GPS World

Category: Receivers

  • Altair selects Rohde & Schwarz for testing new IoT chipsets

    Modules featuring Altair’s ALT1250 CAT-M1/NB1 chipset will be demonstrated at Mobile World Congress.

    Altair Semiconductor, a provider of LTE chipsets, has selected Rohde & Schwarz as its partner for test equipment for its dual-mode CAT-M1/NB1 internet of things (IoT) ALT1250 chipset, as well as its next-generation IoT chipsets.

    The ALT1250 is a highly integrated dual-mode CAT-M1/NB-IoT chipset with GNSS. Modules with ALT1250 inside are the world’s smallest, and may be as small as 100 millimeters square in area.

    The ALT1250 includes GNSS location positioning, a wideband RF front-end supporting all commercial LTE bands within a single hardware design, a multi-layered and hardware-based security framework, an internal application subsystem and packaging that enables standard, low-cost PCB manufacturing.

    The Rohde & Schwarz R&S CMW500 test platform offers the most validated CAT-M1/NB-IoT protocol conformance tests. It allows manufacturers and test houses to use a single instrument to verify that chipsets, modules and devices comply with GCF and PTCRB standards, and specific network operator requirements.

    The test equipment will be used for protocol testing as well as RF, RRM performance and carrier tests.

    Rohde & Schwarz is a global manufacturer of wireless communications and EMC test and measurement equipment and plans to develop new testing protocols for Altair’s next generations of cellular IoT chipsets.

    “Our ALT1250 chipset is already forming the foundation for multiple current and emerging IoT applications,” said Ilan Reingold, VP of business development and marketing for Altair. “The choice of Rohde & Schwarz is part of our commitment to the highest quality of advanced validation and performance testing for our game-changing products.”

    “This announcement confirms the commitment of Rohde & Schwarz to the wireless industry to provide innovative test tools and solutions that allow the testing and certification of cellular IoT devices,” said Anton Messmer, vice president, mobile radio testers, for Rohde & Schwarz. “We are pleased to have been selected by Altair and are looking forward to supporting them in the development of highly integrated chipsets in conformance with 3GPP Release-13 standards for CAT-M1 and NB-IoT, and beyond.”

    Altair will be demonstrating partner modules based on ALT1250 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 26 to March 1 at Altair meeting rooms in Hall 2, Stands 2B2Ex and 2B4Ex.

    Rohde & Schwarz will showcase CAT-M1/NB-IoT test solutions with the R&S CMW500 at MWC in hall 6, booth 6C40.

  • SBG Systems offers industrial-grade IMU for high-volume projects

    SBG Systems has released the Ellipse 2 Micro series, a new product range designed to reduce the size and cost of high-performance inertial sensors for volume projects. The Ellipse 2 Micro series is available as an inertial measurement unit (IMU), or as an attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) or inertial navigation system (INS) running an extended Kalman filter.

    The new Ellipse 2 Micro is available as an IMU for calibrated sensor data, or as an AHRS/INS delivering accurate orientation and navigation using an external GNSS receiver.

    The Ellipse 2 Micro series provides excellent navigation data when connected to an external GNSS receiver. The INS fuses in real-time inertial and GNSS information to maintain the vehicle position in air, marine or land applications. For automotive projects, the inertial sensor comes with CAN protocol and connects to the odometer for higher performance in harsh environments, such as tunnels and urban canyons.

    “With the Ellipse 2 Micro, integrators benefit from SBG Systems high expertise in motion sensing and positioning in the smallest package,” said Alexis Guinamard, CTO of SBG Systems.

    The high-quality micro IMU is calibrated from -40 degrees to 85 degrees Celsius.  Combining state-of-the-art MEMS-based gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers, the new Ellipse 2 Micro series is fully calibrated in temperature to eliminate measurement errors such as sensor bias, gain, linearity, alignment and g-sensitivity to provide a constant behavior in all conditions.

    Weighing 10 grams, the Ellipse 2 Micros provide a 0.1 degree accurate attitude and connects to external GNSS for navigation, offering a remarkable weight/performance ratio to integrators.

    All Ellipse 2 Micro models are now available for order. Product and pricing information is available from SBG Systems representatives and authorized dealers.

  • Antenova compact antenna boosts GNSS signals

    Antenova Ltd., manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules, has launched a new compact, all-in-one active GNSS antenna, part number M20047-1, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) show, Jan. 9-12, in Las Vegas.

    The M20047-1 antenna adds another option to the company’s existing range of positioning antennas and modules.

    It operates in the 1559–1609 MHz bands, and offers designers a useful, space-saving option for small tracking devices.

    It’s key features are the active components, the built-in LNA and filter, which act to boost the signal to the GNSS processor in environments where there is a restricted view of the sky and line-of-sight to the horizon is difficult. With the LNA and filtering already built into the antenna, designers will not need to add them, and can save space on their PCB.

    The M20047-1 is a very low profile rigid FR4 antenna measuring 7.0 x 7.0 x 1.1 millimeters, making it suitable for use in small tracking devices. It is suitable for tracking all kinds of moving objects, telematics and wearable sports devices.

    The M20047-1 antenna is named Active Sinica and is an alternative to Antenova’s existing Sinica antenna, part no SR4G008, which is marketed for accurate positioning.

    Antenova’s antennas are specifically designed for easy integration; however, the company provides full engineering support to help customers with all aspects of antenna testing, tuning and integration.

  • Velodyne LiDAR, Paracosm team up to capture environments in 3D

    Paracosm's PX-80 handheld 3D scanner has Velodyne lidar inside. (Photo: Paracosm)
    Paracosm’s PX-80 handheld 3D scanner has Velodyne lidar inside. (Photo: Paracosm)

    Paracosm’s PX-80 mobile 3D scanner leverages lightweight, powerful VLP-16 Puck for fast and accurate surveying of indoor and outdoor areas.

    Velodyne LiDAR Inc., which makes 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, and Paracosm, a division of Occipital, have integrated Velodyne’s VLP-16 Puck lidar sensors into Paracosm’s PX-80 handheld 3D scanner.

    The PX-80 3D scanner is commonly used for geospatial, construction and industrial applications to survey a wide array of spaces from large office buildings to thick forests.

    Paracosm’s PX-80 uses Velodyne’s VLP-16 Puck and its own proprietary SLAM technology — itself a fusion of lidar, color imagery and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data — to produce detailed three-dimensional documentation of complex environments and geometries in minutes.

    The resulting point clouds come in full color with corresponding spherical imagery that can provide virtual tours along with accurate 3D measurements. With the lightweight VLP-16 lidar sensor from Velodyne, Paracosm is able to offer a handheld scanner with unprecedented accuracy, range and detail.

    “When we first began our 3D mapping journey, we wanted to be able to capture huge environments as fast as possible, but were limited by the range and accuracy of available sensors,” said Amir Rubin, president of Paracosm. “After searching far and wide for a better solution, we found that the VLP-16 was the best combination of size, accuracy, and functionality to fit our needs.”

    “Paracosm has proven its ability to expand the application of lidar into handheld use cases, allowing the PX-80 to become one of the most accurate and versatile mobile 3D scanners on the market,” said Mike Jellen, president and chief commercial officer, Velodyne LiDAR. “We are thrilled to partner with Paracosm for their development of the PX-80 and look forward to working with them as they expand their footprint.”

    As the VLP-16 is the smallest commercially available sensor in Velodyne’s lidar portfolio, it is the easiest to embed in other products. “The performance of the VLP-16 is unrivaled in the marketplace. We remain deeply impressed with the range, acquisition rate, noise levels and accuracy it provides in such a compact form factor,” said Gannon Wilder, who leads business development in the Paracosm division.

    Both Velodyne LiDAR and Paracosm will be at the Consumer Electronics show (CES) providing product demonstrations. Velodyne LiDAR will be at Booth #3525 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, while Paracosm will be at Booth #21029 in South Hall 1.

  • Geologist uses lidar to monitor Greenland Glacier ice loss

    A Riegl VZ-6000 laser scanner, operating at 1064 um wavelength, serves as the backbone of the ATLAS system.
    A Riegl VZ-6000 laser scanner, operating at 1064 um wavelength, serves as the backbone of the ATLAS system.

    Leigh Stearns, a geologist with the University of Kansas, is working with a Riegl VZ-6000 ultra long range terrestrial laser scanner, incorporated into an ATLAS (Autonomous Terrestrial Laser Scanning) system, to monitor rates of ice loss on the Helheim Glacier, a tidewater glacier undergoing large-scale changes due to global climate change.

    “Lidar is an emerging technology for the earth sciences because it produces an incredibly detailed 3-D view of features,” said the KU researcher. “Repeat lidar scanning reveals small-scale changes with very high precision. These systems are now used to measure how bridges are sagging, how tectonic faults propagate and now how glaciers flow. The ATLAS systems are unique because they’re designed to scan the glacier terminus every six hours, year-round. That’s not a trivial task when there’s no sunlight in the winter, winds are high and it’s very cold.”

    The VZ-6000 high speed, high-resolution terrestrial 3D laser scanner offers an extremely long measurement range of more than 6000 meters for topographic (static) applications. Due to its laser wavelength, it is exceptionally well suited for measuring snowy and icy terrain in glacier mapping and monitoring applications in mountainous regions.

    Learn more about the project at the University of Kansas website.

  • Think 3D, Applanix combine on UAV-based airborne lidar mapping

    The Think 3D Stormbee multicopter integrated with Trimble’s AP15 provides efficiency, accuracy and performance for lidar surveys from unmanned vehicles.

    Historically, lidar-based aerial surveys were impractical for all but the largest unmanned systems. Because of Applanix’ development of small, lightweight and low-powered direct georeferencing solutions, airborne lidar scans from small drones are now practical, cost-effective, highly accurate and excellent options for lidar surveys, according to the company.

    The Stormbee is a directly georeferenced UAV lidar solution for 3D industrial mapping applications, designed to collect survey grade spatial data in a significantly more cost effective and efficient way than static lidar.

    Think3D-Stormee-UAV-lidar-O
    The Stormbee, a Faro Focus 130 laser scanner, and the AP15.

    Stormbee’s 3D mapping technologies include Faro’s Focus 130 laser scanner, Trimble’s AP15 high performance GNSS/inertial receiver, Applanix’s POSPac UAV GNSS/inertial post-processing software and Stormbee’s proprietary Beeflex software for lidar point cloud generation.

    Industrial applications (GNSS-denied environments) pose unique challenges for laser scanning using traditional static systems, due to obstructions and poor signal environments. These issues lead to increased costs and operational time.

    By using the high-performance Trimble AP15 with two antenna and the Applanix post-processing software (POSPac MMS) for georeferencing the lidar data, Stormbee provides an accurate real-time and post-mission solution for all motion variables.

    Applanix has brought together its decades of experience in multi-frequency, multi-constellation Differential GNSS and inertial based positioning and orientation with the best in small-form factor hardware and powerful software, to produce a DG solution for professional aerial mapping on UAVs.

    With a system delivering better than 5-cm accuracy (real mean squared) and high resolution, Stormbee and Applanix offer 3D detail from a platform moving at speeds up to 15 meters per second. The Stormbee leverages Applanix’s decades of experience in direct georeferencing of lidar systems to collect the most accurate 3D data.

    Benefits of the system:

    • compact, easy-to-operate and cost-effective
    • centimeter-level mobile positioning accuracy for 3D mapping products
    • improved productivity, with optimized workflow from data capture to georeferenced point cloud generation
    • superior visualization: Lidar scanners provide more accurate information of structures than camera technologies

    Think 3D, a Belgian company, is a 3D scanning company for many industrial applications including those in the beverage, steel, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and tank terminals industries. Think3D helps companies make changes to their installations by providing a full 3D CAD model of their installation.

    Stormbee to date has proven to be effective in many industries including mining, engineering, dredging, forensics, universities and survey.

  • Sokkia presents GNSS receiver at Intergeo 2017

    Sokkia’s Tammy Aalto gives GPS World a rundown on one of the company’s latest receiver, the GSX3, at Intergeo 2017 in Berlin, Germany. According to the company, improvements on this receiver include the addition of BeiDou and Galileo tracking capability, longer range base-to-rover communication, and performance in tree canopy situations.

  • Launchpad: The latest in GNSS, survey and UAV products

    OEM

    GPS Firewall

    Protects critical infrastructure from spoofing and jamming

    The BlueSky GPS Firewall is designed to provide security protection for GPS-delivered position, navigation and timing (PNT) data. It can be deployed in-line between any standard GPS antenna and stationary GPS receiver to provide protection against GPS signal incidents, both intentional or accidental, before they enter a GPS receiver system. BlueSky GPS Firewall filters the GPS signal in real time, removing anomalies before the signal is consumed by the downstream GPS receiver. This creates an intelligent and secure barrier against jamming and spoofing, and prevents the GPS receiver from being impacted by such incidents. It incorporates an Ethernet interface for remote management and monitoring and includes a secure web interface for configuration and set-up. Evaluation kits are available in advance of full production release, both in response to the growing number of GPS incidents and their potential threat to critical infrastructure.

    Microsemi, www.microsemi.com

    Low-noise amplifiers

    LNA upgrades enable expanded GNSS reception

    Four new models of high-performing wideband low noise amplifiers (LNAs) are now available for choke-ring antennas, with options of 35-dB and 50-dB gain. The LNAs are designed for upgrading existing choke-ring antennas with Dorne Margolin/EDO elements to receive new and expanding GNSS signals. The LNAs provide consistent gain across the full bandwidth and include filters for suppression of out-of-band interfering signals, such as cellular LTE and Iridium signals, while maintaining a low noise figure, high third-order intercept point, small group delay and low power consumption. The enclosure is designed to fit a wide variety of currently deployed choke-ring antennas.

    Tallysman, www.tallysman.com

    GNSS-inertial boards

    OEM boards for high-precision guidance and control

    The BD GNSS family of boards includes the BD940 GNSS and GNSS-inertial boards and new BD990 GNSS, GNSS-heading and GNSS-inertial boards. The BX940 and BX992 models are available in a rugged enclosure (pictured) for applications in harsh environments. The BD GNSS boards offer simple connectivity and configuration, allowing system integrators and OEMs to easily add GNSS positioning and orientation — with the ability to upgrade its capabilities — using the same board footprint, connectors and software interface for specialized and custom hardware solutions. The compact boards include a broad range of receiver capabilities, from high-accuracy GNSS-only to full GNSS-inertial features for positioning and 3D orientation. Firmware options are upgradeable, allowing functionality to be added as requirements change. The boards are designed for UAVs, autonomous vehicles, fleet management and aviation.

    Trimble, www.trimble.com

    GNSS RTK board

    Upgraded with improved functionality

    The Precis-BX306 RTK board (pictured: Precis-BX306 board easy kit) has been upgraded with new and improved GPS and GLONASS functionality. The new version supports up to 20-Hz real-time kinematic (RTK) solution and raw measurement output, which can be integrated with autopilots and inertial navigation units. With improved algorithms, the new Precis-BX306 demonstrates an ability to quickly fix a 30-km baseline. Stable fix rate is achieved when under tree canopy, in urban canyons and other challenging environments. This latest version of Precis-BX306 is pin-to-pin compatible with major GNSS boards in the market, offering a flexible interface. Event mark and PPS are supported as always.

    Tersus GNSS, www.tersus-gnss.com

    SURVEY & MAPPING

    Radio modem

    Offers advanced radio connectivity with GNSS receivers

    The R4S-BT UHF radio provides an external option for use with the Sokkia GCX receiver line. The UHF multichannel radio modem has a tuning range of up to 70 MHz. It features an IP67 certified housing with internal batteries designed to be easy to carry with versatile mounting options. The radio modem makes the GCX GNSS receiver a more scalable and modular solution for situations without a network connection or when long-range Bluetooth technology is not enough on its own. Survey and mapping professionals can add the radio modem to extend the range between the base and rover. Connectivity options include wireless data transfer and USB connections.

    Sokkia, sokkia.com

    Survey UAV

    Programmable via computer

    The Triumph-F1 Survey UAV and Receiver is based around a geodetic GNSS receiver with 864 channels. When used on the ground, the receiver can function as base or rover. It includes eight propeller motors, a sim card slot, two micro SD card slots, USB connector, satellite tracking and communications indicators, flight and gyro status indicators, storage and selector for saved flight patterns, up to four antennas including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, four angled cameras and a downward-facing high-precision camera for photogrammetry.

    JAVAD GNSS, www.javad.com

    GNSS smart antennas

    Next-generation multi-frequency

    The S321+ and C321+ smart antennas are upgrades to the previous versions S321 and C321 and offer added benefits. Powered by the Eclipse P326 OEM board, the smart antennas support 394 channels and can simultaneously track all satellite signals including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo and QZSS. The boards come with two hot-swappable lithium batteries providing up to 12 hours of operation. The S321+ and C321+ combine Hemisphere’s Athena GNSS engine and Atlas L-band correction technologies with a new customer-friendly web user interface. Both antennas meet IP67-standard requirements. The S321+ and C321+ come in two versions, with 4G LTE optimized for either North American or international locations. The S321+ is designed for use in land or marine survey, GIS, mapping and construction. With the SureFix advanced processor, the S321+ delivers high-fidelity RTK-quality information. The C321+ is designed for construction environments, and can be paired with Hemisphere’s SiteMetrix software that helps manage construction jobsite activities.

    Hemisphere GNSS, hemispheregnss.com

    Topography software

    Integrates data from a variety of sensors in one platform

    X-PAD Office Fusion is an all-in-one office software combining data from multiple sensors into a single interface. It manages, combines and processes data from GNSS receivers, total stations, laser scanners and other sensors, whether from GeoMax or another provider. There is no need to export the data from one program to another, and X-PAD also offers all CAD features. The program handles a multitude of different types of data: measurements, coordinates, drawings and point clouds. Large quantities of data can be managed in the fastest way with maximum accuracy. The software automatically detects the common points between the point clouds and performs a first rough alignment. The Bundle Adjustment feature performs the final and accurate alignment in order to reduce errors. Personalized reports are then created with little effort.

    GeoMax Positioning, www.geomax-positioning.com

    TRANSPORTATION

    Public transportation

    Insight for agencies and passengers

    The TSO Public Tracker provides public transportation riders with a variety of GPS-based monitoring capabilities. Riders can view exact locations and information on a variety of public vehicles. Passengers can view on a single screen the whereabouts of connected-fleet vehicles in real time. The tracker can be used by agencies of all sizes and in different geographical locations. The related TSO Mobile App provides route information, current and historical location updates in different map views through Google Maps, and more. TSO Mobile’s transportation solutions also provide agencies with driver reports based on customized behavior metrics to improve driver behavior.

    TSO Mobile, www.tsomobile.com

    Freight tracking

    Location of cargo in transit

    Omnitracs Virtual Load View (VLV) provides brokers, shippers and carriers with direct access to the position data of assets carrying their freight, allowing them to easily track loads. Position data about the load is either shared from the Omnitracs Intelligent Vehicle Gateway (IVG) or Mobile Computing Platform (MCP) unit, or if no Omnitracs unit is available, through the VLV Mobile smartphone application, which the driver can download from the iOS and Android app stores. VLV can also be directly integrated into a company’s back office system, so employees are not required to learn and access a new platform. Brokers and shippers can identify loads that are behind schedule so they can make the proper adjustments in a timely manner.

    Omnitracs, www.omnitracs.com

    UAV

    Mapping drone

    For survey-grade photogrammetry

    The lightweight fixed-wing UX11 UAV combines a powerful integrated onboard system, industry-grade sensors, limitless communication range and PPK centimeter-level positioning. It carries enough onboard computing power to access and process pictures, then send them to the operator in real-time. It will run automated quality checks on the images (such as blur detection or overlap checks) to help ensure the operator is acquiring quality data. Its redundant communications system includes a proprietary line-of-sight radio and 3G/4G connectivity between the ground-control station and the UAV using a worldwide machine-to-machine pre-paid plan. The UX11 is ready for beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights with unlimited range and adds a new level of safety with this communication link.

    DelAir, delair.aero

    Super digital camera

    Super 35 Camera for Professional Aerial Cinematography

    The Zenmuse X7 UAV camera features superior image quality, interchangeable lenses and a new post-production color system. The Super 35 digital film camera is designed to work with the DJI Inspire 2 drone. The Zenmuse X7 features 14 stops of dynamic range for more detail in low-light conditions. Its low-noise image capture enhances grading flexibility by preserving details in both highlight and dark areas while enabling a shallow cinematic depth of field. It is capable of shooting 6K CinemaDNG RAW or 5.2K Apple ProRes at up to 30 frames per second (FPS), as well as 3.9K CinemaDNG RAW or 2.7K ProRes at up to 59.94 FPS to integrate into industry-standard post-production workflows.

    DJI, dji.com

    Charging Station

    For remote BVLOS missions

    The Atlas NEST smart protective charging station is designed for autonomous beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operation of the Atlas Pro drone platform. The Atlas NEST is a landing, protective charging station that extends flight range and provides constant drone readiness in remote locations. When the Atlas Pro UAV requires new batteries, it can autonomously land in a NEST charging station where a robotic arm changes the drone’s batteries, allowing the Atlas Pro to continue flying to mission completion. The Atlas NEST can be stationary or motorized.

    Atlas Dynamics, www.atlasdynamics.eu

    UAV for heavy payloads

    VTOL lift-off followed by tilt to fixed wing in flight

    The WingtraOne vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV bridges the gap between traditional multi-rotors and fixed-wing drones. It takes off and lands vertically like conventional multirotors, but once in flight, the drone tilts forward to fly like a fixed-wing aircraft. Being able to carry a heavy payload such as the Sony RX1RII, the drone offers high mapping accuracy, while covering an area of 980 acres (400 Ha) at 3 cm/px (1.2 in/px) GSD or the equivalent of 570 football fields. The WingtraOne is available in use in Europe, China, the United States and Australia for applications ranging from surveying and precision agriculture to glacier monitoring.

    Wingtra, wingtra.com

  • Riegl launches three waveform lidar sensors

    Riegl has launched new waveform lidar sensors in all of its segments. It introduced the products at Intergeo 2017, held in September in Berlin.

    VQ-780i waveform processing airborne laser scanner.
    VQ-780i waveform processing airborne laser scanner.

    The Riegl VQ-780i waveform processing airborne laser scanner is a high-performance, rugged, lightweight and compact airborne mapping sensor designed for ultra-wide-area mapping and high productivity.

    The versatile system is designed for highly efficient data acquisition at low, mid and high altitudes, covering a variety of different airborne laser scanning applications from high-density to ultra-wide-area mapping.

    The system provides clutter-free point clouds with high accuracy, excellent vertical target resolution, calibrated reflectance readings and pulse shape deviation for unsurpassed information content on each single measurement.

     

     

    VQ-1560i waveform processing airborne laser scanner.
    VQ-1560i waveform processing airborne laser scanner.

    The Riegl VQ-1560i-DW dual wavelength waveform processing airborne lidar scanning system is for high-point-density mapping applications. The new airborne lidar scanning system offers two lidar channels of different wavelengths: green and infrared (IR).

    The two wavelengths allow the acquisition of scan data of complementary information content, delivering two independent reflectance distribution maps and enhanced target characterization, one per laser wavelength.

     

     

     

    VQ-880-GH topo-hydrographic airborne laser scanning system.
    VQ-880-GH topo-hydrographic airborne laser scanning system.

     

    The VQ-880-GH topo-hydrographic airborne laser scanning system has online waveform processing and full waveform recording. It is a fully integrated airborne laser scanning system for combined hydrographic and topographic surveying with an form factor with reduced height optimized for helicopter integrations.

    The system is offered with an integrated and factory-calibrated high-end GNSS/IMU system and up to two cameras. The design allows flexible application of these components to meet specific requirements.

  • Septentrio debuts smart antenna at Intergeo 2017

    Septentrio’s debuted its Altus NR3 at Intergeo 2017, which took place Sept. 26-28 in Berlin, Germany. According to the company, the Altus NR3 combines easy-to-use, multi-frequency, quad-constellation RTK with an unrivalled communications toolset.

    Key features of the antenna include a light and portable GNSS receiver; quad-constellation, multi-frequency RTK positioning; and an anti-jamming and monitoring system. The Altus NR3 also features all-in-one base and rover operation.

    “This is a true RTK system that makes the use of all the signals to have the best performance that Septentrio is recognized for,” said Gustavo Lopez, product manager at Septentrio. “We also bring something that is quite unique in terms of technology, which is interference mitigation.”

    According to the company, the Altus NR3 can suppress the widest variety of interferers from simple continuous narrow-band signals to the more complex wide band and pulsed transmitters, as well as lnmarsat and Iridium satellite transmissions.

    The Altus NR3 also features an open interface, so it can be used for a variety of use cases and applications, Lopez added.

    Watch the video to learn more about the Altus NR3’s features.

  • LNA upgrades enable expanded GNSS reception

    LNA upgrades enable expanded GNSS reception

    Tallysman, a manufacturer of high-performance GNSS antennas, has released a family of high-performing economical wideband low noise amplifiers (LNAs) for choke-ring antennas.

    Tallysman offers four models of the LNA with options of 35-dB and 50-dB gain. The capabilities of the models are shown in the table below. The LNAs are designed for upgrading existing choke-ring antennas with Dorne Margolin/EDO elements to receive new and expanding GNSS signals.

    The LNAs provide consistent gain across the full bandwidth and include filters for suppression of out-of-band interfering signals, such as cellular LTE and Iridium signals, while maintaining a low noise figure, high third-order intercept point, small group delay and low power consumption, the company said.

    The enclosure is designed to fit a wide variety of currently deployed choke-ring antennas.

  • LizardTech granted US patent for lidar point-cloud compression

    LizardTech, a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing geospatial content, has been awarded a U.S. patent for the compression of lidar point clouds (US 9753124).

    The patented technology provides lossless compression of point clouds captured by airborne lidar sensors or terrestrial laser scanners for easy and cost-effective processing, storage and transmission of data sets.

    Point cloud data goes from staggering to manageable when lidar files are compressed to the MrSID format.
    Point cloud data goes from staggering to manageable when lidar files are compressed to the MrSID format.

    “Lidar systems capture terabytes of data containing rich information that can be difficult to exploit due to the difficulty processing such massive files,” said John Hayes, the LizardTech senior engineer who received the patent. “Our lidar compression technique allows users to maximize their return on investment in point cloud data collection.”

    LizardTech developed the lidar compression technology in 2009 by leveraging the wavelet transformation algorithms used to compress satellite and aerial image data sets into MrSID formats. The point cloud compression technique was first released as a stand-alone LizardTech product called LiDAR Compressor and then integrated into GeoExpress in 2015.

    GeoExpress is LizardTech’s flagship software product originally created to enable geospatial professionals to manipulate digital satellite/aerial image and losslessly compress them to industry-standard MrSID or JPEG2000 files. The addition of lidar handling gave GeoExpress the ability to natively compress lidar data to MrSID and LAZ formats with no loss of data content, saving up to 75% on storage, and time in processing files.

    Lidar systems are flown extensively on aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles to collect highly accurate measurements of terrain elevations for a variety of mapping applications.

    Another form of lidar, known as terrestrial laser scanning, captures point clouds at ground level — both inside and outside of building structures — for visualization of crime scenes, re-creation of accident sites, and 3D modeling of building interiors.

    “Lasers are even being mounted on earth-moving equipment at construction sites for real-time capture of grading progress so that engineering managers can make on-the-spot decisions,” said Toby Martin, vice president of development and strategy at Extensis. “Lidar compression makes this possible and is revolutionizing workflows in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry.”

    The lidar compression algorithms can be licensed via the LizardTech SDK to incorporate the technology into third-party geospatial software solutions. Already, LizardTech is seeing interest in this technology from hardware sensor developers who want to place data compression capabilities at the source of collection.