GPS Retransmission Kit by GPS Source. Photo: GPS Source
GPS Source has received a $7.5 million order for its GLI-COTTONMOUTH GPS retransmission kit from an international customer with an armored vehicle application. The kits will be used to provide armored vehicles with improved situational awareness. Shipments for the order are expected to be complete in the secondquarter of 2015.
“GPS Source is extremely pleased to be selected to provide the GPS retransmission solution for another one of our foreign military partners. Situational awareness, survivability and mission effectiveness are all improved by the use of GPS retransmission technology. Successful GPS Retransmission in the confined crew compartment of a military vehicle presents significant challenges, but one in which GPS Source has created the perfect solution,” said Robert Horton, CEO of GPS Source.
GLI-COTTONMOUTH is one of many GPS retransmission kits offered by GPS Source. The kits are available as permanent installs or man-portable. They provide GPS coverage within smaller military ground vehicle or aircraft. GPS receivers will experience no loss in signal coverage as they move out of a ground vehicle or exit an aircraft equipped with a tactical GPS retransmission kit from GPS Source.
GLI COTTONMOUTH and other GPS distribution solutions by GPS Source are in use by the U.S. Army and other military entities throughout the world. GPS retransmission technology developed by GPS Source is currently used by Net Warrior units aboard the Stryker, RG-33, and M1151. The technology is also used within the Canadian LAVIII and the French DGA SCORPION program.
Relevant GPS retransmission kits have received Safety of Flight Approval from the United States Air Force Mobility Command Systems Group and are used aboard the C17, C-130, CV/MV-22, CH-53 E/D/K, CH/MH-47, MH-60, HH60, and other host country aircraft.
By Colonel William T. “Bill” Cooley, U.S. Air Force, Director, Global Positioning System
Last year in my “Directions” article, I emphasized the commitment made by the U.S. government to ensure GPS signals are available to all users, and I shared some of our excitement in the GPS Directorate regarding the modernized capabilities we are developing and fielding. This year I’d like to share with you progress we’ve made in the past 12 months, provide an update on the modernization initiatives, and challenge civil users and receiver companies to innovate and accelerate these modernized capabilities for users worldwide.
This past year has been productive for the GPS program. The most visible progress was the addition of four new Boeing-built GPS IIF satellites to the GPS constellation, bringing the total number of available satellites from 36 to 39 (SVN-33 was safely disposed in October 2014, or the number would be 40). These additions also reduced the average age of the satellites on orbit from 11.1 to 10.3 years. This year’s GPS launch tempo had not been matched since the early 1990s! Table 1 lists the current satellites in the constellation by block.
TABLE 1. GPS constellation as of October 31, 2014.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the GPS satellite constellation is the ever-improving performance. As I mentioned last year, the 2008 Standard Positioning Service (SPS) Performance Standard, issued by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, codifies our commitment to civil users. Among other attributes that make GPS the “gold standard” for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), the SPS requires a signal-in-space (SIS) user range error (URE) of 4.0 meters or less for every healthy satellite. The SIS URE is the difference between a GPS satellite’s navigation message (for example, ephemeris data and satellite clock correction data) versus the truth (for example, satellite transmit antenna location and satellite clock offset from GPS time). While the commitment of the U.S. government is four meters or less, the actual average performance over the past year has been 0.68 meters and in the past quarter has been an impressive 0.63 meters!
While this is admirable, continued modernization efforts will allow us even better performance. A significant contributor to the errors experienced by GPS receivers are ionospheric delays that can be eliminated only with knowing the characteristics of the ionosphere (free electron density in the region roughly 100-1,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface) or by using two signals at different known frequencies. While systems like Federal Aviation Administration Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the U.S. Coast Guard National Differential GPS (NDGPS) provide a modeled approximation of the ionosphere, the new L2C and L5 civil signals on the GPS IIR-M, GPS IIF, and soon-to-launch GPS III satellites enable GPS receivers to directly measure and eliminate the ionospheric delays altogether — thereby delivering on the GPS modernization program first announced in 1999. These new signals began pre-operational Civil Navigation (CNAV) message broadcast on 28 April 2014 (with the L2C signal set “healthy” and L5 set “unhealthy” until sufficient monitoring capability is established).
With CNAV now on the air, civil users should take advantage of it. My challenge to commercial receiver companies and innovators is to incorporate the modernized signals in future receivers and continue to improve user experience and GPS performance. Currently 14 L2C-broadcasting satellites are in the constellation, and by early 2016 we expect to have 19 on-orbit and transmitting L2C (7 GPS IIR-Ms and 12 GPS IIFs). GPS modernization is well on its way from a signal-in-space perspective; receiver manufacturers and innovators must bring new, improved products and solutions to users.
Less visible but real progress modernizing the GPS Enterprise is underway with the next generation of GPS satellites, ground control, and user equipment segments. The first GPS III satellite and the newly developed navigation payload have been delayed approximately two years from the original planned delivery of the completed GPS III satellite of October 2014. But in September of this year, the GPS III navigation payload was shipped from Exelis (the payload subcontractor) in Clifton, New Jersey, to Lockheed Martin’s (GPS III prime contractor) facility in Waterton, Colorado. There, it completed the payload-level thermal vacuum testing at the end of October, a key step toward payload and eventually satellite vehicle delivery. The first GPS III satellite is now 87% complete and the program is making solid progress.
The GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System (OCX), with Raytheon as the prime contractor, experienced significant challenges in development but can also claim measurable progress this year. Complex cyber-security requirements and their implementation drove a significant number of these challenges, but are essential to provide civil and military GPS users with a secure and resilient command and control system. These and other challenges resulted in significant cost and schedule overruns and a two-year delay to the program, which drove an update to the development plan. The revised OCX plan reflects the complexity of implementing these unique cyber requirements and accounts for planned improvements to Raytheon’s systems engineering and software development approach. The plan establishes a schedule meeting GPS III’s projected first-launch date.
Despite its challenges, OCX development completed four end-to-end space-to-ground launch readiness exercises with GPS III, as well as entered the formal integration and test phase. The new monitoring station receivers are entering qualification test, and the first production receiver is on track to be delivered in spring of 2015. OCX is on track to provide robust PNT services, improvements in URE accuracy, enable access to new military and civil signals, and provide cyber security for the GPS ground control.
Our development of Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) is another area where we have made important strides this past year. We started the year by developing a commercial market-based acquisition approach that will accelerate delivery of MGUE systems by years. In this effort, we want to establish a race to a certified marketplace where the U.S. government serves as the race official while our industry partners set their own pace to deliver capability. Our goal is to increase speed of delivery to the warfighter while capitalizing on industry’s ability to innovate.
Our MGUE team of government and industry partners (Rockwell Collins, Raytheon, and L3) successfully completed major system design reviews demonstrating a readiness to define the process of security and compatibility certification. Additionally, the team participated in the GYPSY Juliett multi-service, multi-nation PNT demonstration hosted by the U.S. Strategic Command this past summer. While we battled the elements through two hurricanes, the team successfully demonstrated the capability of M-Code receiver cards in an operational demonstration. Our goal is to enable full operational testing with four lead platforms in summer 2016.
While many risks and challenges to GPS modernization still lie ahead of us, the persistent effort by the GPS team has produced important progress in 2014 across the space, ground, and user equipment segments.
A civilian GPS user recently thanked me for providing the incredibly useful utility free to everyone around the globe. Although my impulsive response was to say simply, “You’re welcome,” I’d like to provide a more thoughtful and thorough reply that recognizes those responsible for GPS.
There are two key groups to thank for GPS: the first is the men and women across the United States government and industry who develop, field, and operate the GPS Enterprise. Among this group are satellite factory technicians, software engineers improving the ground segment, receiver designers, program office engineers, and satellite operators continuously monitoring the constellation, updating each GPS satellite’s clock correction and ephemeris data 24/7. This team works with an unwavering passion for this mission that inspires me every day.
The second group responsible for GPS is the American taxpayer who, through Congress, funds the GPS Enterprise every year.The U.S. financial commitment to GPS is not just for U.S. security or the well documented positive impact GPS has on the American economy, but for the benefit of the entire world as a global utility. GPS is the gold standard for PNT because American taxpayers continuously provide fiscal support so the GPS Enterprise’s men and women can design, produce, field, and maintain the global utility that we all have come to depend on.
Thank you for supporting this enterprise, and know that the GPS team works hard to ensure those resources are spent wisely to provide continuously improving, predictable, and dependable performance from the Global Positioning System.
Colonel William T. Cooley is director, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
Satellite navigation has been at the forefront of technological developments. GPS, the most efficient and widely used satellite navigation system, is in the process of being upgraded by the technologically advanced satellites called GPS III. Once manufactured only by the U.S., satellite navigation systems are now being developed by other countries as well.
The IRNSS in India, Compass (BeiDou) in China, and Galileo in Europe are examples of systems that are either operational or are expected to be so in the next few years. These navigation systems are expected to create new opportunities in the GPS/GNSS market. The new navigation systems will require receivers’ and applications compatible with the new systems.
Although, Galileo is interoperable with GPS, it still would require new receivers and applications to complement the new system. China’s BeiDou is already partially in operation, and is expected to become fully operational by 2020. Countries such as Sri Lanka and Thailand are buying the system from China. The expansion in the use of the Chinese navigation system during the period 2015-2020 will involve military spending on COMPASS receivers both in the domestic market as well as the international market.
Topics covered include:
Introduction
Executive Summary
Global Military GPS/GNSS Market Size and Drivers
Industry Trends, Recent Developments and Challenges
Capt. Jared Delaney, 19th Space Operations Squadron satellite vehicle operator, right, and Senior Airman Bryan Wynkoop, 19 SOPS satellite system operator, monitor telemetry during the GPS SVN-69 launch Oct. 29, 2014 at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Dennis Rogers).
The following story by Scott Prater appeared in the Schriever Sentinel, a weekly newspaper published by the Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group. See http://www.schriever.af.mil/units/publicaffairs/ for further information.
By Scott Prater Schriever Sentinel
11/19/2014 – SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — It’s been a busy year for members of the 19th Space Operations Squadron. As operators of the GPS launch and early orbit, anomaly-resolution and disposal system, 19 SOPS members executed a historically high number of satellite launches (four), and disposed of a legacy GPS vehicle, all within the past 10 months.
“The last time we launched four vehicles in one year was 1993,” said Maj. Kimberly Adams, 19 SOPS LADO flight commander. “We’re looking forward to a more normal [operations] tempo, in the coming year.”
Tensions were high Oct. 29 during the lift-off and early-orbit of SVN-69, a GPS Block IIF vehicle, when a CBS news crew captured film footage of the event on the operations floor here.
“That was out of the ordinary for sure,” Adams said. “Compound that anxiety with the knowledge that we had just completed final configuration of a GPS vehicle disposal not 48 hours prior and you can understand the type of month October was for us and our 2nd Space Operations Squadron teammates.”
Senior Airman Bryan Wynkoop, 19 SOPS satellite system operator, wouldn’t change a thing about the past few months of 2014.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “This sure beats working a regular job. The drama and importance of what’s taking place here is exactly what I signed up for.”
Adams and Wynkoop are Air Force Reservists, as are all 19 SOPS members. The squadron falls under the Air Force’s 310th Space Wing, headquartered at Schriever AFB, and works in partnership with 2 SOPS, the 50th Space Wing unit responsible for commanding and controlling the GPS constellation.
Adams says 19 SOPS was stood up precisely to conduct GPS launches, manage anomalies and process disposals.
“We start preparing for launch about 90 days out,” Adams said. “With so many launches so close together, we often began preparations for one launch before the previous one was off the pad.”
Their partnership with 2 SOPS has proved beneficial for both squadrons.
“This most recent launch was my seventh and Airman Wynkoop’s sixth,” said Adams, who is in her fifth year at 19 SOPS. “Active-duty Airmen typically reside on station for roughly three years, so oftentimes our 2 SOPS teammates are looking to us to provide continuity and experience.”
That continuity became crucial during disposal operations for SVN-33. It had been more than two years since the two squadrons had disposed of a vehicle and Wynkoop was one of the few Airmen at Schriever who was familiar with the operation’s intricacies.
“These events don’t happen often, so to have played a role in two huge events was something special for all of us who were here,” he said.
Less than 48 hours after SVN-33 had been fully configured for disposal, SVN-69 was standing on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Adams, Wynkoop and their fellow 19 SOPS operators’ day started eight hours prior to the launch.
“Wynkoop had to set up communications links with our antenna at the Cape so we could get telemetry data from the satellite,” Adams said. “Once the rocket lifted off, I was performing communications checks and verifying that we were meeting all of our requirements.”
Then they waited.
Three and half hours after launch, SVN-69 separated from its booster rocket.
“At that point we obtained an initial state of health from the satellite to ensure everything was OK and then we started commanding,” Adams said.
Wynkoop explained that though he and his teammates are actually studying telemetry data through their monitors on the operations floor, it’s easy to envision what’s happening in space.
“The vehicle is spinning once it separates from the booster,” he said. “We then issue commands to slow the spin and deploy the vehicle’s solar arrays, antennas and other critical components. Later, we get the vehicle in a condition known as sun safe. Shortly after, the vehicle acquires Earth and is in a stable orbit in the GPS slot where it’s supposed to be.”
Now, it’s up to 2 SOPS to command and control the satellite, one of 39 on orbit. The squadron expects to receive satellite control authority of the spacecraft later this month and the next GPS launch is scheduled for March 2015.
Spectracom’s Geo-PNT integrates precision references for position, attitude, and timing. Photo: Spectracom
A new combination master clock and GPS-aided inertial navigation system is now available from Spectracom to reduce redundant subsystems in mobile applications. The Geo-PNT integrates precision references for position, attitude, and timing all in one box. Applications include radar, optoelectronic sensing, electronic warfare, satcom on the move, and mobile test platforms.
Geo-PNT benefits any mobile intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform because signal/electronic intelligence applications require precision positioning, navigation, and timing references. Electro-optic sensors and other imaging technologies, antenna steering, and encrypted communications always need a combination of precision motion compensation, geolocation, time stamping, and frequency reference.
The high degree of integration within the Geo-PNT supports the goals of low size, weight and power (SWaP) and cost optimization while achieving a high level of performance for ISR platforms and mobile communications systems. A single subsystem for all PNT functions in a volume of about 40 cubic inches is about three times less than the traditional approach of deploying dedicated devices.
The Geo-PNT is a highly configurable platform to provide the capabilities needed for the mission:
Single-box solution combining precision local oscillator, inertial motion unit (IMU), and GPS receiver.
Configurable output interfaces for timing and navigation.
Standalone or RTK/differential GPS, commercial (non-ITAR) or SAASM GPS receiver.
Choose from a variety of IMUs to meet performance specifications.
NTP server, precision 1PPS, 10 MHz with low phase noise.
Rugged and tested to MIL-STD-810G.
Low SWaP (< 0.7 liters, <0.8 Kg, <10 watts).
“Our time and frequency technology, combined with geodetics positioning and navigation capability in the same module, provides an opportunity for platform designers to lower SWaP requirements while staying within the limits of today’s demanding system specifications,” said Rohit Braggs, Spectracom’s sales and marketing VP.
Geo-PNT is the latest example of Spectracom’s flexible configure-to-COTS approach. The use of commercial technology reduces lead time and offers the lowest cost of ownership for both standard and semi-custom configurations. Hardware and software can be adapted to meet the needs of the application.
Despite being an avowed Anglophile since my first visit to the United Kingdom, somewhere around 50+ years ago, I just could not help myself. Professor David Last, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wales (Bangor) and former president of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) was holding forth, with that wonderful, attention-arresting public school accent, on weighty PNT (position, navigation and timing) matters before an awestruck audience.
Professor Emeritus David Last.
And what did I do? I just could not stop myself reminding him and everyone within earshot that the American Institute of Navigation (ION) predated the British Royal Institute of Navigation by more than two years. The point being, of course, that while two years actually makes little difference in the scheme of things, actuarially speaking we yanks rarely have the opportunity to make such a claim where our stiff upper-lipped Red Coat cousins are concerned. So, when the opportunity presents itself, as it typically does at ION GNSS+, then in my opinion, we former colonists just have to jump in with both feet — or one if by land and two if by sea, and all that.
An even more compelling argument for being first revolves around GPS versus Galileo operational satellites. The first GPS operational launch occurred in 1978, while Galileo has yet to launch a non-R&D operational PNT satellite, into a useable orbit that is. Now, before you accuse me of being smug, I am actually making a case for increased cooperation between the United States Air Force (USAF) and our European counterparts (ESA) where precision positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) schemes are concerned. For when it comes to satellite navigation and PNT, we yanks can definitely declare “been there, done that” mistakes and successes. What better place to “crow,” or rather, impart our considerable knowledge and network with fellow PNT aficionados, than at ION GNSS+.
ION GNSS+
All vocal eloquence jealousies and juvenile kidding aside, in many respects the ION GNSS+ event is actually the epitome of international cooperation in the PNT and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) arena. This annual premiere event is described as “the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products and services,” and I wholeheartedly agree. Indeed, the 2014 event, which took place from September 8-12 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, had the stated goal of bringing together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, discuss current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas. It was a networking paradise in a wonderful, albeit somewhat steamy, venue, which you can review in two excellent videos concerning the event at the ION website.
This ION conference improves every year in content and attendance, and this year was no exception. Congratulations to Lisa Beaty and her whole team for a great conference, year after year. My favorite events are the annual GPS World Leadership Dinner and the prestigious annual ION Kepler award luncheon. Notice a trend?
GPS World Leadership Dinner
This much ballyhooed event becomes more and more of a draw each year. Tickets are coveted (as scare as hen’s teeth as Granny used to say) and competition is fierce. Every year we have about twice as many people wanting to attend as we have room to accommodate them. So the competition is never boring. This year was special in that one of our own GPS editors was nominated for an award and was overwhelmingly elected to receive it.
The Leadership Award winners this year were Javier Benedicto Ruiz, the Galileo Project Manager from the European Space Agency (ESA), who won in the Satellites category, while an old friend Sherman Lo, who is a senior research engineer and associate investigator (APNT) at Stanford University, won in the Signals category. Our own Eric Gakstatter, contributing editor for Survey and GIS from GPS World, won in the Services category; and finally Oliver Montenbruck, who is head of the GNSS Technology and Navigation Group, from DLR, the German Space Operations Center, won in the Products category.
GPS World 2014 Leadership Trophies.
The invited guests, and there was not an empty seat in the house, heard various perspectives from sponsors Lockheed Martin, Exelis, Raytheon, and Braxton Technologies, as well as visions of GNSS progress from our four award winners.
This event will be covered in much more depth in our December issue, but suffice it to say it was as usual a great event. I wonder from year to year how we will ever top the previous year’s entertainment, which always involves audience participation, but Alan Cameron just keeps coming up with outrageous ideas that seem to always pan out. Hope to see you there in Tampa next year.
The Kepler Award
This year, the highly prestigious ION Kepler Award was won by Dr. Pratap Misra. Even though I am happy to say that through the years many of my friends and colleagues have won this coveted award, I can honestly say, in my opinion, there has never been a more deserving award winner than Professor Pratap Misra.
[Correction: The newsletter summary of this article misspells Pratap Misra’s name. We apologize for the error.—Editors]
Pratap Misra, 2014 Kepler Award recipient.
I have had the good fortune to know Professor Misra for many years, and frankly erroneously assumed, along with many others, that since he is so obviously deserving he had previously won the Kepler Award.
The Kepler Award is presented annually by ION in recognition of an individual’s unparalleled, sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation. It is the highest honor bestowed by ION’s Satellite Division. Professor Pratap from Tufts University meets and exceeds all of these qualifiers and more. He is simply self-effacing and polite as he quietly goes about being the best in all he endeavors.
Throughout the years, I have found Pratap to be extremely dedicated to his work, and more recently to his students. These are key attributes. Academically, I can honestly say that the authoritative tome Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurements and Performance that he coauthored with, another friend and colleague, Professor Per Enge of Stanford University, is among the most dog-eared in my PNT library. This widely praised volume is often described as a “comprehensive introduction to GPS: the system, signals, receivers, measurements, and algorithms for estimation of position, velocity, and time.” And while it was originally intended as a textbook for senior or graduate-level engineering courses, it also serves remarkably well as a self-study guide for practicing engineers and as a reference tool for writers and researchers. I consider it to be one of the three PNT bibles that are a must-have in every PNT subject-matter expert’s (SME) library. (The other two are Global Positioning System: Theory and Applications, Volumes 1 and 2, by Bradford W. Parkinson and James J. Spilker, and Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, Second Edition, by Elliott Kaplan and Christopher Hegarty.)
Revised Second Edition by Pratap Misra and Per Enge.
In recent years, Pratap Misra has been honored as both an ION and IEEE Fellow and has served as a past chairman of the ION Satellite Division. He has held numerous volunteer positions within ION, but most recently he has focused on something near and dear to his heart, the support of student programs. This is where Professor Pratap Misra is without peer. Frankly it is obvious that his students adore him, and it is due in no small part to his single-minded dedication to and concern for them.
Every time we meet, the majority of his words and thoughts concerns his students. Their welfare is always uppermost in his priority list. Inevitably, while we are attempting to conduct a quiet and private conversation or interview, we are constantly being interrupted by well-meaning students, past and present, who just want to thank Pratap for his help and support. I could fill up several pages with the technical accomplishments of Professor Pratap Misra, but none of those accomplishments, recognitions or awards mean as much to him as the love, support and success of his students. It is so obvious to anyone who pays attention that he wholeheartedly thinks of his students as and treats them just like family.
I am sure, or at least hope, we all have past professors or teachers in our lives that we remember fondly, and then there are the few or perhaps only the one that changed the course of our lives for the better. Professor Pratap Misra is one of those rare latter individuals, so deserving of the appellation — a professor that made a difference in the lives of his students. I am so proud that he deservedly won the Kepler Award and am deeply honored that I can call him my friend.
GPS-IRT Update
The Global Positioning System Independent Review Team (GPS-IRT) is now officially part of the Independent Strategic Assessment Group (ISAG) under the auspices of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). For 19+ years, the GPS-IRT was a separate team within IDA that researched GPS matters with the “goal of insuring both the military and civilian communities would benefit from new GPS/PNT capabilities and services.”
As a result of this organizational change, Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chose to formally recognize the GPS-IRT’s 19+ years of effort in support of GPS modernization.
Last Thursday, General John Hyten (USAF), the commander of Air Force Space Command, presented a commemorative plaque to Mr. Kirk Lewis, the executive director at IDA, for both the GPS-IRT and the ISAG. The plaque will be displayed with the GPS satellite on permanent display at AFSPC headquarters, in the James V. Hartinger building on Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. The plaque contains the names of the four prestigious chairmen who led the GPS-IRT over the last 19 years, as well as the names of the members of the IRT over that same time period. Sadly, two of the chairmen and five of the members are no longer with us, but we can only hope they are looking down upon us fondly and giving us guidance of a different sort.
Until next time, happy navigating, and remember: GPS is brought to you courtesy of the United States Air Force.
Thorsten Rudolph, Application Center GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen (left), and Rolf Densing, DLR (right), award the Airbus team of Jan Wendel and Wolfgang Kogler the EUR 20,000 grand prize. Photo: ESNC
The winner of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2014 is Airbus Defence & Space, which won over the jury of experts from around the world with its ground-breaking and cost-effective receiver for the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS).
The award winners were announced October 23 at an awards ceremony held at the Berlin headquarters of Deutsche Telekom. The awards recognize innovations in the commercial use of satellite navigation technology.
“Award winners Wolfgang Kogler and Jan Wendel from Airbus Defence & Space have taken a cutting-edge approach to designing a low-cost receiver that enables police departments, fire brigades, emergency medical services, and other public entities to make use of the Galileo PRS system,” The ESNC said. “Its core innovation involves the development of a special network architecture that combines the receiver with an assistance server. The concept accounts for all the required security aspects and significantly reduces costs and the complexity of user receivers, thus facilitating broader use of PRS in the realm of public security.”
In addition to the EUR 20,000 grand prize, the design took home Bavaria’s regional prize and the ESNC’s special PRS prize, which was awarded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).
“This special prize reflects our effort to further examine possibilities for the use of PRS applications,” said Tobias Miethaner, Head of the BMVI’s Digital Society, in his opening address at the awards ceremony. “I am delighted to see that the ESNC is already providing an important impetus to the promotion and development of innovative applications of the future Galileo PRS in its first year.”
Over the past decade, the ESNC has brought forth numerous new applications in the field of satellite navigation. The 2014 edition was shaped in particular by the imminent launch of the first Galileo services, with more than 40% of the 434 submissions received from more than 40 countries seeking to employ Galileo/EGNOS in their own products and services.
“Thanks to our international network, we’re in an excellent position to take advantage of Galileo’s operational launch,” said Thorsten Rudolph, managing director of Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen, which initiated and continues to organize the ESNC. “We believe that the ESNC’s function as a leading innovation framework in its field will grant it an equally important role in Europe’s new satellite navigation system.”
Along with the overall winner, 240 experts in the ESNC’s renowned network selected more than 30 other winners in the competition’s regional and special-prize challenges. Under the patronage of Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport, prizes worth a total of EUR 1 million were presented at the awards ceremony. The winners illustrated the fundamental importance of robust, reliable, and secure time and positioning signals for Europe’s digital society through innovations in areas such as transport, health, and the environment.
2014 Special Prize Winners
In addition to selecting its overall winner, the 11th European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) has awarded prizes in six different special categories and to 25 regional winners.
GSA: The most promising application idea for European GNSS
The Galileo for ARA module will use a key feature of Galileo – its E5 broadband signal – to create new possibilities in the development of smartphone applications that require high accuracy. The team thus plans to integrate E5 Galileo receiver modules for enhanced accuracy and develop an antenna interface module to provide better performance. This will offer improved positioning precision with centimetre-level accuracy and a multipath-resistant solution designed for pedestrians and urban environments.
ESA Innovation Prize & Flanders/Belgium — Overall Ranking: 3rd Place
stickNtrack is a disruptive innovation that opens up an abundance of new business opportunities in tracking trailers, containers, machinery, tools, bikes, and more. It functions for up to 10 years without the hassle of charging batteries, managing SIM cards, or any intrusive installations while consuming up to 40 times less power. StickNtrack also lowers life-cycle costs by 50% compared to current compact GPRS/GPS products.
This artificial ground-based solution will significantly boost the coverage of satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS, such as EGNOS) to ensure safe landings on all airport runways. SBAS assistance can be limited due to a lack of signal coverage in the far north, in the mountains, or in highly urbanised areas. By receiving and retransmitting GPS corrections, the proposed system will enable the use of systems like EGNOS in such difficult environments. Thanks to its competitive cost and reliability, this system will be a strong alternative to conventional instrument landing systems (ILS).
Hail Navigator is a novel system designed to reduce damage caused by hail. The formation of hail can be suppressed by injecting silver iodide into clouds. Hail Navigator combines navigation with a precipitation reporting system that can guide pilots to the optimal locations for their hail suppression missions. The system is complemented by weather observations (including precise times and locations) reported by the local population via a smartphone app as a means of validating weather prediction models. These models constitute an important factor in deciding whether a hail suppression flight is necessary.
trakkies has built the world’s first REAL platform for the Internet of Things (IOT). It enables users to keep better track of belongings, events, tasks, appointments, and more. The start-up has developed IOT nodes with ambient intelligence, a smartphone app, and a back-end cloud system for providing helpful, intuitive services and interacting with people, places, and things. Furthermore, trakkies has designed a novel small-data mechanism that identifies individual people, places, and objects and uses EGNOS signals to create smart location references.
KVH Industries, Inc., has received a $4.3 million order for its TACNAV tactical navigation systems from a new customer who is a major defense contractor providing armored vehicles for an international military client. With a short delivery requirement, shipments for this order are expected to be substantially completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.
“KVH is extremely pleased to be selected by another major defense contractor to provide the tactical navigation solution for their new armored vehicles. Providing precise navigation as well as coordination of vehicles in critical situations is an important tool that helps keep soldiers oriented wherever they operate,” said Dan Conway, executive vice president of KVH’s Guidance and Stabilization group.
KVH’s TACNAV military vehicle navigation systems provide unjammable precision navigation, heading, and pointing data for vehicle drivers, crews, and commanders. TACNAV can also serve as a heading and position source for situational awareness.
In October, KVH received a $19 million contract for the delivery of a new fiber optic gyro-based tactical navigation system for use by an international military customer in an armored vehicle application.
TACNAV systems are in use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as well as many allied customers including Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Botswana, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Malaysia, Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, and Italy.
The TACNAV 3D, by KVH Industries. Photo: KVH Industries
KVH Industries, Inc., has received a $19 million contract for the delivery of a new fiber optic gyro (FOG)-based tactical navigation system for use by an international military customer in an armored vehicle application. A variant of KVH’s TACNAV FOG product and KVH’s new TACNAV 3D, the system provides continuous high-accuracy position and orientation even when GPS is lost or jammed.
Work on the contract began in July under a letter contract, and hardware shipments for this order are expected to be made in 2015 and 2016. Program management, engineering services, and out-year support services will be provided as part of this order.
“KVH’s TACNAV navigation solution is an important tool for U.S. and allied warfighters, providing precision navigation as well as coordination of vehicles in critical situations,” said Dan Conway, executive vice president of KVH’s Guidance and Stabilization group. “The system serves as a crucial resource for navigation and battle management, and even as a backup in GPS-denied environments, keeping soldiers safe and out of harm’s way wherever they travel. This new order reaffirms the value of KVH’s TACNAV products for international militaries, and adds to our backlog for the coming years.”
All of KVH’s TACNAV military vehicle navigation systems provide unjammable precision navigation, heading, and pointing data for vehicle drivers, crews, and commanders. TACNAV can also serve as a heading and position source for situational awareness. The TACNAV system ordered is a FOG-based navigation and pointing solution, which is designed to ensure precise navigation data regardless of GPS availability as well as automatic “drive and calibrate” capability. It features a compact design, continuous heading and pointing data output, and a flexible architecture that allows it to function as either a standalone navigation module or as the heart of an expanded, multifunctional TACNAV system. The system is designed to integrate with Battle Management Systems (BMS) and is a vital component for effective battlefield management.
TACNAV systems are currently in use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as well as many allied customers including Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Botswana, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Malaysia, Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, and Italy.
In recent tests, the IDS ran continuously for 24 hours monitoring for potential interference originating from traffic on a nearby highway, SR-522, passing through Woodinville, Washington. “In a single day, the IDS detected two separate instances of a sweep jammer moving along the highway,” noted Loctronix Founder and CEO Michael Mathews. “These discoveries were unexpected, given the relatively short monitoring period and the fact that SR-522 is not a heavy truck-route.”
“The two interference events were likely caused by sweep jammers installed within a vehicle’s interior. The intercepted signals exhibited significant variations in amplitude probably caused by the jammer antenna non-uniform radiation pattern as the jammer vehicle passed through the IDS antenna beam pattern,” Mathews added.
Intentional interference is designed to prevent a GPS receiver from acquiring and tracking signals. The use of jammers is in the U.S. is illegal; however, they can still be purchased for as little as $30. Thousands of GPS jammers are purportedly in use throughout Europe and several parties have been caught illegally jamming GPS in the U.S.
Loctronix developed the IDS to identify, characterize, and ultimately geolocate GPS interference. When interference is present, the system analyzes the interference for signal structure and notifies operators if the threat is significant.
The IDS is highly portable, simple to use, and cost-effective, Loctronix said. The system is based upon the Loctronix ASR-2300 software defined radio platform, making it readily configurable (from a single mobile detector to a multi-sensor network array) to monitor additional GNSS bands and, potentially, cellular bands.
In the video below, Michael B. Mathews, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Loctronix, tells GPS World about the IDS at the ION GNSS+ Conference, held September in Tampa, Florida.
In May 2011, Dinesh Manandhar and Hideyuki Torimoto of GNSS Technologies, Inc., Japan, penned a very interesting article in GPS World titled – Opening Up Indoors: Japan’s Indoor Messaging System, IMES. The opening paragraph of their lengthy article seemingly describes the Holy Grail for the indoor positioning lobby:
“An indoor messaging system (IMES) has been developed to meet the challenges of indoor and deep indoor positioning, as a system that can be implemented in any device that has a GPS/GNSS receiver without hardware modification. IMES can provide reliable 3D position data with a single transmitter device without performing range calculation[s].”
They go on to describe the IMES concept thusly:
“The main concept of IMES is to transmit position and floor ID of the transmitter with the same RF signal as GPS. IMES transmits latitude, longitude, height, and floor ID by replacing the ephemeris and clock data in the navigation message of GPS. A single unit of IMES is enough to get the position data, since the position itself is directly transmitted.”
Now, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to start thinking about interference and spoofing issues or risks, especially when you read that the navigation message ephemeris and clock data are being replaced by data broadcast by IMES. To be fair, the authors address these issues briefly:
“Since IMES shares the same frequency as [the] GPS L1 band (1575.42 MHz), there is an interference level that IMES may have on GPS signals. This interference has been studied in detail by conducting experiments and simulations. Based on these studies and analysis, various methods have been considered to avoid harmful interference to GPS signal. To avoid such interference, IMES center frequency is shifted by +/– 8.2 KHz from GPS L1 band. This will have the least impact on the GPS L1 band signal. For example, if the IMES signal is –110 dBm (very strong) and the GPS signal is –142 dBm (very weak), the loss of GPS signal (C/N0) due to IMES is less than 2 db. If the IMES signal is –120 dBm and the GPS signal is –142 dBm, there is no loss of GPS signal (C/N0). Based on this analysis, the IMES transmitter power must be controlled such that the maximum power to the receiver does not exceed –110 dBm at a distance of 3 meters from the transmitter. [There are] guideline[s] specified in the QZSS IS document for setting the transmitter effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) based on location.”
Let’s put these concerns in perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed the article and firmly believe that we desperately need to solve the indoor positioning and navigation problems, especially for our warfighters and first responders. While many of today’s excellent commercial receivers work well indoors near windows and doors, they are absolutely abysmal underground and deep inside large buildings with lots of metal, or in the middle of dense urban canyons such as Tokyo, Japan. Without a doubt, there is a dire need for a system like IMES — or maybe exactly like IMES — but there must be some caveats and stipulations as to how the IMES system is implemented.
Not Alone
Fortunately, I am far from being a lone wolf in voicing my concerns and my position, for once again the conspiracy theorists as well as renowned scientist and policy makers are concerned about IMES and the operating systems they supposedly desire to replace or augment. Chief among them is the Father of GPS, Dr. Bradford Parkinson, who has frequently described improperly operated in-band pseudolites as “…just another name for a legal jammer or spoofer.” Having known Brad for almost 40 years, I am convinced few GPS experts in the world today have as much experience with pseudolites as Dr. Parkinson. Consequently, the very reason that an indoor navigation system such as IMES is needed may well be a portent for why it may well fail, unless it is implemented properly.
It would be easy but extremely tedious to write about the numerous issues facing IMES in a complicated and technical manner. Certainly previous articles have become bogged down in minutia, and I want to avoid that. It is actually very simple. The issues are fairly straightforward and should be faced head on and not hidden in the midst of tech-speak lingo, legal jargon, policy minutia or politics. So lets dive straight in, shall w,e and make sure these issues see the light of day?
Interference
There can be no doubt that IMES has the potential to significantly interfere with GPS and QZSS signals. The authors of the IMES article are quite clear concerning the potential for interference, and in their own way attempt to mitigate it with signal power restrictions. Their example of a small three- to four-story building with IMES transmitters may indeed be adequate for signal power mitigations, but what happens in Tokyo where tall buildings — skyscrapers if you will — abound? When the Tokyo Skytree skyscraper opened to the public in 2012, it was then listed as the world’s tallest tower and Japan’s biggest new landmark. At over 2,080 feet tall, this is definitely the type of building where one would need an IMES system. With an average of 20 IMES transmitters per floor and weighing in with over 200 floors, we can quickly see that there would be over 4,000 IMES transmitters in this one building alone, all broadcasting simultaneously on or near the center frequency for GPS. Absent stringent regulations and infinite care (the IMES article authors propose that the pseudolite network operator will have the responsibility to continuously monitor each pseudolite and the pseudolite network to prevent interference), and perhaps even with those caveats in place, the GPS L-band noise floor would be such that GPS signals would be incapable of being received.
Now, put 20 such buildings in a ten-block area and the noise floor would be almost incalculable and certainly not predictable. Dr. Parkinson’s fears are realized; your legalized IMES system becomes a distributed network of jammers and/or spoofers. However, technically IMES is currently far from being a legal jammer or spoofer as currently IMES transmitters are not legal to operate in the GPS band at 1559-1610 MHz under the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Treaty per the International Table of Frequency Allocations of the ITU Radio Regulations. The ITU further states that IMES currently operates on an interfering basis with the co-primary allocations (ARNS/RNSS) in this band, and therefore are in violation of the ITU Treaty. However, Japan’s frequency regulatory agency can develop and implement regulations that allow IMES operations. When this occurs, if not operated within stringent guidelines, IMES could then be considered a legalized jammer or spoofer.
Even the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the JRC, states in its Executive Summary on pseudolites that in-band pseudolites pose a significant jamming risk to GNSS receivers. Specifically they state:
Pseudolites or pseudo-satellites are an emerging technology with the potential of enabling satellite navigation indoors. This technology found several applications that are not limited to indoor navigation. Precise landing, emergency services in difficult environments and precise positioning and machine control are few examples where pseudolite technology can be employed.
Despite the great potential of this technology, severe interference problems with existing GNSS services can arise. The problem can be particularly severe when considering non-participating receivers — legacy devices not designed for pseudolite signals. The design of pseudolite signals is thus a complex problem that has to account for market requirements (modifications of existing receivers for enabling the use of pseudolite signals, measurement accuracy, target application), regulatory aspects (frequency bands to be allocated for pseudolite services) and interference problems.
JRC investigates the main aspects to be considered for the design of a pseudolite signal standard minimizing the interference problem without compromising the location capabilities of the system. The focus is on the signal characteristics and topics relevant for the signal design.
Pseudolite or Communications System
The second technical portion of the interference issue revolves around how exactly you define IMES, for when you are dealing with radio regulation agencies semantics matter. Think back to the first paragraph of this article where the IMES authors defined IMES as a messaging system. That certainly sounds like a communications system to me, and others agree. Consequently, the question has been raised and rightfully so: Is IMES a navigation and positioning system, a pseudolite or a communications system? Honestly, to me it sounds like a bit of all three, but if you define it as a communications system, then Japan is seeking to authorize the integration of a communications system with known significant interference issues with GPS signals right in the middle — indeed, potentially on the center frequency of the protected navigation band using terrestrial PRN codes assigned by the U.S. government. If IMES is deemed an indoor pseudolite, then the interference issues are still there. But it is defined as a bonafide PNT system using authorized terrestrial PRN codes. Talk about a bucket of worms!
The issues here are numerous, and they need to be fully addressed to ensure that all those who are potentially affected clearly understand what is being proposed and the risk for the public at large, including who owns responsibility if something goes wrong. I could go on for several pages on this issue alone, but suffice it to say, we do not want to authorize a communications system that is a known and acknowledged GPS interferer right in the middle of the band — or anywhere in the band for that matter. Remember all the issues GPS had in the past several years with a communications system in adjacent bands. So, do we really want a known communications system — or communications system masquerading as a pseudolite, for that matter — with known GPS signal interference issues in the restricted GPS frequency spectrum? The blaringly obvious answer is absolutely not! Yet this is exactly what the IMES authors are proposing not only for Japan, but eventually, if they receive authorization, for other countries around the globe as well. Japan has twice petitioned the U.S. government to make the assigned IMES terrestrial PRN code allocations global in nature. Fortunately, to date those request have been denied.
Dichotomy
Certainly, other countries and companies have noticed this apparent frequency authorization dichotomy and are following suit. For instance the Conference of European Postal and Telecommunications agencies, or CEPT, which is Europe’s regional representative to the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), has proposed adding several troubling IMES-related agenda items for the quadrennial WRCs coming up in 2015 and 2019. Even more importantly, these critical issues could be aired in the next three weeks, as the agenda for the 2015 WRC will be largely set at a plenipotentiary conference happening October 20 through November 8 in Busan, South Korea.
There are what I consider to be dangerous proposals under consideration by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), which should concern GNSS users worldwide. The ITU is the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technologies — ICTs. This is the ITU, where every member state (currently 193) gets one vote, whether they fully understand the technical issues or not and regardless of whether they are a space-faring nation or have a dog in the fight, so to speak. This means that the vote of tiny Saint Lucia counts the same as the United States or Canada or Australia. The ITU charter is to “…allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strive to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.” Fortunately, the ITU regulations, unlike the CEPT or IMES proposals, wisely require new transmitters proposing to operate in the radio navigation spectrum to operate without causing interference to primary users. Meanwhile, there are member states, countries and companies that want to capitalize on this seeming dichotomy within the global safety-of-life, historically protected, radio bands. Those nefarious efforts, for the future of GPS and GNSS worldwide, need to be stopped in their tracks.
Spectrum is a limited and valuable resource, to say the least, and here fortunately the ITU regulations have it right and do not risk human life, by intruding and potentially interfering with the frequencies used globally by airliners to control, route and land aircraft. I am convinced there are solutions available to us through cooperative efforts with the ITU and other national organizations that will produce pseudolites without causing interference in the protected safety-of-life frequency bands.
When Is a PRN Code Not a PRN Code?
Some of you who are a bit more savvy or have been following this fiasco for some time may now be thinking, what’s the problem, the IMES authors are merely using and proposing further use of U.S. government-authorized terrestrial PRN codes for IMES. This indeed touches on the third thorny issue, which is not only technical but political as well — the use of and authorization to use PRN codes for what is ostensibly a communications system, if you believe the authors of the IMES article, who go to great lengths to differentiate IMES from pseudolites. They continually make the argument that IMES is not a pseudolite, but as we shall soon see, when the U.S. government authorized these specific PRN codes (173-182) for Japan, they were to be used solely for a low-power terrestrial pseudolite program, not an in-band communications system.
Technically, these specific PRN codes assigned to the Japanese for IMES expire in 2017. The authorization of these PRN codes come with numerous restrictions that legally make the codes useful only for the Japanese landmass. This is where the technical, political and operational issues come to a head. We are in for some tough sledding here. However, I will endeavor to make it as simple as possible.
History
In 2007, ten PRN codes were specifically assigned to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA “for the Indoor Messaging System (IMES) terrestrial pseudolites of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).” The Memorandum of Agreement from the GPS Wing at SMC (Space and Missile Systems Center) in Los Angeles at Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) clearly states that the codes are valid for ten years and expire on 19 November 2017, unless a renewal application is filed and approved. Hence, PRN codes 173-182 for IMES were assigned with several crucial caveats and restrictions by the U.S. government that are definitely pertinent to our discussion:
The codes are designated for low-power terrestrial regional applications limited to Japan only.
Although the GPS Wing conducts an initial check on PRN number requests with respect to potential interference issues, the issuance of a PRN number does not convey authority to radiate in the [GPS] band. In order to radiate in the GPS L1 band, the applicant [Japan] shall obtain a frequency assignment from the [Japanese] national authority.
The GPS Wing assumes no responsibility for ensuring systems using these spreading codes follow domestic radio frequency regulations or other applicable laws or regulations, or for ensuring that systems using GPS PRN codes do not cause radio frequency interference.
GPS PRN codes were developed for signals transmitted from satellites, and are not necessarily optimized for use by terrestrial transmitters.
The maximum effective isotropic power for each terrestrial transmitter will be less than -94 dBW.
The QZSS [organization] is responsible for the redistribution of these spreading codes throughout Japan and will limit their use to Japan only.
With all these restrictions, it is difficult to see how the IMES authors could legally use, distribute or promote authorization of IMES and the use of the PRN codes outside of Japan and at the power levels related in the GPS World IMES article. Regardless of the IMES author’s interpretation of the PRN code assignment, the GPS Wing 2007 Memorandum restrictions and caveats are clear, and it cannot be disputed that the codes expire in 2017 unless renewed by the USAF. The PRN codes are restricted to the landmass of Japan even if they are renewed, and if IMES wishes to broadcast anywhere in the GPS band, they need to have permission from their national frequency allocation authority (the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which is equivalent to the U.S. FCC –Federal Communications Commission) to do so.
The Way Ahead
This is the easy part from my perspective. See if you don’t agree. If the U.S. government is concerned about IMES and what Japan is planning to do with the assigned PRN codes for terrestrial use, the U.S. government through the USAF has the options to:
Rescind the PRN codes immediately.
Insure the Japanese adhere to the caveats and restrictions in the original Memorandum.
Simply refuse to renew or recertify the codes for future use and/or recommend for IMES frequencies that are outside the protected GPS band.
Update and clarify the footnote on the GPS Wing PRN Codes website pertaining to the Japanese IMES PRN Codes with all the restrictions listed in the GPS Wing Memorandum so other countries will realize this is not a global IMES PRN assignment.
Japan is a valuable ally and we need to work together cooperatively, but frankly, the plans laid out for IMES by the authors in the GPS World article must be troubling to those whose job it is protect the GPS spectrum and enforce mutual agreements with our allies. If we were just concerned about a Japanese IMES system, this whole discussion might be moot. However, other countries and commercial companies around the world are watching closely and laying the groundwork for similar IMES and pseudolite incursions into the GPS L-band spectrum — if the Japanese are allowed to proceed and the limited use of PRN codes for IMES is not clarified for all. No one, and I include the Japanese, wants to see this happen if it means interference with GPS, and QZSS for that matter.
Fortunately, where European countries are concerned, there are the ITU regulations. Specifically for GPS and pseudolites, the CEPT regulation has a license condition that requires the pseudolite network operator to submit to the European country regulator confirmation of the terrestrial PRN codes from the GNSS operator before operating pseudolites in the GPS band. So again, the U.S. government wields the hammer here.
Therefore, the U.S. government must act immediately and decisively to put an end to the threats against the protected GPS spectrum caused by the proposed in-band IMES system. At the same time, the Japanese government has an obligation and responsibility to adhere to the letter of the law where the original GPS Wing 2007 IMES Memorandum is concerned.
Finally, the U.S. government must urgently engage cooperatively with the European Union administration and Japan to prevent the authorization and proliferation of interfering devices in the GNSS frequency bands, and to work together to ensure the positive benefits to GNSS from commercializing pseudolite uses outside the GNSS radio frequency bands. GNSS manufacturers worldwide are successfully marketing commercial pseudolites that do not cause interference. In my opinion, this is the way to go both in terms of regulations and governance.
Until next time, happy navigating, and remember GPS is brought to you free of charge by the United States Air Force.
Applanix, a mobile mapping and positioning company, has introduced a new product that enables major improvements in unmanned airborne mapping: the Applanix APX-15 UAV GNSS-Inertial System. The announcement was made at InterGeo, being held this week in Berlin.
The APX-15 UAV is designed to maximize the efficiency of mapping from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by reducing — or even eliminating — Ground Control Points (GCPs). Sidelap is also significantly reduced, increasing the area flown per mission. The Applanix APX-15 UAV provides performance in a small package and, with the included POSPac UAV post-mission software, produces a highly accurate position and orientation solution for direct georeferencing of cameras, LIDARs and other UAS sensors, the company said.
“Applanix has recognized the need to provide the growing UAS mapping market with the same highly efficient solutions that it pioneered for airborne mapping over 15 years ago,” said Joe Hutton, Director of Inertial Technology and Airborne Products at Applanix Corporation. “We are offering a cost-effective solution that meets the size, weight, power and cost requirements of small UAS, and maintains the Applanix pedigree for quality and performance.”
The APX-15 UAV, measuring just 6 cm x 6.7 cm and weighing only 60 grams, features a high-performance, survey-grade, multi-frequency GNSS receiver and low-noise MEMS inertial sensors all on a single board. The Applanix IN-Fusion GNSS-Inertial integration technology runs directly on the GNSS receiver, resulting in an ultra-compact design, while superior performance is achieved from the inertial sensors using the Applanix SmartCal software compensation technology.
With 220 channels, the APX-15 UAV tracks all available GNSS satellite signals including GPS L1/L2/L2C/L5 and GLONASS L1/L2, QZSS, BeiDou and Galileo, and provides a highly accurate post-mission and real-time RTK GNSS-inertial position and orientation solution to support guidance and control, precision landing and sensor geo-referencing.
APX-15 UAV is expected to be available worldwide in the first quarter of 2015 through the Applanix sales channel.
