Tag: navigation

Galileo, OneWeb and the UK’s sovereignty way forward

A discussion with Admiral Lord West

Admiral Lord Alan West of Spithead has served the United Kingdom as First Sea Lord and led the government’s efforts for counter terrorism and cybersecurity. He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2007 and has stayed engaged with defence and maritime issues. RNT Foundation President Dana A. Goward spoke with him in early September about the UK’s way forward for GPS-like services.

DG: The UK government has been talking for years about the nation’s vulnerability to disruption of space-based signals such as those from GPS and Galileo. What is being done about it?

LW: Unfortunately, the government is not being as transparent as we might like on this. I do know from comments made in the House of Lords that there is a group developing a strategy. Also, that the Cabinet Office — our equivalent of the National Security Council in the United States — is deciding who is to be in charge and how things will be run.

I have heard the strategy group will propose a mix of technologies such as has been discussed in the United States. The idea of having several different systems, I am sure, is so that something interfering with one won’t disrupt them all.

This is all supposed to published in November. But I am concerned that government distractions with COVID, Afghanistan and other issues will delay that.

DG: What about the OneWeb project? That doesn’t seem to be waiting for a November announcement. And there is talk it may provide GPS-like timing and navigation services.

LW: OneWeb is moving forward, but at present it is only about 5G and making it available more quickly and broadly. There may be a OneWeb Phase 2 that includes modified or additional satellites to provide positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), but that is to be decided.

Admiral Sir Alan West, then First Sea Lord, is pictured with the official chart of anchorages for the International Fleet Review. (Photo: DP Kilfeather’s book Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens, Queen Elizabeth II 80th Birthday Edition, CC BY-SA 2.5)

DG: How about the UK rejoining Galileo?

LW: Actually, that makes a lot of sense from a practical point of view for both the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, there were a lot of hurt feelings on the continent with Brexit, some EU leaders seemed to be in punishment mode, and expulsion from Galileo was part of the fallout. I think that in due course as tempers cool, we will fully re-engage with the European Space Agency.

DG: So, no UK project for a GPS equivalent?

LW: The government allocated £90 million to that, which enabled a thorough look at the idea but was woefully inadequate to even start a project. Doing a British version of GPS or Galileo would be hugely expensive and doesn’t make sense. There are better, cheaper ways of getting what we need.

DG: And what does the UK need? What is the goal?

LW: We need several things.

First, we need a global capability that is ours, or that we are closely partnered in, to support the UK’s worldwide military and economic interests.

We also need to have something in place so that, even if space is denied to us — and that is getting to be more and more of a threat each day — we can keep our industries, critical infrastructure and economy going at home.

And third, we need a resilient PNT capability as a foundation for current applications, and to build on for such things as autonomy, intelligent transportation, and the like.

DG: So how do you get there?

LW: For the global bit, the OneWeb, and perhaps an even closer partnership with the United States on GPS.

At home, we definitely need a sovereign capability for when space is denied by solar weather or our adversaries. Also to be a check on space signals because our adversaries and criminals are spoofing them more and more.

I have always thought eLoran was a good choice. The UK pioneered its development and had the world’s first operational system in 2015. It is really hard to interfere with the signal, and there are other features that could be added to it that would make it even more robust.

There was a very interesting report called MarRINav put out last year about what UK maritime needs to ensure it can navigate regardless of whether the satellites are working or not. They came up with a reasonably inexpensive combination of systems anchored by eLoran.

By the way, it is interesting that the MarRINav study was funded by the European Space Agency. They seem to understand that satellites are not the be all and end all for PNT services.

DG: That all seems pretty straightforward and the right thing to do. What’s standing in the way?

LW: Well, so few people understand the problem. The population as a whole is almost completely unaware. At some level government understands all 13 of our critical infrastructure sectors could be impacted, but the people senior enough to drive action have dozens of other issues to deal with that probably seem more urgent.

DG: I wonder what it will take to make it seem urgent enough.

LW: Let’s hope the wakeup call is something short of a national disaster.

September 15, 2021
Spirent Federal launches alternative RF navigation simulator

Photo: Spirent

Spirent Federal has launched an alternative RF navigation simulator. As GPS jamming and spoofing continue to rise, interest in complementary sources of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) data has likewise increased.

Recent government directives recommend a layered, multi-source approach, with much of the attention focused on non-GNSS radio frequency signals. These RF signals, coined alternative RF navigation, offer unique PNT capability in GPS-degraded or denied environments. The signals are secure and resilient and can act as an effective complement to GPS signals.

Spirent Federal’s product can simulate resilient alternative RF navigation signals on its own or concurrently with GNSS signals. Testing can be static or dynamic, with stationary, pedestrian and ground vehicle trajectories available.

“As a result of our extensive research and development incorporating a variety of assured PNT technologies, we’re pleased to be the first to provide this capability to our customers,” said Roger Hart, director of engineering. “Our product enables developers to test early and often, from the first stages of R&D to integration and field testing. Solutions can be tested with edge cases, hardened against interference, and deployed faster with greater confidence they will work for our warfighters.”

Spirent is actively engaged with several alternative RF navigation technologies and technology providers to incorporate signal simulation capability. To learn more, contact Spirent Federal to discuss fielded configurations.

A U.S. Marine Corps radio operator grounds an during long-range HF radio training in Kuwait Oct. 7, 2020. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/Capt. Joshua Hays)

Collaboration with Xona Space Systems

Spirent Federal Systems also announced that it is collaborating with Xona Space Systems to develop simulation and test capabilities for Xona signals produced by small satellites (smallsats) operating in low Earth orbit (LEO). Xona is a San Mateo-based startup developing a smallsat constellation for a dedicated PNT service.

Xona’s patent-pending approach using small satellites in LEO is intended to improve global PNT resilience and accuracy by both enhancing GNSS and operating as an independent system. Xona’s high-power signals utilize advanced signal structure and security techniques, improving jamming and spoofing resistance as well as multipath mitigation.

“We do all we can to protect, toughen, and augment PNT and are eager to work with emerging companies like Xona who are developing a next-gen navigation and timing architecture,” said Jennifer Smith, senior director of Business Development at Spirent Federal. “Our simulators provide critical support to developers and integrators by enabling testing and validation before the product deploys.”

The space and defense sectors also benefit from Spirent Federal’s expertise in generating high fidelity RF signals using quadrature (I/Q) data. Spirent test tools allow the full customization of I/Q data. Customers can generate unique I/Q data corresponding to experimental modulation schemes and use Spirent Federal’s signal generation capabilities to create the corresponding RF. Such rapid prototyping allows for quick turnaround times and shorter iteration cycles.

Alternatively, scenarios created using Spirent Federal’s proprietary SimGEN software can be saved as I/Q data which can be processed by software-implemented receivers.

“Building a new generation of satellite navigation and timing services goes far beyond just the satellites,” said Brian Manning, CEO of Xona Space Systems. “It requires building an entire ecosystem from ground stations to chipset manufacturers to end users and systems integrators. Having reliable and trusted simulation capabilities is critical to support all of these areas which is why we are thrilled to be working with Spirent to provide a robust solution to our partners.”

August 24, 2021
IEEE to develop PNT standard

Photo: Konstik/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

Accurate and reliable positioning, timing and navigation (PNT) technologies, such as GPS, have become “invisible utilities” that enable many critical applications, including the electric grid, telecommunications, agriculture and port operations. These systems, however, are vulnerable to accident and attack, including cyber threats and jamming.

Therefore, the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Risk Management Center of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have been working in collaboration with industry and government stakeholders to develop the Resilient PNT Conformance Framework, which provides a common framework for defining resilient PNT systems and addresses strategic risks to U.S. national critical infrastructure. This work is now transitioning to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as the Standards Working Group for Resilient PNT User Equipment (P1952) and will help serve as starting resources for the refinement and development of a standard.

By creating common definitions for different levels of resilient PNT systems, this new standard will enable vendors to differentiate their products from non-resilient PNT systems, as well as enable end-users to make deliberate, risk-informed decisions as to which systems are most appropriate for their applications and needs. The development of this voluntary standard will help influence the future design, acquisition and deployment of resilient PNT systems within our national critical infrastructure.

The IEEE standards process is an inclusive one, designed to gather many stakeholders interested in resilient PNT. If you would like to participate in the standards working group, just notify the group’s chair (Shelby Savage at [email protected]) or its secretary (Patricia Larkoski at [email protected]). Voting membership requires sufficient participation in work group meetings.

The development of this voluntary standard will help influence the future design, acquisition and deployment of resilient PNT systems.

After the standards working group votes to approve the draft standard, it will be submitted to the membership of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) for final approval. The IEEE Standards Balloting Center will then send an invitation to any SA members it knows to be interested in the subject matter of the proposed standard, and anyone answering the invitation affirmatively will have a right to vote on the final standard.

Compared to the early days of GPS, PNT systems have become highly sophisticated pieces of equipment with a multitude of components, both hardware and software, along with associated vulnerabilities. Additionally, with a wide array of stakeholders and a variety of ideas on what PNT resilience means, getting consensus and developing such a standard would be challenging without an established process.

To help address this challenge, DHS developed the Resilient PNT Conformance Framework with input from industry stakeholders to establish baseline concepts on the definition of resilience and necessary behaviors within resilient PNT systems. DHS designed this framework to be outcome-based and non-prescriptive, to encourage industry innovation.

“To address security and resilience, GPS and PNT receivers need to be treated more like computers rather than radios,” said Ernest Wong, technical manager for the Science and Technology Directorate. “The refinement of the Resilient PNT Conformance Framework into industry standards will help to ensure that future PNT receivers are resilient and designed to withstand and recover from threats.”

Editor’s Note: This article does not represent a formal position of P1952 Working Group, Communications Society Standards Committee, IEEE, or IEEE SA.

August 16, 2021
Hexagon expands AR capabilities with Immersal acquisition

Hexagon AB has acquired Immersal Oy, an innovator of spatial mapping and visual positioning solutions for producing augmented reality (AR) applications.

AR applications enhance real-world experiences by augmenting a user’s visual perception with the display of digital content in the physical world.

AR’s ability to weave context-specific, 3D information into physical spaces provides endless opportunities to save time, improve performance and reduce costs across a wide range of industries and applications — from surveying, construction, public safety and manufacturing to maintenance, training and navigation applications.

An immersive experience can help boost task efficiency, improve safety protocols, optimize workflows and increase collaboration.

The Immersal SDK (software development kit) allows developers to merge and “anchor” digital content to real-world objects – with precise accuracy to their actual location in the physical space — by enabling a user’s mobile device to locate and orient itself in the surrounding physical world using machine-readable maps.

The maps, which are used for visual positioning, are constructed from image data supported by various mapping devices (including mobile phones) and hosted in the Immersal Cloud Service.

“Hexagon has long been a leader in delivering smart digital realities that combine inputs from reality capture sensors with advanced visualisation software and tools to enable remote, location-based intelligence. This acquisition puts the power of these insights into the hands of those on-site, enhancing their field of view with superimposed digital information, meaning they can literally do more with what they see,” said Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “For example, direct access to information about an asset — while working with that asset — including step-by-step instructions on how to repair it, can streamline maintenance tasks while reducing material waste and re-work.”

Immersal has years of experience developing AI and machine learning-based spatial anchor technology, which “anchors” virtual objects or models for viewing on different devices in the same position and orientation. This unlocks a wide variety of location-based solutions and services — from consumer-oriented augmented reality applications in gaming and media and entertainment to digital twin solutions on an enterprise scale.

Immersal’s technology can map large spaces — both indoors and outdoors — and works both offline on-device and online using the Cloud Service.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Immersal will operate as part of Hexagon’s Geosystems division. The acquisition has no significant impact on Hexagon’s earnings.

Image: Hexagon

July 16, 2021
Impact of ION ‘NAVIGATION’ journal continues to grow
This is the sixth consecutive year of growth of the journal’s impact factor

The Institute of Navigation announces that its quarterly journal, “NAVIGATION: The Journal of The Institute of Navigation,” has recorded its sixth consecutive year of growth of the publication’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF).

The JIF, an index that calculates the yearly average number of citations to recent articles published in a journal, is considered a bellwether of the relative importance of a journal within its field. A journal with a higher impact factor generally is viewed as being more important than those with a lower impact factor due to its citation rate.

NAVIGATION’s JIF has now increased to 2.1, representing a consecutive seven-year increase.

NAVIGATION’s JIF growth reflects the continued focus and leadership of the Journal’s Editor, Richard B. Langley, who is also the editor of GPS World’s Innovation column. Also key to NAVIGATION’s growth is its editorial board, which includes: Penina Axelrad, Daniele Borio, Michael Braasch, Liang Chen, Pau Closas, James Curran, Naser El-Sheimy, Paul Groves, André Hauschild, Christopher Hegarty, Changdon Kee, Jiyun Lee, Sherman Lo, Gary McGraw, Michael Meurer, Thomas Pany, Boris Pervan, Jason Rife, Andrey Soloviev, Todd Walter, Zheng Yao and Zhen Zhu, and the Journal’s managing editor Lisa Beaty.

NAVIGATION is the leading peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing articles on all areas related to the science and art of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and is indexed and abstracted in
- Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database (ProQuest)
- ArticleFirst (OCLC)
- COMPENDEX (Elsevier)
- Current Contents: Engineering, Computing & Technology (Clarivate Analytics)
- Earth, Atmospheric & Aquatic Science Database (ProQuest)
- Electrical & Electronics Abstracts (IET)
- Google Scholar (Google)
- INSPEC (IET)
- Materials Science & Engineering Database (ProQuest)
- Natural Science Collection (ProQuest)
- Science Citation Index Expanded (Clarivate Analytics)
- SciTech Premium Collection (ProQuest)
- SCOPUS (Elsevier)
- Technology Collection (ProQuest)
- Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)
- NAVIGATION is published by ION, in partnership with Wiley.
July 13, 2021
GAO Report: ‘Use resilient tech vs. GPS as DOD primary PNT’
Click to open the GAO Report.

A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) questioned the Department of Defense (DOD) strategy of keeping GPS as the central pillar of its positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities.

It said policymakers “could consider selecting the most resilient technologies as the cornerstone of the PNT suite for military missions, rather than defaulting to GPS.”

The 51-page report takes a comprehensive view of alternative PNT policy and leadership across the department. Its findings are an interesting and informative look at issues and efforts.

Increasing demands

The report comes at a time when U.S. forces have been seeing increasing interference with their own and allied GPS-enabled systems. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has regularly reported that its surveillance drones in the Ukraine have been jammed. Chinese press recently bragged that jamming caused U.S. Navy ships in the South China Sea to switch from using GPS to the Chinese BeiDou system. Additionally, U.S. military commanders have regularly described the Middle East as the most contested electronic warfare area on the planet, in large part because of regular interference with GPS signals.

The GAO study also comes on the heels of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for this year which directs DOD to provide non-GPS PNT to combatant commanders by 2023. The act says this timeline is consistent with responding to Joint Urgent Operational Needs, a formal method for commanders to communicate with department leadership. According to some sources, this suggests that the Pentagon has been receiving such requirements from field commanders, but has not responded to them in what Congress considers a timely manner.

Alternative PNT “not a priority,” resisted

Despite chronic GPS signal interference across the globe, outside experts and officials across the DOD told the GAO study team that developing alternative sources of PNT was not a priority for DOD. One example cited was the lack of a central program office.

One expert said, “PNT — It’s everyone’s need, but nobody’s business.” Another expert said, “Everyone wants to use [PNT], no one wants to pay or care for [PNT].” One DOD official characterized alternative PNT as an afterthought. DOD’s PNT Roadmap states that PNT capabilities, despite being mission critical, are not normally considered a key requirement, but rather may be treated as “a second-tier requirement.”

Worse, the report indicated that some forces within the department resist alternative PNT efforts.
According to one DOD official cited anonymously in the report “bureaucratic and political obstacles [represent] the biggest challenges for alternative PNT” and “anything that threatens GPS, such as alternative PNT technologies, faces pushback.”

The report cited another DOD official as agreeing that “there is an impression that the GPS program has a lot of political clout within DOD, and that those trying to develop alternative PNT technologies may face political challenges.”

Realistic requirements

Many missions do not need the accuracy provided by GPS, according to the report. Nevertheless. DOD programs often default to GPS performance standards when developing requirements. Many alternative technologies, while more resilient, are unable to achieve the same accuracy as GPS and therefore fail to meet the over-stated requirements.

Open architecture

Both DOD and GAO see development of modular open system architecture (MOSA) as key to PNT success in the future. This will allow addition of new PNT sources to a platform without the need for a major retrofit. With MOSA, all that would be needed is a new sensor module for the desired PNT source.

The GAO report endorsed this approach and encouraged DOD to institutionalize it with dedicated funding.

Working with industry

Decades of civil GPS use have benefited DOD in many ways. Broad academic and commercial research has resulted in a host of applications and improvements in the size, weight, and power requirements of equipment, as well as lowered costs. These benefits would almost certainly not have been realized at the current scale if the market for GPS equipment and apps had been restricted to military users.

The 2021 NDAA directs the department to “…enable civilian and commercial adoption…” of the GPS alternative technologies it develops for field commanders. The GAO report suggests DOD also work to leverage industry advances in technologies.

Scope and recommendations

GAO’s tasking for this effort did not include examining efforts to make GPS signals and equipment more resilient to disruption, nor use of non-U.S. satellite navigation systems. Neither were non-defense uses of PNT, nor improvements in such things as tactics, techniques, and procedures considered.

The study focused solely on department efforts to complement GPS services.

Six recommendations for policymakers are included in the report:
1. Increase Collaboration — Consider mechanisms to coordinate across DOD to clarify responsibilities and authorities in prioritizing the need for alternative PNT technologies.
2. Focus on Resiliency — Consider selecting the most resilient technologies as the cornerstone of the PNT suite for military missions, rather than defaulting to GPS.
3. Clarify Requirements — Consider opportunities to clarify what level of PNT performance is actually needed for missions, rather than defaulting to requirements that match GPS performance.
4. Coordinate with Industry — Consider ensuring that DOD and commercial industry coordinate so that industry is prepared to meet DOD’s needs, and DOD can leverage industry advances.
5. Institutionalize Open Architecture — Consider making the open architecture initiative more permanent, including providing funding.
6. Analyze Vulnerabilities — Consider having DOD conduct ongoing analysis of vulnerabilities of different PNT systems.
The May 2021 GAO report “Defense Navigation Capabilities: DOD is Developing Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies to Complement GPS” is available here.

Dana Goward is president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation.

Feature image: gorodenkoff/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
May 11, 2021
Israel opens advanced navigation center for non-GPS tech

The inauguration of the Navigation Technologies Center took place in March. (Photo: IAI)

The new center will focus on developing and producing navigation systems for the battlefield, and plans to implement a co-developed, non-GPS accurate navigation technology

A Navigation Technology Center dedicated to developing and producing non-GPS navigation systems has been launched by Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

In the new center, IAI will develop and manufacture highly accurate inertial sensors for production of next-generation navigation systems, and will significantly increase their performance and capabilities. The sensors will be implemented in operational systems within Israel’s defense systems, enabling Israel to continue to address challenges of the modern battlefield.

The technology to be developed at the center is based on years of research and collaboration between the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D) and IAI.

The center was established at the Tamam Division of IAI’s Systems Missiles and Space Group, which specializes in electro-optics and navigation. IAI has served as the inertial navigation system (INS) house of the State of Israel since 1964. Tamman is based in Yahud, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

“In launching the new compound, DDR&D demonstrates our position at the forefront of technology and its contribution to Israel’s technological independence,” said Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, chief of research and development at DDR&D. “The extensive know-how and experience accumulated at DDR&D and Tamam, our partners, allowed us to challenge ourselves with this new endeavor and accomplish something impressive. The follow-up program is just as challenging, and we plan to work diligently until we prove the new capability in the various applications and in collaboration with IDF units.”

“Our partnership with IMOD DDR&D dates back many years,” said Avi Elisha, Tamam general manager. “We work together to achieve the ongoing enhancement of the innovative navigation systems for Israel. The new center we launched will allow highly accurate navigation capabilities with IAI’s unique technologies. Only a handful of countries have this technology, which is a game-changer in the field of inertial navigation.”

March 30, 2021
BAE Systems to develop advanced GPS chips for warfighters

BAE Systems has received a $247 million contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center to design and manufacture an advanced military GPS receiver and next-generation semiconductor.

The technology will provide positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities to warfighters so they can execute missions in challenging electromagnetic environments.

MGUE Increment 2

The contract is related to November’s U.S. Department of Defense contract for M-Code military GPS technology.

The Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment 2 Miniature Serial Interface program will provide improved capabilities for size-constrained and power-constrained military GPS applications, including precision-guided munitions and battery-powered handheld devices.

The program will focus on the certification of an advanced application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and the development of an ultra-small, low-power GPS module.

Both products will work with the next-generation military M-code signal technology, which provides reliable GPS data with anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities to protect against electronic warfare threats.

“This program enables us to further develop our core M-code technology to deliver high-performance, next-generation GPS capabilities,” said Greg Wild, director of Navigation and Sensor Systems at BAE Systems. “Our M-code receiver and next-gen ASIC will enable secure and reliable military GPS capabilities in a broader range of platforms.”

BAE Systems’ Precision Strike business has 45 years of military GPS experience and more than 1.5 million GPS devices on over 280 platforms around the world. The company is currently producing M-code GPS receivers in multiple form factors, including a low power, small form factor M-code solution.

Additional prototypes are in development for ground, weapons and airborne mission applications, and the company’s M-code GPS products are available to U.S. allies via foreign military sales.

Work on the program will be conducted at the company’s facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Feature image: An Airman with the 374th Security Forces Squadron uses a Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) to track the team’s current during a 2018 field training exercise at Camp Fuji, Japan. (Photo: Senior Airman Matthew Gilmore/U.S. Air Force)

February 24, 2021
Royal Institute of Navigation issues call for papers for Navigation 2021 conference
The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) has issued a call for papers for the Navigation 2021 conference.

The conference, which as of now will be held virtually Nov. 15-18, 2021, will bring together experts from industry, research institutions, government agencies and investors whose primary goal is to work together for a more navigable world, RIN said. Conference themes will include PNT systems and technology, robust PNT, PNT applications, animal and human navigation, and navigation in society.

The November 2021 event will unite two established conferences: the International Navigation Conference and the European Navigation Conference.

RIN is accepting papers in the following categories:
- Peer-reviewed: Abstracts and, if accepted, papers will be peer reviewed and published to be indexed and searchable. Presentations will be invited in a parallel technical session at the conference.
- Presentation: Abstracts will be reviewed and, if accepted, submitters will be invited to present their work in a parallel session at the conference.
- Poster: Abstracts will be reviewed and, if accepted, posters will be displayed in the exhibition hall. RIN plans to encourage delegate interaction through poster presentations during the networking sessions.
The best peer-reviewed papers will be invited to submit for consideration to be published in the Journal of Navigation, RIN added.

Navigation 2021 will take place as a virtual conference. According to RIN, it will review the situation in 2021 and if possible run an in-person element to compliment the conference.
December 3, 2020
Swift Navigation precise positioning technology improves GNSS receiver accuracy

Swift Navigation announced its precise positioning platform can improve the performance of existing single-frequency GNSS positioning, found on most production vehicles today, from the standard average of 3 meters to lane-level accuracy without changing existing hardware and antenna.

According to Swift, these findings are demonstrated during the regular test drives the Swift team conducts to confirm the efficacy of its solutions and software updates. The graph depicts the improved positioning accuracy and availability when a single-frequency receiver is used with corrections from the Skylark precise positioning service and the Starling positioning engine, Swift said. A performance improvement from 2 meters to 0.7 meters for 95% of this mixed-environment drive was achieved on a production vehicle with a low-cost automotive receiver and antenna.

Graph: Swift Navigation

Skylark, Swift’s wide area, cloud-based GNSS corrections service delivers real-time, high-precision positioning, is hardware-independent and is most accurate and seamless when integrated with Starling as a complete solution. Starling is a high-precision positioning engine that works with a variety of automotive-grade GNSS chipsets and inertial sensors, making it ideal for autonomous, ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), V2X (vehicle-to-everything) and navigation applications, Swift added. Starling is platform-independent and also enhances the measurements for commercially available GNSS receivers.

“Swift is excited to share these findings with the public,” said Joel Gibson, executive vice president of automotive at Swift. “The ability to provide higher accuracy to programs without requiring hardware changes can be a game changer for cost-sensitive programs and brings immediate visible benefit to navigation systems, V2X and many other applications.”

November 16, 2020
Defense small-vehicle navigation system designed for export

Photo: Etion Create

A new military vehicle navigation system designed and developed by South Africa-based Etion Create is ready for the local and export markets.

Designed for harsh environments and battlefield conditions, the CheetahNAV provides outstanding situational awareness, according to Etion Create. The crew of a light military vehicle can count on highly accurate position information, irrespective of whether they are denied satellite navigation. This is achieved through an advanced inertial measurement system (IMS), comprising several aids, including a gyro-compensated compass and an advanced Kalman filter-based algorithm.

A brochure on CheetahNAV is available here.

“We are confident that the system provides dead-reckoning horizontal position accuracy of 0.2% of distance travelled in a GNSS denied situation,” said Jan Hurter, senior product manager. “This translates, by way of example, to accuracy of just 200 metres over a distance of 100 kilometers.”

The CheetahNAV can integrate with any number of different inertial navigation systems (INS) and can be aligned with any of the satellite navigation constellations. Combined with GNSS and compass information, the system enables dead-reckoning and accurate positioning of the vehicle in tactical situations. The tactical grade integral inertial measurement unit (IMU) ensures jamming-free operation.

Some of the guidance cues the system provides to the crew during tactical maneuvers include the vehicle’s current position, true heading and desired heading towards the next waypoint, current speed and desired speed to reach the next waypoint or destination on time, and the next waypoint or destination. It also shows the pitch and roll attitude of the vehicle and the track it has travelled.

This data is displayed on a sunlight-readable touch-screen enabled moving map display unit measuring 11.6-inch diagonal, in 16:9 TFT format, with a 1920×1080 resolution. Etion Create is also offering a slave unit for the vehicle driver, as the main display might be positioned elsewhere in a space constrained vehicle. This slave unit, measuring 3.5-inch diagonal TFT, displays information that is specifically required by the driver.

Significant benefits of the CheetahNAV system include ruggedness for extreme battlefield conditions and 28V or 12V DC operation in line with military standards. Moreover, it boasts a high operational reliability.

“It is important to note that Etion Create, as original design manufacturer, is focusing the CheetahNAV on the export market, including the possibility of technology transfer for indigenous manufacturing,” said Hurter. “Besides we offer a multi-language option, which is certainly a key advantage in multinational operations that are almost the norm nowadays.”

The CheetahNAV is non-ITAR controlled, which is the preference of most land forces around the world today to meet their battlefield management requirements.

Having utilized the building blocks of previously developed military off-the-shelf technologies, Etion Create considers the system to be at a high TRL (technology readiness level), and thus available for the export market.

Previously called Parsec, Etion Create is a South African original design manufacturer (ODM) with a long-standing international reach and a professional portfolio of technology offerings and experience across a wide range of business sectors, including defence and aerospace, information security, and mining and industrial sectors.

September 11, 2020
In the beginning, there was innovation

1990: UNB Professor Richard Langley and two graduate students use a GPS antenna (recognize it?) on a tripod to re-measure a historical baseline. (Photo: UNB Perspectives)

When GPS World published its first issue in January 1990, only 15 GPS satellites had been launched, including the 10 prototype or Block I satellites. And four of those early satellites had ceased operation. But there had been enough satellites in orbit for more than a decade to permit early commercial and scientific use of the system. There were even handheld receivers for personal navigation, albeit somewhat larger than those we have today. But it was clear that GPS was going to take off in a big way, and that there was a business case for launching a monthly magazine (bimonthly in its first year) about GPS for professionals in the positioning, navigation and timing communities.

The new magazine was to feature a blend of news, product announcements and articles about GPS, including cutting-edge research on GPS technology and its applications taking place at universities and research institutes around the world. That is why Glen Gibbons, the founding editor of GPS World, reached out to the University of New Brunswick (UNB), an early leader in GPS research and education, to manage a column to be called simply “Innovation.” Glen stipulated that “the column should deal with issues that have broad application and interest and are presented in terms that are accessible to as wide a range of readers as possible.”

Four faculty members were engaged in GPS research at UNB back then: David Wells, Alfred Kleusberg, Petr Vaníček (who famously foretold of the GPS watch back in 1983), and me. Dr. Kleusberg and I volunteered to manage the column and to scour academia and government and industry labs to find authors to write the column’s articles — or to write them ourselves, which we sometimes did. Beginning in 1997, I took over as the sole coordinator of the column — a role I have continued to this day.

There have been close to 300 “Innovation” articles since the first one in the premier issue of the magazine. I’ve also contributed to a number of news and feature articles in the magazine over the years. I might just be the longest-serving active GPS “journalist.” I’m still a full-time teaching and research professor at UNB, and recently took over as the editor-in-chief of The Institute of Navigation’s journal NAVIGATION, but I still have time to write for GPS World and hope to continue to serve the magazine in the years to come.

September 7, 2020