In the exercise, the Thales Watchkeeper looks seaward, spotting passing ships and feeding data to headquarters vessel MV Northern River in the Irish Sea. (Photo: Royal Navy)
Unmanned Warrior 2016, the largest exercise for marine unmanned vehicles, is underway in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Scotland. The U.K. Navy hosts the event, and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research is a key participant.
The exercise will test many teamed technologies, including ONR’s lidar package for SeaHunter unmanned aerial vehicle. Researchers will evaluate the ability of different systems to communicate and operate as a unified force.
“These systems can help protect our Sailors and Marines from some of the Navy’s dull, dirty and dangerous missions, like mine countermeasures . . . Additionally, these systems can increase our capabilities at a more affordable cost of the conventional systems we currently employ,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Mat Winter. “Autonomy will enable our naval forces to stay longer, see farther, understand more, decide faster, do more, adapt more quickly and when necessary be more lethal.”
Mine-hunting robots will be deployed on a test range set up by U.K defense contractor QinetiQ in one set of exercises, to compare their performance with those of crewed U.K. Navy minehunters. Remotely piloted submarines are already routinely employed in manned mine-hunting, but the exercise seeks to find if matters can be taken a stage further.
Unmanned vehicles are supplied by Thales, Seebyte and BAEwill participate.
Unmanned Warrior is part of Joint Warrior, a twice-yearly NATO naval exercise. Nearly 6,000 personnel, more than 30 warships and 70 aircraft will participate in joint maneuvers off Scotland during the drill.
The University of Maryland (UMD) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Site, along with and Shore Regional Health, conducted on Aug. 24 the state’s first civil unmanned aerial delivery of simulated medical cargo. Engineers from UMD flew a Talon 120LE fixed-wing aircraft across the Chesapeake Bay with saline solution simulating four vials of Epinephrine to demonstrate the key role that UAS can play in emergency situations.
First Responsders. “This is a major achievement for our test site and for the University of Maryland,” said Darryll Pines, dean of the School of Engineering. “What this flight demonstrates is the incredible potential that UAS have in assisting first responders in emergencies. As more of these aircraft enter the skies, demonstrations of their use in service to humanity will grow substantially.”
Weighing 22 pounds at take-off, the small UAS was hand launched from the shores of Flag Ponds Nature Park in Lusby, and landed at Ragged Island Private Airport in Cambridge, flying 12 miles over 28 minutes. The flight was autonomous with man-on-the-loop with ability to intercede.
The UAV was greeted by a security officer from Shore Regional Health who retrieved the package and transported it to the Shore Medical Center at Dorchester.
“We wanted to simulate a situation when weather, traffic or other disaster made more traditional means of transportation impossible. UAS are faster to deploy, less weather dependent and less expensive,” said Matthew Scassero, director of the UMD UAS Test Site.
Flight path as recorded by aircraft GPS. The loiter midway allowed confirmation of the radio monitoring/control signal handoff. Loiter will not be necessary for operational flights.(Image: UMD)
The test also helped Shore Regional Health explore new ways of providing access to medical care to rural areas, according to William Huffner, Shore’s chief medical officer. UAS technology has the potential to bring supplies not only to medical staff, but also directly to patients in isolated areas.
“In emergency situations, every second counts,” Scassero said. “Imagine being able to deploy insulin or another critical medication to someone in need by landing or dropping it right in their backyard.”
Talon UAV. The Talon 120LE is made of 7075 aircraft-grade aluminum, foam and composite materials. Scassero said that the team chose a Talon 120LE because of its “payload capacity, stability and reliability.” With an endurance of greater than two hours, its modular nose payload section and wing pods, it can carry payloads up to 2.5 pounds. The aircraft flies autonomously and lands on its belly.
Scassero said the use of UAS will be critical in future emergencies. “Using UAS for cargo will allow them to operate in tandem with manned aircraft to work together for these types of humanitarian missions and others, such as search and rescue,” he said.
Next Steps. Following this successfull test, the test site is looking at different operational control paradigms (suc as network or satellite), health IT cueing of the system, different vehicles for various applications, and different flight environments.
Drone-maker DJI has partnered with UAV software company Propeller Aero to launch an integrated solution to reduce costs, improve safety and drive operational efficiency in the construction and mining industries.
The partnership integrates DJI’s commercial-grade aerial platform, the Matrice 100, with Propeller’s cloud-based software specifically designed for surveying and inspection.
The solution provides enterprises and commercial UAV operators a simplified, quick and efficient way to automate operations and access data. It will enable businesses to accurately perform site measurements and volumetrics and share data seamlessly with just a few clicks, the companies said.
Rory San Miguel (left) and Francis Vierboom, co-founders and CEOs of Propeller Aero, display the new Aeropoints product. (Photo: Propeller Aero)
Sydney Start-Up. Propeller Aero was founded in 2013 in Sydney, Australia, when Rory San Miguel and Francis Vierboom first got hooked on drone technology. They wanted to bring drones to industries like mining and construction, where they thought the technology was really going to “grow up.”
They set about joining Australia’s regulated drone industry by applying for their drone pilot licenses. While waiting for the paperwork, they created an online app to share data from their trial flights.
Figuring out the best ways to process, visualize and use UAV data ended up being more exciting to San Miguel and Vierboom than actually flying the drone.
Propeller Aero provides cloud-based software that streamlines data processing and simplifies the way data is used and shared. The software package provides web-based geospatial data processing, analytics and instant volumetric calculations for a range of professional applications. It has been adopted by commercial drone operators and enterprise clients in 60 countries.
Deploying UAVs for surveying and inspection can reduce costs, minimize workplace hazards and improve operations, especially for businesses that operate in quarries, construction sites and asset infrastructure.
“Being from Australia, Propeller Aero has had the considerable advantage of developing alongside the industries that have been using commercial UAVs since 2002,” said Michael Perry, DJI’s director of strategic partnerships.
DJI’s Matrice 100. The Matrice 100 platform has DJI’s technology built in, including GPS, the flight controller, the propulsion system, DJI Lightbridge, a dedicated remote controller and a rechargeable battery. The system automatically manages complex tasks required for flight.
I’ve always thought that tethered drones would have a major disadvantage over regular flying vehicles, in that their range is really limited and therefore their applications would be few and far between. However, a recent release by Drone Aviation got me thinking otherwise.
The company is taking the route many tech companies have followed to protect their technology and enhance their market position, by patenting unique technical elements — in this case, the Electric Tethered Aerial Platform (ETAP) technologies of their drone tether system.
WATT Electric Tethered Aerial Platform.
WASP (winch aerostat small platform).
So why the change of heart about tethered drones? The drone industry is becoming increasingly specialized in its offerings, so why not drones and aerostats with the advantage of no detectable uplink or downlink transmissions, which can also stay aloft for 8+ hours? You might even load the base into a truck and move the area of operations around. Maybe more use to the military for somewhat covert reconnaissance missions, but Drone Aviation indicates that applications such as newsgathering, law enforcement, infrastructure and pipeline inspections, and event management would also benefit from longer endurance drone operations.
Anyway, someone thinks this is a good idea, because Drone Aviation was just awarded a $400,000 contract by a “U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) customer” for WAAT electric tethered drones, plus complete in-field support packages and operator flight training.
And don’t forget those ads currently running on TV with dual operators inspecting oil refinery stacks using a free-flying six-rotor drone — maybe BP would also feel somewhat safer avoiding potential refinery-stack collision damage if the video inspection drone were to be tethered?
Trimble and 3D Robotics Divest
One of the hot-news items of the month has to be that Trimble has divested its UAS mapping business that it bought from Gatewing in Belgium in 2012. Having worked in this sector for the last four years, Trimble decided to concentrate on core software technology for UAS that integrates positioning, remote sensing and photogrammetry.
Delair-Tech in Toulouse, France, has acquired the Trimble UAS business for undisclosed terms. Delair is already a supplier of long-range, fixed-wing UAS solutions for industrial inspection and asset management applications, and intends to grow the acquired business by joining the Trimble UAS business to its existing portfolio of airborne mapping solutions.
Trimble has not entirely disconnected from its UAS business — rather, it has also formed a strategic alliance with Delair-Tech as a preferred provider of fixed-wing UAS solutions, with Trimble providing software, data processing and deliverables to UAS operators across multiple vertical markets. To ensure full segment coverage, Trimble has also joined up at the same time with Microdrones in Siegen, Germany, an existing provider of multi-rotor UAS solutions, under another preferred-supplier strategic alliance. Both Delair-Tech and Microdrones will support Trimble distributors to provide UAS mapping solutions for Trimble’s customers around the world.
It’s easy to guess that Trimble may have found that directly competing in this emerging airborne mapping market to be harder than it looked, with many existing capable UAS operators and a market that is perhaps developing more slowly than expected. So stepping back to focus on its core competences and selling what it does best should cost less and allow it to address all airborne operators, rather than competing with all of them. Not a pattern that Trimble may have followed closely in the past as it entered more and more market segments, but one that might let it more easily pick winners in the UAS segment.
And for 3D Robotics in Berkeley, California — the company that was seen as the U.S. supplier of drones at one time with its Solo and 3DR drones systems — it, too, is out of the UAV platform manufacturing and supply business. In just 12 months, the company has gone from the height of being an industry-leading drone startup to dumping its drone products. As a consequence, 3D Robotics has laid off more than 150 people and spent a good part of its initial funding.
Poor sales at the beginning of the year and highly competitive drone products, mostly from DJI, have forced a move away from consumer drones. Initial production problems may have also doomed the launch of its commercial drone products.
3D Robotics CEO Chris Anderson flying solo.
Although 3D Robotics might be up against the ropes, it is retrenching and, like Trimble, is focusing on the development of software and service applications. CEO Chris Anderson has declined to discuss his company’s financial situation, but has said that 3D Robotics is now solely focused on enterprise software.
ISIS Flies Explosive Drones
An unwelcome use of UAVs has now unfortunately emerged in Iraq. Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in northern Iraq last week shot down a small drone. They believed it was just one of many commercially available drones, such as the DJI Phantom, which have been seen flying reconnaissance missions, so they picked it up to transport it back to their outpost to examine it.
Unfortunately, the drone had been rigged with on-board explosives disguised as a battery, and the device exploded, killing two. Of three known such drone attacks in Iraq, only this one has apparently caused casualties. There was only a small amount of explosives, but it was enough to kill. There may be several known existing systems that can be used to defeat such attack drones, but the equipment needed has not yet reached this war zone.
Intel Extends Its Presence
On a much happier note, while Trimble and 3D Robotics are getting out of UAVs, Intel is extending its UAS market presence with the launch of an improved Falcon 8+ system, now marketed for the first time under the Intel name.
Intel Falcon 8+ octocopter drone.
The UAV has full electronic system redundancy with redundant batteries, redundant communication between critical flight components and redundant aerial sensing. A triple-redundant autopilot uses three redundant inertial measurement units (IMUs) that compensate for environmental issues like strong electromagnetic fields or winds, and the vehicle also carries high-precision GPS.
The Intel Falcon 8+ is aimed at industrial inspection, surveying and mapping, and is geared toward professionals and expert use. The system is capable of detailed images with millimeter accuracy and can provide structural analysis that helps users detect and therefore prevent more damage to infrastructure. Structural inspections can be run time and time again to monitor for wear and tear, as this UAV has repeatable waypoint navigation capability.
Mock Medical Delivery
Exploring another opportunity where the use of drones may improve life for the rest of us, UPS and CyPhy Works recently demonstrated the delivery of medical supplies to an island off Marblehead, Massachusetts.
During the mock delivery, the Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) UAS flew from Beverly, Massachusetts, to Children’s Island, about three miles off the coast, delivering an asthma inhaler to a child. UPS is investigating the use of drones for the delivery of humanitarian aid around the world, and at home is also testing drones to verify their warehouse stock.
And finally, Heliceo in Nantes, France, has come up with the DroneBox, which contains most of the electronics you might need for a drone of your own making, or you could also buy one of Heliceo’s several complete drone models and systems built around the DroneBox.
DroneBoxes and cameras.
Heliceo drones and DroneBoxes.
Heliceo’s patented solutions are available to suit both plane and multi-rotor drones. The unit contains GNSS RTK receivers, an autopilot, telemetry, data storage, communication, a flight controller and avionics. The DroneBox RTK is a “technology concentrator,” and with its 24-million-pixel camera is capable of detecting a coin from around 500 feet. Heliceo claims that its integrated solution can contribute up to 70 percent of the value of the entire drone.
The box is equipped with two GNSS receivers (one for navigation and one for Trimble RTK measurements), and the camera is optimized by a calibration process that corrects optical lens aberrations. Each acquired image is recorded with its latitude, longitude and altitude, which allows the subsequent creation of georeferenced 2D scaled maps or 3D digital terrain models.
So several steps forward for various UAV/UAS initiatives, some things from which we can still learn, and maybe a couple of steps back for a fledgling industry facing inevitable consolidation. But at this stage, it’s good to see there is still enough investment and enthusiasm to take on a wide range of opportunities. Some will fail, some will succeed, and the winners will hopefully find ways to further improve our way of life and hopefully make money in the process. And for goodness sake, let’s get some new or existing anti-drone solutions out there soon for U.S. troops and their allies.
Today, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched what is considered world’s first national drone delivery service during a ceremony in the country’s centrally located Muhanga District.
Starting today, the Rwandan government will begin using drones to make up to 150 on-demand, emergency deliveries per day of life-saving blood to 21 transfusing facilities in the western half of the country.
The drones and delivery service are built and operated by Zipline, a California-based robotics company.
While Rwanda’s drone delivery service will initially focus on blood, an international partnership between UPS, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Zipline will help the country quickly expand the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered.
“Drones are very useful, both commercially and for improving services in the health sector. We are happy to be launching this innovative technology and to continue working with partners to develop it further,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
The Global Problem
Throughout the developing world, access to lifesaving and critical health products is hampered by what is known as the last-mile problem: the inability to deliver needed medicine from a city to rural or remote locations due to lack of adequate transportation, communication and supply chain infrastructure.
In Rwanda, postpartum hemorrhaging is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. Blood requires storage and transport at safe temperatures and spoils quickly. Because there are many different blood products and no way to accurately project future needs, many transfusion clinics do not keep all the blood they may need in stock.
During Rwanda’s lengthy rainy season, many roads wash out becoming impassible or non-existent. The result is that all too often someone in need of a lifesaving transfusion cannot access the blood they need to survive.
The Solution
Rwanda’s national drone delivery program enables blood transfusion clinics across the Western half of the country to place emergency orders by cell phone text message. The orders are then received by Zipline at its distribution center located in the country’s Muhanga region where the company maintains a fleet of 15 drones, called Zips.
Each Zip can fly up to 150 km round trip — even in wind and rain — and carry 3.3 pounds of blood, which is enough to save a person’s life. Zips take off and land at the distribution center, and make deliveries by descending close to the ground and air dropping medicine to a designated spot called a “mailbox” near the health centers they serve. Zipline will make 50 to 150 emergency flights a day to 21 transfusion clinics across the western half of Rwanda and can fulfill orders in about 30 minutes.
Rwanda plans to expand Zipline’s drone delivery service to the Eastern half of the country in early 2017, putting almost every one of the country’s 11 million citizens within reach of instant delivery of life-saving medicines.
“The inability to deliver life-saving medicines to the people who need them the most causes millions of preventable deaths each year around the world. Zipline will help solve that problem once and for all,” said Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo. “We’ve built an instant delivery system for the world, allowing medicine to be delivered on-demand and at low-cost, anywhere.”
Rwanda and Beyond
The commercial partnership between Rwanda and Zipline is expected to save thousands of lives over the next three years. Through this effort, Rwanda is using the technology to leapfrog the absence of road infrastructure and to provide healthcare access to all its 11 million citizens.
The work in Rwanda is being further supported by an international partnership between Zipline, UPS and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Thanks to a $1.1 million (USD) grant from the UPS Foundation, the partnership will study Rwanda’s blood drone delivery operation with an eye towards helping the country quickly expanding the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered.
Leveraging UPS’s extensive global supply chain and logistics expertise, Gavi’s deep public health and vaccine knowledge, and Zipline’s cutting edge last-mile delivery technology, the partnership hopes to use the knowledge gained in Rwanda and export it around the world.
“Drones have the potential to revolutionise the way we reach remote communities with emergency medical supplies. The hours saved delivering blood products or a vaccine for someone who has been exposed to rabies with this technology could make the difference between life and death,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “This project will also act as an important test for whether drones are a viable way to improve targeted vaccine delivery around the world. Every child deserves basic, lifesaving vaccines. This technology could be an important step towards ensuring they get them.”
UPS’s logistics expertise and resources are expected to play a critical role in helping the partnership to expand the reach of this important work. The company was actually able to transport the entire Zipline system from California to Rwanda in record time in a “Browntail” cargo plane, helping to ensure Zipline’s distribution centre could be constructed in just four weeks.
“One of the most important focus areas for The UPS Foundation is to spark public-private partnerships that create powerful scale and drive demonstrable impact in support of global humanitarian aid and relief,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer at UPS. “The shared belief in the ability to save lives through applied innovation, combined with Rwanda’s vision, is now not only poised to advance humanitarian logistics — and logistics as we know it — around the world, but also to save lives. Now is when our partnership between The UPS Foundation, Gavi and Zipline counts most, as we see the first operational missions dedicated to shipping lifesaving blood, and keep our eye on what the future can bring for other life-saving commodities, as well as for other parts of the world.”
Over the course of the next year, and with the support of the partnership with UPS and Gavi, Zipline plans to expand drone delivery services to countries across Africa and the Americas. Additionally, Zipline recently announced plans at the White House to expand its service to the United States, where it will serve Indian reservations in Maryland, Nevada and Washington State.
Yes, there are drones everywhere. Drones of every size from mini electronic insects to a rather nice Zeppelin remake that is cruising around Hall 4 at the Hamburg Messe. Will Intergeo 2016 mark “peak drone?” I’m thinking not.
The two main drivers of this year’s Intergeo conference are digitization and smart data, including Building Information Modelling (BIM). Hamburg itself is working at becoming a smart city, and the role of geodata and geospatial information is key to achieving the city planners dream of fast and efficient services for its “e-citizens.”
Remarkably, this key role is not always initially appreciated by ‘smart city’ innovators. Nigel Clifford, CEO of the UK’s venerable Ordnance Survey pointed out in the plenary conference session that the perception of the value derived from geospatial data is changing as location data “uniquely unlocks value in others’ data.” He also coined the term Geovation – something we will be hearing more about in years to come I am sure.
At the Trends in GNSS Positioning session, I was surprised to hear (or at least this how the translation came over) that both Herbert Landau of Trimble Terrasat GmbH and Bernhard Richter of Leica Geosystems were suggesting that if you bought their latest RTK/ PPP systems, you would never need to buy another one! Both had similar reasons: their systems had a “gazillion channels” for receiving positioning data, were equipped for multiple communication modes (terrestrial and satellite-based), had low power requirements but powerful computing on board, were easily portable, and the fact that in the near future some 120-140 GNSS satellites would be in the sky. This plethora of signals and multiple frequencies will allow a whole range of new possibilities.
Along these lines, NavCom Technology announced the release of its Onyx multi-frequency GNSS OEM board. Offering integrated StarFire/RTK GNSS capabilities, Onyx features 255-channel tracking, including multi-constellation support for GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo.
Galileo Coming On Strong. Talking of new signals in space, what is the news on Galileo Initial Services? Reinhard Blasi of the European GNSS Agency (GSA) gave an update at the conference, and we can expect to see Initial Services by “the end of 2016.” Reinhard thinks that once services are established, Galileo will be in a leading position as GPS is between system upgrades and the E5 signal has some unique features.
Figure 2.2: Normalized autocorrelation functions for different modulations: BPSK of GPS L1, BOC of Galileo E1 with simplified demodulation4, CBOC of Galileo E1 and AltBOC of Galileo E5 signals5. Source: [Silva et al., 2012]Galileo for Mass Market. This belief was supported at the ceremony for the Young Surveyors competition organised by the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) at the end of the first day at Intergeo. In the Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus category the winner was Cecile Deprez from the University of Liege. She had looked at the possibilities for greater precision in mass market applications that might be possible by accessing the Galileo E5 AltBLOC. And the answer is yes it can. In fact she described the performance as “outstanding” compared to other GNSS signals. Which is probably fair comment.
See what you think. Along with Desprez “Relative Positioning with Galileo E5 AltBOC Code Measurements,” you can find all the papers entered for the award on the CLGE website: http://www.clge.eu.
Riegl gave an overview and demos of its lidar sensors and systems product range at Intergeo, with recent developments and latest product unveilings:
The VQ-1560i Dual Lidar Channel Airborne Laser Scanning System, designed for airborne surveying missions from ultra-wide area, high-altitude mapping to mapping of complex urban environments and city modeling. This is the latest advancement of the ultra wide-area, high altitude airborne mapping system LMS-Q1560 that is in current operation at institutions, service providers, and research organizations worldwide.
The VQ-1560i has a fully integrated high-performance Applanix IMU and GNSS receiver suited for a variety of airborne surveying missions from ultra-wide area, high altitude mapping to mapping of complex urban environments and city modeling.
Two linear lidar channels, each enabling the recognition of several targets per laser pulse, provide an laser pulse repetition rate of up to 2 MHz and deliver up to 1.33 million measurements per second on the ground. The system allows data acquisition at a range of point densities from 2 pts/sqm up to more than 60 pts/sqm at operating flight altitudes of up to 15,500 ft AGL.
The VQ-1560i provides online data processing as well as smart and full waveform recording similarly and enables multiple-time-around (MTA) processing of up to 20 pulses in the air simultaneously. The optional system configuration consists of a fully integrated, easy accessible Phase One medium format camera and is prepared for the integration of a secondary camera such as monochrome or infrared.
The miniVUX-1UAV Lidar Sensor, an entry-level addition to Riegl’s UAV-based lidar sensor portfolio. The miniVUX-1UAV is a very compact miniaturized 360 degrees field of view lidar sensor weighing 1.6 kilograms and especially developed for the implementation of emerging survey solutions by small UAS/UAV/RPAS. The new sensor offers multi-target capability and accuracy using echo digitization and online waveform processing for data acquisition.
The sensor is capable of 100,000 measurements per second and offers an operating altitude of 100+ meters. Its small size and low weight make it well suited for mounting under limited weight and space conditions, allowing UAV-based acquisition of survey-grade measurement data from agriculture & forestry, archaeology and cultural heritage documentation, to glacier and snowfield mapping and landslide monitoring.
The BDF-1 Bathymetric Depth Finder, fully integrated to Riegl’s Bathycopter and designed for generating profiles of inland water bodies. The BDF-1 is a compact and lightweight bathymetric depth finder optimized for UAV-borne operation. The topo-bathymetric depth finder comprises tilt compensation, an IMU/GNSS unit with antenna, a control unit, a data storage unit, and can be equipped with up to two external digital cameras. Riegl’s new hydrographic full waveform processing delivers highly accurate, reliable and informative data; pre-detection averaging allows essential performance improvement at adverse conditions.
Last year at InterGeo 2015, UAVs ruled, for at least the second year in a row, although some of its newest-thing gloss seemed to be wearing off. This year, sensor integration in both hardware and software is a dominant theme — and one with broader implications and applications.
GNSS positioning technology, aided in many cases by laser scanning, other imaging sensors, total stations, Lidar and camera systems, all collaborating as inputs to mobile mapping systems or machine-control systems, together form a durable platform for many present and future applications.
NavCom booth at InterGeo.
Among the GPS/GNSS companies exhibiting here: CHC Navigation, ComNav Technology, Eos Positioning Systems, Hemisphere GNSS, Navcom Technology, NovAtel, Septentrio, and Tallysman.
“I think it’s a must for every surveyor to participate and get updated with all the developments,” said Chryssy Potsiou, president of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), “to try to make the best combination of tools and software so that we can have the best output, in order to provide reliable services at affordable prices, in short time. The world needs solutions, cheap and fast.”
Smart Cities. Along with the roar of the four connected exhibition halls where many new products are being rolled out on this premier world stage, there is a lot of talk — a lot of talk — in the presentation auditoriums about vision, and smart cities, and connectedness in it many forms, electronic and otherwise.
The international trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management, InterGeo can be overwhelming, with roughly 550 exhibits from 33 countries, and 16,000 visitors from 92 countries. It spans everything from surveying, geoinformation, remote sensing and photogrammetry to complementary solutions and technologies, processing, using and analyzing geodata over the Internet and exploring new applications and solutions — it’s all here. Themes include mobility, energy supply, climate protection, and liveable cities and rural areas. Citizen involvement, data protection, data security and e-government all play a key role in future developments. This year, the conference published a pre-show report on geodata and what it calls Business World 4.0.
Host city Hamburg, an economically strong, vibrant city and one of the top three shipping ports in Europe, embraced digital strategy at an early stage. Sustainable city planning, climate protection, an intelligent mobility concept and IT-controlled port management are all aspects of the city that could not work without geodata.
Making Connections. “Our [geospatial] industry is now more and more related, more and more embedded with many other disciplines,” said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Ordnance Survey UK, who gave one of the conference keynotes. “One of the key questions we are facing is: What skills will the workforce of the future need to have, in order to flourish in this interconnected world?
“Some of the more obvious ones are digital capability, looking at data sciences. Also we spoke about some of the softer skills: the ability to look across disciplines, the ability to work with different functions, and really importantly, the ability for our industry to explain its value and be part of the decision-making which is going on around us all the time.
“We’re beginning to see the first fruits of the Internet of Things. There may be some inflated expectations at this point. It’s our job to test that. I’m confident there are some brilliant use cases developing over the next five years in the fields of health, transport, and community engagement. Making a city more efficient, more livable, more secure, and more business-friendly, to draw tax dollars into the equation. What we’re able to do today is so much more data-rich, so much more connected, than we’ve ever been able to do before. ”
He cited pilot public-private partnership projects in Manchester and another unnamed UK city going forward in this regard, with involvement from Cisco, Siemens, and British Telecomm along with Ordnance Survey. “It’s a mixed economy coming together, because there isn’t one answer.”
Looking into the future, he said “Developing nations in particular require a fundamental geospatial fabric in order to boost themselves. I hope there will be a broadening of the focus from what we can do absolutely at the cutting edge of technology with reasonably affluent societies, to thinking about how we can take that into the less affluent societies, and raise all boats through the efforts of this great industry.”
Gorillas Enter Room. Intel has taken a stake in the commercial drone space with its new Falcon UAV. “Predominantly, we are looking at inspections, construction, agriculture, as well as 3D modeling.” The company was joined by Oracle and Autodesk as first-time exhibitors at the show, and they did not enter timidly; big stands.
UAV über Deutschland. In moves shadowing those in the United States, the German Minister for Transport spoke about introducing regulations to govern civil and commercial use of UAVs. The newly published draft foresees the introduction of mandatory registration for unmanned aerial systems. Pilots will need a valid license to fly drones above 100 meters.
Geodata is key to the digital future and a 4.0 business world, according to a new report released at InterGeo in Hamburg, Germany. At the heart of this business vision is the networking of sensors that must have location data in order to fulfill their value.
The 116-page Intergeo Report, in parallel German and English, includes sections on smart cities, public participation, autonomous driving with live mapping, and surveying on the open seas. An eight-page GNSS Update section features CEOs answering questions market focus of their GNSS products, the role of geo-referencing in the Internet of Things, the coming-of-age of precise point positioning (PPP), and the opportunities for GNSS opened up by autonomous driving.
Access to company-specific geodata offers managers in the automotive industry a competitive ad- vantage. Apps show today’s motorists the way to the nearest electrical charging station. Soon, the same motorists will talk to their on-board computer to find a parking space. It will guide them instantly to the nearest free space. Geoinformation will then no longer just be found in the satnav but also in the integrated sensor in the road paving infrastructure and in the status reports of other road users.
Networking Everything. The Internet of Things is taking shape and permeating all areas of life. At its center are the tiny pieces of information that assign coordinates to a parking space, a loading berth for a container ship, a screw in the shelves of a supplier’s warehouse, or the alarm system of a family home. Degrees, minutes and seconds show people the way, answer a range of questions and help make informed decisions. Geoinformation is both an asset and an essential source of information.
Content Is King. Key companies in the geoinformation sector have naturally taken onboard the value of geoinformation. It forms the basis of their business activities. The use of geodata as added value for their products is still very new. Esri realized early in the sector that selling software is no longer sufficient on its own. Only data enables customers to harness the value of products. Cloud solutions store the mountains of data, while platforms deliver the answers.
Such new business leading lights as AirBnB, Uber, Facebook and Google could not survive without geoinformation. It is part of increasingly intelligent systems that make users’ lives a little easier and more comfortable, optimizing processes and enabling people to operate and participate in ways that were previously impractical or impossible.
The examples are myriad. Consider just a few. Digitally aided planning and construction in building information modeling not only streamlines processes and reduces costs, it enables public participation in planning procedures, using digital models of planned reality. Aerial surveys and data gathering by UAV, not only for traditional survey needs but for growing requirements in natural resource planning and management, infrastructure inspection and maintenance, surveillance and security, and more. Guidance systems for the blind.
All require location data. GNSS (satnav) is the core supplier of this data, but must be augmented by other technologies in special environments.
Releasing Geodata Pays Dividends. Managers of geodata realize they need to release it in order for it to lead them to “more” – more value, more benefits, more transparency, more importance. Geoinformation and digitization are inextricably interlinked, and this is just the beginning.
SBG Systems displays their full range of MEMS-based inertial sensors at InterGeo 2016, with a major firmware update for its Ekinox and Apogee product lines. The key improvements in the update include a 15% improvement on orientation and navigation data and better robustness under harsh environments. This firmware is a complete rework of existing functionalities with the addition of new features and improved configuration interface to ease device configuration.
Performance. Up to 15% inertial navigation system (INS) performance improvement from a reworked data fusion algorithms; and improved performance using NMEA GNSS aiding.
Ease of use. Alignment and new status flags have been added to ensure the unit reaches optimal accuracy. The unit can now compute and output on each port a full deported navigation and ship motion data. A completely reworked web interface with 3D views eases mechanical installation. Stability and reliability improvements are reported, especially while using two GNSS at the same time
Various input and output protocols have been added. See SBG Systems website for further information.
Strategic alliances with Delair-Tech and Microdrones expand UAS platform options while leveraging Trimble software and data solutions.
Delair-Tech has acquired Trimble’s Belgium-based Gatewing unmanned aircraft system (UAS) engineering and manufacturing business.
Delair-Tech is a provider of long-range, fixed-wing UAS solutions for industrial inspection and asset management applications headquartered in Toulouse, France. Delair-Tech intends to grow the acquired business as part of its portfolio, according to a joint press release with Trimble. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“This transaction is part of our continuing program to tighten our corporate focus,” said Ron Bisio, vice president of Trimble’s Geospatial Division. “Trimble will remain actively engaged in the market by leveraging its brand-agnostic software technology for a broader range of UAS platforms.”
Gatewing has been reported as part of Trimble’s Engineering and Construction segment. The divestiture will not have a material impact on either overall or segment financial results.
Strategic Alliances Expand UAS Options. In addition, Trimble has entered into strategic alliances with Delair-Tech and Microdrones of Siegen, Germany. Microdrones is a provider of multi-rotor UAS solutions.
Under the agreements, Delair-Tech and Microdrones will become preferred providers of both fixed-wing and multi-rotor UAS solutions, with Trimble providing software, data processing and deliverables to UAS operators across multiple vertical markets.
“Trimble chose to partner with Delair-Tech and Microdrones to strengthen our UAS portfolio,” said Bisio. “Working together, Delair-Tech and Microdrones will deliver industry-leading UAS platforms and Trimble will focus on core software technology for UAS that integrates positioning, remote sensing and photogrammetry. The end goal is to deliver a complete solution to transform work processes and efficiency for our customers.”
“We are proud that Trimble selected us to be their fixed-wing UAS solution provider. With the addition of Gatewing to our portfolio, we can provide one of the most innovative and extensive portfolios of long-range, fixed-wing commercial UAS solutions to support Trimble and its distributors,” said Michael Delagarde, CEO of Delair-Tech. “The portfolio will continue to provide dedicated end-to-end solutions, from hardware to fully processed aerial data, which can then be turned into actionable business intelligence.”
“Microdrones complement the Delair-Tech fixed-wing lineup with one of the most resilient and stable Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft on the market today. This provides a complete product line of tightly integrated solutions for mapping,” said Microdrone’s president, Vivien Heriard Dubreuil. “We’re excited to support Trimble distributors to enable a one-stop shop for UAS mapping solutions and to enable their global customers to produce exceptional results on every job.”
Swift Navigation has announced its newest product, Piksi Multi, a multi-band, multi-constellation high-precision GNSS receiver for the mass market.
A San Francisco-based startup, Swift Navigation introduced the first Piksi GNSS receiver in January.
Swift Navigation will be showing Piksi Multi at InterGeo Oct. 11-13 in Hamburg, Germany. The company’s booth is located in Hall A1, in the US Pavilion, booth #B1.061.
Autonomous devices require precision navigation, especially those that perform critical functions. Swift Navigation solutions use real-time kinematics (RTK) technology, providing location solutions that are 100 times more accurate than traditional GPS.
Piksi Multi supports GPS L1/L2 and is hardware-ready for GLONASS G1/G2, BeiDou B1/B2, Galileo E1/E5b, QZSS L1/L2 and SBAS. Multiple signal bands enable convergence times measured in seconds, not minutes. Multiple satellite constellations enhance availability in new environments.
The Piksi Multi with an evaluation board.
The Piksi Multi Evaluation Kit also has been upgraded with all-new components. The new kit contains two Piksi Multi GNSS modules, two integrator-friendly evaluation boards, two GNSS survey-grade antennas, two high-performance radios, so that it can deliver best-in-class reliability and range — well over 10 kilometers — and all of the accessories required for rapid prototyping and integration.
Swift Navigation expects Piksi Multi to ship in early in the first quarter of 2017. The company is accepting pre-orders in its online store at www.swiftnav.com.
Piksi Multi is an open platform. It enables customers to run Linux OS on its second core, allowing them to quickly prototype and adopt their own applications in a well-known and widely used environment.
Industries standing to benefit most from the new product include: autonomous vehicles, UAV, precision agriculture, robotics, space, survey and control and R&D applications requiring precise positioning.
Swift Navigation was built on the notion that highly-precise RTK solutions should be offered at an affordable price. Benefits of Piksi Multi for customers include:
Centimeter-level accuracy using RTK
Fast convergence times using multi-band
Robust positioning using onboard MEMS hardware
Open platform with onboard Linux
Rapid prototyping with a complete evaluation kit
Future-proof hardware with in-field software upgrades
“With the launch of Piksi Multi, Swift is taking another huge step forward in delivering affordable and highly-precise GNSS technology,” said Swift Navigation CEO, Timothy Harris. “Piksi Multi will continue to revolutionize the autonomous devices category, which is growing at an unbelievable rate.”
![Figure 2.2: Normalized autocorrelation functions for different modulations: BPSK of GPS L1, BOC of Galileo E1 with simplified demodulation4, CBOC of Galileo E1 and AltBOC of Galileo E5 signals5. Source: [Silva et al., 2012]](https://stage.globalpositioningnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DesprezFig1-300x219.jpg)
