The AsteRx EB offers high-accuracy positioning and GNSS heading for industrial robots, port logistics, marine and scalable automation applications. Its IP67 enclosure protects the receiver from harsh weather conditions, while built-in advanced GNSS+ algorithms ensure reliable operation in environments challenging for GNSS, such as areas with foliage or near GNSS interference sources. The RAIM+ integrity monitoring system ensures truthful positioning — essential for autonomous navigation. The compact enclosure of AsteRx EB enables easy installation, reducing time-to-market. In a dual-antenna configuration, AsteRx EB delivers sub-degree GNSS heading for systems that require orientation in addition to RTK positioning. The built-in AIM+ anti-jamming and anti-spoofing technology protects the receiver from intentional or unintentional GNSS interference.
The Facet FP is a high-precision GNSS receiver designed to deliver centimeter-level accuracy with a focus on long-term flexibility, ease of use and open-source innovation. It combines multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS support with fully open-source firmware — the platform can adapt as technologies advance. Built to last, all models are contained in a robust waterproof cast-aluminum housing, with an internal structure designed for compatibility with the company’s Flex system of GNSS modules. This gives users the choice between three different modules, plus the choice of having tilt-compensation, offering six different options with a range of price points, securities and accuracies for various needs and applications.
The A65 GNSS antenna delivers exceptional accuracy, interference protection and robust GNSS tracking performance. Designed as a drop-in replacement for the widely deployed A45 antenna, the A65 offers users a seamless upgrade path to the latest precision technology. The industry collaboration reflects a shared focus on combining advanced RF design with real-world application insight to address increasingly complex GNSS operating environments, with both teams working closely from the earliest stages of development to meet demanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) performance requirements. The antenna architecture, including the stacked patch quad feed element and RF front end, provides Calian’s XF Filtering. Hemisphere GNSS contributed application expertise, system integration requirements and performance validation within real-world machine control, agriculture, marine and survey environments.
Airborne Lidar
Long-range for UAV mapping and aerial surveillance
AlphaAir 6 is mounted on the X500 UAV during an urban mapping mission. (Credit: CHC Navgation)
The AlphaAir 6 airborne lidar system is designed for UAV-based laser scanning, drone lidar mapping and aerial surveying in high-relief and complex terrain. Combining prism scanning technology with a high-grade inertial navigation system (INS), the AlphaAir 6 delivers a maximum ranging capability of up to 2,100 m and supports efficient data capture at typical flight altitudes of 400 m to 600 m above ground level. It integrates an upgraded laser engine and a high-grade IMU with 0.3°/h bias stability to improve trajectory accuracy and point cloud quality. This design removes the need for pre-mission IMU calibration and supports stable, efficient data collection for topographic mapping, corridor mapping, and wide-area aerial survey workflows. It is available in single-camera and dual-camera configurations.
The FastXY mapping application for iOS and Android enables standard mobile devices to serve as professional-grade data-collection tools for geospatial information system (GIS) and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals. FastXY allows users to collect point, line and polygon data with devices they already own. It delivers advanced capabilities including 3D basemaps, construction staking, topographic surveying, on-the-fly datum transformations, and survey-grade elevations. A built-in Bluetooth data parser allows users to configure the app to collect data from any instrument supporting BLE Bluetooth or RS-232 — echosounders, radiation sensors, laser rangefinders, barcode scanners — and marry that data with precise GNSS coordinates.
Hemisphere GNSS, a brand of CNH, together with Calian Group Ltd, have released the A65 GNSS antenna, a jointly developed, next-generation solution engineered to deliver exceptional accuracy, superior interference protection, and robust GNSS tracking performance.
The A65 is designed as a drop-in replacement for the widely deployed A45 antenna, offering users a seamless upgrade path to the latest precision technology.
The collaboration reflects a shared focus on combining advanced RF design with real‑world application insight to address increasingly complex GNSS operating environments, with both teams working closely from the earliest stages of development to meet demanding original equipment manufacturer (OEM) performance requirements.
The antenna architecture itself, including the stacked patch quad feed element and RF front end, was engineered by Calian, and provides Calian’s XF Filtering. Hemisphere GNSS contributed application expertise, system integration requirements, and performance validation within real-world machine control, agriculture, marine and survey environments.
The result is a precision antenna that delivers:
outstanding multipath suppression
highly consistent phase center variation
accurate tracking across GPS (L1/L2/L5), Galileo (E1/E5/E6), BeiDou (B1/B2/B3), GLONASS (G1/G2/G3), NavIC L5, QZSS, and L-band correction services
lower power consumption and broad voltage compatibility
Together, Hemisphere and Calian ensured the A65 meets demanding field requirements while exceeding the performance benchmarks of the A45.
Calian XF Filtering for Interference Rejection
A major advancement of the A65 is the integration of Calian’s XF Filtering. The interference mitigation system rejects out-of-band energy at the antenna level, significantly improving signal quality in RF-challenging environments.
Calian XF Filtering provides protection against:
4G / 5G cellular transmissions
Ligado and adjacent band interference sources
broadband marine and aviation systems
industrial and urban RF noise
By combining Calian’s advanced filtering technology with Hemisphere GNSS’s application-level expertise, the A65 delivers cleaner signals, improved reliability, and more stable performance in harsh real-world environments.
Engineered for rugged field use
Validated through Hemisphere GNSS field testing and Calian engineering qualification, the A65 includes:
IP69K environmental protection
High-impact LEXAN radome and robust metallic base
Low noise amplifier (LNA) with high gain (2.5 dB NF, 28-30 dB gain)
15 kV electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection
-40°C to +85°C operating range
These specifications are designed to ensure the A65 provides long-term performance across agriculture, survey, machine control, marine and fixed-reference installations.
The A65 GNSS antenna is available now through Hemisphere GNSS. OEM module versions based on the same Calian engineered design are also offered for integrators requiring embedded solutions.
Calian GNSS has released its next-generation anti-jamming controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA), the CR8894SXF+.
The CR8894SXF+ is an advanced CRPA, engineered to provide efficient interference protection and real-time situational awareness across critical infrastructure, marine, and defense environments where GNSS continuity is mission critical. The CRPA is specifically-designed to provide a low-power and lightweight solution in a compact size.
It features advanced in-band null forming to protect GPS L1/L2 and Galileo E1/E5b signals, helping ensure resilient positioning, navigation and timing in environments with contested, congested or degraded radio frequency conditions. The antenna incorporates Calian’s eXtended Filtering interference mitigation technology to maintain performance and reliability when RF threats are present.
The CRPA supports in-band null-forming of 20 dB to 40 dB and out-of-band rejection up to 80 dB across 700 MHz to 2,500 MHz. It includes two independent low-noise amplifier channels, allowing continued operation if one signal band is compromised.
The antenna forms nulls in both upper (L1/E1) and lower (L2/E5b) GNSS bands to actively suppress jamming sources. A serial output interface provides real-time feedback, enabling users to monitor RF conditions and system status. Outputs include:
CRPA state: open (no jamming), protected (jamming mitigated), or closed (jammed but protected)
Jammer characterization: azimuth and elevation angles of detected interference sources
Summary of threat signals, offering rapid threat assessment for command and control
The CRPA series aims to set a new benchmark in operational resilience, offering advanced protection and intelligence for mission-critical GNSS applications.
The AJ977XF+ is a Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) designed to enhance GNSS resilience in interference-prone environments.
LEANA technology creates a 20 dB null over all azimuths, from ground level to an elevation angle of ~15°.
XF+ technology provides additional protection by filtering out-of-band signals.
The “+” technology supports two independent RF channels — if the L1 channel is jammed, the L2/L5 channel will continue to provide a usable signal (and vice versa).
Key takeaway: LEANA technology enables your GNSS receiver to function when it’s 10 times closer to a jammer or interference source compared to a standard antenna and receiver pair.
An early 1900s Italian folk song tells of a farmer walking into his fields at dawn to spread wheat seeds with his hand from a small bag.1 Farming has changed quite a bit since then. After remaining essentially unchanged for about 12 millennia, in the past century, it has been transformed by such innovations as tractors, electrification, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In the 1990s, precision agriculture (PA) emerged. (This magazine produced a few supplements on the subject around 1999. If you still have any of them, please let me know.)
PA reduces inputs of water, fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and fuel and increases harvests by mapping variations in soil characteristics and plant health and then using those maps to adjust the inputs using variable rate technology on sprayers. It also ensures that no part of a field is sprayed twice or missed and greatly reduces overlap in seeding and tilling. Double spraying is costly and wasteful; missing a row when spraying pesticide can cause pests to concentrate there and then spread, nullifying a whole spraying operation.
The data for the maps are gathered from sensors on tractors and other farm machinery in the fields, as well as by aerial platforms — nowadays, mostly UAVs. GNSS receivers are essential in guiding the farm machinery. The required accuracy depends on the crop but is typically at the centimeter to decimeter level.
Increasingly, farm machinery also incorporates a variety of other sensors, both to compensate for GNSS outages and to minimize the risk of collisions, such as when a cow crosses the path of a tractor. To maintain navigation during GNSS outages, inertial navigation is used. For obstacle avoidance lidar, radar and stereo vision cameras are used to measure the distance to the object. (Both challenges — navigation in GNSS-denied areas and obstacle avoidance — and their solutions are very similar to those encountered with autonomous vehicles on roads.)
In-cab displays enable growers to monitor their progress in real time. They often also download the data and maps to a laptop to better identify missed spots or areas with special issues and to plan their next task.
Manufacturers of PA equipment compete in a global market. Some challenges are the same everywhere, while some are specific — such as strong ionospheric scintillations in Brazil or antiquated agricultural practices in Japan’s Furano region. For this year’s cover story on PA, I discussed these challenges and the latest generation of farming hardware, software and services with
■Kirstin Schauble, director of systems engineering, ANELLO Photonics
■ Joey Koebelen, founder and CEO, Deep Sand Technology
■ Chad Huedepohl, PA portfolio manager, autonomy and positioning division, Hexagon
■ Ken MacLeod, director of product management and Gordon Echlin, director of business development, Calian GNSS.
This article contains a few excerpts from those interviews. I also received case studies from AgLeader Technology, ComNav Technology and Harxon Corporation.
ANELLO Photonics makes silicon photonics optical gyroscopes, which enable accurate dead reckoning without GNSS and are targeted mostly at the autonomy market. (Anello means ring in Italian, which reflects the nature of the company’s technology and the Italian-American background of its CEO, Mario Paniccia.) Because ANELLO specializes in high precision in situations with obstructed GNSS signals, orchard cultivation is one of the agricultural practices in which it specializes. “Orchards have high-value crops, such as almonds or walnuts, and you’re driving your tractor between very narrow rows with trees completely covering the sky above you,” Schauble said. “Our job is to replace that GNSS input with our inertial navigation system (INS) input.”
Deep Sand Technology — in partnership with GEODNET, the largest real-time kinematic (RTK) network in the world — sells affordable RTK corrections to farmers. It also maintains and troubleshoots the system, compensated by the network’s cryptocurrency. “We handle the blockchain and use it for maintenance,” said Koebelen. “We have someone that checks every day and makes sure that the bases are up. We do the support on it. Instead of charging for that, we take the tokens; that’s just our part of the program, and they get free RTK.” Koebelen, who is also a peanut farmer, adds: “You can trust anything that we sell because it has been tested and used by a farmer and is supported by a farmer.”
Hexagon, a very large company, makes a wide range of sensors that capture and display data about physical reality. Its latest contributions to PA include the TerraStar-C PRO and the TerraStar-X Corn Belt corrections services, which incorporate improvements in ionospheric resiliency. “Especially in the Brazil market, some growers were often experiencing hours of downtime due to ionospheric scintillation,” said Huedepohl. “With the ionospheric enhancements that we’ve added, that downtime now is down to just a few minutes here and there.” He also cites safety enhancements for the autonomy market, such as dual antenna solutions and geofencing.
Calian GNSS is a global supplier of technical solutions, services and products to the space communications, defense, wired and terrestrial wireless, manufacturing, GNSS, agricultural technology and nuclear industries. The company’s recent entries in the PA market include GNSS antennas with lower elevation gain and extended filtering. “Our GNSS agriculture antennas support centimeter level precision, have best in class lower elevation angle gain enabling L-Band correction reception (at northern and southern latitudes), and have eXtended Filtering (XF), which creates very deep attenuation of nearby out of band radio frequency signals,” said Echlin. “Having a digital signal from the antenna to the smart ag controller simplifies and reduces the cost of the installation,” said MacLeod.
Ag Leader, founded in 1992 and focused exclusively on precision farming technology, offers a complete line of systems that integrate with existing farm machinery. In February, it introduced the RightPath passive implement steering solution to alleviate the problem of trailed implements drifting off the guidance line by up to 10 inches or more, even when farmers utilize auto steer and on flat ground. RightPath keeps implements centered on the guidance line, ensuring precise input placement and increasing operational efficiency throughout the growing season while minimizing crop damage, yield loss and operator challenges, Ag Leader said. To utilize RightPath, both the vehicle and the implement require Ag Leader’s GPS 7500, but only the vehicle needs to be equipped with TerraStar-C, TerraStar-X, or RTK. RightPath will be available in late fall 2025 through a single purchase unlock and without any recurring subscription fee.
ComNav Technology is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that develops and manufactures GNSS OEM boards, receivers and solutions for high-precision positioning applications worldwide. Japan’s Furano region is renowned for its vast farmland and abundant agricultural resources. Still, it is challenged by traditional manual driving methods that provide insufficient accuracy, low efficiency, and operator fatigue during prolonged tasks. To address these issues, ComNav introduced the AG502 autosteer system, which integrates satellite reception, positioning, navigation and autonomous driving. It is compatible with a variety of mainstream tractors on the market and is suitable for a wide range of agricultural tasks such as ridging, seeding, spraying and harvesting, ComNav said. In the Furano project, the AG502 demonstrated its versatility through its successful deployment on a transplanting machine.
Harxon Corporation makes GNSS positioning antenna solutions. The company has been collaborating with Brazilian agricultural navigation solutions and systems developer Agres to integrate Harxon’s Smart Antenna into the AgresAutopilot System. This secure and robust agricultural navigation solution has been widely adopted by Brazilian agribusinesses to provide automatic steering on straight or curved parallel lines to assist with such field operations as preparing the soil, planting seeds, cultivating the plantation and harvesting the crops. These systems are suitable for various brands and tractor/vehicle models such as Kuhn, John Deere, Valtra, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, LS, Landini, Jacto and others.
To maximize an operator’s turning accuracy and efficiency, Ag Leader introduced TurnPath, hands-free steering for automatic, repeatable end-of-row turns. (Photo: Ag Leader)
Challenges
The key technical challenges faced by PA systems include minimizing multipath and RF interference and monitoring the positions of implements relative to the tractor. “Agriculture requires positional accuracy, so mounting an antenna on a farm machine is not a trivial matter,” said MacLeod. “On metallic machinery, radio frequency surface currents and reflections (multipath) will degrade the antenna radiation pattern, and RF noise coming from other electronics on the machine can interfere with GNSS.” Additionally, because most GNSS applications now are full band, “the challenge is designing antennas that are small and full band, and which also reduce local multipath on the machine.”
Regarding the position of the implements, MacLeod said: “Many agricultural applications use the moving base technique to estimate a precise heading which can be used to monitor pass to pass overlap. Calian GNSS have smart antennas that support the moving base application.”
Accuracy and Reliability
Nearly all PA practices require RTK, which gives repeatable accuracy of 1 cm to 2 cm. “I have this conversation daily with farmers,” Koebelen said. “All crops or farm practices benefit from RTK, even if you’re just doing hay work — whether you’re planting or harvesting. We can’t control the weather, commodity prices, or fuel prices but we can reduce input costs. So even if you’re just tilling, GEODNET RTK will pay for itself and is better than using traditional autosteer, because you’re eliminating all overlap.”
Additionally, farmers need reliable repeatability, even from one season to the next, to be able to return to the same spot to harvest what they planted. “Peanut farmers may plant with RTX or SF3, but satellite-based corrections, even higher precision ones, didn’t provide them enough repeatability to come back to harvest,” said Koebelen. “So, they still had to adjust their lines or hand-drive them. If the spacing between passes are off by even two to three inches, you’re going to lose peanuts. That’s why peanut farmers — as well as growers of potatoes, cucumbers, and other crops — need RTK.”
Once they enter a GNSS-denied area, such as an orchard, farm machines will need a dead reckoning capability that can keep them within a 20 cm to 30 cm error, said Schauble. “This is typically posed as a cross-track error. Errors in the direction of the distance traveled are slightly less important, because you can tell based on visuals when you exit a row.”
Growers think of reliability, accuracy and repeatability in terms of whether they can count on a system to do what they are asking it to do, Huedepohl explained. “They think about all those things. They do not necessarily focus on one thing versus another.”
Retrofitting
While many agricultural systems are proprietary, there is also a lot of mixing-and-matching and retrofitting going on. More than 90% of new tractors come with factory-installed guidance, but some growers want to retrofit new receivers on their machines, either because they did not have them or to upgrade. On some machines, it is possible to feed better positioning data — for example, integrating GNSS and inertial navigation — into the port that previously took in only GNSS data, using a standard NMEA format.
“It’s a simple plug-and-play to exchange someone’s GNSS receiver with our INS solution. Obviously, they need to do some testing to optimize placement, installation and stuff like that,” said Schauble. “Many companies are retrofitting existing tractors with an autonomy stack. They take commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems, such as ours, or a lidar or a camera, and retrofit a tractor. That’s their business model.”
The AG502 autosteer system being tested and calibrated on a transplanter in Japan’s Furano region, which is renowned for its vast farmland. (Photo: ComNav Technology)
Additional Sensors
Among the additional sensors often used are wheel odometers. “Without the wheel speed, you’re relying heavily on accelerometers,” said Schauble. “Growers cannot afford to pay $100,000 for a reference-grade system. The navigation systems for these applications use MEMS accelerometers, as we do. So, wheel speed aiding is extremely important to maintain that distance traveled.”
Integrating GNSS and inertial measurement units (IMUs) has long been standard. Increasingly, this integration is done inside an antenna, called a smart antenna. Calian, among others, does that. “We also have smart antennas that employ the L1-L5 observation pair rather than L1-L2, since the L5 signal is stronger and performs better under cover,” said MacLeod. “L5 uses an enhanced signal architecture with 10x faster chipping rate (10.23 MHz) offering more precise standard localization and improved multipath mitigation for reflections exceeding 29.3 m.”
Corrections
Corrections have also been key to the evolution of PA. A reference base station can provide 1-inch accuracy for up to 21 miles, degrading beyond that distance. It needs a WiFi network to communicate, so farmers often place the base station near their home and connect it to their home network. “We haven’t found an internet connection that isn’t quick enough to handle that,” said Koebelen. “From there, you can use your hotspot with a SIM card on your phone, and it’s like texting, so it will not drop like with voice calls. We haven’t run across rural areas where cell coverage is the limiting factor.”
RTK adoption is growing among farmers. “In the past, many people did not want to use RTK, because it was not very affordable nor easy,” Koebelen said. “However, now that we have these networks [such as GEODNET], you’re going to see a lot more people rely on the precision of RTK and you’re going to see many new products come out. Right now, even John Deere, Trimble and other major brands that are more expensive are trying to make the tier below RTK more affordable or easier to get — for example, RTX, SF3, the satellite-based corrections.” GEODNET’s network is growing rapidly, he said, “because our price for RTK is lower than Trimble’s or John Deere’s basic entries, which use free satellite signals that drift throughout the day.”
Huedepohl agrees that RTK has improved while prices have dropped significantly. “Earlier in my career,” he said, “RTK positioning was very expensive and satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) were not as stable. Also, RTK systems and such used a single constellation for the longest time. We started adding in GLONASS and then positioning network (Ntrip) corrections, which gave us a lot more robustness.”
Precise point positioning (PPP) has also improved. It used to have convergence times of up to 45 minutes. “Then, you would drive underneath one tree on the edge of a field, and you had to start all over,” Huedepohl recalls. “That did not sit well with farmers, so PPP corrections struggled to take off. Because of those early experiences, it took a long time for the market to start to accept the newer PPP models that we’ve seen in the past seven or eight years. Now there are farmers who enjoy the reliability of those PPP corrections.” The convergence time for one of Hexagon’s PPP services, TerraStar-C PRO, is often less than five minutes, according to Huedepohl. “We have a fast startup time. So, if the tractor was shut down, already converged and you turn it back on, most people are going to be reconverged in just a minute or two.”
Harxon enables autonomous agricultural applications with GNSS antennas, smart antennas and wireless data radios. (Photo: Harxon)
Division of Labor
The division of labor between manufacturers of PA equipment depends, in part, on whether a system is a retrofit or built from scratch. “If you are, let’s say, John Deere, and you own the entire autonomy stack within this tractor, then you can take our INS solution, add cameras, maybe add a lidar, and you can have your own fusion of those sensors,” said Schauble. “We have our own sensor fusion with IMUs and GPS. The tractor’s autonomy stack can do the sensor fusion with our output and other visual sensors, such as cameras and lidars.”
“Dealerships want their tractors to be known as having the highest tech,” said Schauble. “For a dealership to offer our state of the art, autonomy-enabling technology would be a huge benefit to them.”
Another differentiator is whether a factory-installed system is an OEM or branded. “We’ve been providing NovAtel branded receivers to AGCO for many years, through their channel, both factory-installed and aftermarket. Some of the others, such as CNH, are white labeled, so it would just say ‘Case-IH’ or ‘New Holland’ and have no Hexagon markings.”
Whether OEM or aftermarket, most manufacturers have some type of proprietary integration. “There are products that are just NEMA; they are typically at the lower end and priced much lower,” said Huedepohl. “The higher performing flagship products out of everybody’s portfolio are usually doing a more customized integration.”
Echlin has a similar perspective: “We provide products to OEMs who designed our products into their machinery. There are also system integrators and aftermarket system providers that use our smart antennas.”
According to Harxon, one reason for the success of its smart antenna in the agriculture market, especially for autonomy users, has been its ease of integration and high performance. “GNSS positioning is just one part of an autonomous system, and the autonomous integrators don’t necessarily have resources or expertise to develop an OEM component portfolio. Therefore, it’s a timesaving and cost-effective choice to directly integrate a smart antenna into an autonomous system.”
1 “Di buon mattino il contadino va nei suoi campi a seminare il grano. Ha un sacchettino e ci tuffa la mano.”
An exclusive interview with Ken MacLeod, Director of Product Management and Gordon Echlin, Director of Business Development at Calian GNSS. Read the full story and additional exclusive interviews here.
What are the main challenges and issues for GNSS antennas in agriculture, as opposed to, say, surveying or construction? How do your products address them?
KM: Many agricultural applications use L-band GNSS corrections, which are broadcast from a geostationary satellite (located above the equator). If you’re close to the equator, the geostationary satellite is roughly above you. However, as you move away from the equator, the look angle gets lower and lower. In Canada and northern Europe for example, the look angle is low, and the signal path is longer than at the equator. Therefore, you need an antenna that has low elevation angle gain. Calian has several antenna products that have great low elevation angle gain.
One of the other differences is antenna mounting. Agriculture requires positional accuracy, so mounting an antenna on a farm machine is not a trivial matter. On metallic machinery, radio frequency surface currents and reflections (multipath) will degrade the antenna radiation pattern, and RF noise coming from other electronics on the machine can interfere with GNSS.
Most GNSS applications now are full band. The challenge is designing antennas that are small and full band, and which also reduce local multipath on the machine.
You mentioned that these antennas are small, but on a tractor, size, weight and power (SWAP) is not a big concern. So, why is size an issue?
KM: As you mentioned, for most large farm machinery, SWAP it’s not a problem. It is, however, for UAVs, which are being used to spray crops with herbicides and pesticides where a small light weight antenna is beneficial.
Do most farm machines now use two antennas for their heading?
KM: Many agricultural applications use the moving base technique to estimate a precise heading which can be used to monitor pass to pass overlap. Calian GNSS have smart antennas that support the moving base application.
You also need to sense obstructions on the ground, but I guess that somebody else deals with integrating other sensors, such as inertial ones, with GNSS.
GE: Calian GNSS smart antennas (GNSS receiver built-in to the antenna) have built in Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). We also have smart antennas that employ the L1-L5 observation pair rather than L1-L2, since the L5 signal is stronger and performs better under cover. L5 uses an enhanced signal architecture with 10x faster chipping rate (10.23MHz) offering more precise standard localization and improved multipath mitigation for reflections exceeding 29.3m
[Shared a screen with eight antenna models.]
What are the key characteristics of your antennas regarding precision agriculture?
GE: Our GNSS agriculture antennas support centimeter level precision, have best in class lower elevation angle gain enabling L-Band correction reception (at northern and southern latitudes), and eXtended Filtering (XF), which creates very deep attenuation of nearby out of band radio frequency signals.
KM: We have deep GNSS antenna knowledge and we know how to integrate receivers into antennas. So, out of the box, you can buy from Calian GNSS a fully functional smart GNSS antenna that outputs a digital signal. Having a digital signal from the antenna to the smart ag controller simplifies and reduces the cost of the installation. Many customers, especially in the autonomy space, know software very well but are not hardware specialists. We remove the problem of integrating an antenna and a receiver into their product, and customers can start solving their PNT application.
GE:There are many startups that don’t understand RF; there are not enough GNSS and RF guys around. Let us take care of the antenna rand receiver integration. Then customers just take the RS-422 or RS-232 signals and read the receiver’s messages or NMEA data and use our ROS2 driver.
Does the installation take place at the factory or at the dealership, or do growers do it themselves?
GE: We provide products to OEMs who designed our products into their machinery. There are also system integrators and aftermarket system providers that use our smart antennas. We offer advice and consulting services to customers who design the products and do the installs and ask us to recommend where they should place the antenna to get the best performance. Let’s say that you have a large metal roof with a patch antenna. The GNSS signal can bounce off the roof or run on top of a metal surface and reach the antenna and interfere with the direct signal. To mitigate these problems, we often provide installation advice.
What are some of the GNSS receivers that you use?
GE: Calian GNSS provides smart antenna products with Septentrio, uBlox or ST-Micro receivers built in. Our ceramic patch antennas typically use a ZED-F9P, which you can use as either a base or a rover. It can take in PPP-RTK corrections through L-band signals. We can also take commercial RTK services, such as those from Point One Navigation or from Swift Navigation. Or, if you have a big farm and many different pieces of equipment that need precise positioning, you could set up your own RTK base, which provide precise positioning for a radius of up to ~20 kilometers from the base station. The point is that we support correction services and are not bound to one service provider.
Calian GNSS, formerly Tallysman Wireless, has introduced the VCS6000XF full band smart choke antenna, a new product designed for Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) applications. This antenna combines Tallysman Verachoke antenna elements with Septentrio’s Mosaic X5 full-band receiver to offer an integrated solution for OEM CORS systems.
The VCS6000XF offers comprehensive GNSS signal reception, including GPS/QZSS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS G1/G2/G3, Galileo E1/E5a/E5b/E6/E5 AltBoc, BeiDou B1/B2/B2a/B3, NavIC L5, SBAS and L-Band correction services. It incorporates the advantages of the VC6050 Verachoke, such as low axial ratio, consistent frequency performance and excellent multi-path rejection.
The antenna features a 0.5mm phase center variation and utilizes Calian’s eXtended filtering for near-band signal interference mitigation. The integrated Septentrio Mosaic X5 receiver provides capabilities such as anti-jamming, anti-spoofing, scintillation mitigation and receiver integrity by combining the antenna and receiver in the choke ring antenna. This design eliminates the need for expensive low-loss RF cables and ensures a clean RF signal for the GNSS receiver.
By combining the antenna and receiver in the choke ring antenna, the VCS6000XF is engineered to address radio frequency (RF) signal degradation issues associated with long antenna cable runs. This design eliminates the need for expensive low-loss RF cables and can ensure a clean RF signal for the GNSS receiver.
Calian Smart Antennas can be customized to meet specific customer requirements, offering compatibility with various GNSS receivers and correction services. The company has achieved integrations with receivers from ST, u-blox and Septentrio and GNSS corrections from providers such as PointOne, Swift Navigation and PointPerfect.
A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the July 2024 issue of GPS World magazine.
MAPPING
Mobile Mapping System With integrated inertial labs INS/lidar
The Meridian mobile mapping system integrates the Mosaic X camera with Inertial Labs inertial navigation system (INS) and lidar to improve mapping accuracy.
The Meridian system offers panoramas with a 74 MP native resolution and 13.5 K resolution using precisely synchronized camera modules. The design minimizes image overlap to offer clearer and more consistent panoramas. The integrated INS system has a vertical accuracy of 2 cm to 3 cm and a precision of 2 cm to 4 cm.
It features seamless, out-of-the-box operations with fully integrated and calibrated components. The Meridian system is designed for ease of use and requires only minutes of training. In addition, it features a rugged design to ensure performance in challenging environments.
The Geo-APNT serves applications requiring precise navigation data and an accurate time reference. The Geo-APNT combines a versatile GPS master clock with an INS to
offer assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) under all circumstances, including temporary loss of GPS signal. It minimizes size, weight and power (SWaP) due to the integration of positioning and timing that are typically achieved by two independent subsystems.
It can be easily integrated into existing systems and supports RTK and PPK positioning and offers support for MEMS, fiber optic gyro and ring laser gyro inertial measurement units (IMUs). The system also includes GPS antenna and cables.
This line of tactical-grade IMUs is engineered to address the evolving needs of unmanned applications and 2 space-based operations.
The IMUs include Iconyx, a high-performance HRG-based IMU that significantly outperforms legacy technologies, the company says. It offers improved accuracy and reliability for demanding navigation needs. It also features a small tactical IMU (STIM) ideal for applications requiring lower size, weight and power (SWaP).
The company is upgrading its Geonyx inertial navigation system (INS), which is based on HRG technology, to incorporate M-Code capability. The fully integrated solution can perform in GPS- denied or spoofing environments, offering reliable navigation in challenging environments.
GPS-Aided INS For land, marine and aerial applications
The INS-FI, a GPS-INS, is designed for enhanced performance and reliability across various platforms including land, marine and aerial applications.
The INS-FI is built with tactical-grade fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) technology and an IP67 rating, indicating its robustness and resistance to electromagnetic and environmental interference. This system integrates an IMU that combines fiber optic gyroscopes and MEMS accelerometers, along with an all-constellations GNSS receiver supporting multiple bands.
It offers horizontal and vertical positioning with approximately 0.1% error of distance traveled for land applications and a drift of five nautical miles per hour for aerospace applications without GNSS signal. INS-FI is fully compatible with Inertial Labs’ Air Data Computer (ADC), visual inertial navigation systems (VINS) and a stand-alone magnetic compass (SAMC).
INS-FI incorporates sensor fusion filter technology, navigation and guidance algorithms and calibration software to ensure optimal performance and reliability. The system aims to provide precise horizontal and vertical positions, velocity, and absolute orientation (heading, pitch and roll) for any mounted device, maintaining high accuracy for both stationary and dynamic applications.
The M100X GNSS receiver is built with the Quantum-III SoC Chip, designed to provide full-constellation and multi-frequency capabilities, specifically engineered for high-accuracy vehicular positioning and heading.
The M100X features GNSS/INS integrated technology to provide real-time high- precision positioning, velocity and heading data, even in challenging environments.
The receiver provides accurate positioning and heading information across various applications, including autonomous mining trucks, intelligent ports, mapping and autonomous buses. It is designed to safeguard vehicles as they pass through areas with poor signal reception, even in obstructed environments such as urban canyons, city overpasses, underground garages, tunnels and parks.
The M100X has a data update rate of up to 100Hz, allowing it to perform well in
very dynamic environments, such as vehicles traveling at high speeds. This rapid update capability enables continuous and real-time tracking of vehicle positions for reliable computation and instant updating of navigation information. It also facilitates quick responses to changes in vehicle dynamics during travel. These features are essential for maintaining seamless operation in high- speed environments and ensuring high levels of safety and performance.
Constructed with aluminum alloy and rated IP67 for water and dust resistance, the receiver is built to withstand harsh operational environments. It also features a shock-resistant design, capable of surviving a drop from 1 m without damage. It can connect to 4G, LAN, Bluetooth and multiple I/O ports for seamless integration with various systems and networks.
The M100X can be used with the Navigation Master software, an Android app for quick device configuration and effective remote management. Using Bluetooth connectivity, users can configure their M100X devices for optimal performance. Additionally, its cloud platform, NaviCloud, offers instant access to projects and data from any location.
Spirent has implemented Xona Space Systems’ PULSAR production signals for seamless integration into the existing SimXona product line. The PULSAR X1 production signal implementation has passed Xona certification and the PULSAR X5 signal verification process is currently underway. It is expected to pass certification during the summer of 2024. Spirent is now accepting orders for SimXona with production signals capability.
Xona is developing PULSAR, a high-performance PNT service built on a backbone of low-Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites. Xona’s smallsat signals will improve PNT resilience and accuracy by augmenting GNSS while operating with an independent navigation and timing system architecture. Xona is fully funded to launch its production class satellite, the In-Orbit Validation mission, in 2025.
Spirent is the leading provider of PNT test solutions and recently launched a sixth-generation simulation system, PNT X. Designed for navigation warfare (NAVWAR) testing, PNT X is an all-in-one solution with native implementation of SimXona.
The LabSat 4 GNSS simulator is designed to meet the demands of modern GNSS signal testing. It is equipped with three radio frequency channels, each of which can be configured with up to 12-bit I&Q quantization and a bandwidth of up to 60 MHz. This allows users to precisely control recording parameters and optimize file sizes based on their specific testing requirements. Additionally, synchronized record and replay of external data sources such as CAN, CAN-FD, RS232 and digital event capture are designed to further enhance complex test scenarios.
Users can save custom record settings for efficient setup and repeatability. Additionally, a user-friendly, web-based interface allows for easy configuration and management of the simulation environment.
LabSat 4 offers file management capabilities with 7.6 TB internal storage and robust data transfer options via Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0. This technology accommodates the high- volume data needs of modern GNSS testing without sacrificing speed or performance.
It is small, portable and cost-effective, making it suitable for use both in the field and in the laboratory. LabSat 4 is fully compatible with SatGen Simulation Software, which allows users to create GNSS RF I&Q scenario files based on custom trajectories. This integration enables the simulation of scenarios involving multi-stop routes, time zone transitions, leap seconds and more, using any specified time, date and location.
BroadSim Duo is a dual-frequency GNSS simulator designed specifically for testing military receivers in an unclassified environment.
BriadSim Duo integrates dual-frequency capabilities within a single compact GPS military signal testing unit. The simulator has dual-frequency capability, which is essential for testing P-Code and AES-M-Code. It features a new software-defined radio in an M.2 form factor, offering robust and reliable performance. It also seamlessly integrates with the Skydel simulation environment for improved versatility and functionality.
Adtran has released two optical cesium atomic clocks, the OSA 3300 Super High-Performance (OSA 3300 SHP) and the OSA 3350 Super Enhanced Primary Reference Clock+ (OSA 3350 SePRC+). The devices use optical pumping technology to meet evolving demands across applications from scientific research to critical PNT infrastructure.
The OSA 3300 SHP offers stability and accuracy, making it a valuable tool for metrology institutes and scientific research facilities. The OSA 3350 SePRC+ is specifically designed to enhance holdover capabilities for PNT services.
It maintains 100 days of 100-nanosecond precision, providing continuous and accurate timing even in environments where GNSS is compromised or unavailable. This makes it a crucial
component for ensuring the integrity of mission-critical networks and supporting vital infrastructure and defense operations with reliable backup timing.
The Zenith60 Pro GNSS smart antenna is designed for surveyors and construction professionals. It is a real-time kinematics (RTK) rover that features calibrated free tilt compensation to measure otherwise inaccessible points. The antenna is suited for harsh climates, urban areas, dense canopy coverage or other challenging terrains.
This multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS receiver features a GNSS board with more than 800 channels and IP68 protection against dust and water. It also connects with GeoMax total stations and X-PAD field software to create an efficient and flexible workflow.
The HC979XF antenna is designed to provide optimal support for the entire GNSS band, including GPS/QZSS L1/L2/L5 (QZSS L6), GLONASS G1/G2/G3, Galileo E1/E5a/b/E6, BeiDou B1/B2a/b/B3, NavIC L5 and L-Band corrections services.
The key new feature of the HC979XF and HC979EXF antennas is the support for Galileo’s Global High Accuracy Service (HAS) and QZSS’s regional Centimeter Level Augmentation Service (CLAS). Both correction services are broadcast in the E6/L6 band (1258- 1300 MHz).
The radio frequency spectrum has become congested worldwide due to the activation of many new LTE bands. Their signals or harmonic frequencies can affect GNSS antennas and receivers.
In North America, the planned Ligado service, which will broadcast in the frequency range of 1526 to 1536 MHz, can affect GNSS antennas that receive space-based L-band correction service signals (1539 – 1559 MHz). New LTE signals in Europe [Band 32 (1452 – 1496 MHz)] and Japan [Bands 11 and 21 (1476 – 1511 MHz)] have also affected GNSS signals. Calian’s XF models are designed to mitigate the effects of these new signals.
The Calian HC979XF housed helical antenna weighs 42 g and is enclosed in a military-grade IP69K plastic enclosure. The embedded HC979EXF helical antenna weighs 8 g. It is easily mounted with an optional embedded helical mounting ring, which traps the outer edge of the antenna circuit board to the host circuit board or any flat surface. An MCX connector is installed in the base of the antenna.
WingtraCLOUD software is designed to simplify data collection and streamline the onboarding of surveyors and pilots.
WingtraCLOUD offers a user-friendly flight planning experience, plus time-saving features including site-based file organization, advanced 3D planning, coordinate system by sites and improved connectivity via cloud syncing in a single environment.
It aims to simplify and streamline site setup and team collaboration. WingtraCLOUD’s features accelerate planning and introduce anew level of transparency among stakeholders with enhanced wireless functionality. Users can now provide insights to regional and global site managers across projects.
WingtraCLOUD allows users to maximize Wingtra aerial data and services, offering UAV program scaling and business advantages across a variety of industries.
FLYC-300 is designed 2 for advanced applications in UAVs, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and autonomous mobile robots. Weighing 297 g, the FLYC-300 features a low size,
weight and power (SWaP) form factor and delivers 100 TOPS AI performance. It supports autonomous navigation, object detection, real-time inference, and SLAM capabilities.
The FLYC-300 is suitable for industries such as inspection, logistics, rescue operations, security, agriculture and environmental monitoring. It supports a variety of sensors and cameras, accommodating RGB, infrared, hyperspectral, HDR and high-resolution cameras. It can seamlessly integrate with flight controllers, vehicles or robots.
The computer can operate with a wide voltage input range from 4S to 14S battery packs or 12 V to 60 V DC input via the XT30 DC-IN connector, making it versatile for different unmanned systems. It also supports 5G or 4G modules for real-time transmission of images, videos and data. The computer is available in two configurations, with or without an enclosure, to meet varying application needs.
The VTOL hangar drone combines the JOUAV JOS-C800 hangar with its new VTOL fixed-wing UAV, CW-15V.
This “drone-in-a-box” solution isdesigned to offer amore efficient and versatile solution for businesses looking to optimize their routine operations through automated aerial technology.
The JOS-C800 hangar system is composed of an automated hangar, a newly developed VTOL fixed-wing drone CW-15V, and the Jocloud management platform. This system enables complete management and monitoring of automated aerial missions through cloud-based remote operations.
Its key features include autonomous takeoff and landing, intelligent flight planning, automatic charging, data management, intelligent data analysis and report generation, enabling fully automated drone operations without the need for on-site personnel.
The JOS-C800 uses AI and AR algorithm integration to classify and identify potential hazards in the collected data, supporting the display and management of these hazards on Jocloud, and generating detailed hazard classification reports. The upgraded algorithms allow for real-time stitching and comparison of video data comparative analysis to identify new or changed hazards.
It supports multi-UAV, multi-hangar operations with staggered takeoffs, allowing for hop-and-fly operations. The CW-15V UAVs can be paired with various payloads such as gimbal cameras, lidar and oblique cameras.
INVOLI, a specialist in cooperative air traffic surveillance solutions, has partnered with MatrixSpace to create a comprehensive air traffic awareness solution through a unified platform.
The partnership combines INVOLI’s cooperative detection technology with MatrixSpace’s advanced non-cooperative detection capabilities, facilitated by miniaturized primary radar technology. This integration allows for complete surveillance of both airborne and ground-based traffic, significantly enhancing UAV detection, counter unmanned aircraft system (CUAS) capabilities and safety for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.
The integrated solution is designed to be low in size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C), and can be deployed quickly without the need for additional infrastructure or specialist training. This makes it suitable for a variety of applications, including surveillance of sensitive sites such as prisons and energy infrastructure, as well as supporting safe and efficient BVLOS UAV operations.
NavStorm-M is a gun-hardened integrated anti-jamming GPS receiver for artillery, bombs, missiles and unmanned systems.
It features a layered protection approach using beamforming, anti-spoofing, resiliency and software assurance. It is an assured positioning, navigation and timing (A-PNT) device featuring M-Code GPS technology. It offers GNSS protection of two bands (L1/E1+L2 or L1 + G1 or L1/E1 + L5) from up to three directions of jamming simultaneously.
NavStorm-M is designed to meet the tight size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) requirements of unmanned aircraft systems, loitering munitions, hypersonic platforms and other weapons — especially in gun-hardened applications. NavStorm-M offers precise GPS navigation as a stand-alone system or integrated with an INS.
GPSdome2 is a high-end anti-jamming and fully retrofit solution tailored for defending manned and unmanned ground vehicles and UAVs from jamming attacks. It can be integrated with various GNSS off-the-shelf receivers. Using up to four off-the-shelf active antennas, with dual-band protection — GPS L1+L2 or GPS L1+Glonass G1 — it protects from up to three jamming directions simultaneously in each band. With optional mil-spec compliance, it can serve smaller and lighter platforms.
Atlas is a Group II loitering munition with robust capabilities in air, land and sea tactical scenarios. With a flight duration of more than two hours and a striking distance comparable to larger Group III aircraft, Atlas delivers mission flexibility and performance.
Designed for high-impact scenarios, it supports a range of operations such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)/detect, identify, locate and report (DILR), electronic warfare and direct-action engagements. The munition’s payload includes options for fragmentation or penetration effects, further enhanced by optional ISR capabilities.
Zoe M4 is a portable and foldable quadcopter platform designed to rapidly deploy an overwatch capability for military personnel and units. It is easy to transport and set up, making it ideal for security, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), and emergency response applications.
It is equipped with the NextVision Raptor X80, a military-grade EO/IR gimbal that offers stabilized daytime and night-time imagery with 80x zoom and thermal imaging in high resolution. The NDAA-compliant quadcopter features the same rugged capabilities as the base Acecore Zoe model, including a robust carbon fiber construction, an all-weather waterproof design and the ability to survive winds of up to 29 knots.
The Zoe M4 is paired with Acecore’s Signav Ultra ground control station (GCS), a lightweight handheld device based upon the Panasonic FZ-M1 tablet and rated to MIL-STD-810G. It can be factory-configured for compatibility with existing military networks or frequency bands between 1625 to 2510 MHz.
Swift Navigation and Calian, formerly Tallysman, have partnered to integrate precise positioning into location-based products across a variety of industries.
Autonomous vehicles and robots are complex and costly to build. Developers must integrate advanced hardware and software, do extensive testing and validation, maintain complex infrastructure, and calibrate diverse components and systems to ensure seamless compatibility. To address these challenges, Calian’s fully integrated GNSS hardware is now compatible with Swift’s Skylark Precise Positioning Service.
Calian’s smart antennas are available in a ceramic patch design, based on its Tallysman Accutenna technology, ideal for stationary or vehicle-mounted applications, such as precise navigation, enhanced driver safety and robotics. It is also offered in a helical form factor, designed for portable and lightweight devices where size, weight and durability are critical, such as UAVs and wearables.
When paired with Skylark’s GNSS corrections, the antennas offer centimeter-level accuracy, uniform performance and fast convergence. Skylark’s subscription model removes the need to maintain ground reference stations or the risk of relying on unreliable public ones. It leverages observations from its extensive network to model corrections for entire countries, which are then delivered directly to receivers via the internet.
Calian offers development kits that include the smart antenna, an RS-232, RS-422 or USB digital interface and the TruPrecision evaluation software, allowing developers to quickly evaluate Skylark with the many compatible Calian antennas.
Calian GNSS, formerly Tallysman Wireless, has released its TW5387 industrial-grade smart GNSS antenna. It integrates the Quectel ST TESEO V GNSS receiver chipset onto the Calian compact smart GNSS antenna platform to offer dual-band GNSS, eXtended filtering, low phase center variation, low signal-to-noise ratio and dual feed and patch for strong multi-path rejection.
The TW5387 comes with RTK rover capability and a built-in IMU for sensor fusion. It is designed to minimize RF impairments that affect the performance of the GNSS receiver and provide GNSS coordinates to the host system over a robust digital interface for noise resilience.
TW5387 is suited for automotive, UAV, robotics and defense applications that require precise location and timing. TW5387 is compatible with N-RTK correction services such as Point One Navigation’s Polaris and Swift Navigation’s Skylark.
It tracks GPS, Galileo, BeiDou and L1/L5 band operation and is housed in an industrial-grade IP69K enclosure.
