GPS World

Tag: FAA

  • California, Hawaii drone operators get shortcut to authorizations

    California, Hawaii drone operators get shortcut to authorizations

    Commercial drone operators in California and Hawaii — as well as a few areas in Nevada, Utah and Arizona — now can get quickly authorized to fly in controlled airspace, Skyward announced.

    Screenshot: Skyward
    Screenshot: Skyward

    Skyward is an FAA-approved airspace vendor. With Skyward, pilots can access the FAA’s LAANC (Low Altitude Airspace Notification Capability) across the five states.

    This means that pilots with a Part 107 license can get permission to fly in regulated airspace in seconds compared to manual authorizations that can take months, making it significantly easier for businesses of all sizes, particularly in the construction and warehousing industries, to manage a fleet of drones to access valuable, cost-saving data.

    The LAANC platform lets UAV operators take advantage of this digital timesaver. Skyward was the first provider approved by the FAA to offer LAANC, and Skyward saw quick adoption by its customers as soon as the prototype was released on Oct. 23, 2017.

    This phase of Skyward’s LAANC expansion includes airspace in some of the country’s busiest metro areas, including Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, Las Vegas and more than 50 smaller air markets. It will help the full diversity of businesses in the west find new ways to use drones in their operations through LAANC capability.

    Below is the full list of airspace covered in the latest rollout of LAANC (download a PDF, “The Complete Guide to the 2018 LAANC Rollout”).

    Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZLA)

    Blythe Airport (BLH), Blythe, CA

    Imperial County Airport (IPL), Imperial, CA

    Needles Airport (EED), Needles, CA

    St. George Regional Airport (SGU), St. George, UT

    Tonopah Airport (TPH), Tonopah, NV

    Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (TRM), Thermal, CA

    Meadows Field (BFL), Bakersfield, CA

    Chino Airport (CNO), Chino, CA

    McClellan–Palomar Airport (CRQ), Carlsbad, CA

    San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT), El Monte, CA

    Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Grand Canyon Village, AZ

    Long Beach Airport (LGB), Long Beach, CA

    Montgomery – Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF), San Diego, CA

    Brackett Field (POC), La Verne, CA

    Palm Springs International Airport (PSP), Palm Springs, CA

    Gillespie Field (SEE), El Cajon, CA.

    Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO), Santa Monica, CA

    Zamperini Field (TOA), Torrance, CA

    North Las Vegas Airport (VGT), Las Vegas, NV

    Van Nuys Airport (VNY), Los Angeles, CA

    Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Burbank, CA

    Ontario International Airport (ONT), Ontario, CA

    John Wayne Airport (SNA), Orange County, CA

    Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, CA

    Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, CA

    San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Diego, CA

    McCarran International Airport (LAS), Paradise, NV

    Camarillo Airport (CMA), Camarillo, CA

    Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOA)

    Eastern Sierra Regional Airport (BIH), Bishop, CA

    Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH), Mammoth Lakes, CA

    Paso Robles Municipal Airport (PRB), Paso Robles, CA

    Red Bluff Municipal Airport (RBL), Red Bluff, CA

    Lake Tahoe Airport (TVL), South Lake Tahoe, CA

    Ukiah Municipal Airport (UKI), Ukiah, CA

    Yuba County Airport (MYV), Olivehurst, CA

    Merced Regional Airport (MCE), Merced, CA

    Sacramento McClellan Airport (MCC), Sacramento, CA

    Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO), Reno, NV (already live)

    Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, CA

    Visalia Municipal Airport (VIS), Visalia, CA

    Napa County Airport (APC), Napa, CA

    Buchanan Field Airport (CCR), Concord, CA

    Hayward Executive Airport (HWD), Hayward, CA

    Livermore Municipal Airport (LVK), Livermore, CA

    Palo Alto Airport (PAO), Palo Alto, CA

    Reid–Hillview Airport (RHV), San Jose, CA

    Stockton Metropolitan Airport (SCK), Stockton, CA

    Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS), Santa Rosa, CA

    Monterey Regional Airport (MRY), Monterey, CA

    Oakland International Airport (OAK), Oakland, CA

    Sacramento International Airport (SMF), Sacramento, CA,

    Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC), San Jose, CA (already live)

    San Francisco International Airport, (SFO) San Francisco, CA

    Honolulu Area Control Facility (ZHN)

    Waimea-Kohala Airport (MUE), Kamuela, HI

    Lanai Airport (LNY), Lanai City, HI

    Hilo International Airport (ITO), Hilo, HI

    Kahului Airport (OGG), Kahului, HI

    Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, HI

  • FAA surveys commercial drone operators

    FAA surveys commercial drone operators

    If you’ve registered a commercial drone, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wants to hear from you.

    On June 19, the FAA sent a questionnaire to everyone who has registered a commercial drone – more formally, an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) — for anything but recreational or hobby use.

    Most of these owners fly their drones for commercial purposes, but the survey population also includes government departments and other users.

    Hobbyists are not included in this survey.

    The goal is to collect information on drone flight activities under the FAA’s small drone rule (Part 107), data that will help the FAA improve the services it delivers to the UAS community. Responses to the questionnaire are voluntary and entered 100 percent electronically.

    The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete.

    The questions include areas such as number of drones registered, number and types of missions completed in 2017, primary locations where the operator flies and types of waivers requested. The survey also asks how operators want to get information about drone-related issues from the FAA, and how satisfied they are with the news channels they use now

    The questionnaire is completely anonymous, so responses cannot be attributed to an individual.

    If the questionnaire is still sitting on your computer or mobile device, the FAA wants —  and needs — your input.

  • GEO 5 joins WAAS, giving FAA better coverage across US

    The Federal Aviation Administration’s Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting 5 Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) navigation payload, developed by Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business, is now operational and fully integrated into the WAAS network.

    The GEO 5 payload joins two others already on orbit in correcting GPS satellite signal ionospheric disturbances, timing issues and minor orbit adjustments, giving users increased coverage, improved accuracy and better reliability, Raytheon said.

    “GPS alone can’t meet the FAA’s stringent requirements for accuracy, integrity and availability,” said Matt Gilligan, vice president of Raytheon’s Navigation, Weather and Services mission area. “The WAAS network corrects even the slightest errors, and that provides peace of mind when it comes to safety of flight.”

    In operation since 2003, WAAS increases GPS satellite signal accuracy from 10 meters to 1 meter, ensuring GPS signals meet rigorous air navigation performance and safety requirements for all classes of aircraft in all phases of flight, Raytheon added.

    WAAS provides precision navigation service to users across the United States from Maine to Alaska, as well as portions of Canada and Mexico.

    For aviation users, WAAS offers pilots more direct flight paths, precision airport approaches and access to remote landing sites without depending on local ground-based landing systems.

    Raytheon is the system integrator on the GEO 5 system, which includes a WAAS navigation payload on Eutelsat’s GEO satellite, two ComSAT ground sites and SED Systems specialized equipment.

  • FAA restricts drones over federal prisons, Coast Guard bases

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established temporary unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flight restrictions over federal penitentiaries and U.S. Coast Guard bases.

    The restrictions, which take place June 20, are for drone flights up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries of the facilities.

    The restrictions came at the request of federal security partners the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    The FAA is using its existing authority under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) § 99.7 — “Special Security Instructions” — to address concerns about drone operations over these facilities,” the agency stated.

    Information on the FAA Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), which defines these restrictions, and the covered locations, can be found on the FAA’s UAS website. Broader information regarding flying drones in the National Airspace System, including frequently asked questions, is also on the FAA website.

    An interactive map, downloadable geospatial data and other important details can be found here.

    A link to the restrictions is also included in the FAA’s B4UFLY mobile app.

    This is the first time the FAA has placed specific flight restrictions for unmanned aircraft over Federal Bureau of Prisons and Coast Guard facilities. The FAA has placed similar flight restrictions over military installations that remain in place, as well as over 10 Department of Interior facilities and seven Department of Energy facilities.

    Operators who violate the flight restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges.

    There are a few exceptions that permit drone flights, which must be coordinated with the individual facility or the FAA.

    The FAA is considering additional requests by eligible federal security agencies for UAS-specific flight restrictions using the agency’s §99.7 authority as they are received. Additional changes to these restrictions will be announced by the FAA as appropriate.

    The following facilities will have the new restrictions:

    United States Penitentiaries (USP)

    USP Tucson near Tucson, AZ
    USP Atwater near Atwater, CA
    USP Victorville near Victorville, CA
    USP Florence High near Florence, CO
    USP Florence ADMAX near Florence, CO
    USP Coleman I near Sumterville, FL
    USP Coleman II near Sumterville, FL
    USP Marion near Marion, IL
    USP Terre Haute near Terre Haute, IN
    USP Big Sandy near Inez, KY
    USP McCreary near Pine Knot, KY
    USP Pollock near Pollock, LA
    USP Yazoo City near Yazoo City, MS
    USP Allenwood near Allenwood, PA
    USP Canaan near Waymart, PA
    USP Lewisburg near Lewisburg, PA
    USP Beaumont near Beaumont, TX
    USP Lee near Pennington Gap, VA
    USP Hazelton near Bruceton Mills, WV

    United States Coast Guard (USCG) Bases

    USCG Baltimore Yard, MD
    USCG Base Boston, MA
    USCG Base Alameda, CA
    USCG Base Los Angeles/Long Beach (LALB), CA
    USCG Base Elizabeth City, NC
    USCG Base Kodiak, AK
    USCG Base Miami, FL
    USCG Base Portsmouth, VA
    USCG Base Seattle, WA
    USCG Operations System Center (OSC) near Martinsburg, WV

  • State, local and tribal governments to test UAVs for FAA

    Ten state, local and tribal governments have been named to conduct flight tests as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program.

    “We know our diverse new partners will help us address a broad range of complex drone integration challenges,” said FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell. “The fields that could see immediate opportunities from the program include commerce, photography, emergency management, public safety, precision agriculture and infrastructure inspections.”

    The 10 programs are:

    • Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant, Oklahoma
    • City of San Diego, California
    • Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority, Herndon, Virginia
    • Kansas Department of Transportation
    • Lee County Mosquito Control District
    • Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority
    • North Carolina Department of Transportation
    • North Dakota Department of Transportation
    • City of Reno, Nevada
    • University of Alaska-Fairbanks

    Over the next two and a half years, the selectees will collect drone data involving night operations, flights over people and beyond the pilot’s line of sight, package delivery, detect-and-avoid technologies and the reliability and security of data links between pilot and aircraft.

    The data collected from these operations will help the FAA:

    • craft new enabling rules that allow more complex low-altitude operations,
    • identify ways to balance local and national interests related to UAS integration,
    • improve communications with local, state and tribal jurisdictions,
    • address security and privacy risks, and
    • accelerate the approval of operations that currently require special authorizations.

    First announced in October 2017, the White House initiative partners the FAA with local, state and tribal governments, which then partner with private industry to safely explore the further integration of drone operations.

    The program will help tackle the most significant challenges to integrating drones into the national airspace and will reduce risks to public safety and security.

    Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), issued the following statement on the announcement of the participants selected for the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program:

    “The participants selected for the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program represent a commitment by governments at all levels to safely and efficiently integrate UAS into the national airspace. As more and more businesses and public institutions embrace UAS, it is more important than ever to have a process in which states, municipalities and tribal governments can provide input on federal policy without infringing on the U.S. government’s jurisdiction over the airspace.

    “The data the participants will collect on UAS operations will help shape a national UAS policy framework, including for a UAS traffic management system and expanded UAS operations such as flying over people or beyond line of sight,” Wynne said. “We look forward to seeing the results of their work and the contributions these groups will make to keeping our skies safe.”

    According to AUVSI, the potential economic benefit of drones in the nation’s air space, in less than a decade, is estimated at $82 billion and could create 100,000 jobs.

    Drone maker DJI issued a statement saying it looks forward to the advances in drone regulatory procedures that will be enabled by the innovative proposals offered by the 10 state, local and tribal governments.

    “Regulators and governments want to develop safe systems that encourage the beneficial uses of drones while addressing concerns about them, and today’s announcement is a major step forward in this effort,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI vice president of Policy & Legal Affairs. “By connecting state, local and tribal governments with industry partners and federal support, the Integration Pilot Program makes it easier to find ways for American businesses, governments and individuals to put drones to good uses all across the country.”

  • AUVSI Xponential: Major GNSS players exhibit new UAV products

    AUVSI Xponential: Major GNSS players exhibit new UAV products

    The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI’s) Xponential 2018 show took place in Denver April 30-May 3. The event convenes the global community of commercial and defense leaders in intelligent robotics, drones and unmanned systems.

    AUVSI Xponential was a big show once again — 8,500 attendees, more than 600 exhibitors, 200 educational sessions and 400 speakers. The show floor was huge as usual, with virtually every kind of UAS product and service imaginable for inspection at small, large and larger booths or display areas.

    The morning kick-off presentation on Tuesday was enthusiastic about the coming large-scale adoption of drones and associated robotic technology, with a couple of real-time examples — driverless vehicles at Babcock Ranch in Florida and drone supply deliveries for humanitarian aid in Rwanda.

    A view of show floor.

    However, there still remain a number of barriers to wide-scale integration of drones into daily life from a regulation perspective, as Steven Bradbury, general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation, pointed out — while at the same time also indicating that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted hundreds of waivers where the safety case has been adequate for lots of commercial UAS operations.

    Most of the major GNSS players were exhibiting at the show, so we focused on gathering their news while also collecting a flavor of the many drone system suppliers in attendance.

    U-blox introduced its new ZED-F9P multi-band, multi-constellation chip — with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou signal reception and processing and on-chip multi-band RTK with fast convergence times — promising centimeter-level accuracy and low 85 mA (4x GNSS) power consumption in a 17 mm x 22 mm package.

    ZED-F9P signals: coverage added in two stages. Option A – available now. Option B – available Q2/2020.

    Initial urban testing in Finland in challenging conditions has indicated RTK performance at 9 cm 94%, with high availability, short convergence times (<10 seconds) and fast reconvergence. This kind of performance is apparently initially targeted at automotive applications — u-blox is a member of the Sapcorda automotive group — and is forecasting samples for this July, with production beginning before the end of this year.

    The NovAtel tagline for the show was “Assured PNT,” which matches many U.S. and International agency objectives — this was accompanied by several announcements for both commercial and government agency products and applications.

    NovAtel’s new PwrPak7D.

    For UAV and other commercial applications, NovAtel has introduced several small-sized OEM7 based products, including the PwrPak7D (GNSS only) and PwrPak7DE1 (GNSS + Epson G320N MEMS IMU) — both dual-antenna heading capable, multi-frequency packages.

    The integrated E1 package includes NovAtel’s SPAN technology, which optimizes positioning and attitude performance during extended GNSS outages. Both new PwrPak enclosures come with the Interference Toolkit advanced interference detection and mitigation capability.

    With most UAVs, the electronics on the airframe can produce a disruptive internal interference environment, and can lead to potential problems for the integration of sensitive GNSS. To help overcome this issue, NovAtel has released the OEM7600 receiver board in an extremely small form factor, enclosed with protective shielding to reduce the effects of emissions from nearby electronics.

    The 7600 comes with 555 channels, multi-frequency/constellation positioning; L-band support for TerraStar corrections; serial, USB, CAN and Ethernet interfaces; advanced interference detection and mitigation features; RTK; GLIDE and Steadyline firmware options with 20-g vibration rating and the option to add integrated SPAN GNSS + inertial.

    NovAtel also announced Inertial Explorer Express, which provides the same core processing and utilities as Waypoint Inertial Explorer software for applications including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and smaller projects. Inertial Explorer Express will produce centimeter-level position and attitude solutions for lidar, camera and other sensor data with faster processing times and reduced complexity.

    On the government/agency business side of the house, NovAtel has been quite successful with the GAJT antenna, which includes integrated anti-jam technology. GAJT is in use operationally and has been shipped to 16 allied nations around the globe, with the latest success being with the artillery Observation Post Vehicles (OPV) for the Canadian Army.

    Canadian OPVs are used on the front-line of combat, so its essential that their location and timing information should not be compromised by enemy jammers. The NovAtel GAJT is readily retrofitted to existing vehicles to provide the necessary jamming defense needed by front-line forces.

    Previously, NovAtel also announced the selection of GAJT for the UK fleet of Type 26 Frigates – providing essential anti-jam protection for its onboard navigation system.

    MB-Two module by Trimble.

    Chris Wheeler and Omar Subra were good hosts when we visited them at the Trimble booth — Chris first made a YouTube video for GPS World (see below) and then gave me some insights into what’s new.

    Basically, the OEM line has rolled over new versions of almost all individual receiver boards, with the addition of the BeiDou B3 frequency, capability for RTX PPP (precise point positioning) corrections, the addition of new constellations and inertial integration options.

    An updated MB-Two receiver module can be configured for single frequency GPS through to dual frequency GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, Galileo and Beidou, uses RTX PPP and has an improved RTK engine for cm positioning from a base-station, or from over-the-air RTK corrections, or provides relative RTK against a moving base.

    A typical Trimble application could include capturing an Insitu ScanEagle UAV in a difficult shipboard multipath environment with integrated GNSS-inertial, UAV navigation and control, UAV payload stabilization, or providing a “truth-system” for autonomous unmanned ground vehicles.

    Since last year when Trimble introduced a “cell-phone” software receiver application, one useful application could have involved an insurance company using a “pocket-carried” antenna (with integrated RF) for field incident assessments. The cell-phone software license would be transferable to other assessors in the department, while a few pocket antennas are available for the whole assessment crew. This saves purchasing a whole load of hardware, and being limited to where the functionality can be moved or deployed. Everyone has a cell phone, and the relatively inexpensive antenna/RF can be available to all needing them.

    Watch this video to learn about Trimble’s latest products, including its BD990 and BD992 GNSS receiver boards.

    Trimble is also ramping up its OEM customer service and repair capabilities to improve turn around for multiple customers and applications in the field. Improved results are beginning to help customers and its OEM business, while increased R&D investment is expected to put new products into the field in the fall.

    This year Intel’s emphasis continued to be on how to manage the huge amount of data that high-precision visual and multi-spectral cameras are gathering by UAVs carrying out asset inspections for their customers. The Intel view is that this data is useless to an end-user unless it is interpreted and presented in a format that can be readily understood and used for the purpose it was intended.

    Let’s say a company operates 75 drones inspecting installations it owns or operates across several states, and that 50 GB of data is the nominal amount of data each drone collects on each mission. That means that nearly 4 TB of data could be collected daily if all 75 drones operate at once. More likely, over 1 TB daily shows up in a central location — a huge amount of unprocessed data.

    In a live demonstration, Intel showed how a typical installation inspection — by a drone taking high-resolution still photos at a remote location – could be collected and managed. Once in an Intel processing environment, the data quickly became visual format in 2D or 3D, and could be accessed remotely by an inspection team, saving significant travel costs and time to actionable results.

    Intel also promised to soon exceed its record at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for the number of drones flown at once — currently set at 1,218 drones. The company’s next target is for a light display using 1,500 multi-colored drones.

    Insitu CEO Esina Alic

    Insitu held a media event at the show to announce its ScanEagle-3 drone system. Esina Alic, the new Insitu CEO, led a team who introduced and then unveiled the new commercial-standard ScanEagle variant.

    This new variant has grown out of 20 years of experience and 15 years of working with the FAA to enable integration of drones into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS). The ScanEagle-3 (SE-3) has been rebuilt with the objective of developing a certifiable vehicle with increased payload and endurance capability that is free of any ITAR restrictions — allowing export without restrictions to the rest of the world.

    Insitu unveils the ScanEagle-3 is at Xponential 2018.

    SE-3 features include:

    • Significantly increased (x2) payload
    • Still provides for full integration of all existing payloads
    • Commercial, non-ITAR product for the global market
    • Long-endurance platform
    • Service contracts available
    • Product release in Q2 2019
    • Fully compatible with existing launch and recovery systems
    • Around ~100 lb without payloads

    ScanEagle variants were used in emergency response to the California wildfires at Santa Rosa and Medicina, gathering real-time information for fire-line combatants.

    ScanEagle helped fight these wildfires using High Accuracy Photogrammetry (HAP) sensors. Military-grade electro-optical (EO) cameras during daylight and infrared (IR) cameras for night-time imaging extended the time available for tracking fire lines. Penetrating smoke or darkness, these UAVs gathered video and still images that were used to create geo-referenced, high-resolution digital fire progression and suppression maps to guide firefighting on the ground.

    ScanEagle helped firefighters battle blazes in California in September 2017. (Image: © Reuters)

    Summary

    This small overview of Xponential 2018 attempts to provide a flavor of the breadth of activity we saw at the show last week. A good portion of this has also been captured through short videos published on the GPS World website, along with news articles.

    There is more to come, with a report to follow from the show on Septentrio’s new product releases, Spirent’s GNSS simulation demo, DJI’s overview of drone products featured at the show, CyPhy Works tethered drones, Swift’s announcement of its Skylark correction service trials, Hemisphere’s new Vector Smart Heading Antenna, and Harxon’s antennas for drones.

    A big show to cover, that’s for sure! It’s a good sign that people were perhaps talking more business than in previous years and a sign that the UAS industry is perhaps moving into its next growth phase.

  • In memoriam Per Enge

    With great sadness we must report that Per Enge passed away on April 22, at home and surrounded by family. Per was a genial friend and colleague to many, and a pillar of the PNT community. He is greatly missed by all.

    At the culmination of his long, fruitful career he served as the Vance and Arlene Coffman Professor of Engineering at Stanford University, where he also directed the Stanford Center for Position Navigation and Time.

    For many years he conducted research funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, directed at safe and secure air navigation and leading to development of the Wide Area Augentation System (WAAS) and Local Area Augmentation Systems (LAAS). WAAS became fully operational for aviation in the United States in 2003 and is currently carried by more than 110,000 aircraft; similar systems have been deployed in Europe, Japan and India.

    Per Enge at National Cheng Kung University (courtesy Shau Shiu Jan).

    He received the Kepler Award from the Institute of Navigation in 2000 and was inducted into the GPS Hall of Fame by the U.S. Air Force in 2012. He served as a member of the Space-Based Position Navigation and Time Federal Advisory Committee since 2007. In 2013 he received the GNSS Leadership Award for Signals from this magazine, for signal design including national differential GPS, satellite-based augmentation systems, and alternative positioning, navigation and timing sources. He co-wrote Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurements, and Performance.

    Always an educator, Per served as instructor, mentor and gentle encourager of many, many Ph.D. and other graduate-level students at Stanford who have gone on to distinguished careers of their own. In a lifetime marked by great achievements, this is perhaps his greatest and ultimately will be the most far-reaching.

    Born in Norway and brought to the U.S. at age 2, he received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Massachusetts and M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois.

    Speaking at GPS World dinner, accepting Signals Leadership 2013 award. (Photo: GPS World file)

    In remarks on accepting the GNSS Leadership Award for Signals, Per cited Faflick’s theorem, “that you will never ever work on any projects that are both interesting and important.” After calling out both GNSS and WAAS as exceptions to the theorem, he identified a third outlier: spoofing.

    “Today’s e-security is based on three security factors: what we know (passwords), what we carry (key fob), and what we are (fingerprints, iris scan). And it is not enough. To meet this challenge, we need to rejuvenate the original security factor: location. In the past, transactions were secured by our presence. In the world of e-commerce, this factor has disappeared, and we must use GNSS to approximate this ancient and effective security factor.

    “All of this will require the best effort of this precious community of ours.”

    Further biographical details are available in an article published by the Stanford News. Among the tributes included there is this one by Brad Parkinson, who recruited Enge to Stanford in the early 1990s. “Anyone who works in GPS is aware of Per and his influence. He was just an intellectually talented person who could understand many scientific nuances and integrate them in ways others could not.”

    Teaching the massive online open course.

    The article also reminds us that he co-originated and co-taught, with Frank van Diggelen, a massive open online course to share GPS knowledge with a worldwide audience, far beyond Stanford’s walls. Titled “GPS: An Introduction to Satellite Navigation, with an interactive Worldwide Laboratory using Smartphones,” it enrolled 31,000 people from 192 countries.  It is available here.

    Per’s Stanford colleagues Sherman Lo, Todd Walter and Sam Pullen assisted GPS World with this article and provided these photos from personal archives. The Stanford group is working on setting up a scholarship in Per’s name.  More information on it and how to support it will be on the SCPNT website once it becomes available.

    Frank van Diggelen has sent further photos, below.

    At the Stanford GPS Lab with colleagues from Stanford and DLR (German aerospace agency).

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Dinner discussions with US-EU bilateral group.
    With Alan Chen, Sherman Lo and an early spectrum image of GIOVE-A (or Galileo).
    Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria after 2005 European Navigation Conference.
    At the Stanford Center Position, Navigation and Time, which he co-founded in 2005.
    Team China Consumers at GPS World dinner 2010. The winning team in the Grand Game of GNSS.
    Fierce “opponents” (examiners) for Ph.D. defense of Ignacio Fernández Hernández of EC/Galileo. Aalborg University, Denmark.
    Prepared to come aboard in Kobenhavn.
    The co-authors of Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurements, and Performance (with Pratap Misra).

     

    A road warrior for GNSS.

     

     

    Faculty of the GNSS Summer School at Svalbard, Norway (Arctic Ocean, 78.7° N).

     

     

     

     

  • NASA completes third phase of UAS airspace testing

    NASA completes third phase of UAS airspace testing

    The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) and its NASA Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) partners flew multiple unmanned aerial systems over a week-long testing period at the Nevada UAS Test Site at the Reno-Stead Airport.

    NASA UTM Testing. Credit: NIAS. (PRNewsfoto/Nevada Institute for Autonomous)

    This third phase of NASA’s UAS testing (TCL 3) again focused on airspace management technologies that will enable the safe integration of UAS into the national airspace.

    NASA provided a Flight Information Management System (FIMS) research platform that will serve as a future prototype system for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use to coordinate with unmanned service suppliers operating throughout the nation.

    Research areas of emphasis during the testing included UAS ground-control interfacing to locally manage operations, communication, navigation, surveillance, human factors, data exchange, network solutions and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) architecture.

    On media day, a team from the Reno Fire Department simulated an incident with a victim experiencing severe blood loss and who needed an immediate transfusion. A multi-rotor UAS from Drone America was equipped with a container that held an actual packet of blood to be transported via drone in Nevada.

    High winds and frigid temperatures tested both the drone and those on the ground, but the drone successfully landed in the designated landing area so that firefighters could retrieve the blood packet and begin the faux-transfusion.

    The partners not only demonstrated drone flight capability, but also tested UAS traffic mapping and sensor and radar technology, all of which were connected through a NASA UAS Service Supplier (USS) network to NASA Ames.

    Technology Capability Levels

    NASA’s near-term goal is the development and demonstration of a possible future UTM system that could safely enable low-altitude airspace and UAS operations. Working alongside many committed government, industry and academic partners, NASA is leading the research, development and testing that is taking place in a series of activities called “Technology Capability Levels (TCL)”, each increasing in complexity.

    UTM TCL1 concluded field testing in August 2015 and is undergoing additional testing at an FAA site. Technologies in this activity addressed operations for agriculture, firefighting and infrastructure monitoring, with a focus on geofencing, altitude “rules of the road” and scheduling of vehicle trajectories.

    UTM TCL2, completed in October 2016, leveraged TCL1 results and focused on beyond visual line-of-sight operations in sparsely populated areas. Researchers tested technologies that allowed dynamic adjustments to availability of airspace and contingency management.

    UTM TCL3, just completed, leveraged TCL2 results and focused on testing technologies that maintain safe spacing between cooperative (responsive) and non-cooperative (non-responsive) UAS over moderately populated areas.

    UTM TCL4, with dates to be determined, will leverage TCL3 results and focus on UAS operations in higher density urban areas for tasks such as news gathering and package delivery. It will also test technologies that could be used to manage large-scale contingencies.

    NASA’s UTM technologies research and development is taking place in collaboration with the FAA. Results of research in the form of airspace integration requirements are expected to be transferred from NASA to the FAA in 2019 for the FAA’s further testing.

    “Advanced flight and highly technical scenarios like drone detection, surveillance of critical infrastructure aerial package delivery of critical first responder medical supplies, to the important NASA data interoperability protocols that will eventually form the backbone of the UTM system, we focused heavily on communications, navigation and surveillance to produce critical data for the NASA TCL 3 Campaign,” said Chris Walach, the senior director of NIAS and the FAA-designated Nevada UAS Test Site. “Our Nevada teammates did an amazing job working together to successfully complete the first series of major testing for NASA’s TCL 3 Campaign.”

  • What to expect at this year’s AUVSI Xponential drone show

    Tony Murfin
    Contributing Editor, Professional OEM & UAV, GPS World

    As the days tick down towards the always-anticipated Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Xponential convention in Denver May 1-3, the unmanned vehicle industry is preparing once more for one of its largest exhibitions.

    More than 750 exhibitors will be spread over a huge 370,000-square-foot exhibit floor at the Colorado Convention Center and 8,500 visitors from unmanned systems and robotics are expected to come to share ideas, gain insights and carefully examine the unmanned innovations on show.

    STEM Outreach. This year the show will not only feature industry innovation and growth, but will also highlight resources for potential science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) graduates with interactive and engaging content, including:

    • A buildathon/hackathon to conceive, design and build inventions during a timed competition prior to Xponential. Final projects will be displayed on the Xponential show floor as a representation of innovation and collaboration.
    • A dedicated area in the Xponential exhibit hall will describe the STEM education programs and services supported by AUVSI and the AUVSI Foundation to foster and cultivate the next generation of innovators and leaders.
    • An area of the show floor will also showcase the winners of student robotics competitions.
    • Denver area high school students will be invited to tour the exhibit area to introduce them to emerging unmanned technologies and applications.
    • A reception at the show promises to mix young professionals in unmanned systems with seasoned industry leaders, and finally,
    • The Women and Diversity in Robotics forum will feature speed networking with leaders to review STEM opportunities for career-focused women and girls.

    Survive and Thrive. Meanwhile, the Denver exhibition will demonstrate how the rapidly evolving world of UAVs has encouraged “survive and thrive” for those new entrants who together seem to have adapted to address almost any and all opportunities. We’ll mention a couple of examples here, and attempt to provide a better cross section of the huge number of companies and products present following the actual show.

    For instance, one of the drawbacks for small, predominantly electric-powered, multi-rotor UAVs is that their endurance is limited. Providing longer duration operations may be outside their envelope — for such longer term things as providing temporary mobile-phone signal coverage, or police/agency reconnaissance/search, or for larger vertical inspection jobs.

    Presumably, floating one of several available models of lighter-than-air, blimp-type UAVs might be more expensive or cumbersome than using a multi-rotor unmanned vehicle, so overcoming power-supply issues would seem to be key. One way to do this is to attach a strong tether bringing power up from the ground.

    Orion UAS. The Elistair (France) Orion UAS will no doubt be featured on the company’s booth. This multi-rotor UAV has been developed for longer term aerial surveillance and telecommunications operations. Typical users include law enforcement, private and public safety, national security, asset protection, emergency communications and crisis management, so these tethered drones are deployed by police forces, public security departments, public and private security companies, and governments in more than 30 countries.

    Photo: Elistair
    Photo: Elistair

    The Orion UAS uses industrial components and system redundancy, including autopilot sensors, motors, power distribution and logic controls, and has an emergency parachute system. The patented micro-tether system ensures a stable platform supplied with continuous power from the ground to enable up to 10 hours of endurance. The mechanical structure of the drone is designed to sustain strong winds with maximum stability. With system redundancies and automated emergency procedures, the user is able to focus on safety-critical missions and data collection, while the risk of human mistakes is reduced.

    The onboard camera has both FLIR and optical, enabling night/day surveillance with gimbal stabilization and low latency — the 30x optical zoom makes it possible to detect a moving person from kilometers away. And the tether system provides high-speed, interference-free data transmission so the system is also virtually undetectable. It’s easy to see why tethered drones are becoming more popular for security applications.

    Identifying UAVs. At the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Symposium last week in Baltimore, a key issue discussed concerned remote identification and tracking of drones. It would seem that the FAA is about to announce a new rule that could eventually clear the way for drones flying over people and beyond line-of-sight of their operators — and this may be a key topic of discussion at Xponential.

    The FAA rule appears to mandate that every drone should in some way communicate its identification — presumably its FAA registration ID — so that its operator could also be known.

    One well-known company, Ford, has already announced that it has a concept using onboard collision lights on a drone to optically signal the 10-digit FAA registration number to the ground for capture and decoding. Maybe other exhibitors at the show will have other solutions — perhaps radio based? We’ll see.

    Sensefly eBee drone.

    Sensefly’s eBee. At the sensefly booth, we may also hear about several interesting announcements on recent drone applications:

    • Products on display will include the RTK/PPK-enabled eBee Plus professional mapping drone, the eBee SQ drone for agricultural applications and the albris mapping and inspection drone, as well as the senseFly S.O.D.A camera and GeoBase.
    • In addition, senseFly sales manager and GIS scientist Briton Voorhees will deliver a presentation titled, “Comparing workflow and point cloud outputs of the Trimble SX10 TLS and senseFly eBee Plus drone,” on Wednesday, May 2, at 11 a.m. in the Mapping and Surveying Track.
    • Booth visitors can also find out more about senseFly’s comprehensive 360 solutions, which are designed to improve operational efficiencies and support decision-making in the surveying, mining and quarries, agriculture and inspection sectors.

    And many more. GNSS players also expected to be at the show include Hemisphere GNSS, NovAtel, Rockwell-Collins, Septentrio, Tersus, Trimble, Accord/Aspen Avionics, Comnav, Navtech, Swift and Topcon, as well as GNSS chip manufacturers u-blox and Intel — although Intel may likely focus on its UAV/communications offerings at this show.

    There will also be a number of antenna suppliers, inertial sensor manufacturers, UAV autopilot manufacturers and several ancillary electronics and mechanical systems suppliers — all trying to solidify their positions in the UAV vehicle and systems integration supply chain.

    The major focus, as usual, will be on UAV/UAS vehicle manufacturers and system integrators and their products — there is always a great exhibition of actual UAVs from all sectors of the industry.

    So, along with a parallel program of educational presentations on a wide range of industry aspects, the AUVSI Xponential convention promises to have plenty of opportunities to find things of interest to almost anyone, and many areas to focus on for experts already in the industry.

    Tony Murfin
    GNSS Aerospace

  • Aspen and Sensurion team on commercial UAV avionics

    Aspen Avionics and Sensurion Aerospace have entered a co-development partnership to bring certified avionics to the burgeoning UAS and unmanned air-taxi marketplace.

    The companies are focusing on U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified autopilots, communications, navigation and surveillance systems for small, medium and large UAS, including future cargo and passenger carrying aircraft.

    With revenue estimates for commercial drone operations exceeding $100B in the next 10 years, and the demand for UAS with certified avionics filling a large gap between hobby drones and military platforms, this partnership will create jobs and fill the void in commercial UAS avionics.

    The current UAS operational environment needs to evolve to meet, what experts believe, is the next great global innovation — unmanned air-taxi and personal vehicles.

    Initial product development from the team will include an autopilot/flight controller, FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO) authorized GPS/GNSS and surveillance systems, including ADS-B.

    “The real winners in this partnership are the UAS users, system integrators and manufacturers,” said Aspen President and CEO John Uczekaj, a 30-year veteran of the certified avionics industry. “Our consumers demand adaptability and a certifiable pedigree that can help get them to market quickly, operate with an extreme level of safety and include innovative architectures that combine certified avionics with today’s flying drone service/IoT data platforms, and near future cargo movers and people haulers.”

    “Our UAS customer’s return on investment calculations turn profitable most quickly when they can operate beyond visual line of sight,” said Sensurion CEO Captain Joe Burns. “What they are asking for are proven systems that do not cost a fortune, meet governing authority standards, are able to evolve with the pace of global digitization, and most importantly offer a safer integration path into our airspace. Our roadmap is clear. We are combining the talents, agility and pedigree from two industry leaders, to bring UAS consumers what they want, with a value proposition that puts safe drone technology to work across many industries.”

  • FAA expands drone airspace authorization program

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expanding tests of an automated system that will ultimately provide near real-time processing of airspace authorization requests for unmanned aircraft (UAS) operators nationwide.

    FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell announced the expansion at the third annual UAS Symposium, which kicked off on March 6 in Baltimore.

    Under the FAA’s Part 107 small drone rule, operators must secure approval from the agency to operate in any airspace controlled by an air traffic facility. To facilitate those approvals, the agency deployed the prototype Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) at several air traffic facilities in November 2017 to evaluate the feasibility of a fully automated solution enabled by data sharing.

    Based on the prototype’s success, the agency will now conduct a nationwide beta test beginning April 30 that will deploy LAANC incrementally at nearly 300 air traffic facilities covering approximately 500 airports. The final deployment will begin on Sept. 13.

    Drone operators using LAANC can receive near real-time airspace authorizations. This dramatically decreases the wait experienced using the manual authorization process and allows operators to quickly plan their flights. Air traffic controllers also can see where planned drone operations will take place.

    Beginning April 16, the FAA also will consider agreements with additional entities to provide LAANC services. Currently, there are four providers — AirMap, Project Wing, Rockwell Collins and Skyward. Applications must be made by May 16.

     

    Interested parties can find information on the application process here. This is not a standard government acquisition; there is no Screening Information Request (SIR) or Request for Proposal (RFP) related to this effort.

    LAANC uses airspace data provided through UAS facility maps. The maps show the maximum altitude around airports where the FAA may authorize operations under Part 107. LAANC gives drone operators the ability to interact with the maps and provide automatic notification and authorization requests to the FAA. It is an important step in developing the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management System (UTM).

  • Unmanned taxis, solar-powered UAS in development

    This month’s highlights from the UAV industry include:

    • more on the potential for unmanned airborne taxis,
    • a drone recovery system aimed at satisfying FAA requirements for flying over people,
    • a temporary stumble for camera supplier GoPro as it withdraws from the UAS end-product business, and
    • a possible commercial re-emergence of the high-altitude, solar-powered drone.

    Passenger drone tested in UK

    Y6S passenger-carrying drone. (Photo: Autonomous Flight)

    If a passenger-carrying drone could cost about the same as a regular passenger car, like those used by taxi and Uber drivers, then the economics might work. So it’s interesting that an outfit in the United Kingdom — Autonomous Flight — is talking about building passenger-carrying drones for around $25,000.

    Autonomous Flight says has a prototype up and running, testing the concept in Southern England;  testing with passengers is expected to get underway this year. The YS6 is battery-powered with multiple redundant systems for safety and is designed to fly at 70 mph, with a range of 80 miles at 1,500 ft.

    This happens to meet a design goal of covering a distance from Heathrow Airport to Charing Cross train station in 12 minutes, a journey that would normally take around an hour by car in London traffic. There are similar “hops” that could save a massive amount of time in almost every city in the world.

    But don’t hold your breath. It could take more than five years to get regulatory approval for the vehicle and for the initial routes over cities — never mind the time needed to get this particular concept into large-scale production to achieve the target price. But it’s nevertheless a good sign with good prospects for the future.

    Drone Recovery System

    While the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) considers the regulations for drone flights over people, in the meantime several applications have been developed for people-overflight with drones equipped with parachutes.

    Presumably, a drone would be safer if lowered by parachute in the event of equipment failure, but apparently such applications that rely on parachutes for risk mitigation have all been turned down by FAA. University of Alabama and Virginia Tech research has indicated a 70 percent chance of significant injury or death when a drone the size of an 8.85-pound DJI Inspire 2 fails and falls onto people.

    Indemnis in Anchorage, Alaska, has been working with the FAA and other interested stakeholders to draft the regulatory standard for flight over people and has now gone on to develop its Nexus ballistic drone recovery system, which it plans to have on the market by next summer.

    With a retail price of between $1,700 and $2,500, the system is expected to satisfy these coming FAA regulations for UAS flight over people and in urban areas for Part 107 commercial operations, but would seem to be quite expensive for smaller recreational drones.

    The system is scalable for drones from eight pounds to “several thousand” pounds. The Nexus system is designed to automatically deploy within 30 milliseconds of detecting a failure on the drone or of entering unrecoverable flight, and the system is capable of determining normal flight or a failure to within six feet of vertical movement.

    According to Indemnis, more than 10,000 requests for flight over people have been received by the FAA in the last 14 months, but all those that rely on parachutes for risk mitigation have been refused. This is apparently because conventional parachute systems have a tendency to become tangled with the aircraft or manual deployment is required. It is also said that current quadcopter drone safety systems — which cut power to an engine to prevent tumbling and which slow descent by adding power to the remaining engines — are inadequate for flying over people.

    The Nexus system automatically detects failure, cuts engine power, and deploys an aircraft parachute within 30 milliseconds, slowing vertical speed to around 7 mph. This should be slow enough to allow the operator to catch up with the vehicle before it hits the ground. However, reducing vertical speed is only half the solution, as a vehicle under parachute will still travel horizontally due to wind velocity. So Indemnis is testing their parachute system with an airbag on a 33.29-pound DJI M600 drone. The airbag turns the drone “into a giant pillow” once the chute deploys.

    The expected FAA standard is anticipated to require 45 tests in two failure modes — critical motor failure and full motor failure — at full flight speed, hover, and in automatic and manual deployment scenarios. Tests with a DJI Inspire 2 cutting one motor, two motors or four motors have pitched the drone violently just before it enters a slow roll — at 60 mph, it will roll quickly and violently.

    This drone safety and recovery system is expected to be on the market within the next few years, following release of the projected FAA standards.

    GoPro Karma hits the dust

    In what would seem to be an unusual turn of events in a rapidly expanding market, GoPro has decided to exit the UAS vehicle business. GoPro cameras are still a favorite on a wide range of UAVs, but the company has chosen to get out of the business of making end-item unmanned vehicles, despite reaching second place in market share in 2017 for its price range.

    At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas, GoPro explained that its decision was based on inadequate returns versus the investment required to support their single-product UAS business.

    However, Karma’s demise was apparently brought on not only by an expensive initial product recall, but also by the apparent additional financial pressure of poor Hero5 camera sales.

    Nevertheless, GoPro still feels that the “action-camera” market has the legs to sustain growth, so it’s likely UAV manufacturers will not have to go looking for another reliable video camera source any time soon.

    Joint venture for solar HALE UAS

    The solar-powered Helios in flight.

    In late 1990s/early 2000s, NASA contracted with AeroVironment to develop a high-altitude solar-powered UAS for NASA’s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology, or ERAST, program.

    In August 2001, the Helios prototype reached a world-record altitude of 96,863 ft., and in 2002 the Pathfinder Plus prototype provided from 65,000 feet high-definition television (HDTV) signals; third-generation (3G) mobile voice, video and data; and high-speed internet.

    AeroVironment has now formed a joint venture with Japanese SoftBank Corporation to develop a solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAS for commercial operations that may include applications such as high-altitude pseudo-satellites.

    The joint venture — known as HAPSMobile — is a Japanese corporation in which AeroVironment holds minority ownership but is still able to directly exploit commercial and military opportunities outside Japan.

    Summary

    It’s encouraging to see another airborne taxi initiative joining the folks who were demonstrating prototypes in Dubai back last September. If the market is there, more entrants should help make this option a reality.

    It’s also good news that a company already has a drone recovery system in the works that could reduce the potential for injury in the event one falls out of the sky. This might start to reverse adverse public opinion about drones and help the FAA move forward with regulations allowing wider usage.

    Meanwhile, it’s sad but true that new industries inevitably see some entrants pull back and even leave in the early stages. It’s fortunate that popular drone camera supplier GoPro still has the ability to retrench and fall back on its existing business.

    Finally, the promise of high-altitude solar-powered drones would seem to be still alive. If it could be possible to hang TV and other comms systems on these high-altitude loitering vehicles, there might be a much less expensive way of getting transmitters into very high altitude orbits without the cost of a space launch. Then many areas around the world could benefit from low-cost signal distribution that might not otherwise work commercially.