Certainly the letters IP stand for many things in our high-tech world today, but here it stands for Ingress Protection, and an IP rating is used to specify the level of environmental protection of electrical equipment against solids and liquids. In other words, it tells us what amount of a certain size of solids or liquids can get inside the Algiz 7 enclosure and possibly damage the device. For those of you who must know, it is defined by international standard IEC 60529.

    The MIL-STD Testing Methods

    If you look it up, you will find that MIL-STD-810F/G comprises about 24 laboratory test methods that cover a wide range of environments, from the ability to perform at high altitude (method 500.4 and one I know well) to the ability to survive ballistic shock (method 522). No mobile computer has ever, to my knowledge, been tested to all 24 methods; many of the tests just do not apply to mobile computing, but generally speaking, the more methods tested (and passed), the more rugged the unit.

    The most rugged handheld GPS/computer devices (like the Handheld Nautiz X7, which I reviewed in GPS World in April 2010) have been tested on average to between 8 and 10 MIL-STD-810F methods. So when you are evaluating a data or specification sheet, pay close attention to the testing methods that apply to your specific situation. If you are a warfighter in Afghanistan and will be routinely working near or over 10,000 feet of elevation, make sure the unit has been tested to the MIL-STD method that covers that altitude.
    If you are going to be working in rapidly changing temperatures, make sure the unit has been tested for temperature extremes and temperature shock. Several of the units I have tested and you have not read about, in one of my columns at least, failed both the temperature and thermal shock tests.

    The IP Definitions: What Level Do You Need?

    IP ratings are routinely displayed as a two-digit number. The first digit reflects the level of protection against dust (think Afghanistan and Iraq). The second digit reflects the level of protection against liquids, most frequently water or snow (think the mountains of Afghanistan).

    Technically speaking, the dust specification has seven different levels, level 0 to level 6, and the water specification has nine different levels, level 0 to level 8. But practically speaking, rugged computers all must have at least a dust protection level of 5 and water protection level of at least 4 or they are simply not rugged in my book. Beware, because there are some computers that list themselves as being rugged that do not meet these minimum IP specifications. I, for one, would be wary of them in adverse environments. Be warned: At the operational ends of the scale, the IP levels can make a huge difference in a device’s ability to operate in severe environments and to a device’s overall longevity. For example, a dust level of 5 means that some dust may get into the device, whereas a level 6 device is completely sealed and dust proof.

    For example, an IP65-rated device, such as the Algiz 7, is totally dust proof and is capable of surviving rain showers and dust storms, but not total immersion in water. This device would be an excellent choice in either a very dusty or dirty environment or one where it may be possible to drop the unit in the occasional snow bank. Currently both AORs (areas of responsibility) for our warfighters come to mind. For more complete IP definitions see the Handheld-provided list below:

    Ingress Protection
    First digit = protection against dust:
    0: No protection
    1: Protection against solids up to 50 mm
    2: Protection against solids up to 12 mm
    3: Protection against solids up to 2.5 mm
    4: Protection against solids up to 1 mm
    5: Protection against dust; limited ingress
    6: Totally protected against dust

    Second digit = protection against water:
    0: No protection
    1: Protected against dripping water
    2: Protected against dripping water (tilted)
    3: Protected against water spray
    4: Protected against splashing water
    5: Protected against water jets
    6: Protected against a nozzle under pressure
    7: Protected against immersion (1 meter for 30 min)
    8: Protected against submersion (at depth, under pressure)

    Rugged Computers for Tough Environments

    If you are aware of your requirements, then knowing what the specifications of a particular device are and what they mean can provide invaluable information about how a unit will function in the field and over the long term. So, use the specifications to help you pick out the best unit for your situation. The bottom line for most warfighters is that a rugged computer, even though it may cost a little more up front, is guaranteed to be the most cost effective in the long run and will most probably be there when you need it, such as when your life depends on it. We know that is especially true of rugged computers with built-in GPS capabilities such as the Algiz 7.

    I hope, like me, you found the Handheld MIL-STD definitions and explanations helpful, but the question is how does the Algiz 7 really measure up? Handheld defines the Algiz 7 as super-rugged and ultra-mobile, but is that just hyperbole and marketing? Certainly the reports from warfighters that are currently using the Algiz 7 on the battlefield seem to defend the Handled description, but let’s check the specifications.

    The Algiz 7 sports a seven inch high definition (1024×600) resolution sunlight visible TFT LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) touch color screen in a body that is 5.56″ (144 mm) x 9.5″ (242 mm) x 1.57″ (40 mm) and it weighs in at 2.42 lb (1.1 kg). But how does it measure up to those MIL-STD specifications we mentioned as being the definition of rugged?

    Operating: -9.4 °F to 140 °F (-23 °C to 60 °C), MIL-STD-810G
    Storage: -40 °F to 158 °F (-40 °C to 70 °C) MIL-STD-810G
    Drop: MIL-STD-810G 4ft Drop, Free to Concrete; 26 drops from 4 ft (1.22 m) MIL-STD-810G
    Vibration: MIL-STD-810G
    Sand & dust: IP65, MIL-STD-810G
    Water: IP65, MIL-STD-810G
    Humidity: MIL-STD-810G, 90% RH temp cycle 0 °C/70 °C
    Altitude: 15.000 ft (4572 m) at 73 °F (5 °C)

    As I said, I tend to be tough on equipment that I test, but even I did not drop it 26 times onto a concrete hard surface from a height of four feet. While I have been known to take a unit to the top of Pikes Peak, at a mere 14,100 feet, the temperatures rarely gets to 73 degrees Fahrenheit on top. In fact it is more like 7-10 degrees, and so I may have exceeded the MIL-STD specifications of the unit but with no noticeable affects.

    Visibility

    I can certainly vouch that the screen is viewable from almost all angles, and it is viewable in bright sun and reflected snow light. It is also viewable while wearing polarized sunglasses, which is a specification you may not see listed, but is critically important in snow country and one for which I always test. In many situations, polarized lenses do funny things to specially treated computer screens. I have seen computer screens that were just not visible or totally disappeared when viewed through polarized lenses. However, the Algiz 7 screen was easily visible, and if you are wearing heavy winter or work gloves, the attached stylus works well. Without gloves your finger is still generally the best stylus, but the screen on the Algiz 7 is capable of clearly portraying very tiny linkable objects, and at those times a stylus is more accurate than even our God-given digits.

    More Specifications

    The rest of the specifications for the Algiz 7 are as follows:

    Processor/memory: Intel Ultra Low Power Atom Z530 1.6 GHz processor (w/ US15W Chipset), 2 GB DDR2 RAM

    Data Storage/Disk: 64 GB SSD solid state hard drive

    Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

    Screen: 7″ widescreen 1024×600 resolution TFT LCD MaxView sunlight readable resistive touchscreen display

    Keyboard/Keypad:

    10 keys:

    • Power key

    • Menu key (Controls Brightness, Volume, Battery Status, WiFi& BT On/Off, and 3G On/Off)

    • 4+1 Navigation/directional keys (Left, Right, Up, Down, Center for Enter)

    • 3x user programmable hotkey buttons that control up to 6 functions

    • On-screen QWERTY soft keyboard

    Battery: Hot-swappable Dual Li-Polymer Battery Pack, 2600 mAh each, support minimum 6 hours operation

    Connections:

    2 x USB 2.0 port (one fully waterproof, even when the latch is open)
    1 x 9-pin serial RS-232 port (fully waterproof, even when the latch is open)
    1x LAN
    1 x DC power port
    Input: 120-240 VAC, 50-60 Hz, 12 VDC Output
    Docking Connector (Contact Pin Type)
    1 x 4 pin docking
    Audio Out
    1 x Microphone
    Audio Integrated (one speaker)
    Fully Gobi™ 2000 PCIe module-ready

    Communication:

    Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n
    PAN: Integrated Bluetooth v.2.0 + EDR Compliant
    Integrated GPS Mediatek, WAAS/EGNOS capable
    WWAN (Optional) Gobi 2000 ready, supporting the following RF bands:
    • HSDPA/UMTS 800/850/900/1900/2100 MHz
    • Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM – 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
    • Dual-band EV-DO/CDMA – 800/1900 MHz

    Camera: 2 Megapixel Camera + LED light

    Using the Algiz 7

    I will have to admit that the first time I saw the Algiz 7, I did not think it looked like a very rugged computing device, when in fact it may be one of the most rugged devices I have ever tested. Do not let appearances fool you; this is one very rugged mobile computing device.

    Light, Camera, Action

    For the warfighter and the first responders, the 2-megapixel forward-facing color camera and the LED light work extremely well. The LED light is very bright and not something you want to have flash or activate if you are working in a clandestine or stealth environment. But when you need it, it is extremely bright and works well. In an emergency it also works well as a flashlight.

    Skype and Batteries

    I ran Skype on the device with no problems. I once did a single battery hot swap and in the process did not drop the Skype call. I must admit I was impressed. As for battery life, the claimed six hours is a legitimate claim. I saw some days with five-plus hours under intensive work, and some days with seven-plus hours under a lighter load, so the six-hour battery life is the real deal. The dual Lithium Polymer batteries are very light and easy to swap out. For extended operations you will want a couple of spare batteries, and since they are hot swappable you will not lose one byte of data. For those of you with lots of sensors and accessories or the need for an even longer battery life, there is an extended life battery that provides 10-12 hours of service.

    Ports

    The ports on the Algiz 7 are extensive and all worked well for me. If there is a minor , I would say it is the number of USB 2.0 ports, as there was a time when I had a printer, full-sized keyboard, and some optional sensors connected and was looking for more USB ports. I simply used a USB port multiplier and that worked well, but this is obviously not ideal, especially if your USB devices draw power from the USB port. For most users this may never be a problem, but when you are testing a unit you like to push it to the limit.

    Communications

    The communications options are also quite extensive. As I said, I used Skype because that is what I had readily available. However, you can use 3G data and communications plans from several carriers as well. And since Verizon and AT&T both have extensive data networks in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there are tons of Wi-Fi sites, communications should never be a problem with the Algiz 7. You can take good-quality photos with the onboard 2-megapixel camera and quickly transfer them using 3G or Wi-Fi communications. Note: As I write this, certification of the Algiz 7 with the Verizon 3G network is still in the works but should be completed any day now.

    GPS

    The Algiz 7 has an integrated MediaTek GPS chipset, which is the same chipset that Garmin uses in many of its products. The Algiz 7 GPS is WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) capable. Adding the WAAS/EGNOS capability does make a considerable difference where availability, accuracy, and integrity issues are concerned. To most WAAS-enabled GPS devices, the GEO WAAS (Geosynchronous Orbit) signal due to geometry can be the apparent geometric equivalent of three additional GPS satellites in MEO (Medium Earth Orbit). WAAS of course is only available in the geographical area in and around the United States and EGNOS is only available in the European theater.

    I ran numerous navigation applications, and all the programs I tested found and integrated with the MediaTek GPS chipset output without problems. I tried several different maps and coordinate systems on the Algiz 7 without any significant issues. Not all coordinate and grid systems come as standard fare on the Algiz 7 but they can be found, downloaded, and used without issue.

    All in all, I was very impressed with the Algiz 7 as a handheld GPS capable device. Our warfighters should have no problems downloading and utilizing military maps and grid systems on the device. Google maps worked extremely well.

    Versatility

    While testing the Algiz 7 in the field, I once washed my muddy fingerprints off the screen with a handful of snow and then wiped it with a towel. I never feared I would cause any damage or lose any data because the 10 buttons on the face of the device are all covered and yet are clearly marked and readable. It is difficult to push a button by mistake. It never happened in the several weeks I was testing the device, and that is a big plus for our warfighters, who must frequently put the unit aside and come back to it later, say after a small engagement with the enemy.

    So the bottom line is that I am impressed with the Algiz 7, as I am with all the Handheld US products I have tested. I hope more warfighters and military procurement offices give it a shot. They won’t be disappointed.

    Until next time, happy navigating.

  • Beyond Hyper-Local and Location Enhanced

    Be all you can be. Being location enabled or “hyper local” isn’t enough. Mobile applications are also trying to increase discoverability, push into Group-On couponing territory, and proactively deliver more relevant recommendations to users. Loopt announced limited-time and perishable inventory deals to users within proximity. Google has introduced an “open now” filter to local mobile search to find nearby businesses that are open. Not content to focused on their core check-in business (“I am the proud mayor of Barney’s Beanery”), foursquare is now recommending places near you, based on previous check-in activities, user profiles, and what your friends like. On the foursquare blog, Dennis Crowley suggests “You’ll be surprised by what you get when searching for really specific things, like ‘’80s music,’ ‘fireplaces,’ ‘pancakes,’ ‘bratwurst,’ and ‘romantic’.” Evenings with Crowley must be, well, surprising. Very.

    Mass geo shopping. It is large-scale and geo-specific and, most interestingly, it comes from a carrier. AT&T and Placecast together launched ShopAlerts. AT&T subscribers can opt in and receive offers, rewards, and coupons based on each individual’s geolocation. AT&T will create geofences (virtual geographic perimeters) around retailers, events, or geographic areas to optimize relevancy. This isn’t so different than what some of the location-enabled social network applications (Booyah!, foursquare, Loopt) are doing, but it is significant because of the scale and reach that a carrier brings.

    Making money? Ever since Google offered free mobile navigation and others app providers followed suit, content providers have struggled to find ways to monetize their applications. Many have looked to mobile advertising for revenue. But mobile advertising hasn’t developed quite as fast as many predicted, although it is still a growing and big market. Apple’s iAD mobile advertising efforts have been a disappointment. Industry insiders say iAD fill rates have fallen to less than 10 percent and Apple has halved its minimum advertising purchase to $500,000.

    In-app money tree. Transactions that occur within an application are making big money for application developers. For both free and premium apps, in-app transactions now equal 49 percent of iPhone developer income and 29 percent of iPad revenue, according to analytics firm Disitmo. This is useful for the person who may buy a navigation app and wants to upgrade to real-time traffic. Now users don’t need to be referred outside the application to a website to make the transaction. Apple and Google both recently announced in-app subscription platforms. Apple has created a firestorm by demanding 30 percent of in-app subscription fees. Google takes 10 percent.

    How much for the sword? It is jaw dropping. In-app purchases of virtual goods is overtaking advertising in top categories on the Apple platform. Flurry Analytics reports that in certain Apple app categories, “During 2010 revenue increasingly shifts from advertising to virtual goods sales until reaching a proportion of more than 80 percent from virtual goods.” You may be asking, ‘What is a virtual good?’ A gamer may want a virtual lightsaber, mansion, or respect points to enhance the game experience. My advice is to spend the wad on respect points.

    By a smidge, the winner is… Android took over RIM’s long-time run as king of smartphones. Devices that run Google’s Android operating system have taken the lead in the U.S., according to new data from The Nielsen Company. Now Android is the front runner in the U.S. smartphone market with 29 percent share, with Apple’s iOS and Rim’s BlackBerry both at 27 percent. Windows lags at 10 percent, but watch Android’s lead fatten. The much-anticipated Verizon iPhone hasn’t had the impact on Apple sales once imagined. Nielsen also reports that subscribers between the ages of 25 and 34 account for 27 percent of all U.S. smartphone users across all platforms.

    Threat to GPS. You may be following the very serious interference issue that threatens the GPS signal. LightSquared is developing high wireless bandwidth capabilities (4G-LTE) for wireless operators. LightSquared received an unnervingly fast-tracked FCC conditional waiver that permits it to broadcast a new terrestrial broadband service from 1,500-watt terrestrial transmitters. This will be in the portion of the L Band that is immediately adjacent to the band used by GPS. The FCC waiver was required as LightSquared’s FCC license only extended to dual-mode phones, but LightSquared wants to offer the option of terrestrial-only, hence the waiver. According to industry experts, the LightSquared terrestrial broadband signal is about 1 billion times the received power of the GPS signal on Earth. This may result in wide-scale GPS interference and jamming worldwide. As a result of ensuing uproar, a working group conducted by LightSquared and the U.S GPS Industry Council was formed to study the issue.

    Upward bound. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has had his hands full in the fight of network neutrality and the creation of a national broadband plan. Now there are rumors, not quiet ones either, that he may be nominated by President Obama to be the next Secretary of Commerce.

    Next stop, Orlando for CTIA.

  • I’m Buying A New RTK Receiver. What Should I get?

    In light of this weeks webinar, A Closer Look at L5: The Future of High-Precision GNSS, and spurred by an email from a reader about how to sift through all the GPS/GNSS receiver choices, following are my thoughts if you’re looking to purchase an RTK receiver today.

    First of all, an email from a reader succinctly sums up the challenge:

    I currently utilize static GPS / GLONASS receivers in my day to day operations and I am looking at buying a couple more receivers (an RTK setup). To be honest, I am totally confused as to what technology I should buy.
    Specifically, I don’t know whether or not it is worth buying receivers that have L2C and L5 capabilities. It seems that vendors are not very well educated on what these options can do for you, and how many satellites are up and running that provide these signals. It is my understanding that L2C is simply a civilian code that is carried on the L2 frequency, and that it provides an almanac and atmospheric correction information. I don’t even know if receiving L2C will help me as a surveyor, or if it is more designed for autonomous use in navigation. It sounds like L5 will be of great advantage once the constellation has enough SVs that broadcast it.  It also seems like Galileo will be extremely helpful for surveyors, but who knows when that will be available. Basically, I don’t want to spend thousands of extra dollars for “bells and whistles” that are not yet operational from a practical standpoint, and that won’t be in the near future.

     

    He’s right. There are a lot of moving parts these days in the world of GPS/GNSS. Not only are GPS/GNSS receivers steadily improving (better, smaller, faster, cheaper), but the GNSS themselves (GPS, GLONASS, SBAS) are changing too. Making a decision of which “bells and whistles” to pay for and which ones to pass up is not so easy.

    Let’s break it down and see if we can clear things up.

    It used to be that when looking to purchase a dual frequency GPS receiver, the choice was simple because RTK receivers came in one flavor, L1/L2.

    Do I want RTK (real-time centimeter positioning) or am I satisfied with post-processing the GPS data?

    Either way you went, it was an straight-forward decision.

    Today, that is not the case. If you choose RTK, there are many options available:

    -GPS L1 or GPS L1/L2?

    -add GLONASS?

    -add L2C?

    -add L5?

    -add Galileo?

    The pricing of these options can be substantial. The reader’s letter goes on…

     

    I have a vendor that is pushing an L2C capable receiver on me for more money than a standard dual frequency dual constellation receiver.  The other option is to spend about $13K more and get the L2C, L5, and Galileo ready receiver.

    If you look at what the manufacturer’s are offering for GPS/GNSS RTK receivers, it seems there are generally four choices:

    1. GPS L1

    2. GPS L1/L2

    3. GPS L1/L2 + GLONASS

    4. GPS L1/L2 + GLONASS + L2C + L5 + Galileo

     

    GPS L1

    longer initialization (issue when working around trees)

    short baseline length

    Really should have the same base/rover receiver (SBAS), not really suited for RTK Network usage.

     

    GPS L1/L2

    Legacy, proven technology.

    Upside…less expensive, entry level dual frequency RTK

    Downside…GPS “brownouts”, susecptible to semi-codeless sunset

     

    GPS L1/L2 + GLONASS

    Eliminates the GPS “brownout” problem.

    Increased cost, although some manufacturers include it.

    Doesn’t support future signals

    Suscpetible to semi-codeless sunset.

     

    GPS L1/L2 + GLONASS + L2C + L5 + Galileo

    Eliminates the GPS “brownout” problem.

    Ready for future signals

    downside…future singals aren’t available yet.

    Increased cost