GPS World

Tag: pulsar

  • Murata and Xona Space sign MOU on LEO satnav for industrial applications

    Murata and Xona Space sign MOU on LEO satnav for industrial applications

    Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Xona Space Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding to improve the accuracy and reliability of satellite PNT technologies.

    The companies will explore the potential to provide optimal products and solutions by combining Murata’s long-standing expertise in high-frequency and wireless communications, sensors, timing devices and module design with Xona’s advanced low-Earth-orbit (LEO)-based positioning and timing synchronization technologies.

    Benefit of LEO satellites

    Because LEO satellites orbit closer to Earth, they can deliver stronger signals to the ground, which improves signal reception in city centers and indoor environments. Their higher orbital speed compared with GNSS enables observation data in a shorter period of time, which enhances performance in urban areas via accelerated convergence times and reduction in multipath errors.

    Against this backdrop, technologies that combine satellites in different orbital layers, including LEO, are attracting attention as an approach to complement and strengthen the accuracy and reliability of PNT, with growing interest in their adoption for higher precision and enhanced resilience.

    The role of Pulsar

    Xona offers Pulsar, a PNT service based on a satellite network composed of a constellation of dedicated LEO satellites with significantly stronger signals than traditional GNSS systems. Pulsar is compatible with GNSS, enabling these enhanced capabilities to be integrated with typical GNSS user equipment in a way that complements and improves existing systems.

    As a purpose-built modern PNT service, Pulsar aims to achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy, greater performance in urban areas, and enhanced resilience against jamming and spoofing.

    Previous venture and latest MOU

    Murata has previously invested in Xona through Wonderstone Ventures, Murata’s corporate venture capital arm. This initiative represents part of an ongoing collaboration built upon the existing relationship between the two companies.

    Based on this MOU, the two companies will explore the potential to provide optimal products and solutions by combining Murata’s long-standing expertise in high-frequency and wireless communications, sensors, timing devices, and module design with Xona’s advanced LEO-based PNT positioning and timing synchronization technologies, with the goal of realizing highly accurate and highly reliable positioning and timing synchronization.

    Looking ahead, the companies will evaluate potential applications in data centers and financial institutions that require highly accurate timing synchronization to support 5G/6G communications, as well as in off-road industries such as construction and agricultural machinery, where positioning needs are high in environments where GNSS is difficult to use.

    Through these efforts, the companies aim to enhance performance and create new solutions across various sectors.

  • Spirent to generate Xona PULSAR production signals via SimXona

    Spirent to generate Xona PULSAR production signals via SimXona

    Image: Spirent
    Image: Spirent

    Spirent has concluded a review of Xona Space Systems’ PULSAR production signals, and has deemed them feasibile for integration into the SimXona product line. Spirent will integrate the Xona production signals as an evolution of the SimXona platform.

    Support will become available to existing and new users throughout 2024.

    Xona is developing PULSAR, a high-performance positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) service built on low-Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites. Xona’s high-powered smallsat signals aim to improve PNT resilience and accuracy by augmenting GNSS while operating with an independent navigation and timing system architecture.

  • Xona accelerates commercial LEO PNT service with AFRL and USSF investments

    Xona accelerates commercial LEO PNT service with AFRL and USSF investments

    Image: buradaki/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: buradaki/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Xona Space Systems has partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the U.S. Space Force under a $1.2 million Direct to Phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) contract to work toward a secure low Earth orbit (LEO) positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) constellation leveraging Xona’s PULSAR service.

    The contract was awarded through an AFWERX SBIR Open Topic, after Xona demonstrated its LEO PNT technology using the “Huginn” demo satellite in late 2022.

    Xona is developing PULSAR – a high-performance PNT service enabled by a commercial constellation of dedicated LEO satellites.

    The PULSAR service aims to advance PNT security, resilience and accuracy capabilities by augmenting existing GNSS while also operating as an independent PNT constellation.

    “Our partnership with the AFRL Space Vehicles directorate and USSF’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center will give Xona the expertise necessary to seamlessly integrate PULSAR into the U.S. national security space architecture,” said Brian Manning, CEO, Xona Space Systems. “Early assessment of unique DOD PNT requirements will set us up for a successful transition to operational service.”

    Colonel Jeremy Raley, commander of the Phillips Research Site and director of the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, said the investment will contribute to force design analytics that consider contributing signals from multiple orbit regimes.

    “Lessons from this effort will pave the way for future defense programs to successfully utilize commercial space assets for flexible and diverse satnav that is resilient to the adversarial threat,” Raley said.

    Preceding the award, Xona became the first company to launch a privately funded PNT mission progressing from concept to on-orbit in less than 12 months. Since then, Xona has partnered with major companies such as Hexagon | NovAtel, Septentrio, Spirent, Safran, and StarNav. In April 2023, the company moved into its new headquarters in Burlingame, California, where the company plans to start the production of PULSAR satellites.

  • Hexagon│NovAtel receivers track Xona PULSAR LEO signal generated by Spirent simulator

    Hexagon│NovAtel receivers track Xona PULSAR LEO signal generated by Spirent simulator

     

    Image: Hexagon │ NovAtel
    Image: Hexagon │ NovAtel

    Hexagon│NovAtel’s OEM7 GNSS receivers have successfully tracked Xona Space Systems PULSAR signals generated by a simulator from Spirent Communications. This test proved NovAtel GNSS receivers can track a Spirent simulated L-band signal identical to the PULSAR signal broadcast by Xona’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

    The Xona LEO signals will complement GNSS, improving resiliency, security, and precision for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).

    “Using Spirent’s simulated PULSAR signal, we have successfully tested our receiver’s capability to track the L-band signal planned to be broadcast from Xona’s LEO satellites,” Sandy Kennedy, VP of innovation at Hexagon’s Autonomy and Positioning division, said. “The OEM7 is a powerful platform, designed for both resiliency and flexibility; it is exciting to test our forethought by trialing this new signal type.”

    Join Hexagon│NovAtel on Thursday, June 15, at the ION Joint Navigation Conference (JNC) where it will co-present “Testing of LEO PNT for Resilience in GNSS Contested Environments.”

  • Septentrio and Xona Space Systems collaborate on GNSS receiver

    Septentrio and Xona Space Systems collaborate on GNSS receiver

    Image: Septentrio
    Image: Septentrio

    Septentrio and Xona Space Systems have collaborated to develop an experimental receiver compatible with Xona multi-frequency PULSAR signals.

    The multi-frequency receiver will be one of the first to decode all PULSAR signals alongside standard GNSS signals such as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou.

    Septentrio will be showcasing this receiver at the ION Joint Navigation Conference, June 12-15, 2023, in San Diego, California.

    “As Xona PULSAR signals become available, a Septentrio receiver will offer users an opportunity to be the first to experiment with PULSAR and GNSS in many different scenarios,” Bryan Chan, VP of business development and strategy, Xona Space Systems, said.

  • Lockheed Martin invests in Xona’s commercial navigation constellation

    Lockheed Martin invests in Xona’s commercial navigation constellation

    Xona Space Systems, a company developing navigation technologies from low-Earth orbit (LEO), has received investment backing from numerous companies, including Lockheed Martin. Its latest financing round was oversubscribed, bringing the start-up’s total funding to more than $25 million.

    Xona is developing a high-performance commercial satellite navigation network, named Pulsar. Pulsar is a LEO system designed to provide resilient and trusted centimeter-level position anywhere on the globe.

    Within the past year, Xona more than doubled its number of full-time employees, launched its first orbital mission, and signed agreements with major players across the GPS/GNSS ecosystem such as Hexagon | NovAtel and Spirent Federal.

    Image: Xona Space Systems
    Image: Xona Space Systems

    The funding round was led by First Spark Ventures, who is joined by numerous new investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, SRI Ventures (of SRI International), Velvet Sea Ventures, Gaingels, Airstream Venture Partners and Space VC. Existing investors also continue to show firm conviction in Xona’s accomplishments and market opportunity with participation from Seraphim Space, Toyota Ventures, 1517 Fund, MaC Venture Capital and Stellar Ventures.

    The new capital will accelerate development of Pulsar through several critical design milestones by expanding the team and building out Xona’s new R&D and manufacturing facility in Burlingame, California. This will enable more rapid design cycles and prepare for production.

    Xona’s first demonstration mission, Huginn, was successfully launched in May, and its second mission, Muninn, is planned to launch in 2023.

    Xona Engineer Nick Manglaviti setting up hardware-in-the-loop testing at Xona’s R&D lab in San Mateo, California. (Photo: Xona Space Systems)
    Xona Engineer Nick Manglaviti setting up hardware-in-the-loop testing at Xona’s R&D lab in San Mateo, California. (Photo: Xona Space Systems)

    “Xona’s approach to GNSS is poised to enable a whole new class of robust and reliable solutions in everything from automotive to drones,” said Manish Kothari, managing director of First Spark. “This is a technically challenging problem — a problem the Xona team is uniquely qualified and experienced to address. We are very excited to be part of this journey with them.”

    Xona’s core mission is to enable modern technology to operate safely in any environment, anywhere on Earth. To achieve this in industries such as automotive autonomy, drones and aerial mobility, precise knowledge of location and time is critical, and it must be robust against sources of potential interference or degradation. This is driving a need for global infrastructure that can support the demands of these applications as they continue to expand in both capability and geography.

    “The massive domain expertise of our supporters in everything from scaling global companies to deep technical knowledge of GNSS is both a validation of our team’s capabilities and a catalyst that has been instrumental in our growth and speed,” said Xona CEO Brian Manning.

    “As customer needs evolve, Lockheed Martin Ventures continues to work with companies we believe are on the forefront of emerging technology and that support increasingly resilient, hybrid systems,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “We invested in Xona so they can continue to develop and build their commercial system to complement the greater GNSS architecture.”

    “The world would look very different today without GPS,” said Xona CTO Tyler Reid. “The ubiquitous robust precision that Pulsar can provide has potential to make the same level of global impact, not only in present and emerging markets, but we believe this global high precision can also enable entirely new devices and apps that we haven’t even thought of yet.”

  • China launches pulsar navigation satellite

    China launches pulsar navigation satellite

    XPNAV-1 (Image Source: Weibo)
    XPNAV-1 (Image Source: Weibo)

    China has successfully launched a navigation satellite that will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies, reports The Indian Express.

    The X-ray pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1 was launched Nov. 10 atop a Long March 11 solid-fueled rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s northwest.

    The experimental pulsar navigation mission carries two sensors to pick up incoming X-rays from objects scattered across the galaxy, and use the detections to plot the craft’s position without relying on GPS satellites or pre-loaded navigation fixes.

    Physics World published an article that describes pulsar navigation in June 2013.

    Chinese officials said the XPNAV-1 satellite weighed more than 440 pounds (200 kilograms) at launch, and was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., a contractor in the country’s state-run space industry.