Three new speakers have been announced for Thursday’s GPS World Market Insights Webinar. The webinar, “Street Smart: City Modeling and Other New Geospatial Techniques in Urban Mapping and Navigation,” will be held July 16, 1 p.m. EDT/ 10 a.m. PDT/ 5 p.m. GMT. Registration is free.
The webinar provides a high-level overview of the latest enhancements to computerized geometric city models, which can help overcome data gaps and inaccuracies created by signal obstruction, to improve GNSS positioning in dense urban areas. The webinar will focus on use of 3D mapping to aid GNSS in three different ways: shadow matching, height aiding and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) detection for conventional positioning.
Claire Ellul, University College London, will discuss creating 3D datasets from photogrammetry, LiDAR, building information models (BIMs), Esri City Engine, Sketch Up, Google Earth and Open Street Map.
A page from Claire Ellul’s upcoming webinar presentation.
Also speaking are Rahul Gupta, Spirent Communications, and Gregory Moura, OKTAL Synthetic Environment, who leads the development of SE-NAV, a RayTracing simulator computing the propagation of GNSS signals in urban environments. The new version of this software can be embedded in a hardware in the loop process with Spirent’s SimGen to assess the performances of HW receiver in constrained environments.
Paul Groves will discuss “Better GNSS Positioning in Cities using Enhanced 3D Mapping,” addressing the problems of poor GNSS geometry in urban canyons, showing how 3D mapping improves GNSS positioning in several ways: height aiding, non-line-of-sight prediction, model-aided ranging and shadow matching.
A page from Paul Grove’s upcoming webinar presentation.
Visit our webinar page for full biographies of the speakers, and more information about our webinars.
QinetiQ today announced a major breakthrough in developing a robust navigation receiver that will use the Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation system — in particular, the secured Public Regulated Service (PRS).
QinetiQ’s new high-performance, next-generation GNSS receiver is multi‑constellation and multi‑frequency, and is designed to process encrypted signals from the Galileo PRS service as well as open services such as GPS. Qinetiq introduced the receiver today at the UK Space Conference, being held July 13-15 in Liverpool.
The receiver — now a in prototype form — is a significant step towards developing an end-user product for navigation, tracking and timing, QinetiQ said. It will offer highly secure, accurate and reliable position, velocity and timing intended for users with a mission-critical need such as governments, the military and emergency services across Europe.
“We are delighted that, after years of QinetiQ R&D and collaboration with the EU, European Space Agency (ESA) and UK government, we have achieved this major step towards our goal of offering robust navigation products using Galileo,” said Nigel Davies, head of QinetiQ’s Secured Navigation Group. “It is a significant breakthrough for us to have built a fully operational receiver on a platform, which proves our product architecture, functionality and algorithms.”
“Our next step will be working to refine the product family and preparing it to be brought to market, which includes developing additional features and reducing its size to that of a postage stamp, in a form factor similar to our existing, highly successful Q20 receiver,” Davies said. “We have full confidence in this product and are proud to be at the forefront of this exciting new phase in European navigation.”
The prototype receiver is a multi-constellation, multi-frequency, all‑in‑view receiver that can receive and process the Galileo PRS as well as Galileo Open Service and GPS Standard Positioning Service. It is also designed to utilize other GNSS signals including the Russian GLONASS and Chinese Beidou systems as well as space-based augmentation services (SBAS) such as WAAS and EGNOS.
The receiver, which is based on the military standard SEM-E form factor, is also designed for integration into multi-sensor navigation systems and is designed to provide high levels of protection against jamming and spoofing. It has a fast acquisition capability and is designed for government security accreditation.
It is expected that a suite of robust products will be ready by 2020 to coincide with the completion of the Galileo project, which will be the world’s third GNSS to be completed after the United States and Russian systems.
The new receiver is part of a long pedigree in robust GNSS receivers. Q20 was QinetiQ’s first GPS receiver, designed for specific challenging applications: high dynamics, or high sensitivity like tracking from inside a shipping container. QinetiQ’s family of receivers will include two new products based on the new receiver. Q40 will be QinetiQ’s next-generation robust open service receiver, which will be a multi‑constellation, multi‑frequency open-service receiver which can use signals from all of the GNSS open services. Q50 will incorporate all of the functionality of the Q40 receiver, but also offer Galileo PRS for authorized users who need the additional capabilities and robustness.
“The device we have built is a major stepping stone to Q40 and Q50 as the technology has all been built for the receiver products and is designed to be shrunk on to a single ASIC microchip,” Davies said. “Our focus of attention will now be to turn what we have built into an ASIC product which is ready for market.”
Data from Topcon’s participation in the digital preservation of the historic Sogi hydroelectric plant in Japan was unveiled at a special event in Bonn, Germany, in conjunction with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meetings, held June 15-25. The committee examined proposals to inscribe 36 properties on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Located in Isa, the Sogi power plant was constructed in 1909. At its height, the hydroelectric plant generated 6,700 kW of power. The Sogi plant closed in 1965 with the construction of the larger Tsuruda dam downriver. The new dam caused Sogi to flood seasonally, endangering the unique representation from the Meiji industrial revolution.
Considered a significant contribution to the Meiji industrial revolution, the plant was mapped as part of the CyArk 500 Challenge — an international project to digitally preserve and create awareness of some of the world’s most significant cultural heritage sites.
The Sogi site was recorded in 3D by an international team using the latest Topcon geopositioning technologies including the GLS-2000 scanner, the IP-S3 mobile mapping system, and aerial mapping solutions.
“We are proud to have provided our technology and resources to the Sogi project,” said Eduardo Falcon, Topcon executive vice president and general manager of the GeoPositioning Solutions Group. “As a global company headquartered in Japan, we particularly understand the importance of this site and appreciate the CyArk efforts to digitally preserve it for future generations. The Sogi hydroelectric plant was a pinnacle of the industrial ingenuity of the period, and we are honored to have this opportunity to link our technology with the technology of the past.”
The National Congress of Industrial Heritage, in collaboration with the Japanese government, nominated the Sogi plant to the CyArk 500 Challenge in December of 2014. Topcon teamed with CyArk and the National Congress to develop a three-dimensional map of the site for future preservation and visualization.
CyArk archived the captured data and used it to build an interactive online map of the site to promote the preservation and study of Japan’s industrial heritage.
“We are very excited for the digital preservation of the Sogi hydroelectric plant,” said Ben Kacyra, CyArk founder. “The CyArk 500 strives to connect the international heritage community in an effort to preserve and experience incredible places in a way previously impossible.”
A new book published by Esri covers the fundamentals of making digital maps, analyzing geospatial data, and building and editing spatial databases using ArcGIS. The workbook Getting to Know ArcGIS, fourth edition, is updated for use with the latest version of Esri’s ArcGIS for Desktop software.
Getting to Know ArcGIS teaches geographic information system (GIS) concepts and common tasks such as how to find GIS data online, create a web map, set map projections, symbolize and label maps, edit data, and geocode addresses.
The workbook also provides a preview of the new ArcGIS for Desktop ArcGIS Pro application. ArcGIS Pro is a new application for quickly creating and working with spatial data on your desktop. It includes scientific tools for spatial analysis, along with the capabilities needed to create and publish 2D and 3D content and to share maps in ArcGIS Online or on an internal server portal.
The workbook, which provides a comprehensive understanding of all the tools and functionality available in ArcGIS 10.3.1 for Desktop, can be used in classroom settings or for on-the-job training. The data for working through the exercises and a 180-day free trial of ArcGIS are available for download at Esri’s Book Resources website at esripress.esri.com/bookresources.
Getting to Know ArcGIS was written by Michael Law and Amy Collins. Law is a cartographer with more than 10 years of professional GIS experience. He has worked for Rand McNally Canada and for Esri, where he developed cartography for books and edited and tested GIS workbooks. Collins is a writer and editor who has worked with GIS for 13 years. She is a former technical editor at Esri, where she honed her knowledge of GIS and designed instructional materials for budding GIS professionals.
Getting to Know ArcGIS is available in print (ISBN: 9781589483828, 808 pages, US$84.99) or as an e-book (ISBN: 9781589484283, US$64.99). The book is available at online retailers worldwide, at esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. If outside the United States, visit esri.com/esripressorders for ordering options, or visit esri.com/distributors to contact your local Esri distributor.
Lifeguards in the United States are testing how drones may help save lives in coastal waters. Cameras on drones can spot sharks from above, and drones are able to reach struggling swimmers faster than lifeguards to deliver life preservers.
In Seal Beach, Calif., lifeguards are using the flying device to monitor sharks. “It’s an extremely valuable tool for our water observation,” said Joe Bailey, chief of Seal Beach’s Marine Safety and Lifeguard Department, told the Los Angeles Times. The Seal Beach Marine Safety Department purchased a DJI Phantom 3 drone to monitor sharks off the coast. Safety officials fly the device at least twice a week to track juvenile great white sharks.
Meanwhile, lifeguards in Long Branch, N.J., are testing using drones to get life preservers out to swimmers in the ocean faster than a lifeguard could reach them. It would not replace the rescue work done by lifeguards in the water, however, who would still swim or row out to a victim. But it would buy a struggling swimmer extra time.
The Phantom 3 in flight at a press event.
“This is not to cut back on any lifeguards. This is a lifeguard’s tool to help move them along a lot faster in making the save, getting a life preserver out to a person,” said Michael Sirianni, president of the Long Branch City Council, told the Asbury Park Press.
The drones would be especially helpful when conditions are extreme, such as big surf and high winds that make it difficult to reach someone stranded. The drones could fly out a mile or two to reach distressed stand-up paddle boarders, kite surfers or capsized boats. Its camera could help locate submerged persons quicker, while microphones and speakers could enable lifeguards to talk to a person in the water.
The ENVI Analytics Symposium (EAS), scheduled for Aug. 25-26 in Boulder, Colo., will bring together experts in remote sensing science to discuss technology trends and the next generation of solutions for advanced analytics.
Geospatial analytics are important because they can be applied to a diverse range of needs in environmental and natural resource monitoring, global food production, security, urbanization, and other fields of research, according to event organizer, Exelis.
The need to identify technology trends and advanced analytic solutions is being driven by the staggering growth in high-spatial and spectral resolution earth imagery, radar, LiDAR, and full-motion video data. Join your fellow thought leaders and practitioners from industry, academia, government, and non-profit organizations in Boulder, Colo., for an intensive exploration of the latest advancements of analytics in remote sensing.
Sponsors and attendees represent organizations such as Airbus Defence and Space, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, DigitalGlobe, U.S. Geological Survey, Esri, Naval Post Graduate School, Oak Ridge National Lab and more.
Leica Geosystems announced that it is taking the first step toward bringing live-streamed intelligent cloud-based imagery into all field applications, beginning with the launch of the Leica Nova MS60 MultiStation, Leica Nova TS60 Total Station, Leica Viva TS16 Total Station and Leica Zeno 20 handheld.
Geospatial professionals in the U.S. and Canada who invest in these new solutions can become part of this pioneering effort and add even more intelligence to their dataset with up to one year of introductory free access to georeferenced imagery from the Hexagon Imagery Program (HxIP), the company said.
A high-quality, accurate and professional dataset, HxIP imagery is 30-cm (1-foot) resolution, with set specification and accuracy standards and a regular refresh schedule. The natural color RGB backdrop imagery (tile cache) is fast and easy to access and gives context to survey and construction maps and overlays, Leica Geosystems said. All content is captured using Leica Geosystems airborne sensors for the highest reliability.
Access to HxIP imagery adds spatial and contextual awareness to surveys, enables better planning and decision-making for more efficient and productive time onsite, and eliminates the need to georeference data to the basemap during post-processing, the company said. Through Leica Infinity software, users can access HxIP imagery to view field measured data and imported design data in the office.
Users can also prepare job data with the HxIP imagery and then clip and store georeferenced images that can be exported to the new Leica Captivate field software for use as background imagery and basemaps on the newest robotic total stations. The imagery can also be live-streamed to the Leica Zeno 20 handheld.
The georeferenced HxIP airborne imagery is available to everyone on a subscription basis through the cloud via multiple content service providers, including Esri’s ArcGIS Marketplace, Hexagon Geospatial’s Power Portfolio and Valtus Imagery Services. Complimentary access to live-streamed HxIP image tiles is being offered through June 2016 to customers in the U.S. and Canada that have an active Leica Infinity Customer Care Package (CCP) or that purchase a Leica Zeno 20 handheld.
“We’re quickly moving toward a world in which every geospatial sensor will have cloud-based access to real-time, high-quality imagery for invaluable survey intelligence,” said Ken Mooyman, president of Hexagon Geosystems NAFTA. “The integration of HxIP with Leica Infinity, Captivate and the Leica Zeno 20 in North America is the first step in bringing that rich, detailed imagery to users where and when it is available so they can be part of leading the way into the future.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) on June 23 successfully launched its Sentinel-2A satellite, the second satellite to be launched in Europe’s Copernicus environment monitoring program. Above is a video of the Sentinel 2A lift-off.
“We are very pleased to have such a talented new player join the team in watching Earth from space,” said Suzette Kimball, acting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) director. “The aptly named Sentinel mission will help sharpen our focus on changes in Earth systems and contribute further insight to a great many global challenges at international to local scales, including food security, forest and wildlife conservation, and disaster response.”
NASA has published a comparison of Sentinel-2A and Landsat bandwidths.
Sentinel-2 imagery is expected to supply valuable parallels and counterparts to Landsat imagery provided by the United States. Before Sentinel-2A launched, USGS and ESA staff worked together at length to ensure that Sentinel-2 data would be as compatible as possible with Landsat data.
First launched by NASA in 1972, the Landsat series of satellites has produced the longest, continuous record of Earth’s land surface as seen from space. Landsat images have been used by scientists and resource managers to monitor water quality, glacier recession, coral reef health, land use change, deforestation rates, and population growth.
Landsat is a joint effort of USGS and NASA. NASA develops remote-sensing instruments and spacecraft, launches the satellites, and validates their performance. USGS develops the associated ground systems, then takes ownership and operates the satellites (since 2000), as well as managing data reception, archiving, and distribution. Landsat data were made available to all users free of charge under a policy change by the U.S. Department of the Interior and USGS in late 2008.
Sentinel-2A in the gantry before launch.
“We are also pleased that a free and open data policy has been adopted for users of Sentinel data,” Kimball added. “Free, open access to Landsat and Sentinel-2 data together will create remarkable economic and scientific benefits for people around the globe.”
Designed as a two-satellite constellation — Sentinel-2A and -2B — the Sentinel-2 mission carries an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. However, it will not fully duplicate the Landsat data stream, which includes thermal measurements. Sentinel-1A, a satellite with radar-based instruments, was launched April 3, 2014.
Once it is fully operational following several months of on-orbit testing, Sentinel-2A alone could provide 10-day repeat coverage of Earth’s land areas. With Sentinel-2A data added to the eight-day coverage from Landsat 7/8 combined, users can look forward to better-than-weekly coverage at moderate resolution. Repeat coverage capabilities will further increase with the planned launch of a second Sentinel-2 satellite (Sentinel-2B) next year.
PlanetiQ has selected Blue Canyon Technologies to build its weather satellite constellation, set to launch in 2016 and 2017. PlanetiQ chose BCT as a partner in developing the world’s first commercial constellation dedicated to weather, climate and space weather based on BCT’s development track record and its cutting-edge, low-cost design approach that has delivered hundreds of components and systems for numerous space missions, PlanetiQ said.
“Weather is the next commercial space frontier, as demand grows not only for better forecasts of day-to-day weather, severe storms and hurricanes, but also for weather and climate data solutions that enhance weather readiness, support risk management and increase business intelligence,” said Anne Hale Miglarese, president and CEO of PlanetiQ. “Together, PlanetiQ and BCT bring the innovation, technical expertise and experience to cost-effectively produce the high-quality data needed to transform the weather satellite industry and deliver unprecedented economic value.”
PlanetiQ has co-located its aerospace engineering team at BCT’s Boulder facilities, where both the satellites and sensors will be manufactured and integrated, and is already working side-by-side with BCT on the initial set of 12 microsatellites. Working together with the PlanetiQ team, BCT has dramatically reduced the satellite size and weight without sacrificing any instrument capabilities.
“We are certainly pleased to be chosen by PlanetiQ. Weather is emerging as a major growth sector for aerospace, and our partnership with PlanetiQ positions BCT and the state of Colorado to play a leading role,” said George Stafford, president and CEO of BCT. “Our systems and components match well with PlanetiQ’s instrument requirements, and we are glad to be working on this spacecraft and mission.”
In early June, PlanetiQ announced the successful testing of its first “Pyxis” weather sensor and is setting up for production with BCT. Pyxis collects dense, precise measurements of global temperature, pressure and water vapor — similar to data collected by weather balloons but on a global scale — using a technique called GPS Radio Occultation (GPS-RO). Among the satellite data sources currently ingested into computer weather models, GPS-RO has shown the most cost-effective, highest impact per observation on forecast accuracy. But only a sparse amount of GPS-RO data exists today.
Pyxis is the only GPS-RO sensor in such a small package that is powerful enough to provide more than 10 times the amount of data available from GPS-RO sensors currently on orbit, and to routinely probe down into the lowest layers of the atmosphere where severe weather occurs.
“The small size and weight of the Pyxis sensor — combined with BCT’s high-performance mission experience — will allow us to quickly field a constellation to provide the highest quality, most cost-effective weather data ever available,” said PlanetiQ FounderChris McCormick, who leads PlanetiQ’s instrument team and developed the sensors for the only GPS-RO constellation that has provided operational weather forecast data. “With 12 satellites providing 8 million data points per day, GPS-RO will easily become the most important contributor to weather forecast accuracy at a fraction of the cost of traditional weather satellites.”
Golf fans who watched televised coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament June 18-21 got a new outlook on what the professional golfer is facing, thanks to a camera and augmented-reality tracking system that includes a 1750 inertial measurement unit (IMU) from KVH Industries.
Called RangeFinder, the system was developed by Sportvision, Inc., creators of football’s Virtual Yellow 1st and Ten Line, in conjunction with FOX Sports, and it debuted during the broadcast of the 115th U.S. Open from Chambers Bay, in University Place, Wash.
The KVH 1750 IMU,
At the heart of Sportvision’s RangeFinder system is a broadcast-quality camera with a KVH 1750 IMU mounted in a box at the top of the camera; the IMU works in conjunction with a GPS mounted at the base of the camera. By combining data from the IMU and the GPS, the RangeFinder system enables the measurement of the precise location and attitude of the camera; with that information, Sportvision technicians create augmented-reality graphics that indicate how far away a green, sand trap, obstacle or any other feature is located.
“We selected KVH’s 1750 IMU due to its performance attributes, its size and weight, as well as its cost-effectiveness,” said Mike Jakob, Sportvision president and chief financial officer. “We know this IMU well for what it brings to some of our other products, and we appreciate the reliability and high quality.”
KVH’s 1750 IMU incorporates three axes of KVH’s DSP-1750, a tiny fiber optic gyro, with three axes of accelerometer technology to create an advanced six-degrees-of-freedom sensor. Designed to integrate easily into demanding stabilization, pointing and navigation applications, the 1750 IMU enhances performance at a lower cost than competing systems, KVH said.
“Our IMUs and other inertial sensors have been used in several of Sportvision’s innovative products, including the LiveLine system for America’s Cup yacht racing coverage, and we are thrilled to play a role in this new system for golf coverage,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH chief executive officer.
The RangeFinder system is designed to enhance the television viewer’s enjoyment of golf competitions by providing more insight into the setting. “The camera is mounted on a mobile tower that can go vertical 20 feet in the air, and that gives the viewer a really unique perspective of the course,” said Ken Milnes, project manager for Sportvision. “With the camera fully instrumented, we can put augmented-reality graphics on the TV screen. We virtually insert a rectangular placard that the TV viewer sees, with a pointer arrow and the yardage to the hole or obstacle.”
During the U.S. Open, the RangeFinder mobile camera towered were positioned on the fairway for a golfer’s second or third shot on a particular hole; the intent was to provide graphics on the approach shots to the green, rather than on a drive from the tee. Sportvision and FOX Sports worked together for more than a year to develop the new system.
“For the TV viewer, RangeFinder gives them an angle behind the golfer that they have never seen before,” said Zac Fields, vice president for graphics and technology at FOX Sports Media Group. “One of the advantages of any sports telecast is being able to utilize technologies so the viewer can see things that the athlete cannot. RangeFinder is a great example of being able to provide that kind of insight. We tested this technology at a smaller tournament last month and the initial feedback was extremely positive.”
KVH’s 1750 IMU marries the E•Core ThinFiber technology of KVH’s DSP-1750 FOG with very low noise, solid-state MEMS accelerometers to create a commercial-off-the-shelf IMU. The 1750 IMU offers exceptional precision in a very small form factor, designed for applications where space is limited such as unmanned and autonomous systems.
The 1750 IMU is one of a series of three IMUs that KVH has developed to address a wide range of demanding applications, including autonomous vehicles; unmanned aerial surveillance, surveying, and mapping; autonomous research and exploration; humanoid robots; and oil and gas pipeline inspection equipment.
Drone experts will join with those from the medical field in a demonstration July 17 in Wise, Va. The event, “Let’s Fly Wisely,” aims to show how unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can alleviate the problem of health care access while creating economic opportunity for communities.
Many people in Virginia and across rural America are beyond reach of essential health services and basic supplies, ranging from bandages to medicine, according to event organizers. The drones will deliver essential medical supplies to an annual medical clinic held at the Wise County Fairgrounds every summer, organized by Remote Area Medical (RAM) USA and the Health Wagon.
At the clinic, thousands of medical specialists provide free eye, dental and health care services to people in urgent need, in what event organizers say is the largest free health care outreach in the nation.
The UAS used for the demonstration will be a completely autonomous rotorcraft, designed by Flirtey, capable of delivering small payloads of drugs and medical equipment to isolated areas, and a larger, fixed-wing aircraft operated by NASA Langley Research Center, capable of carrying up to 600 pounds of cargo.
The most urgent prescriptions will be provided from pharmacies located out of town, reports Startup Daily. To get the medicine to the community as soon as possible, the pharmacies will deliver them to their local airport, where they will be collected by NASA’s fixed-winged aircraft and flown to Lonesome Pine Airport. When the prescriptions arrive there, they will be loaded onto Flirtey drones and delivered to the Wise County Fairground. Flirtey drones are expected to deliver around 24 packages of prescription medication.
The FAA-approved research flights will put UAS technology to work for medical relief, to show how unmanned aircraft can help health professionals provide care more easily and efficiently, closing the gap between those who can offer medical help and those who need it most.
“In doing so, we will demonstrate the promise of a technology that offers a bright future for our youth — right here in Virginia, where Wise County is rapidly becoming a center for technology manufacturing and testing. We believe Let’s Fly Wisely is much more than a novel use of technology in healthcare. It is an example of the self-reliance, ingenuity and wherewithal of the American people and Virginians in particular,” organizers said.
The collaboration includes nonprofits, universities, corporations and government organizations, including Virginia Tech Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Sciences. The Federal Aviation Administration selected Virginia Tech in December 2013 as one of six national test programs to conduct research on integrating unmanned aircraft into the nation’s airspace.
Other partners include:
The Appalachian College of Pharmacy
Flirtey, Inc.
Health Wagon
The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership
NASA Langley Research Center (pending approval of the Space Act agreement between NASA Langley Research Center and Virginia Tech)
Remote Area Medical
Rx Partnership
SEESPAN, Inc.
Wise County Economic Development
The video below shows how Australian start-up Flirtey delivers packages with its drones.
