Last year at InterGeo 2015, UAVs ruled, for at least the second year in a row, although some of its newest-thing gloss seemed to be wearing off. This year, sensor integration in both hardware and software is a dominant theme — and one with broader implications and applications.
GNSS positioning technology, aided in many cases by laser scanning, other imaging sensors, total stations, Lidar and camera systems, all collaborating as inputs to mobile mapping systems or machine-control systems, together form a durable platform for many present and future applications.
NavCom booth at InterGeo.
Among the GPS/GNSS companies exhibiting here: CHC Navigation, ComNav Technology, Eos Positioning Systems, Hemisphere GNSS, Navcom Technology, NovAtel, Septentrio, and Tallysman.
“I think it’s a must for every surveyor to participate and get updated with all the developments,” said Chryssy Potsiou, president of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), “to try to make the best combination of tools and software so that we can have the best output, in order to provide reliable services at affordable prices, in short time. The world needs solutions, cheap and fast.”
Smart Cities. Along with the roar of the four connected exhibition halls where many new products are being rolled out on this premier world stage, there is a lot of talk — a lot of talk — in the presentation auditoriums about vision, and smart cities, and connectedness in it many forms, electronic and otherwise.
The international trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management, InterGeo can be overwhelming, with roughly 550 exhibits from 33 countries, and 16,000 visitors from 92 countries. It spans everything from surveying, geoinformation, remote sensing and photogrammetry to complementary solutions and technologies, processing, using and analyzing geodata over the Internet and exploring new applications and solutions — it’s all here. Themes include mobility, energy supply, climate protection, and liveable cities and rural areas. Citizen involvement, data protection, data security and e-government all play a key role in future developments. This year, the conference published a pre-show report on geodata and what it calls Business World 4.0.
Host city Hamburg, an economically strong, vibrant city and one of the top three shipping ports in Europe, embraced digital strategy at an early stage. Sustainable city planning, climate protection, an intelligent mobility concept and IT-controlled port management are all aspects of the city that could not work without geodata.
Making Connections. “Our [geospatial] industry is now more and more related, more and more embedded with many other disciplines,” said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Ordnance Survey UK, who gave one of the conference keynotes. “One of the key questions we are facing is: What skills will the workforce of the future need to have, in order to flourish in this interconnected world?
“Some of the more obvious ones are digital capability, looking at data sciences. Also we spoke about some of the softer skills: the ability to look across disciplines, the ability to work with different functions, and really importantly, the ability for our industry to explain its value and be part of the decision-making which is going on around us all the time.
“We’re beginning to see the first fruits of the Internet of Things. There may be some inflated expectations at this point. It’s our job to test that. I’m confident there are some brilliant use cases developing over the next five years in the fields of health, transport, and community engagement. Making a city more efficient, more livable, more secure, and more business-friendly, to draw tax dollars into the equation. What we’re able to do today is so much more data-rich, so much more connected, than we’ve ever been able to do before. ”
He cited pilot public-private partnership projects in Manchester and another unnamed UK city going forward in this regard, with involvement from Cisco, Siemens, and British Telecomm along with Ordnance Survey. “It’s a mixed economy coming together, because there isn’t one answer.”
Looking into the future, he said “Developing nations in particular require a fundamental geospatial fabric in order to boost themselves. I hope there will be a broadening of the focus from what we can do absolutely at the cutting edge of technology with reasonably affluent societies, to thinking about how we can take that into the less affluent societies, and raise all boats through the efforts of this great industry.”
Gorillas Enter Room. Intel has taken a stake in the commercial drone space with its new Falcon UAV. “Predominantly, we are looking at inspections, construction, agriculture, as well as 3D modeling.” The company was joined by Oracle and Autodesk as first-time exhibitors at the show, and they did not enter timidly; big stands.
UAV über Deutschland. In moves shadowing those in the United States, the German Minister for Transport spoke about introducing regulations to govern civil and commercial use of UAVs. The newly published draft foresees the introduction of mandatory registration for unmanned aerial systems. Pilots will need a valid license to fly drones above 100 meters.
Geodata is key to the digital future and a 4.0 business world, according to a new report released at InterGeo in Hamburg, Germany. At the heart of this business vision is the networking of sensors that must have location data in order to fulfill their value.
The 116-page Intergeo Report, in parallel German and English, includes sections on smart cities, public participation, autonomous driving with live mapping, and surveying on the open seas. An eight-page GNSS Update section features CEOs answering questions market focus of their GNSS products, the role of geo-referencing in the Internet of Things, the coming-of-age of precise point positioning (PPP), and the opportunities for GNSS opened up by autonomous driving.
Access to company-specific geodata offers managers in the automotive industry a competitive ad- vantage. Apps show today’s motorists the way to the nearest electrical charging station. Soon, the same motorists will talk to their on-board computer to find a parking space. It will guide them instantly to the nearest free space. Geoinformation will then no longer just be found in the satnav but also in the integrated sensor in the road paving infrastructure and in the status reports of other road users.
Networking Everything. The Internet of Things is taking shape and permeating all areas of life. At its center are the tiny pieces of information that assign coordinates to a parking space, a loading berth for a container ship, a screw in the shelves of a supplier’s warehouse, or the alarm system of a family home. Degrees, minutes and seconds show people the way, answer a range of questions and help make informed decisions. Geoinformation is both an asset and an essential source of information.
Content Is King. Key companies in the geoinformation sector have naturally taken onboard the value of geoinformation. It forms the basis of their business activities. The use of geodata as added value for their products is still very new. Esri realized early in the sector that selling software is no longer sufficient on its own. Only data enables customers to harness the value of products. Cloud solutions store the mountains of data, while platforms deliver the answers.
Such new business leading lights as AirBnB, Uber, Facebook and Google could not survive without geoinformation. It is part of increasingly intelligent systems that make users’ lives a little easier and more comfortable, optimizing processes and enabling people to operate and participate in ways that were previously impractical or impossible.
The examples are myriad. Consider just a few. Digitally aided planning and construction in building information modeling not only streamlines processes and reduces costs, it enables public participation in planning procedures, using digital models of planned reality. Aerial surveys and data gathering by UAV, not only for traditional survey needs but for growing requirements in natural resource planning and management, infrastructure inspection and maintenance, surveillance and security, and more. Guidance systems for the blind.
All require location data. GNSS (satnav) is the core supplier of this data, but must be augmented by other technologies in special environments.
Releasing Geodata Pays Dividends. Managers of geodata realize they need to release it in order for it to lead them to “more” – more value, more benefits, more transparency, more importance. Geoinformation and digitization are inextricably interlinked, and this is just the beginning.
Geodetics Inc.’s newest mobile mapping product, Geo-MMS, is a fully integrated lidar mapping payload for integration with unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
The Geo-MMS includes an inertial navigation system (INS) coupled with a lidar sensor. Raw data from the integrated GPS, inertial measurement unit (IMU) and lidar sensors are recorded on the internal data-recording device and can be post-processed using Geodetics’ lidar tool software package to directly geo-reference the lidar point clouds with LAS-format output. Geo-MMS is available with a wide range of sensors.
Geo-MMS can be used in various applications in both military and commercial industries such as precision agriculture; mining; utilities; asset management; oil; construction and infrastructure inspections; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); sense and avoid; coastal surveillance; and situational awareness.
As a company based in the United States, Geodetics can also accommodate defense SAASM and M-code path requirements.
Phase One Industrial has introduced the iXU-RS aerial camera series, featuring a breakthrough central lens shutter design, according to the company. The new shutter technology is based on an innovative direct-drive concept with electronic charging that enhances exposure speed to as fast as 1/2500s, while guaranteeing half a million exposures, an unprecedented shutter life span.
The series’ flagship 100MP iXU-RS1000 camera system, with the advanced lens shutter, an exceptional capture rate of 0.6 seconds per frame and its CMOS sensor with superior light sensitivity of 50-6400 ISO, is uniquely designed to expand the efficiency of aerial imaging operations, including under deteriorating weather conditions or on days that were previously not conducive to image capture. This allows for faster flights and larger surface coverage.
For a small-bodied medium format camera, the iXU-RS1000 offers a large-format-quality experience thanks to its sensor technology and high-performance optics, which can deliver 11,608 pixels cross-track coverage. Users can gain more image coverage during a flight, while maintaining the same ground sample distance (GSD), or a lower GSD, while flying at the same height. Its small form factor supports multiple uses — as a standalone camera for photogrammetric work or as part of an array (to cover a larger swath) or as part of an oblique camera system.
Other iXU-RS series cameras include the 80MP iXU-RS180, and 60MP iXU-RS160 and 160 Achromatic systems. All iXU-RS series cameras feature accurate metric calibration, scalability to form multi-camera arrays, and easy integration with popular flight management systems and GPS/IMU receivers. There are seven available lens options, including: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 70mm, 90mm, 110mm and 150mm. Lenses have been designed and built for aerial photography by Rodenstock and Schneider Kreuznach, and factory calibrated for infinity focus.
Easily integrated into existing or new set-ups, the cameras offer maximum connectivity with diverse systems and help operators execute and manage missions, such as: surveying, mapping, critical infrastructure inspection and many other applications with greater reliability, cost effectiveness and operational efficiency. The iXU-RS1000 is also suited to four band-imaging applications.
DT Research has released the DT395CR and DT395GS rugged tablets. While designed for field professionals, the tablets cost less than consumer-grade tablets over the lifetime of the product, DT Research said.
The DT395GS rugged tablet by DT Research.
Both DT395 tablets are highly durable to withstand extreme environments, designed with fully integrated options to eliminate easily broken attachments in mission-critical scenarios, and include security, privacy and productivity settings.
The DT395GS tablet is designed for field applications with a high-accuracy GNSS module that is compatible with existing GIS software for mapping applications and brings together the advanced workflow for GIS data capture, accurate positioning and data transmission. The u-blox M8 GNSS module is capable of concurrent reception of GPS and GLONASS for up to 2-meter accuracy.
“Many businesses have adopted mobile tablets with the goal of increasing productivity by leveraging the versatile tablet form-factor,” said Daw Tsai, president of DT Research. “But companies within construction, field service, logistics, manufacturing and warehousing have found that consumer-grade tablets are too fragile for their environment — requiring costly repairs and replacements that introduce expensive downtime. Our new DT395 rugged tablets give vertical industries exactly what they need with high reliability and lower TCO (total cost of ownership) over the lifetime of the product.”
According to a VDC Research study, the average annual TCO of a ruggedized tablet is 22 percent lower than the average annual TCO of a non-rugged tablet. The study found average failure rates for non-rugged tablets is 15.2 percent compared to 6.9 percent for rugged tablets. Lost productivity, as a result of mobile device failure, was a leading contributor to higher TCO for non-rugged tablets. Mobile workers lost an average of 52-80 minutes of productivity when their mobile device failed. (Source: VDC Research, “Total Cost of Ownership Models for Mobile Computing and Wireless Platforms,” Third Edition.)
Unlike consumer-grade tablets, the DT395CR and DT395GS ruggedized tablets are designed to be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments with full HD anti-reflection outdoor viewable displays. The tablets are IP65 and MIL-STD-810G rated to withstand 4-foot drops and extreme temperatures (-4° F to 140° F), and resist water, dust and humidity.
“We tried iPads, but they were not suited for our environment,” said Marty Phillips, director of engineering at Murray Equipment, Inc. “Our customers do millions of dollars of fertilizer loading within an eight-week window in a broad range of weather conditions. If a remote control tablet is down for even an hour, it’s a significant revenue loss. We have used DT Research rugged tablets in our automated liquid-handling facilities across the U.S. for more than three years with no downtime or repair/replacement costs. The reliability of DT Research’s rugged tablets is unmatched.”
Both the DT395CR and DT395GS have an 8.9-inch display with 1920 x 1200 resolution and capacitive touch, and weigh 2.87 pounds. The tablets run on an Intel Atom Quad Core CPU with 4GB RAM running Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS.
Security, privacy and productivity settings
“Security, privacy and productivity are a growing concern in many organizations,” Helen Fanucci, GM of Americas Device IoT Experience, Microsoft. “We are pleased to see DT Research utilize the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise-grade security to support mission-critical rugged tablets for customers and deliver a safer device experience, which enhances productivity for a variety of mobile scenarios in manufacturing, field service, logistics and other industries.”
The DT395 tablets leverage advanced Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS security including Device Guard, combining hardware and software security to lock down a device so that it can only run trusted applications. The DT395 also includes lock-down features to protect against malicious users while providing a custom-defined user experience.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and RFID can pose a security issue when using consumer-grade tablets within a business environment. DT Research DT395 rugged tablets can be purpose-built with a camera privacy mode and
preconfigured with Bluetooth, RFID and Wi-Fi disable functions. The DT395 rugged tablets can also eliminate access to internet or social media applications to address productivity challenges.
Customizable options
DT Research offers customizable options for the DT395CR and DT395GS including an optimized OS and BIOS. Customers can choose to have the options below fully-integrated.
3G WWAN or 4G LTE
2D Barcode Scanner
Class 1 Bluetooth (1000 feet)
Camera (5 Megapixel back camera)
GNSS Module (u-blox M8)
HF/RFID 13.56MHz reader
HDMI-in and Ethernet port
Six-pin push/pull connector for EIA/RS-232/485/422, USB port and Ethernet port
DT Research has released the DT395CR and DT395GS rugged tablets. While designed for field professionals, the tablets cost less than consumer-grade tablets over the lifetime of the product, DT Research said.
The DT395GS rugged tablet by DT Research.
Both DT395 tablets are highly durable to withstand extreme environments, designed with fully integrated options to eliminate easily broken attachments in mission-critical scenarios, and include security, privacy and productivity settings.
The DT395GS tablet is designed for field applications with a high-accuracy GNSS module that is compatible with existing GIS software for mapping applications and brings together the advanced workflow for GIS data capture, accurate positioning and data transmission. The u-blox M8 GNSS module is capable of concurrent reception of GPS and GLONASS for up to 2-meter accuracy.
“Many businesses have adopted mobile tablets with the goal of increasing productivity by leveraging the versatile tablet form-factor,” said Daw Tsai, president of DT Research. “But companies within construction, field service, logistics, manufacturing and warehousing have found that consumer-grade tablets are too fragile for their environment — requiring costly repairs and replacements that introduce expensive downtime. Our new DT395 rugged tablets give vertical industries exactly what they need with high reliability and lower TCO (total cost of ownership) over the lifetime of the product.”
According to a VDC Research study, the average annual TCO of a ruggedized tablet is 22 percent lower than the average annual TCO of a non-rugged tablet. The study found average failure rates for non-rugged tablets is 15.2 percent compared to 6.9 percent for rugged tablets. Lost productivity, as a result of mobile device failure, was a leading contributor to higher TCO for non-rugged tablets. Mobile workers lost an average of 52-80 minutes of productivity when their mobile device failed. (Source: VDC Research, “Total Cost of Ownership Models for Mobile Computing and Wireless Platforms,” Third Edition.)
Unlike consumer-grade tablets, the DT395CR and DT395GS ruggedized tablets are designed to be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments with full HD anti-reflection outdoor viewable displays. The tablets are IP65 and MIL-STD-810G rated to withstand 4-foot drops and extreme temperatures (-4° F to 140° F), and resist water, dust and humidity.
“We tried iPads, but they were not suited for our environment,” said Marty Phillips, director of engineering at Murray Equipment, Inc. “Our customers do millions of dollars of fertilizer loading within an eight-week window in a broad range of weather conditions. If a remote control tablet is down for even an hour, it’s a significant revenue loss. We have used DT Research rugged tablets in our automated liquid-handling facilities across the U.S. for more than three years with no downtime or repair/replacement costs. The reliability of DT Research’s rugged tablets is unmatched.”
Both the DT395CR and DT395GS have an 8.9-inch display with 1920 x 1200 resolution and capacitive touch, and weigh 2.87 pounds. The tablets run on an Intel Atom Quad Core CPU with 4GB RAM running Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS.
Security, privacy and productivity settings
“Security, privacy and productivity are a growing concern in many organizations,” Helen Fanucci, GM of Americas Device IoT Experience, Microsoft. “We are pleased to see DT Research utilize the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise-grade security to support mission-critical rugged tablets for customers and deliver a safer device experience, which enhances productivity for a variety of mobile scenarios in manufacturing, field service, logistics and other industries.”
The DT395 tablets leverage advanced Windows 10 IoT Enterprise OS security including Device Guard, combining hardware and software security to lock down a device so that it can only run trusted applications. The DT395 also includes lock-down features to protect against malicious users while providing a custom-defined user experience.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and RFID can pose a security issue when using consumer-grade tablets within a business environment. DT Research DT395 rugged tablets can be purpose-built with a camera privacy mode and
preconfigured with Bluetooth, RFID and Wi-Fi disable functions. The DT395 rugged tablets can also eliminate access to internet or social media applications to address productivity challenges.
Customizable options
DT Research offers customizable options for the DT395CR and DT395GS including an optimized OS and BIOS. Customers can choose to have the options below fully-integrated.
3G WWAN or 4G LTE
2D Barcode Scanner
Class 1 Bluetooth (1000 feet)
Camera (5 Megapixel back camera)
GNSS Module (u-blox M8)
HF/RFID 13.56MHz reader
HDMI-in and Ethernet port
Six-pin push/pull connector for EIA/RS-232/485/422, USB port and Ethernet port
Topcon Positioning Group announces the release of two new mapping kits for its Sirius Pro fixed-wing unmanned aerial system (UAS). The kits are designed to produce the most accurate solutions for automated mapping of construction sites, building facades, mines, quarries, disaster areas — and more without regard to terrain.
Both systems include an enhanced MAVinci Desktop Flight Planning software upgrade.
The first new package — Sirius UAS City Mapping Kit — includes a Fuji X-M1 8 mm lens designed to better capture urban surroundings.
“It allows the image capture of vertical facades such as buildings, infrastructure and construction sites,” said Charles Rihner, vice president of the Topcon GeoPositioning Solutions Group. “The upgraded flight planning software optimizes the planning, preparation and processing to automatically produce a textured 3D model. Additionally, the kit allows the acquisition of 3D models and orthophotos when flying below 50 m altitude,” he said.
The second new package — the Sirius UAS High Resolution Mapping Kit — comes with a Fuji X-M1 27-millimeter lens. “This package allows the collection of images at the highest possible resolution for applications such as construction site monitoring, survey and mapping topography,” Rihner said. “It allows operators to obtain higher resolution images at the same altitude as compared with a standard lens.”
what3word’s three-word addressing system has been integrated into numerous mapping and navigation services ahead of the Summer Olympics, being held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Aug. 5-21.
what3words is used in the RioGo app (which won the Rio Olympics Transport Challenge) and Navmii, an offline satnav app.
what3words makes it easy to find and get to any location in the world, the company explains. The service works both online and offline, and is based on a location reference platform that uses a global grid of 57 trillion 3 x 3-meter squares. Each square has a unique pre-assigned three-word address, no matter how remote. This makes it easy to both pinpoint an address and communicate it — in whichever of its nine different languages travelers prefer, including Brazil’s national tongue Portuguese.
At the Olympics, specifying exactly where to meet or where to go can be difficult. For example, there are four entrances to the Aquatic stadium: expired.stud.cucumber, carbon.padding.puddles, ducks.hillside.frocks and saying.rosette.slogged.
Meeting friends or family in the Olympic Park is easy — meeting at forgiven.milder.dragon (the handball entrance in the Future Arena). If medical attention is needed, tourists can navigate offline to the Jacarepagua Pharmacy is at hint.laws.squares, while the Victoria Hospital is at reheat.admit.take
Outside of the Olympic Park, tourists can park near the Christ the Redeemer statue at puff.goggles.really, or find the start of the walking trail to Sugar Loaf at replays.chain.assist.
Getting around with what3words
There are many different ways what3words will be used during the Olympics. what3words is in RioGo, the official Olympics public transit app — so visitors can use multi-modal journeys (bus, bike hire, walking, taxi…) to navigate around the city.
For navigation when walking or driving, users can type in three-word addresses into Navmii for offline routing to and from three-word addresses.
PocketEarth, an app available on Apple OS, lets users view worldwide street maps and key locations of hostels, cafés, bars, hiking trails and more. Guests simply download the offline map for Brazil and they can navigate the entire country simply, using 3 word addresses for every location.
When planning their trip, visitors can use TripUGo’s travel guide to find museums, swimming spots, adventure playgrounds, hiking and biking trails and much more. Every TripUGo location has its 3 word address listed — from the skatepark at akward.tilting.beams or the Casa do Pontal Museum at owner.includes.solo to the surf spot at Saquarema beach.
Guest houses are now listing their three-word addresses to make sure travelers can find them, even offline. Brazilrentmyhouse.com, for example, set up by entrepreneur Matthew Parker to help visitors find local accommodation during the Rio Games, lists three-word addresses for each rental.
Rio Security
DigitalGlobe has developed an extensive security package to ensure the safety of guests and athletes during Rio 2016. Using its fleet of WorldView satellites, DigitalGlobe’s package that detects disruptions to infrastructure, identifies high-crime zones and offers the most up-to-date imagery of Rio as seen from space, providing security officials with the information needed to formulate comprehensive security planning. It also will help people avoid mosquito zones (Brazil is facing a servere Zika virus outbreak).
what3words has been integrated into the platform. While GPS coordinates are accurate, communicating long strings of numbers between humans is prone to error. With what3words, security teams and those on the ground can quickly identify and easily communicate incidents, team rallying points, helicopter landing sites or temporary triage tents. They can share an accurate location with a paramedic, a security team member or even with civilians and guests.
The DigitalGlobe Rio Olympics security package consists of more than 100 geospatial layers containing over 80,000 features and 1.25 million building footprints, extracted and compiled from DigitalGlobe imagery and publicly available data.
Brazil doesn’t track addresses for its favelas, such as Rio’s largest, Rocinha.
what3words in the favelas
The residents of Rio’s largest favela, Rocinha, already know all about the efficiency of what3words. According to many official maps, Rocinha is just an empty space. More than 3,000 streets and the homes of more than 70,000 residents are invisible.
The Brazilian post office does not deliver in favelas, but a local co-operative, Carteiro Amigo, is using what3words to address every single house in the teeming favela to safely deliver letters and parcels.
TerraGo Edge 3.9.5 is now out. The new version offers a number of new, powerful features for iOS, Android and web users, the company announced.
TerraGo Edge is a mobile platform that combines customizable smart forms and workforce management with advanced GPS and GIS features for fast, accurate asset inspections, field surveys, site audits and mobile data collection projects.
“Quality management guides everything we do and the newest version of TerraGo Edge will help us eliminate data entry errors and capture mobile inspection data efficiently and correctly the first time,” said Matthew Colvin, junior team lead, Corrosion Service. “TerraGo’s agile development teams have worked together with us, listened to our ideas and rapidly turned them into valuable features, versus waiting months or years for a new version. For our fast-paced engineering projects, this translates directly into continuous quality improvement, service innovation and successful projects for our customers.”
“We work closely with our customers as part of our agile development process so we can deliver customer-driven innovation with each and every release of TerraGo Edge,” said Dave Basil, vice president of product development at TerraGo. “In this release, we were able to provide measurement tools and quality assurance features that we think are the best in the market. It’s not because we designed them internally, but based on the assessment of our end users, who tested them under real-life working conditions and gave us the feedback and insights you can’t get from sitting at a keyboard, allowing us to design the optimal user experience.”
The VP6300 is a triple-band antenna for reception of GPS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS G1/G2/G3, BeiDou B1/B2 and Galileo E1/E5a+b (1165MHz to 1254MHz + 1560MHz to 1610MHz). The VP6200 is a dual-band antenna for reception of GPS L1/L2, GLONASS G1/G2, BeiDou B1/B2, Galileo E1 and the L-Band correction services (1195 MHz to 1254 MHz + 1525 MHz to 1610 MHz). Both antennas have been calibrated by the U.S. National Geodetic Survey and are designed for high-precision applications such as real-time kinematic, precise point positioning and other applications where precision matters. The antennas feature an available, uncommitted printed circuit board for integration of custom electronics such as precision GNSS receivers. Both antennas feature the VeraPhase technology used in the VP6000 all-band reference antenna.
The Altus APS3G is a real-time kinematic (RTK) receiver that brings technology from scientific receivers into the field for professional surveyors. The new multi-constellation APS3G addresses major concerns about compatibility with new satellite constellations, as well as interference and jamming. Built on Septentrio’s AsteRx4 engine, the APS3G tracks all-in-view GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, IRNSS, SBAS, Galileo and QZSS, including E6/L6 and all other signals known to be available in the medium term. The APS3G incorporates Septentrio’s AIM technology with three notch filters for in-band jamming and chirp jammer resistance, ensuring the highest possible levels of accuracy and resilience under all conditions. It provides optimum GSM signal reception, as well as a built-in advanced UHF receiver for reliable performance on longer baselines, yielding real-time 25-Hz RTK.
CHC’s N72 GNSS series offers high-end receivers for GNSS applications including offshore surveys and machine control, national geodetic networks, crustal deformation monitoring and bathymetry. It was designed to provide all the necessary technical features required for geodetic surveying and demanding applications such as Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS), on-board machine control and disaster monitoring. Embedded battery supports 15 working hours without external power supply; 32-GB internal memory integrated and 1TB+ external memory supported; Eight threads of logging with circulating storage and FTP push functions; Wi-Fi, LAN, Bluetooth and serial ports for data communications; and LCD display and function buttons for direct configuration.
The GAJT-AE-N anti-jam antenna is designed for size- and weight-constrained applications such as small airborne and ground unmanned platforms where it is preferable to mount the antenna electronics inside the vehicle. Users can select from a variety of four-element Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPA) and cabling lengths to meet the form factor requirements of their installation. Interference mitigation is achieved by applying proprietary digital beamforming algorithms to the signals, creating dynamic nulls to give protection against narrowband and broadband interference sources. GAJT-AE-N comes in variants that protect L1 and L2 signals in wide or narrow band. The wide bandwidth version ensures future compatibility with M-code GPS.
The NEO-M8Q-01A and the NEO-M8L-01A positioning modules provide concurrent reception of GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo. The NEO-M8L-01A is suited to providing 100 percent dead-reckoning positioning coverage even in areas of weak signal such as in tunnels or multi-story car parks or those experiencing poor signal quality such as caused by multipath reflections. This module is qualified to operate in the -40 to +85 degrees temperature range. The NEO-M8Q-01 GNSS module is the first GNSS module able to operate across the extended automotive temperature range from -40 to + 105 degrees Celsius.
Simplifies integration of advanced connectivity technologies into new vehicles
The Qualcomm Connected Car Reference Platform is aimed at accelerating the adoption of advanced and complex connectivity into the next-generation of connected cars. The product is designed to maintain pace with an ever-increasing set of automotive use cases facilitated by the latest advances in 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. The platform is also designed to solve for challenges such as wireless coexistence, future-proofing and support for a large number of in-car hardware architectures. The Connected Car Reference Platform is built upon Qualcomm Technologies’ broad automotive product and technology portfolio, including quad-constellation GNSS, Snapdragon X12 and X5 LTE modems, and 2D/3D dead-reckoning location solutions, Qualcomm VIVE Wi-Fi technology, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) for V2X, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and broadcast capabilities such as analog and digital tuner support using software-defined radio via Qualcomm tuneX chips. In addition, the platform features in-vehicle networking technologies such as Gigabit (OABR) Ethernet with Automotive Audio Bus (A2B) and Controller Area Network (CAN) interfaces.
Total Station Survey helps land surveyors and civil engineers view and inspect on any Android device the information gathered by the total station. It connects to the total station using Bluetooth or a USB-serial adapter/converter cable. It can measure horizontal and vertical angle, slope and horizontal distance, and set the horizontal angle on the total station. The app is available free on Google Play.
Collect survey-grade accuracy with an Android device
The TruPoint 300 is a lightweight, compact point-and-shoot laser with survey-grade accuracy. It measures the distance between two remote points and has onboard solutions for volume, heights and 2D and 3D areas. Users can collect 3D measurements from a single location using a personal smart device and capture a photo of every shot taken, using LTI’s MapSmart on Android software. MapSmart combines sophisticated technology typically required to collect field data and puts it into a straightforward app for smart devices. It simplifies the mapping process by allowing users to establish an origin quickly and begin mapping in just minutes. Users can integrate location data using the GPS from a smart device or improve accuracy with an external antenna.
Laser Technology, www.lasertech.com
GPS Fields Area Measure Pro is easy, intuitive, app to manage area, distance, perimeter. It enables fast area/distance marking, and ha a Smart Marker Mode for accurate pin placement. Its GPS tracking enables auto measurement while walking or driving around a boundary. Users can share an auto-generated link with boundary/selected area/ direction/route. GPS Field Area Measure useful as map measurement tool for outdoor activities, sports, range finder applications, bike tour planning, or run tour planning, explore golf area, land survey, golf distance meter, field pasture area measure, garden and farm work and planning, area records, construction, agricultural fencing, solar panel installation – roof area estimation, trip planning.
The EyesMap tablet is a versatile instrument for modeling 3D scenes indoors and outdoors. It provides results while working in the field with real-time measurements. The tablet has a stereocamera, depth sensor scanner, GPS and inertial measureent unit. It also supports external cameras and other topographic instruments. Applications include crime scene investigation, archaeology and architecture documentation, as-built measurements and inspections, industrial and civil maintenance.
The TDC100 handheld data collector is an entry-level GNSS device for a variety of geographic information system (GIS) applications. It combines both smartphone and ruggedized data collection capabilities in a single, mobile device. The Android-based TDC100 can run commercially available or in-house developed applications on a professional, IP-67 ruggedized platform with a sunlight readable display and user replaceable batteries. The built-in GNSS receiver also provides real-time accuracy. It supports GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou, as well as satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) capabilities.
The Digital Mapping Reconnaissance Toolkit (DMRT) provides real-time reconnaissance for disaster relief and other time-sensitive situations. . It is a custom configuration of cameras, laser rangefinder, GPS unit and software all linked through the Red Hen VMS-333 multiplexing system. Users can create up-to-date orthomosaic maps and 3D models, as well as geotag reference points in impacted areas without a time lag. Users can create search patterns and map with situational awareness. Both modular aerial and land-based solutions are available
The Typhoon H UAV with Intel RealSense Technology comes with a factory installed Intel RealSense R200 Camera and quadcore Intel Atom processor, an ST16 controller with a Wizard controller for dual operator mode, two batteries and extra propellers, all packed in a custom designed backpack. RealSense Technology enables Typhoon H to fly autonomously, intelligently navigating around objects. The Intel RealSense R200 Camera and the Atom processor work seamlessly with the flight-control firmware to add intelligent obstacle navigation. With a combination of specialized cameras and sensors, this Intel system maps and learns its environment in 3D, recognizing each obstacle, planning an alternative route, and safely navigating around it — an advancement over ultrasonic collision prevention, which automatically stops short of obstacles but cannot model the environment or intelligently reroute around obstacles. The module also adds downward facing sensors to improve stability, enabling flight indoors or outdoors close to the ground, even with poor GPS reception.
Mission Insight provides UAS operators in deployed situations with a common operating picture in a customized graphical interface. The commercial off-the-shelf application processes and analyzes large streams of data from disparate sources in real-time. It ensures real-time, in-depth data access for mission-critical events even in remote environments or low-bandwidth situations. Complex data filtering, advanced processing and timing techniques enable Mission Insight to prioritize data and allow transmission as low as 2400 baud. The complete information management solution —including archival and replay capabilities in addition to the correlation, fusion and analytical tools — aid in training, post-operation analysis, incident investigation and review of operational effectiveness.
Sequoia is a small, light multispectral UAS sensor that captures images of crops across four highly defined, visible and non-visible spectral bands, plus RGB imagery. Sequoia is fully compatible with the eBee Ag and other eBee platforms via senseFly’s proprietary Integration Kit. It has four 1.2 megapixel sensors (near-infrared, red-edge, red and green) plus one 16 megapixel RGB sensor, providing multispectral and RGB imagery from a single flight. An upward-facing Sunshine Sensor automatically calibrates Sequoia’s multispectral sensors for accurate imagery, whatever the light conditions. The camera unit can be configured over Wi-Fi and has 64-GB of built-in storage; the Sunshine Sensor has GPS, an IMU, a magnetometer and SD card slot
Integrated with images and dense distance measurements from a range camera using active illumination, inertial navigation produces real-time results on a tablet computer. Experiments demonstrate that the system provides good positioning and mapping performance in a range of indoor environments, including darkness and smoke.
Soldier with prototype system mounted on tactical vest.
Positioning and mapping abilities for indoor environments can speed search and rescue, keep firefighters from getting lost, and help a commander track soldiers searching a building. Accurate results from these environments increase personnel safety in unknown, dangerous environments and can also facilitate remote control of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).
A new iteration in the Chameleon family of positioning systems that we have developed, the Tiger Chameleon, combines an inertial measurement unit (IMU) with an active camera that measures distances using modulated laser light. This type of camera provides dense and accurate distance measurements, and has the added advantage of working well in darkness.
The main goal of the Chameleon systems is to provide soldiers and first responders with position information and approximate overview maps, preferably without affecting their operating procedure. The Tiger Chameleon does not require any infrastructure, such as visual markers or radio beacons. Positioning and mapping results are computed in real time based on data from the IMU and the active camera, and wirelessly transmitted to a visualization interface running on a tablet computer or smartphone.
Sensors and Hardware
In initial experiments, the Tiger Chameleon’s components are enclosed in a wooden box which can be mounted on a soldier’s tactical vest. FIGURE 1gives a schematic overview.
FIGURE 1. Schematic overview of how the components are connected.
Image Sensor. The image sensor includes two cameras: one high-resolution visual camera and one lower-resolution depth sensor. The latter uses a modulated near-infrared (NIR) light source and a special type of sensor to measure distance. Essentially, each pixel is divided into two halves, one of which integrates incoming light when the light source is turned on, while the other integrates light when it is turned off. If the light hitting a pixel has bounced off an object located close to the sensor, almost all light will be integrated by the first half of the pixel. If the object is moved further away, it will take longer for the light to return, and hence more light will be integrated by the second half of the pixel.
In addition to measuring the depth of the scene, the NIR camera provides an intensity image where the value of each pixel is determined by the total amount of light hitting the two pixel halves. The intensity image is similar to an ordinary visual image. Unlike an image from a passive camera, however, it is largely independent of ambient light, since it mostly measures reflected light from the illuminator. Hence, both the intensity and the depth images are available even in completely dark or obscured environments. Coming from the same sensor, the intensity and depth images are perfectly registered to each other. Images are produced at 30 Hz.
The high-resolution visual camera is not used by this prototype.
Inertial Sensor. The IMU provides calibrated measurements of acceleration and angular velocity at 400 Hz. The sensor itself does not perform any inertial navigation or attitude estimation. Since we fuse the inertial data with image-based features for navigation, however, the basic acceleration and angular velocity measurements are more useful in our application than pre-filtered position or orientation estimates. The sensor measures acceleration up to 5 g, and angular velocity up to 1,000 degrees/ second, since relatively high-dynamic motion is common in the intended application. The IMU also contains a magnetometer and a barometer, but these are not used since air pressure and magnetic fields are not always reliable for navigation indoors.
Algorithms
The positioning algorithm is based on EKF-SLAM, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) implemented as an extended Kalman filter (EKF). The EKF fuses data from the IMU (three-dimensional accelerations and angular velocities) with image data, according to the uncertainties of the different types of data. It tracks the system state, composed of the position, velocity and orientation of the system, the IMU biases (slowly varying offsets in the acceleration and angular velocity measurements), and the positions of a number of landmarks in the images.
The landmarks are points observed in the images, which are used for navigation. These are chosen to be points which are recognizable, well-defined and stationary. This essentially means that it should be easy to recognize a landmark when it appears in a new image, and that the image coordinates of a landmark should be stable in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Thus, corner points are good candidates for landmarks, while line structures in an image are not. The world coordinates of a landmark should not change over time.
Theoretically, it would be possible to navigate using only IMU data. The system orientation would then be obtained by integrating the angular velocities, while the acceleration (after removing the effect of gravity) would be integrated to obtain the velocity, and double-integrated to obtain the position. Due to the high bias variability and noise of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) IMUs — the only type sufficiently small, lightweight and inexpensive for use by soldiers or firefighters — this only works for a few seconds before the accumulated error grows to an unacceptable level.
In theory, it would also be possible to navigate using only landmarks extracted from the image sequence. This, however, is also problematic in practice. If the system moves too rapidly, successive images may not share any landmarks at all. Additionally, no landmarks are found in featureless environments. This causes image-only navigation to fail in many realistic scenarios.
By fusing the inertial data with landmark observations, we alleviate most of these problems. While the IMU provides good short-term performance, the image data provides long- term stability. Hence, the IMU can overcome short periods with few or no landmarks, while the image data limits the error growth of the system (assuming that the periods without landmarks are not too long).
FIGURE 2. Overview of the algorithm.
Algorithm Flow. In the data fusion FIGURE 2, potential landmarks are found in an intensity image from the NIR camera, by identifying points that can be well localized. The potential landmarks are found by using an interest-point detector. The visual appearance of a point is represented using the SIFT descriptor. The distance to each potential landmark is determined by using the depth image. Potential landmarks are matched to landmarks that are already tracked by the system, based on a combination of their visual appearance and their coordinates (the spatial distance between the observed points and the predicted image coordinates of the tracked points, and the difference between the predicted and the observed distance to the points).
IMU data is used to predict where tracked points should appear. Pure inertial navigation is relatively accurate in the time interval between successive frames (approximately 30 images per second are processed). Observed points, which match tracked points, are used to update the estimated state (position, velocity and so on). Tracking is started for observed points, which do not match any tracked points unless a predetermined number (30 in the current implementation) of points are already tracked. Points that are tracked but not observed in a number of consecutive image pairs are removed from the point tracker.
Each depth image corresponds to a local point cloud, where points lie on the surfaces of objects in the scene observed by the camera. The intensity of each point can be obtained from the corresponding intensity image. Since the position and orientation of the system are estimated by the SLAM algorithm, these local point clouds can be transformed into a common coordinate system, thereby creating a large point cloud representing the entire environment along the trajectory of the system. This point cloud can either be used as a three dimensional model, or projected onto a horizontal plane for an overview map.
Implementation
To accurately predict where tracked landmarks will appear in a new image, it is important to synchronize the image stream and the inertial data. While the IMU handles this well (it can either trigger, or timestamp the trigger pulse from, a camera), synchronization is potentially difficult when working with consumer hardware such as the the one selected for this prototype. However, while the camera cannot be triggered externally, it does perform internal synchronization between the NIR and the visual cameras, which both run at 30 Hz. (It is unknown to us which camera triggers the other, or if there is a third piece of hardware which triggers both cameras.) Using an oscilloscope, we found that a pulse train at 30 Hz can be accessed at a solder point inside the camera.
This 30 Hz signal is active whenever the camera is powered. It is therefore not possible to synchronize the camera to the IMU using only this signal, since it only indicates that an arbitrary image was acquired at the time of each pulse. To synchronize the sensors, we need to know exactly when each specific image was acquired. Thus, a synchronization pulse, which is only transmitted when image acquisition is enabled, is needed. In addition to the 30-Hz pulse train, a signal that is high only when the cameras are active can also be found inside the camera. We perform a logical AND to combine these signals into the desired synchronization pulse.
We obtain the timestamp of each image from the IMU by connecting the combined synchronization signal to its synchronization input. There is a small delay between the first pulse in the combined signal and the time when the first image is acquired. This was measured by recording inertial data and images while first keeping the system stationary, and then rotating it quickly. Manual inspection of the image sequence and the angular velocities reveals that the delay is approximately 8 intra-frame intervals (0.267 s).
Software. The recording and analysis software are written in C++, and run in real time under Linux. It makes heavy use of multi-threading in order to optimize the computational performance of the algorithms.
The software is divided into two subsystems: one that communicates with the sensors, and one that performs the image analysis and SLAM computations. These subsystems communicate using the Robot Operating System (ROS). There is also a subsystem (or “node” in ROS terminology) for playing back previously recorded data. The playback node publishes the same type of messages as the sensor node, and these nodes can therefore be used interchangeably.
FIGURE 3. Overview of the analysis node. Blue boxes represent threads, while red boxes are queues. Purple boxes are other software components, and the orange and the red/green boxes represent the sensors. Orange, red and green lines represent data from the respective sensors. Black lines represent data based on more than one sensor.
FIGURE 3 shows how data flows through the analysis node. Queues buffer data between the different threads. Incoming images from the recording or playback node are initially put in the image queues for feature extraction. After feature extraction (where the depth image is used to determine the distance to each observed landmark), the resulting image features are stored in the potential landmarks queue. The features are then processed by the EKF-SLAM thread, which also reads from the IMU data queue. The resulting pose estimates (positions and orientations) are sent to the communication module, where they are transmitted to the visualization device. In parallel with this, images are also processed by the rectification and mapping threads, where they are paired with poses from the SLAM algorithm to create map data. The map data is also sent to the communication module. A number of efficient libraries exist for low-level image processing, and also for the linear algebra computations needed by the EKF. The following libraries are used:
VLFeat for finding landmarks and extracting SIFT features
OpenCV for image rectification
Armadillo for high-level math operations
ROS for communication between the subsystems
A modified version of IAI Kinect2 for ROS communication with the sensor
A slightly modified version of Libfreenect for low-level communication with the sensor.
Evaluation
The prototype has been evaluated in a number of experiments, in cooperation with soldiers and first responders. Three experiments are reported here. All were performed during soldier or smoke-diver training. Mapping results in the figures are presented along with estimated soldier and smoke-diver trajectories (bluegreen lines) from the positioning system. The results are evaluated based on the mapping, since the ground truth trajectories are unknown. Positioning is still evaluated implicitly, as inaccurate positioning would cause poor mapping performance such as double or skewed walls, since the mapping is based on estimated camera positions and orientations.
Searching for Biological Hazards. Collection of evidence at a crime scene is commonly performed using a camera, taking numerous pictures of the scene from different positions at different angles and distances. To keep track of all images and where they were captured is cumbersome work, which can easily be automated by integrating the camera with a positioning system.
Several variations of this experiment were performed, all in cooperation with soldiers from the Swedish Armed Forces National CBRN Defence Centre. The main task was to document different areas in the building, to be able to handle any encountered dangerous biological objects in a safe way, and to preserve evidence for later use. If a dangerous object is found, the mapping result from the system could be used to plan how the object should be taken care of and what exit path the soldiers could use to minimize the time being exposed to a dangerous environment.
FIGURE 4. Map estimated by the prototype positioning and mapping system while two soldiers searched for biological hazards. The trajectory is also shown. The grid spacing is two meters.
The photo above an image from the NIR sensor in the prototype system, captured in the building while two soldiers searched for biological hazards. A map estimated by the prototype system appears in FIGURE 4.
For evaluation of the mapping performance, a part of this building was also measured using a highly accurate scanning laser system. FIGURE 5 shows the point clouds from both the Tiger Chameleon (black) and the scanning laser (white). Locally (within a room), the errors are less than 5 centimeters. Over larger distances, heading drift causes larger errors, which are visible as slightly misaligned walls. In this case, there are no significant errors. (The structures that are only visible in the laser scanner data are parts of the ceiling and its supporting beams, which were never observed by the positioning system.)
FIGURE 5. Map produced by the Tiger Chameleon (black) overlaid on reference data (white).
Searching a Building. A group of eight soldiers searched and cleared a part of a building. This required them to move more quickly than in the first experiment, since the building could not be assumed to be safe. Additionally, one or several soldiers often appears in the field of view of the positioning system. We requested the soldier carrying the system to avoid walking too close behind another soldier, to avoid covering the entire field of view. Apart from this, the soldiers were asked to act as they normally would during the exercise.
FIGURE 6 Map estimated while eight soldiers cleared a building.
Positioning and mapping results are shown in FIGURE 6. The map is slightly distorted due to errors in the estimated heading, but still good enough to understand the building layout. The distortion is visible as double walls in the top part of the figure. We believe that most of the errors were caused by the system not being entirely stationary during the sensor initialization at the start of the experiment. No reference map is available for this location. We also performed experiments where the soldiers fired their weapons near the positioning system. This affects the IMU, severely degrading the measurements of acceleration and angular velocity. Hence, the positioning system was not able to present correct position or mapping estimates in these cases.
Smoke-Diver Searching a Building. The smoke-diver experiments indicated how the positioning system performs when used in a smoke-filled environment. During the experiments, the system was exposed to different levels of smoke.
FIGURE 7. Map estimated while a smoke-diver searched a (partly) smoke-filled building. The trajectory is also shown.
Positioning and mapping results from the experiment are shown in FIGURE 7, while FIGURE 8shows the result from the Tiger Chameleon (black) overlaid on reference data from the laser scanner (white). The estimated map is in good agreement with the reference map data, although a heading error affects some walls (bottom right).
All smoke densities affect the image quality from the NIR sensor, since the active illumination is reflected by the smoke particles. In light smoke, the main effect is that the smoke appears as spurious points in the point clouds, eventually ending up in the map, while positioning performance is not significantly affected. Most spurious points were removed by adding the constraint that points very close to the camera are not added to the map, although smoke still causes more interior points to be visible in Figure 7 than in the other maps. The effect on the positioning system increases with the smoke density. In thick smoke, most illumination is reflected, effectively rendering positioning impossible using this type of image sensor.
Discussion
FIGURE 8. Maps from the experiment in smoke. The map produced by the Tiger Chameleon (black) is overlaid on reference data (white).
The current positioning algorithm works well, but over longer experiments its position estimate slowly drifts away from the true position. This is caused by both the inertial sensors and the landmark-based positioning updating the current position estimate only relative to recent estimates. Since landmarks are discarded after not being observed for a short time, no loop closures ever occur. Saving landmarks could solve this in specific scenarios, where landmarks are re-observed after long times, but doing so would increase the computational complexity considerably. Additionally, for landmark-based loop closure to work well, the landmarks would need to be reobserved from approximately the same position, further limiting the scenarios where this could be expected to work well. Ongoing work aims instead at closing loops by recognizing the scene geometry, as represented by the point-cloud models.
When using active illumination, the mapping performance does not depend on texture on walls and other surfaces. This is an advantage compared to passive stereo cameras. Further, active illumination enables positioning and mapping in darkness.
Comparison to Other Systems. The prototype system was not constructed with the purpose of creating high accuracy models of small, detailed environments. Rather, the purpose was to enable soldiers to create approximate maps of entire buildings with minimal impact on their operating procedure. Detailed reconstruction is handled better by other systems, but these have the disadvantage of requiring the user to survey the environment systematically, adapting his or her work methods to the sensor.
SWaP-C and Hardware. Size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) are constant issues for soldier equipment. Ideally, the equipment should be disposable: cheap enough to throw away after being used just once, or fit into some type of disposable container.
Since this is a prototype system built for research and demonstration purposes, components with convenient electrical and programming interfaces have been selected. Therefore, the system is considerably larger than a final end-user product would be. In such a product, sensors and computation hardware with similar performance, but considerable smaller size, lower weight and lower power consumption, would be selected instead. Such components are commercially available.
Outdoor/Indoor Use. Though this positioning system is primarily designed for indoor use, seamless transition between indoor and outdoor environments is desired. Ongoing work aims at integrating a GPS receiver to achieve this. Adding GPS would also enable positioning in a georeferenced coordinate system; currently, all results are presented in a local coordinate system defined by the start position and orientation. This requires an algorithm for making robust decisions regarding when GPS measurements should be considered reliable.
Visualization Interface. The visualization interface currently runs on a tablet computer, and is therefore most useful to a commander or group leader who remotely tracks the soldier or firefighter. By adapting the interface to the smaller screen of a smartphone, it would be possible to also give the user access to position and map information.
An important advantage of automatic mapping, according to several users, is the ability to detect hidden spaces in buildings. In certain types of operations, the ability to document a building before leaving it is also considered valuable.
Real-Time Implementation. An interesting aspect of performing all computations in real time is that it effectively precludes tuning of algorithm parameters to individual data sets. When analyzing data offline, this is far too common, and typically overestimates the performance of the system or algorithms. All experiments reported in this article have been performed without any such parameter tuning.
Autonomous or Remote-Controlled Platforms. The system can also be used on an unmanned ground or
aerial vehicle (UGV or UAV). This could be suitable for searching buildings too dangerous to enter. The system would continuously distribute its position and mapping estimates while traveling through the building. This could provide soldiers and rescue teams with a preview of the unknown environment and a possibility to plan their operations in a safer way. Many robotics projects use ROS, which makes integration of the Tiger Chameleon relatively straightforward.
Firing of Weapons. During some experiments, we discovered that the measures of acceleration and angular velocity are affected by close-range gunfire. Relatively long segments of measurements are affected, which makes interpolation of missing values difficult. During these periods, it may be possible to disregard the inertial measurements, resorting to only image-based positioning.
Summary
This prototype system for indoor positioning and mapping, based on inertial navigation and distance measurements using active illumination, does not require any infrastructure or prior knowledge about the environment. The system has been designed for experiments and demonstration purposes, and has been shown to provide good performance in real time in a variety of different indoor environments when carried by potential end users.
Manufacturers
The Tiger Chameleon consists of a Microsoft Kinect v2, an Xsens MTi-10 IMU and a small computer with a mobile Intel i7 CPU.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the soldiers from South Scania Regiment (P7), Sweden, who participated in the initial tests with the prototype. We also thank the smoke divers from Södertörn Fire Prevention Association, Sweden, for carrying the prototype in smoke-filled environments. Also, we really appreciated the feedback from the Swedish Armed Forces National CBRN Defence Centre during the prototype development. Finally, we acknowledge Hannes Ovrén at Linköping University, Sweden, for improving the Libfreenect library.
The material in this article is based on a technical paper presented at ION/IEEE PLANS 2016.
All-in-one time-and-frequency master time and clock server
Spectracom’s VelaSync time server and grandmaster clock.
When the VelaSync time server platform was introduced in 2014, it met the needs of financial trading networks’ move to 10 gigabit-per-second networking. Now available with 40-GbE network interfaces, it offers high-performance synchronization for time-sensitive networks. Matching network speeds between timing and data on a single low-latency high-throughput network enhances synchronization accuracy and eliminates queuing delays and hidden time errors caused by slower connections. The availability of a network timing appliance with 40-GbE interfaces benefits any deployment of critical network infrastructure at high data rates.
The TW3970 / TW3965 antennas have superior cross polarization rejection to enhance multi path signal rejection, tight phase center variation and an excellent axial ratio. The TW3970 is a pole mount or through-hole mount antenna; the TW3965 is an embeddable form. Bothemploy Tallysman’s Accutenna technology and are capable of receiving GPS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS G1/G2/G5, BeiDou B1/B2, Galileo E1/E5a+b plus L-band correction services (1164 MHz to 1254 MHz + 1525MHz to 1606 MHz). The antennas are designed for precision agriculture, autonomous vehicles and other precision applications. The ability of the antennas to access L-band correction services extends its utility to a wider range of applications.
The Tactical Series of inertial navigation systems (INS) is a next-generation family for high performance. Built on a common tactical-grade proprietary micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) inertial sensing core, the Tactical Series includes the VN-110 inertial measurement unit and attitude heading reference system (IMU/AHRS), the VN-210 GPS-aided INS (GPS/INS), and the VN-310 dual-antenna GPS/INS. The Tactical Series offers the same functionality and features as the Industrial Series for integrators of SWaP-C (size, weight, power and cost) constrained manned and unmanned systems. The Tactical Series takes advantage of the latest developments in solid-state MEMS technology to incorporate a three-axis gyro with <1°/hour in-run bias stability, leading to an attitude accuracy of 1 to 2 milliradian. In addition to the improved IMU core, the Tactical Series enclosure is designed to DO-160G airborne standards and rated IP68 for deployment in harsh and extreme environments.
Plug n’ fly control system for UAV, UAS, USV and UGV systems
Veronte Autopilot is a miniaturized fail-safe avionics system with an embedded suite of sensors and processors for advanced control of unmanned systems. The OEM version weighs 90 grams, and the version with an aluminum enclosure weighs 200 grams. Both versions include a datalink radio. The control system is fully configurable — payload, platform layout, control phases, control channels and the user interface layout can be user defined, making it cost effective for a wide range of professional applications. The embedded GPS module offers RTK-like positioning with centimeter precision. It meets DO-178C / ED-12, DO-254 and DO-160G aircract regulations.
Critical coverage for autonomous driving development
TomTom’s HD (high-definition) Map and RoadDNA are highly accurate digital map products helping automated vehicles precisely locate themselves on the road and plan maneuvers, even when traveling at high speeds. These technologies are being rolled out in strategic geographies and are the subject of key partnerships with other automotive suppliers. TomTom now offers more than 122,000 kilometers of HD Map coverage globally, including Interstates in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont; Interstates and highways in California, Michigan and Nevada; and the Autobahn network in Germany.
Applications range from infrastructure to infotainment
Smart Antennas by Laird Technologies combine antenna elements and radio receivers in the same robust package. Compared to traditional architectures, the Smart Antenna provides signifcant performance improvement and system-wide cost savings. Custom solutions are available, including 4G LTE cellular, GNSS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as the emerging dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology with a 1,000-meter range for V2X. Applications include navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication,vehicle to infrastructure communication and infotainment. Operating temperature range is –40 C to 85° C.
The CEESCOPE-USV is a waterproof one-box echo sounder, GNSS and broadband radio telemetry package that can be installed on practically any remotely operated unmanned surface vehicle (USV). The self-contained unit requires no interface with the USV, eliminating challenges of instrument data integration on the vehicle. Using real-time broadband radio telemetry, detailed 20-Hz dual-frequency soundings, up to 20-Hz RTK GNSS and a 3200-sample-per-ping digital echogram are available to the USV operator on shore via the CEE-LINK radio base station. Data from the CEESCOPE-USV telemetry link allows the operator to steer the USV along the survey line like in any manned boat survey. The CEESCOPE-USV offers users a range to their vehicle of more than 1,000 meters.
The new ALS80-UP airborne sensor enables even more flexible data acquisition with extended range measurement capability. It takes advantage of the dual-output optical system pioneered in the ALS70 and enhanced in the originl ALS80. The AL80-UP has higher Multiple Pulse in Air (MPiA) operation settings, enabling data collection in extreme terrains with minimal variation in swath width due to terrain elevation variations. The ALS80-UP works perfectly in a wide variety of scenarios, including wide-area mapping, detail mapping from high-flying heights and detail mapping over mountainous terrain. With its expanded maximum range, the system has demonstrated good results at up to 6,000 meters above terrain and with terrain relief of up to 2,300 meters.
The Settop Repeater allows rover-RTK network users in areas of low or no GSM coverage to receive differential corrections via radio. It can connect to any external radio model on the market for precision agriculture systems or machine control. Repeater field application versatility is managed by an intuitive software controlled using a touchscreen. It can also be used for land surveying and marine work. It reduces the need for an RTK base station and offers flexible field configuration.
Expanded toolsets and capabilities for speed and accuracy
FieldGenius 8 software takes advantage of the high-power processors, high-definition displays and larger memory in modern Windows Mobile powered data collectors and Windows 7 powered tablets. It provides tight control through expanded toolsets. Features include easy GNSS local transformation with the ability to export and import localization files; enhanced DXF support; advanced point averaging, which allows users to take multiple GNSS measurements and calculate an averaged position; support for integrated inertial sensors; native unicode support;and simplified GIS mapping. FieldGenius 8 also has improved road alignments, an onboard basic measurement mode, dynamic screen rotation and expanded ASCII export options. Supported coordinate systems, geoids, instruments and data collectors have been expanded, making it easier to integrate into existing survey operations.
The FLIR Vue Pro R adds radiometric functionality to the Vue Pro camera, giving drone operators the ability to save pictures for post-flight image analysis and accurately measure the temperatures of individual image pixels. Calibrated radiometric imaging allows it to capture the temperature data of every pixel in an image. When saved in Radiometric JPEG format, still images can be imported into FLIR Tools software for detailed analysis and reporting. FLIR Tools, a free download on FLIR.com, lets drone operators adjust settings including object emissivity, background temperature, target distance, relative humidity and thermal sensitivity, as well as assigning various color palettes for each image. The Vue Pro R records digital thermal video, along with radiometric thermal still images, to an on-board micro-SD card. For applications such as electrical inspection, infrastructure assessment and precision mapping, the onboard recording allows operators to capture high-quality thermal data for post processing and analysis.
Reconnaissance for disaster relief, time sensitive situations
The Digital Mapping Reconnaissance Toolkit (DMRT) creates up-to-date orthomosaic maps and 3D models. Users can fly a drone to survey the landscape for real-time solutions, and geotag reference points in impacted areas without a time lag. Seeing what the drone sees, pilots can create search patterns and map with situational awareness. Modular aerial and land-based solutions are available.
![TW6000 rendered[1]](https://stage.globalpositioningnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/TW6000-rendered1-300x268.jpg)
Total Station App
The TDC100 handheld data collector is an entry-level GNSS device for a variety of geographic information system (GIS) applications. It combines both smartphone and ruggedized data collection capabilities in a single, mobile device. The Android-based TDC100 can run commercially available or in-house developed applications on a professional, IP-67 ruggedized platform with a sunlight readable display and user replaceable batteries. The built-in GNSS receiver also provides real-time accuracy. It supports GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou, as well as satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) capabilities.
