GPS World

Tag: NEO-M8P

  • u-blox: Disruption leads to wide adoption

    u-blox: Disruption leads to wide adoption

    An interview with Markus Uster, head of product center positioning at u-blox about recent GNSS receiver innovations.

    Uster
    Uster

    What was the most significant technical innovation in your GNSS receivers in the past five years?

    The u-blox F9, launched in 2018, is our robust and versatile high-precision positioning technology platform. It was the first receiver to enable multi-band high-precision positioning solutions for mass-market industrial and automotive applications — and remains the benchmark for the industry today.

    The platform combines multi-constellation (continuous reception of four satellite constellations) GNSS technology with dead reckoning and high-precision algorithms. It is also compatible with a variety of GNSS correction data services to achieve positioning accuracy down to the centimeter level.

    The u-blox F9 platform is leading the next generation of high-precision navigation with its augmented reality, unmanned vehicles and various machine automation applications. It has since been integrated into a selection of modules catering to a wide range of applications.

    What has it enabled users to do that they could not do before?

    The u-blox F9 is a widely adopted multi-band GNSS platform for automotive and industrial applications. (Photo: u-blox)
    The u-blox F9 is a widely adopted multi-band GNSS platform for automotive and industrial applications. (Photo: u-blox)

    In a nutshell, the u-blox F9 brought high-precision positioning to the mass market. The demand for scalable high-precision technology is growing rapidly, as evident in the automotive world with next-generation advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and in robotics with applications such as UAVs and robotic lawnmowers. However, due to the complexity, size, power and cost restrictions of existing high-precision solutions, until now it has been difficult to meet the demands of these markets.

    u-blox developed the u-blox F9 platform by building on the success of our NEO-M8P high-precision GNSS module series and drawing on our extensive experience in GNSS positioning technologies, including dead reckoning, multi-band, real-time kinematic (RTK) and GNSS correction services. The platform delivers the next level of scalable GNSS high-precision technology and shows how u-blox is consistently addressing challenges and driving the GNSS technology evolution.

    What is a good example of this?

    Integration of the u-blox F9 platform into various applications has proven quite successful in a diverse range of use cases. In the industrial realm, u-blox F9 technology enables mass adoption of commercial unmanned vehicle applications. One example is precision agriculture, where high-precision positioning cost-effectively enables vehicle guidance solutions to improve pass-to-pass accuracy resulting in improved crop yield and reduced consumption of pesticides, fertilizer and seeds. The u-blox F9 modules also paved the way for autonomous driving, including lane-level navigation for heads-up displays and vehicular infotainment systems, a prerequisite for highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles.

  • U-blox positioning enables massive drone light show

    U-blox positioning enables massive drone light show

    The 10-minute-long drone show included a flying dove with a wingspan of 600 meters, visible from three kilometers away. (Photo: u-blox)
    The 10-minute-long drone show included a flying dove with a wingspan of 600 meters, visible from three kilometers away. (Photo: u-blox)

    U-blox supplied the high-accuracy technology that made it possible to fly a massive swarm of drones. The simultaneous flight of 2,198 miniature unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was launched into the night sky over Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 3.

    The 10-minute-long drone show included a flying dove with a wingspan of 600 meters, visible from three kilometers away.

    Geoscan, which built and programmed the drones and ran the display, chose u-blox positioning technology for its combination of accuracy, reliability, performance and ability to access positional data from both the GLONASS and GPS satellite navigation constellations.

    The 10-centimeter-wide Geoscan Salute drones were designed for use in group flights and drone shows. The drones use u-blox NEO-M8P high-precision GNSS modules to provide the positioning data to create a fluid drone show. Salute drones return to their base stations automatically at the end of a show.

    The NEO-M8P module implements a real-time kinematic (RTK) approach that improves positional accuracy by comparing the phase of a signal being broadcast from a positioning satellite with that of the same signal that has been received and rebroadcast from a fixed base station. The accuracy gained in this way enables drones to calculate their relative positions to within millimeters, and their absolute positions to within 1 centimeter of the intended position.

    Geoscan has been producing drone displays for the past two years, starting with 40 drones flying at once. “The u-blox modules in our Geoscan Salute drones have improved our drones’ positioning accuracies to about one centimeter, and have helped reduce pre-launch preparation time,” said Semen Lapko, head of Drone Show Project, Geoscan. “Drones now move more quickly and accurately, while also operating more efficiently.”