GNSS interface board – mosaic. (Image: Point One Navigation)
Point One Navigation and Septentrio have partnered to expand upon the companies’ precision location solutions throughout Western Europe. The new developer compatibility is suitable for demanding applications, including industrial autonomy, precision agriculture, logistics and delivery, robots and autonomous vehicles.
Point One’s Polaris is a correction network that enables high-precision GPS and computer vision-based localization. Polaris has recently extended coverage to now include Western Europe, further expanding the reach of the network. This solution is powered by Septentrio’s GNSS receivers, including the mosaic compact multi-constellation GNSS receiver.
The mosaic module — a multi-band, multi-constellation receiver in a low-power surface-mount module with a wide array of interfaces — is designed for mass market applications such as robotic and autonomous vehicle guidance systems. The module integrates GNSS and RF ASIC technology, as well as the robust positioning engine from Septentrio.
Septentrio real-time kinematic (RTK) receivers can be used directly with Polaris to provide centimeter-level accuracy in seconds.
This technology is complemented by Point One’s FusionEngine software, which further integrates cameras and additional sensors to achieve the desired level of precision — even in the complete absence of satellite signals.
FusionEngine has the accuracy and the resilience to inclement weather required by Level 2 applications, such as highway lane keeping and V2X, while offering the robustness necessary for mission-critical Level 4 and Level 5 robotaxi and full autonomy applications.
OxTS has released the AV200, its inertial navigation system (INS) built for automation applications.
The AV200 is designed to reliably give precise location data. It includes quad-constellation, dual-antenna, real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS, to provide users with position data as well as its temperature-calibrated, multi-core inertial measurement unit. These technologies give the AV200 position accuracy within 0.05 m, heading accuracy of 0.2°, and velocity accuracy of 0.2 km/h.
The AV200 is built using the same technology that is commonly used for NCAP test validation, which has become the preferred technology for OEMs globally to test vehicles in both test-track and real-world scenarios.
The AV200 has also been built specifically to address the realities of the autonomy market.
Douglas County Public Works needed a GNSS rover to support its UAS operations. The pay-as-you-go option was appealing as they only needed high-precision a few times per month. (Image: Jason Schilling)
High precision GNSS rovers play a vital role in a broad variety of field surveying and mapping applications. Different users have different value propositions in mind when choosing field hardware and software: expected precision, sources of corrections, configurations for specific workflows, and, of course, cost. Weighing these many considerations, GNSS manufacturers have come up with portfolios of multiple models to fill these varied needs.
That said, GNSS manufacturer Bad Elf took a different approach when it designed its flagship rover, the Bad Elf Flex. The Flex is designed to meet the cost-precision-workflow needs of everyone, from asset mappers to surveyors. (Hence the name “Flex.”) To inform the design of the Flex, Bad Elf listened to field users who wished for a scalable solution in a single rover, rather than having to buy multiple different models, and without breaking the bank.
Options for the Infrequent User
“I had one of the little Bad Elf GNSS surveyor handhelds for many years,” said Jason Schilling, wildlife biologist with Douglas County Public Utility District in central Washington State. “That worked great for rough mapping, between a foot and a meter of precision, and I could connect it via Bluetooth to mapping software on my mobile.”
But this all changed when Schilling began an unmanned aerial system (UAS) program for the utility several years ago.
“I really needed survey-level precision for ground control points to geolocate the images from the UAS,” said Schilling.
He was aware of the high cost of centimeter-precision-capable surveying rovers and it was too big of an investment, considering that he only did UAS mapping a few times a month. As an existing Bad Elf customer on the company mailing list, Schilling learned about the new Flex rover, which offered multiple options, and he found one that seemed quite enticing for the needs of his utility.
Schilling purchased a Flex Standard bundle at a low base price, about $3,000, with the pay-as-you-go plan for high precision. In the standard configuration, the Flex is capable of autonomous positioning (1–5 m), and mapping grade (sub-meter precisions) via free satellite-based augmentation services (SBAS), such as WAAS. But when the user activates a pre-purchased “token,” the full centimeter-precision capability, using external corrections, is enabled.
“On the day of a UAS survey, we turn it on, activate a token from our account, and then we have 24 hours of high precision,” Schilling said. “It costs us $25 per day.”
For two to three UAS surveys a month, this works out to far less over many years than the cost of buying a typical surveying rover.
Correction Sources
For real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections, Schilling connects via NTRIP to the statewide cooperative real-time network (RTN); sometimes in a network RTK mode (such as VRS) or single-base RTK to a nearby reference station on the same network. The Flex accommodates NTRIP connections to RTN or IP-enabled reference stations, but Bad Elf has added even more flexibility for corrections.
In some scenarios there is no access to an RTN or no cell service (needed for NTRIP access). One option in these cases is to add a second Flex, set it up as an RTK base, and connect the base and rover via radios that Bad Elf offers.
Bad Elf has added other options for corrections: the Bad Elf RTK service taps into a nationwide real-time network operated by Point One Navigation. This is accessible via NTRIP in the same manner as regional, state or local RTN, and is offered for a monthly fee. In addition, for situations where there is no RTN or cell service, a global precise point positioning (PPP) service (Atlas) can be enabled on the Flex.
PPP differs from RTK/RTN in that it does not need the dense arrays of reference stations, or cell service to access. Instead, PPP derives very precise clock and orbit data from a global array of tracking stations and delivers this to the Flex via geostationary satellites. After a short convergence time, PPP from the Atlas service will yield 5 –10 cm precision over most of the globe.
The Full Boat
Full Configuration. Brian Cortese works for the City of Ellensburg, where he uses the FLEX Extreme Bundle for multiple field applications. (Image: Brian Cortese)
The City of Ellensburg, a college town and farming community in central Washington State, chose the Flex Extreme bundle for about $6,000 — the “full boat” configuration. The Extreme bundle enables all the add-on services all the time, eliminating the need for tokens. In their case, the frequency of use made the higher initial investment worthwhile.
“We have big plans for our rovers,” said Brian Cortese, Engineering Tech/Inspector for the City of Ellensburg Public Works & Utilities.
Ellensburg is a vibrant town that is attracting a lot of new development and it is being proactive in surveying and mapping assets as they are added or replaced.
“We’re recording manholes and valves, sewer systems, storm water systems, irrigation, hydrants — everything that gets built in the city gets as-built surveyed,” Cortese said. “Precise, real-time positioning, it’s been a benefit to us already. We can go out before they work on the subgrade for new developments and take measurements, and then when they finish the subgrade and pave it, we can go back and locate those exact positions.”
Ellensburg uses corrections from the statewide cooperative RTN. In fact, one of the RTN reference stations —also part of the NOAA National CORS Network — is right in the center of town atop the science building of Central Washington University. While the city does a wide variety of surveying and mapping, with the Flex and RTN corrections surveyors get the same centimeter-precision for everything they measure in the field.
“We’ve done design projects with it,” Cortese said. “For instance, we recently took measurements in an area of downtown for a proposal by recording positions and elevations to develop a new park and entertainment area for the community. We are also marking Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramps to meet federal specs out in the field — it’s been really handy for so many things.”
Survey-Grade Rover
To serve the full range of precision needs, the Flex had to be designed as a survey-grade rover. It has a full-constellation GNSS and RTK engine: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, and support for other regional constellations. With more satellites in view, it can perform in sky-view-challenged locations, such as around buildings and under tree canopy.
“Ellensburg is on the Tree City, USA list; our streets are very well lined with a variety of trees, which is also where a lot of our utilities are and development is going on,” Cortese said. “We have been able to get good precisions in and around those trees. Actually, someone on our staff is taking an inventory of the trees with the Flex and loading the data directly into ArcGIS.”
Even in the more rural areas of Grant County that enjoy a lot of open sky, Schilling said, some areas planned for mapping are along upper tributaries and in the hills with a lot of tree coverage. He said the Flex has performed well in those areas.
Choices
The Flex offers these options and combinations:
Flex Extreme. Full survey-grade rover that can use a variety of correction types.
Base-Rover RTK. Two Flex Extreme units connected via radio.
External RTN/RTK corrections via NTRIP.
Bad Elf RTK Service. Single-tap access to a nationwide RTK corrections service.
PPP service. Atlas PPP corrections via L-band geostationary satellites.
Flex Standard. Pay-as-you-go high-precision-enabled service using tokens.
Static Logging. Observation file logging for post-processing (supported by Flex Extreme).
Compatibility with multiple field-mapping software applications.
While many modern GNSS rover systems support one or more options similar to those listed above, Bad Elf’s Flex supports all of them, making it capable of a wide variety of applications.
The danger of hitting a buried water or gas pipe when digging for a construction project persists despite many efforts to reduce it, such as “call before you dig” phone numbers. For example, in Minnesota there were 4,000 such hits in 2019. That is one reason why it is very important to map “as built” underground utilities accurately. This must be done quickly and efficiently, before trenches are filled and without slowing progress of the project.
Traditionally, crews have mapped the underground pipes and cables on paper. In turn, when a construction project needs to know the location of underground utilities before digging, it typically relies on someone who consults those paper maps, uses an electromagnetic utility locating tool, and marks the ground with spray paint. The construction crew then must correctly interpret those marks on the ground. In 2019, Minnesota-based utility consultancy Ellingson Companies was asked to develop a new and more efficient process.
Capturing Data in Real Time
By leveraging solutions from Esri and from Canadian hardware and software manufacturer Eos Positioning Systems, Ellingson Companies GIS Manager Damon Nelton developed a solution that allows his team to capture new pipe construction in real time. By streamlining documentation workflows, the new process improved field productivity and allowed Ellingson Companies to produce digital as-builts that meet the needs of its gas utility clients and improve the safety of future construction projects.
While construction crews have been putting pipe in the ground for generations, today they are expected to produce a digital record of their work in real time — for the sake of safety and efficiency.
Using Esri’s Utility Pipeline Data Model, Nelton created a system that enables crews to map their as-built pipe projects while also tracking components. The system improves data integrity — in other words, reduces human error — by relying on scannable 16-digit alphanumeric bar codes developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials that provide seven attributes for each conduit, including thickness, diameter, lot number and manufacturer date. To collect and store these data, Nelton set up an ArcGIS Enterprise geodatabase.
Gas meters, which also need to be mapped, are often in locations that are hard to map directly with a GNSS receiver because line-of-sight to the satellites is obstructed by trees, roof eves, or adjacent buildings. Therefore, they must be shot with an offset. For these situations, Nelton used Eos Positioning Systems’ laser mapping solution, which enables surveyors to use lasers attached to their range poles to feed data directly into their GIS.
No More Battleship
Using Eos Positioning System’s Arrow Gold receiver and the MNCoors RTK network, Nelton said, his team was able to average an accuracy of 0.25 throughout a project in the city of Owatonna, Minnesota, as confirmed by spot checks with other survey equipment and with the city’s survey team.
“Not every shot was easy, and some took multiple attempts and tricks of the trade to get them,” Nelton pointed out.
On projects in the middle of mountains, where real-time kinematic (RTK) networks do not exist, the company has used the Atlas Service, averaging accuracies of 12 in.
“Given the circumstances of these projects,” Nelton said, “we still consider that to be great.”
Using the new system, foremen use a survey in ArcGIS Survey123 to input their inspection notes and other information, feeding it all from the field to the office and into layers shared between divisions. This way, the data are available in real time, not at the end of the project.
For customers who still want a piece of paper to file in a physical folder in a filing cabinet, Nelton creates a Microsoft Word document template in their format, populates it using dynamic text with syntax in ArcGIS Pro, inserts a map, then saves the Word document as a PDF.
“At the end of the project, we got almost 17,000 digits with no human entry other than pressing the button on the barcode scanner, which means zero data errors,” said Nelton.
No pieces of paper with critical data on the underground utilities languish in a glove compartment or are eaten by a surveyor’s dog, and all the data is available in real time.
Additionally, the combination of the barcode scanning workflow and the high accuracy GNSS receiver enables Nelton’s team to locate gas asset pieces that need to be replaced — for example, due to a recall by the manufacturer — “without playing battleship,” he said.
GEODNET has released a real-time kinematic (RTK), centimeter-precision, GNSS corrections service designed for OEMs and system integrators of agricultural robotics. GEODNET is compatible with several GNSS receivers from major brands, on-vehicle automated steering, spraying kits, and most UAVs and robots.
The GEODNET corrections service has more than 1,700 total full-constellation reference stations worldwide and supports GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BDS signals. It also has the RTCM 3.2 data format for maximum rover/receiver compatibility and NTRIP sign-on and access.
Additional local reference stations can be added.
Free GEODNET correction service trials are available now for qualified OEMs and system integrators in most agricultural regions globally. Interested parties can apply for a trial stream here.
A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the January 2023 issue of GPS World magazine.
SURVEYING & MAPPING
Image: Geometer International
Dual-Frequency Receiver
Receives all GNSS constellations plus SBAS
The Walker RTK is a dual-frequency GNSS receiver (L1, L2) for high-precision coordinate surveying in real-time kinematic (RTK) mode. It comes with a helical antenna, a bracket for attaching a smartphone, and the Geometer SCOUT mobile app. A classic geodesic antenna can be connected through the SMA connector. The Walker RTK has a rugged aluminum alloy casing with a shock-resistant coating, yet weighs only 250 grams. GNSS signals processed by the Walker RTK GNSS receiver include GPS (L1C/A, L2C), GLONASS (L1OF, L2OF), Galileo (E1B/C, E5b), BeiDou (B1I, B2I), QZSS (L1C/A, L1S, L2C) and SBAS (L1C/A). A built-in rechargeable battery provides 24 hours of continuous operation without recharging.
The AsteRx SB3 ProBase creates high-quality measurements for real-time kinematic (RTK) and differential corrections. The IP68-housed GNSS base station receiver features the latest quad-constellation GNSS technology and complements the SB3 receiver family: the AsteRx SB3 Pro rover receiver, the AsteRx SB3 Pro+ rover and base receiver, and the AsteRx SB3 CLAS for the Japanese market. The SB3 ProBase is easy to configure, the company says. It comes with Septentrio’s GNSS+ technologies, including anti-jam and anti-spoofing technology (AIM+) for robustness and reliability. AsteRx SB3 products are pin-to-pin compatible with the AsteRx SB ProDirect receiver and the recently released AsteRx SBi3 GNSS/INS system.
The Algiz 10XR is a rugged 10-inch Windows tablet that combines durability with a GNSS receiver and 5G communications. It was developed for challenging environments in logistics, mining, public transport, public safety, waste management or geographic information systems (GIS). The 10xR is customizable and has a dedicated multiband GNSS u-blox NEO-M8U receiver for accurate positioning as well as untethered dead-reckoning technology. The high-resolution, sunlight-readable 10-inch touchscreen has super-hardened glass and rain-and-glove mode. The tablet also has 4G/LTE high-speed data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The VZ-600i terrestrial laser scanner has a 3D position accuracy of 3 mm and less than 30 seconds of scan time for high-resolution scans with 6 mm point spacing at 10 m. This enables more than 60 scan positions per hour with real-time registration. Weighing less than 6 kg (13 pounds), the VZ-600i has a 2.2-MHZ pulse repetition rate, three internal cameras and an integrated GNSS receiver. It also includes key features to speed up workflows in indoor and outdoor applications such as architecture, engineering, construction, building information modeling, as-built surveying, forensic and crash scene investigation, archaeology and cultural heritage documentation and forestry.
The LP360 Drone software system provides a geospatial-data workflow for UAV lidar and photogrammetry data processing. It provides powerful point cloud visualizations with multiple, synchronized windows. It can transform lidar and imagery data into survey-grade deliverables including visualization, quality checks, classification, analysis and 3D editing. For users of larger datasets, LP360 Geospatial can process captured lidar data or images from any aircraft or mobile sensor and analyze and extract values.
Free library offers data on healthcare, business, traffic
The extensive Maptitude library of free mapping databases has been updated for 2022 and is available for download, supporting insightful business development analysis. The data is available free to users of the latest version of the Maptitude mapping software. The data are also available as shapefile, KML, KMZ or GeoJSON for a fee. Maptitude includes business-critical data such as demographics, boundaries, streets, and the most ZIP Code/postal boundaries. Also available is a catalog of free premium datasets that can be used in other GIS applications, on the web, or in corporate databases.
Indoor and outdoor tracking of low-power, small IoT devices
Traxmate is integrating Nestwave GNSS location technology into its asset-tracking platform for seamless indoor and outdoor positioning, tracking and routing of small, low-power and battery-powered devices for the internet of things (IoT). Nestwave’s NestCore IP and NestCloud cloud services enable power-efficient geolocation solutions, while Traxmate (pictured) is a comprehensive data-processing hub that simplifies setup of tracking environments and provides real-time visualization of device location. The resulting geolocation solution is suitable for applications ranging from carrier tracking to tracking individual parcels and packets. Traxmate is simple to use and set up, requires no coding, and provides an out-of-the-box feature set that includes dashboards, alerts and processing rules for taking actions on incoming data. Nestwave’s trackers include ThinTrack, an ultra-low-profile, compact GPS tracking solution that integrates an LTE-M/NB-IoT modem, antenna, battery and SIM into a device that measures 82 mm x 35 mm x3 mm and weighs 15 g.
Provides guidance even without an internet connection
The Sygic GPS Navigation app uses a smartphone’s camera and augmented reality to display navigation instructions over the view ahead on the windshield. The head-up display is especially useful at night, enabling recognition of critical speed limit, road work or traffic restriction signs. Cockpit is a powerful tool that shows the real-time performance of the car, measuring the G force and actual speed to help users drive economically. The Dashcam feature records the road ahead and automatically saves the video in case of an accident. An Electric Vehicle Mode locates nearby charging stations.
Enhanced data-based rule implementation for fleets
An enhanced SureCam video telematics integration provides fleet managers with access to new capabilities to keep drivers safe and maximize fleet efficiency. The solution features a method for capturing video footage from SureCam cameras using Geotab’s powerful telematics device and rule-based system. The result is a seamless display of video within the MyGeotab platform. The enhanced SureCam fleet video solution leverages Geotab’s numerous data-based rules, such as improper seat belt usage and speeding. It uses G-force triggered alerts that detect unsafe driving behaviors and automatically captures video footage that can be reviewed later on the MyGeotab platform and alert managers to incidents when necessary. Camera configuration and customized triggers are managed directly within MyGeotab.
Driver 2.0 is a Level 4 production-ready autonomous driving solution that can operate in complex and challenging traffic environments. Demonstrations with Driver 2.0 showed an autonomous vehicle could maneuver around double-parked cars, e-scooters and pedestrians, negotiate oncoming vehicles to calculate the right timing and trajectory to pass busy intersections, and make multiple lane changes and unprotected left turns. In the case of long tail scenarios, the system will alert the remote monitoring center to intervene or take other safety measures. Driver 2.0 includes five solid-state lidar units, eight cameras and other sensors, and a computing platform integrated with a proprietary inference engine. The perception algorithm with sensor fusion can achieve precise object detection up to nearly 220 yards. The planning and control algorithm based on game theory can choose optimal routes and make decisions based on real-time situations when negotiating with oncoming vehicles and other road agents.
Provide improved signal gain for automotive antennas
Two new compounds could improve signal-gain performance compared to ceramics in second-generation automotive GNSS antennas. The new compounds — LNP Thermocomp ZKC0CXXD and LNP Thermocomp ZKC0DXXD — help enable the design and molding of antenna substrates with more complex pattern markings that add effective surface area, a critical factor in enhancing signal capture. They also provide flexibility to produce smaller parts with the same performance as ceramic, or equal-size parts with better performance. The LNP Thermocomp compounds feature electroplating capability, good thermal resistance for reliability, and the design freedom and production efficiency of thermoplastics. Both are well-suited for shark-fin-style and new conformal antenna designs.
SABIC, sabic.com
AUTONOMOUS
Image: Civ Robotics
Robotic Surveyor
Precisely marks thousands of coordinates per day
The CivDot unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is designed for civil engineering and infrastructure projects such as solar farms, roadways, data centers, power plants and more. The autonomous surveying robot is designed to increase efficiency, productivity and safety on the job. Augmenting the surveyor’s work, CivDot marks thousands of coordinates per day precisely and efficiently, while delivering layouts faster than traditional methods. Civ Robotics uses Trimble’s high-precision GNSS positioning technology and surveying software.
The compact DJI Mavic 3E and 3T drones have been designed for an array of commercial missions. Flight time is 45 minutes. Both models have a real-time kinematic (RTK) module that enables surveying professionals to achieve centimeter-level accuracy with support for network RTK, custom network RTK services, and the D-RTK 2 Mobile Station. The D-RTK 2 Mobile Station is DJI’s upgraded high-precision GNSS receiver that supports all major GNSS, providing real-time differential corrections. The DJI Mavic 3E enables efficient mapping and surveying missions without the need for ground control points. The DJI Mavic 3T is engineered for aerial operations in firefighting, search and rescue, inspections and night missions.
Paris Austin, head of product – New Technology for OxTS, tries out the new backpack at historic Minster Lovell Hall. (Image: OxTS)
More than 400,000 sites in the United Kingdom are on its historical registries. English Heritage site Minster Lovell Hall is located in Oxfordshire, also the home county of inertial navigation company OxTS. The picturesque ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, a 15th-century manor house, include the hall, a tower and a nearby dovecote.
The hall was built in the 1430s by William, Baron of Lovell and Holand — one of the richest men in England. It was later home to Francis, Viscount Lovell, a close ally of Richard III. After changing hands several times, the hall was abandoned and eventually demolished in the 18th century, leaving the extensive remains that stand today.
(Image: OxTS)
The buildings are grouped around a central courtyard in a plan characteristic of a late medieval manor house. For OxTS, the site proved suitable for testing its prototype backpack. The site features dense tree canopies on one side, tight doorways, narrow views of the sky, and plenty of height to test the angled mounting of the survey-focused lidar for when GNSS is denied. Open-sky areas allowed the OxTS team to return to real-time kinematic (RTK) surveying before moving on to another section of the site.
Reconstruction drawing of Minster Lovell Hall as it might have appeared in the 15th century, by artist Alan Sorrell. (Image: English Heritage)
The prototype backpack is based on the OxTS setup for vehicles but was created to enable quick data collection without a car. It is equipped with two Hesai lidar sensors, a new OxTS prototype inertial navigation system and an antenna. The team can connect it to a laptop for configuration and to optimize lever arms and the boresight. Once post-processed with OxTS Georeferencer software, the point cloud below was produced.
OxTS designed the backpack to meet a growing need for localization and georeferencing in both GNSS-denied areas and those that cannot be reached by car, including the construction, environmental, conservation and heritage industries.
Another autonomous lawn mower has hit the field. The RoboUp (made by a company of the same name) is offering a no-perimeter-wire real-time kinematic (RTK) artificial intelligence (AI) robot lawn mower.
The mower uses an RTK module built into the charging station and AI real-time recognition support to automatically measure and profile a yard without any perimeter wiring or other installation.
RoboUp’s dynamic exact positioning system integrates RTK, visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to offer precise positioning with centimeter-level accuracy. It can also detect boundaries and identify obstacles and will stop cutting when it reaches either.
The robot lawn mower is powered by a maintenance-free brushless motor, which enables it to climb a 45% slope and cut different types of lawns, including over tough terrain. RoboUP is equipped with adjustable cutting heights of 30 mm to 60 mm and 20 cm width and can adjust the height of the cutting disc to match the terrain.
The mower can be controlled with its own app, which identifies the conditions of the user’s yard and generates a recommended cutting schedule. Additionally, it integrates with smart home systems and can be controlled by voice commands.
Interview with Sara Masterson, Director, Positioning Services, Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division, Hexagon | NovAtel
The accuracy of GNSS receivers continues to increase thanks to new satellites and signals, improved antennas, etc. How is that changing the role of correction services?
For sure, the accuracy of GNSS receivers and antennas is improving. However, most applications still require a higher level of accuracy than what is available from an uncorrected position even with the positioning improvements brought by new constellations and signals. GNSS corrections are still required to enable, say, lane-level accuracy, or sidewalk-block accuracy for autonomous driving or mobile phone applications and for off-road autonomy applications such as construction, mining, agriculture — these all still require centimeter-level accuracy that is enabled through GNSS correction services.
Corrections also help by improving the availability and reliability of a solution. In the future, corrections will play a key role in adding integrity to enable functionally safe solutions that are required for new applications, such as autonomous driving.
There are many options for corrections — local, regional and global, ground-based and satellite-based, public and private, etc. Which of them are generally best for which applications and conditions?
That depends very much on the user and the application. There are many new correction services in the market. Some are free, some are commercial services. Even now we see in agriculture that WAAS is sufficient for some broadacre-type applications. So, we will continue to see a range of applications, some of which will be satisfied with the level of performance from a free service and others that will be looking for the better performance and service level guarantees that come with commercial services.
If something is not working when you are using a free service, there’s no one to call. With commercial services, you get responsive customer support and you pay for higher levels of performance and service availability. In many applications, especially those that involve autonomy or safety applications, you cannot afford to have downtime, or your machine just stops working, which costs money. So, many applications are still going to be needing the performance and service level guarantee that commercial services offer.
How does TerraStar fit into this range of options? What industries and applications are you targeting?
TerraStar has a range of services that enable us to target many industries and applications. Agriculture, of course, is one of the key applications for our services and we have customers using TerraStar for mobile mapping, UAVs and new autonomy-based applications. We are also involved with some interesting Hexagon joint projects that use TerraStar corrections for mine train automation and surveying and construction.
Our entry-level TerraStar-L service is still better in performance to many of the free services or to an SBAS-type service in terms of accuracy, but it is available globally, including regions where you don’t have other options. It also provides better pass-to-pass and year-over-year repeatability, as well as very quick reconvergence time if there are any issues with GNSS outages.
Our flagship offering is the TerraStar-C PRO service. That’s where we just introduced the “RTK from The Sky” technology, bringing the performance down to converging to two and a half centimeters in three minutes. That, too, is available globally which makes it a real game changer for customers in many different applications, because they can start to look at that service as an alternative to RTK and without the added connectivity logistics that an RTK solution brings.
Our RTK assist solutions are good augmentation solutions for customers who still primarily need RTK but experience some RTK correction outages – RTK ASSIST bridges through those outages. So, we have a wide range of service offerings in the portfolio that can address the positioning needs of many applications.
Photo: Hexagon | NovAtel
Will the reasons for having a base and rover setup decrease sharply?
Use of base and rover setups is already decreasing and being replaced by both PPP and network RTK solutions. There are applications where RTK still makes sense, such as those that have very tight vertical requirements and many survey applications. Another Hexagon division, Hexagon’s Geosystems division, incorporates TerraStar correction data into their new SmartNet Global offering as a seamless service that provides both SmartNet RTK plus TerraStar for either bridging outages or independent PPP operation, depending on the project’s location and whether they’re within range of SmartNet coverage.
There will be many applications that continue to benefit from a combination of the two technologies. However, as the PPP services, like TerraStar, continue to improve by reducing convergence time and providing highly reliable solutions, users in those applications can be confident that the standalone PPP solutions meet their performance needs and bring many additional benefits such as consistent, global coverage and performance.
Is TerraStar completely receiver agnostic?
TerraStar is currently only compatible with NovAtel’s GNSS hardware. Going forward, through the work that I referenced with autonomous driving and mass-market applications, we will be providing TerraStar services in industry-standard formats, depending on the inter-operability requirements coming from those applications. We expect that there will be demand for dual sourcing of corrections and interoperability between chipsets that are used in vehicles, for example. For those applications, we will be developing TerraStar services that are compatible with hardware from other GNSS manufacturers.
New offerings will deliver accurate navigation to industrial applications even in areas where GPS is unavailable
The HGuide o360 Navigator. (Photo: Honeywell)
Honeywell has expanded its HGuide industrial navigation portfolio with three new technologically advanced navigation systems — the HGuide o360 INS/GNSS navigator, HGuide n500 inertial navigator and the HGuide g080 GNSS receiver.
The new HGuide products are designed for a wide array of industrial and autonomous applications across air, land and sea vehicles and related equipment.
The HGuide o360 navigationsystem is a compact single-card, all-attitude inertial navigation system (INS) GNSS navigator that can deliver an accurate and robust position and attitude navigation service, even through GNSS-challenged or denied environments, to industrial and autonomous applications. It provides the features and compatibility needed for a simple integration.
“The HGuide o360 is an engineering marvel and a technological breakthrough. There are no similar competing products in the industry today that can achieve such a high-performance level at this price point and size,” said Matt Picchetti, vice president and general manager, Navigation & Sensors, Honeywell Aerospace. “The entire HGuide product line is suitable for a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, marine and a host of industrial applications where accurate positioning and attitude information is required in real time.”
The HGuide o360 INS/GNSS navigator contains a powerful dual antenna, multi-frequency, multi-constellation, real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS receiver, Honeywell’s i300 inertial measurement unit (IMU) technology, and a high-grade calibrated magnetometer.
The HGuide o360 is designed for platforms that require high-performance navigation data in an ultra-low size, weight and power (SWAP) package.
The HGuide n500 inertial navigator is a navigation-grade bring-your-own-GNSS all-attitude navigator that supports continuous position and attitude navigation even during prolonged GNSS outages. The HGuide n500 is built on Honeywell’s HG4930 IMU plus the Honeywell HGuide Sensor Fusion software.
The HGuide g080 GNSS receiver is a dual-antenna, triple-radio frequency, all-constellation GNSS receiver that delivers heading and positioning down to sub-centimeter levels even in GNSS-challenged environments. It includes an onboard IMU to allow tracking during short GNSS outages and enable smooth and fast reacquisition. The product is available with or without RTK functionality.
Inertial navigation systems are highly critical in navigation and comprise an IMU, a GNSS receiver and sensor fusion software. These components work together to calculate position, orientation and velocity to deliver critical navigation information in GNSS-denied areas such as urban canyons, bridges, tunnels, mountains, parking garages and dense forests.
