Point One Navigation has been selected by the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) to provide real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections technology to all autonomous racing cars at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The Polaris RTK network offers centimeter-accurate location services, which makes autonomous racing at high speeds possible. IAC race cars often exceed 180 mph and require precise location data for safe high-performance racing. The IAC chose Point One Navigation based on the company’s proven record in delivering precise location data to users through its RTK technology.
Point One Navigation’s RTK technology is now available for a wide range of autonomous applications — including UAVs, robots, construction and farm equipment, and autonomous cars and trucks.
The race takes place on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For more information, visit the IAC website.
NV5 Geospatial’s thermal infrared (TIR) solutions for transportation infrastructure challenges are now being used in transportation projects to analyze concrete bridges in the Midwest.
This remote sensing technology offering enables local and regional transportation agencies to identify structural problems well before they reach the surface of concrete bridge decks.
Concrete bridge decks require periodic inspections for continuous maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement work. TIR is used in non-destructive inspection techniques for analyzing concrete bridge decks and identifying potential delamination. This process is made more efficient with aerial collection.
The company recently conducted two separate pilot projects with two Midwestern states’ departments of transportation using aerial data collection to identify thermal anomalies of potential delamination for 200 bridge concrete surfaces. Both projects were completed by flying a fixed-wing aircraft at a low elevation with the thermal sensor mounted to its floor. The flights were conducted without ground-based support.
NV5 Geospatial’s project design focuses on optimal timing and resolution to maximize thermal contrast, which ensures accurate detection of features or patterns of interest. The acquired thermal imagery is orthorectified to create a seamless mosaic for each bridge. TIR imagery can be co-acquired with other airborne technologies, such as true color imagery and lidar, to provide supplementary information.
The TIR aerial solution allows users to capture up to 100 bridges in a single day and offers a detailed and short turnaround of data analysis. It identifies potential issues before ground truthing is required and supports state-wide inspection prioritizations.
Deep Sand Technology (DST), an autosteering and precision agriculture company, and the GEODNET Foundation have partnered to bring precision agriculture real-time kinematic (RTK) services to rural North America.
GEODNET-compatible RTK bases will be immediately available, which support centimeter-accurate operations without the need to install an ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio link.
The partnership between DST and GEODNET aims to offer affordable high-accuracy RTK-based GPS access into key U.S. agricultural and rural areas for precision agriculture, advanced cruise control systems, automated highway trucking operations and eco-friendly robotic lawnmowers.
The GEODNET RTK network comprises more than 3,600 stations globally, covering over 1,800 cities in 100+ countries as of 2023.
Qualcomm Technologies will now support India’s Navigation and Indian Constellation (NavIC) recently launched L1 signals in select chipset platforms.
The company, which is working with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said the collaboration will accelerate the adoption of NavIC and enhance geolocation capabilities for use in mobile, automotive and IoT applications.
Qualcomm will offer a solution based on its Location Suite, which supports as many as seven satellite constellations simultaneously. These include all of NavIC’s L1 and L5 signals for location, faster time-to-first fix position collection and location-based service, the company said.
Additional support for the NavIC L1 signals will be available in select chipset platforms starting in the second half of 2024, the company said. However, the company said that commercial devices that support NavIC L1 signals will not be available until the first half of 2025.
The company plans to demonstrate its support for the NavIC L1 signals in the Snapdragon mobile platforms at its Qualcomm Innovation Forum event in December 2023.
savvy navvy has partnered with ProtectedSeas to bring ProtectedSeas Navigator data to boaters through the savvy navvy app.
After eight years of research and development, boaters and watersport users worldwide can now have access to comprehensive data and resources of ocean regulatory information, including marine protection areas, through the savvy navvy app.
ProtectedSeas Navigator provides boaters with 22,000 marine protected and managed areas in more than 220 countries. These areas include speed-limit zones to protect marine mammals, fisheries management areas and more.
ProtectedSeas compiles marine protection information into the Navigator database of marine protected areas (MPAs). It collects both large and small amounts of data and created the first public digital maps for more than 2,400 areas.
savvy navvy – often referred to as ‘Google Maps for boats’ – is an award-winning boat navigation app. It integrates multiple sustainable data sources from different conservation agencies and bodies.
Since launching its first global view of marine life protections, ProtectedSeas has been complimented by several industry-renowned leaders and bodies, including the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Dr. Sylvia Earle, American marine biologist and oceanographer, and Gavin Newsom, governor of California.
Some ProtectedSeas data is already available in the savvy navvy app, with more to follow soon. Click here to learn more about the sustainable data or to download the app.
Furuno Electric Co. has released its dual-band GNSS receiver chip, eRideOPUS 9, which can achieve 50cm position accuracy without correction data.
The product is designed to provide absolute position information and can be used as a reference for lane identification, which is essential for services such as autonomous driving. It also serves as a reference for determining the final self-position through cameras, lidar and HD maps.
By using Furuno’s Extended Carrier Aiding technology, the product can achieve high-precision positioning, which eliminates the need for RTK reference stations, correction data usage and correction data reception components.
The eRideOPUS 9 supports all navigation satellite systems currently in operation, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS and NavIC. It can also receive L1 and L5 signals. The L5 band signals are transmitted at a chipping rate 10 times higher than L1 signals, which reduces the effects of multipath. The L5 signals also improve positioning accuracy in environments where radio waves are reflected or diffracted by structures, such as in urban areas.
A dual-band GNSS module incorporating eRideOPUS 9 is being jointly developed with Alps Alpine Co. and is scheduled for future release as the UMSZ6 series.
A Spirent user employs a portable GSS6450 attached to an antenna to record GPS, other GNSS, and complementary signals for resilient PNT testing. (Image: Spirent)
What is Spirent’s GPS origin story?
Spirent’s GPS genesis began on a rooftop in the middle of the night in the early 1980s. Engineers were attempting to acquire the new GPS signals with their receivers, scheduling their lives around the times when satellites would pass overhead, angling antennas off a roof in the dark, and hoping for favorable conditions. Those difficulties inspired an idea: since real-world conditions are never the same twice, simulating the signals in a lab would control variables and provide repeatable and trustworthy results.
That idea grew to be Spirent’s positioning division — a team of experts whose sole focus is to partner with customers to accelerate the deployment of robust PNT technology. In 1985, one of the first groundbreaking simulators provided to a customer generated six GPS L1/L2 signals. Soon after, we developed the world’s first simulator with SA-A/S capability, establishing our reputation for innovation. Today, simulation is for much more than convenience. The further upstream testing starts, the better for R&D and investment decisions. Because of that, we work across the spectrum in close partnership with constellation developers, receiver manufacturers, and OEM application integrators.
Can you share a recent breakthrough?
GPS regional military protection (RMP) is a nascent anti-jamming capability that uses a steerable, narrow-beam M-code signal, allowing U.S. and allied forces to operate much closer to interference without losing connection. Spirent supports RMP, so modernized GPS user equipment (MGUE) can be tested and integrated with RMP long before live-sky signals are available.
Another major breakthrough is in AltNav, a catch-all term that includes non-GNSS sources of RF and other complementary PNT, with recent attention focused on low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations. Spirent has developed LEO AltNav simulators for both the military and commercial sectors that seamlessly integrate with Spirent’s extensive testbed for GNSS, threat simulation, inertial navigation systems, and additional complementary PNT.
How is your company preparing for the next 50 years of PNT with GPS and beyond?
As a trusted industry test partner, one of Spirent’s guiding principles over the past five decades has been to support PNT developers and early adopters by being first-to-market with new signals and constellations. Enabled by our flexible solutions, our dedication to that tenet will continue across the next five decades.
NAVWAR resilience testing is an area where emerging test needs will continue to demand more from the test environment. Layered PNT positioning engines — including GNSS, secure military signals, CRPA systems, multi-orbit architectures, and sensor fusion — are driving complexity in the test regimes that support them. Spirent’s purpose-built solutions are designed to meet these advancements, with deterministic simulation that delivers definitive validation and accurate test results.
Spirent pioneered the use of software-defined radios for GNSS simulation with the GSS9000, which enabled the same architecture to support new signal types, higher motion rates, user-defined waveforms, and more than double the generated signals. The next generation will extend that flexibility, capacity, and ease of integration to future complementary PNT sources while maintaining system performance across physical and virtual realms.
Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division has partnered with Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center to upgrade its digital mapping and response for 911 calls in Colorado’s premier mountain tourist destination. The partnership aims to make the county safer for residents and visitors.
By using HxGN Connect software, Pitkin County can bring modern mapping capabilities to its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, as well as incorporate Smart Advisor, Hexagon’s assistive artificial intelligence solution.
Pitkin County, home of Aspen and its four major ski areas, hosts 1.5 million tourists per year. The upgrades will improve emergency response capabilities for major events such as the X Games and JAS Aspen music festival, the company says.
The cloud-based solution, hosted in Microsoft Azure, is designed to map 911 calls and conduct long-term resource planning. Smart Advisor will work in the background to help dispatchers and first responders connect related incidents and provide geofencing to concentrate resources on large events. Officials plan to expand the system to take advantage of its cross-organization collaboration capabilities by potentially linking the county’s CAD system with the fire department’s network of mountaintop smoke detectors and the Department of Public Works’ snowplows.
Pitkin County dispatchers will use HxGN Connect for digital mapping within its CAD system in the mountainous tourist destination.
“Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.
By using location data and a username from a Lime rental scooter, police have identified a man caught on video scootering around a Denver, Colorado, neighborhood loading up on stolen goods from surrounding homes, reported 9 News. Police obtained a search warrant for the scooter’s location data and account information. The suspect appears to have used his real name when renting the scooter to conduct the burglaries. 9 News is not naming the man identified as the scooter user as he hasn’t been arrested or charged. However, a background check on his name revealed he’s currently wanted on two theft cases that occurred in 2022, also in Denver.
Doordashing goes wrong
Image: ProjectB/E+/Getty Images
A DoorDash driver followed his navigation system into a wooded area and then into a body of water while attempting to deliver an order to a residential neighborhood in Middleton, Massachusetts, reported the Daily Caller. After following the navigation system straight into water, the driver called police. The Middleton Police Department is now charging the DoorDash driver for “negligent operation of a motor vehicle” and has put in a request to suspend the driver’s license.
Researchers at the Jiangxi Nanfengmian National Nature Reserve in China are utilizing BeiDou during bird banding to monitor their migration period from September to October. Bird banding involves attaching customized tags to birds’ legs or wings to track their movements and patterns. Out of 614 birds, 36 are being equipped with specially designed positioning devices that will continuously transmit data for researchers to analyze migration routes, stopping places, and migration time, according to a nature reserve official.
More than 20 airline and corporate jets flying over Iran overnight on October 1, were targeted by spoofed GPS signals. The spoofed signals were sent from the ground, infiltrated the navigation systems of the jets, and steered them off course, reported The Times of India. According to the Ops Group, which runs a flight data intelligence crowdsourcing website, a majority of the GPS spoofing occurred in airway UM688 in Iran’s airspace. In response, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued this warning to airlines: “Iraq/Azerbaijan — GPS jamming and spoofing poses safety risk.”
Point One Navigation has introduced the Atlas inertial navigation system (INS) designed for autonomous vehicles, mapping and other applications.
Traditional INS solutions have typically relied on extensive post-processing to reach the high precision levels needed for accurate mapping and observability applications. In contrast, Atlas can provide users with ground-truth level accuracy in real-time, which can streamline engineering workflows, significantly reduce project costs and improve operational efficiency.
Atlas is designed to be used in large fleets. It integrates a highly accurate, low-cost GNSS receiver and IMU with the Polaris RTK corrections network and Sensor Fusion algorithms. The company aims to make it easier for businesses to equip their entire autonomous fleets with high-accuracy INS.
The system features a user-friendly interface, on-device data storage and both ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity. Field engineers can easily configure and operate Atlas using smartphones, tablets and in-car displays.
Atlas aims to drive innovation across a variety of sectors, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, mapping and photogrammetry. Its real-time capabilities and affordability can enhance the widespread deployment of ground truth-level location in fleet operations.
Skydio has entered a strategic collaboration with Trimble to create an integrated workflow of accurate data capture, visualization and analytics. The workflow is designed to address the needs of critical infrastructure industries such as surveying, mapping and inspections.
The collaboration, currently in the developmental stage, aims to offer users centimeter-level accuracy in surveying and mapping projects by integrating Skydio autonomous UAVs with Trimble GNSS receivers and software. The technology can be used by construction and utility companies, as well as state transportation agencies, to streamline workflows for greater precision and project efficiency.
Industry leaders rely on autonomous UAVs with powerful visual and thermal camera sensors, such as Skydio’s X10, for their ability to capture real-time condition reports of critical infrastructure conditions. By capturing images and geospatial data early and frequently throughout construction projects, organizations can easily ensure on-site work matches the design and reduce costly rework.
When bridge or utility site inspections need to scale, the Skydio and Trimble integration can be used to collect comprehensive data and improve the necessary workflow to identify issues early and take action to prevent failures.
According to Skydio, key benefits of the collaboration include:
Automated data integration: An automated, API-based integration enables seamless transfer of aerial imagery and metadata from Skydio Cloud to Trimble Industry Cloud. It accelerates the conversion of reality-capture data into actionable insights to improve efficiency. Further refinement and analysis of the output data can be carried out in professional surveying and mapping environments such as Trimble Business Center (TBC).
Survey-grade accuracy with Skydio X10: The X10 UAV will be fully compatible with Trimble’s GNSS receivers, allowing mutual users to achieve survey-grade accuracy in mapping missions when employing Skydio alongside Trimble’s base stations and GNSS receivers. Beyond RTK, users will also be able to conduct PPK based corrections post-flight.
Belgian government-owned railway company, Infrabel, is responsible for ensuring that the country’s railway systems run smoothly. To do this, the company recently needed to renew the switches and crossings at the Kinkempois site, located in the Liege region of the country.
To ensure an efficient, safe and high-quality changeover, Infrabel partnered with construction specialist Jérouville, and when it came to choosing technology to help guide its machinery, the contractor turned to Topcon Positioning for its total station solutions.
According to Stéphane Lemaire, equipment manager at Jérouville, the team first dismantled and removed the previous set of foundations and the sub-foundations at Kinkempois. From there, the team installed new foundations to ensure the new switches have a good grounding for years to come.
At the site, navigation capabilities were compromised due to interference from overhead power lines. As a resolution, two Topcon total stations were used; one for each crawler dozer. Despite the challenging circumstances, the total stations were able to provide accurate readings for each dozer.
Before the bulldozers could get to work, surveyors used the data from the total stations to create three-dimensional models of the finished project using Topcon’s MAGNET software. These models were then shared with all stakeholders on the project. The MAGNET software allowed the entire team to have complete oversight of the project, whether they were on-site or back in the office.
Stéphane Lemaire said in a press release that Topcon’s total stations played a key role in getting the job done accurately on the first try.
“Traditionally, this has been a time-consuming process for projects like this, with a tracker on site who would manually ensure that the levels were correct,” Lemaire said. “However, with total station technology, the process only took three shifts across two weekends, compared to six shifts across two weekends.”
