SkyTraq is offering a new multi-band, multi-GNSS receiver module for real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and heading applications, suitable for autonomous vehicles. The PX1172RH surface-mount receiver measures 17 x 22 mm, about the size of a postage stamp.
With dual-antenna input, the PX1172RH receiver delivers sub-degree heading and pitch or heading and roll angles on top of centimeter-level positioning under both dynamic and static conditions. This removes the dependency on vehicle movement to initialize an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for attitude determination.
The PX1172RH is unaffected by magnetic surroundings and does not require calibration. It offers higher heading reliability and performance than magnetic heading sensors or single-antenna GPS sensors.
Photo: Skytraq
The PX1172RH works with dual-frequency GPS/QZSS L1/L2, GLONASS L1/L2, Galileo E1/E5 and BDS B1/B2 GNSS signals concurrently to enable robust positioning and heading performance under challenging partial-sky environments and to provide RTK convergence in seconds. The PX1172RH is suitable for autonomous precision-guidance applications.
A PX1172RH sample, datasheet and evaluation boards will be available in May, with mass production scheduled for June.
U-blox is partnering with ArduSimple, a Spanish company seeking to facilitate the adoption of centimeter-level GNSS technology for mass-market applications.
The companies partnered to develop the SimpleRTK2B single-board computer (SBC). The device, which is built around up to three u-blox ZED-F9P high-precision GNSS receivers, simplifies the development of centimeter-level positioning solutions supporting real-time kinematics (RTK), making the technology accessible to broader audiences.
The SimpleRTK2B-SBC was developed to make RTK technology as close to plug-and-play as possible. In addition to working as a stand-alone solution, customers can program their own applications with the company’s microPython API.
The SimpleRTK2B-SBC delivers mechanical integration with centimeter position on three axes (heading, pitch and roll), outputting on NMEA, RTCM, RS232 and CANBus interfaces via Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 2G/3G/4G communication. It offers configurable input/output and an inertial measurement unit.
Hemisphere GNSS is primarily known for its Outback brand. It includes the Outback Guidance autosteering solution (a smart antenna that combines a GNSS receiver and a GNSS antenna in a single housing), the ESI² electric wheel that steers a tractor, the AC110 application controller that controls the rate and section, and the Rebel terminal in the cab that runs the application software. Hemisphere’s A222 smart antenna is being used by Raven and AgJunction.
“We put these product components together in different configurations for the solutions,” said Miles Ware, the company’s marketing director. “We support hundreds of tractor models with this type of solution or using our terminal for a steer-ready integration, in which you just plug our terminal and steering controller right into the tractor’s interface and it sends the commands to the hydraulic steering.”
One of the challenges with guidance for precision agriculture is that people think that tractors always operate in a wide-open field, where satellite availability is not a problem, Wares explained. That is often not true, however, due to obstructions such as tree canopies.
That is particularly an issue when using real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections for planting and seeding, which require a couple of centimeters of cross-track accuracy. Farmers want to quickly acquire a line and then maintain it. “All those functions are immediately impacted if you have challenges in the positioning solution,” Wares said.
The Outback Guidance brand offers three different packages:
Atlas Broad-Acre farming for uses that require sub-meter accuracy, such as large seeders or fertilizer sprayers;
Atlas H10 or the Atlas Row-Crop Service for row crop-level accuracy, for example to plant corn; and
a sub-inch package that uses RTK technology for automated steering.
One of the key benefits of automated steering is less fatigue for the driver, explained Roland Moelder, Hemisphere GNSS’ product manager for Agriculture Technology. “Especially when it is dark, it is very hard to do a proper job, minimizing the overlap but also not leaving gaps.”
Automated steering also enables farming practices that require more accurate driving than is humanly possible, such as for strip till, the practice of driving on exactly the same lines year after year.
Application-Guided Planting. Hemisphere’s devices can monitor, control and manipulate implements that use ISOBUS standard communications. Operators can select the attributes of their planter in the application; the display will then show them the planter’s location and which sections are active.
For example, if they are approaching a section of the field that they already planted, the AC110 control will turn off some of the seeding heads during the turn.
The same applies to spraying. The product automates the section control and coordinates it with the centimeter-accuracy steering.
Hemisphere’s solution is built around an after-market, so that farmers are not forced to buy the latest and greatest piece of equipment to take advantage of its technology, Wares added. “They can take a lot of their existing equipment, on which they may have already achieved the return on investment or are close to it, and add our solution.”
These two plots show how signals from additional GNSS constellations improve mapping. The map on the left is based on only GPS and GLONASS signals, which is typical. The one on the right is improved by adding signals from Galileo and BeiDou. In both images, the green lines are converged/fixed. In the image on the left, the yellow lines are converging/floating. (Images: Hemisphere GNSS)
Do-It-Yourself. To facilitate the installation of its smart antenna, Hemisphere works with all the manufacturers of tractors, sprayers, combines and other field vehicles to make kits that enable customers to perform the installation themselves.
“We take pride in that,” Moelder said, adding that some installations are done by dealers. The ESI2 electric wheel solution is a much easier installation than a hydraulic one. “We also support a list of ‘steer-ready’ vehicle installation kits, which are kits that utilize pre-existing components that are already on the OEM machine, where we just plug-and-play components and make it very easy for the customer to use what is already there.”
Historically, many of these solutions were built around adding hydraulic valves to a tractor, which was a lot of work. “Now, we can communicate directly to the smart valves on steer-ready models,” Wares said, “and it does not require, say, extra hoses, valves and brackets.” Electric wheels, which have tens of thousands of teeth, can manipulate the hydraulics with even finer resolution and are much easier to install than hydraulic valves.
Multi-GNSS technology has a big value for precision agriculture, Moelder said. He cited Hemisphere’s new S631 smart antenna, which tracks all available signals, greatly speeding convergence and maintaining it much better in challenging environments.
Unlike other corrections systems, Hemisphere’s Atlas uses all the available GNSS constellations. “If you are not taking advantage of them, you are really missing out,” said Wares. You cannot take full advantage of a multi-GNSS receiver without multi-GNSS corrections, he pointed out.
Every month, we ask members of our Editorial Advisory Board to weigh in on a topic. For the January 2021 issue, we asked,
Will precise point positioning (PPP) replace real-time kinematic (RTK)? If so, for which applications and when?
Miguel Amor
“Recently, Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division demonstrated RTK levels of performance — globally —through PPP technology; we call it RTK From the Sky (see page 29). I believe that PPP adoption rates will grow significantly in the coming years and eventually replace RTK — especially in areas that are not well served by RTK networks or similar services. Adoption rates will depend on which applications can field GNSS receivers capable of the signals and constellations to perform like RTK.”
Miguel Amor Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division
Alison Brown
“For many applications, the improved accuracy provided by PPP (10 cm) is sufficient and RTK solutions are not needed. However, the typical convergence time of PPP is between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the number of satellites available, satellite geometry, the quality of the correction products, the receiver’s multipath environment, and atmospheric conditions. This slow convergence compared to RTK solutions will limit application for many real-time applications such as mobile solutions.”
Alison Brown NAVSYS Corporation
Jean-Marie Sleewaegen
“PPP-RTK combines near-RTK accuracy and quick initialization times with the broadcast nature of PPP, over internet or L-band. PPP-RTK can be seamlessly integrated into GNSS receivers, bringing convenient sub-decimeter accuracy to applications where configuring RTK is not practical or where there is no internet connection. PPP-RTK is likely to be adopted by emerging mass-market applications such as UAVs, while RTK will probably remain prevalent in applications where it is already well established, such as precision agriculture.”
Jean-Marie Sleewaegen Septentrio
Bernard Gruber
“I do not believe that PPP will replace RTK technology solutions anytime soon. Satellite-based GNSS correction services with an emphasis on global provide worldwide access, but achieving the required accuracy, due to convergence, can be slow. Today, myriad users and emerging customers may utilize corrections augmented with RTK transmitter/base stations that hybrid solutions can provide, thus solving both the age-old navigation issue of obscuration and near real-time positioning simultaneously.”
SkyTraq is offering a 12 x 16 millimeter multi-band real-time kinematic (RTK) receiver for centimeter-level accuracy positioning applications. The PX1122R works with all the four GNSS, using GPS L1/L2C, Galileo E1/E5b, GLONASS L1/L2 and Beidou B1I/B2I signals concurrently to maximize positioning availability even in difficult urban environments.
A single-chip system-on-chip, the PX1122R is designed to deliver reliable, centimeter-level accuracy positioning for autonomous unmanned ground or aerial vehicles, the internet of things, and traditional land surveying and precision farming applications.
The PX1122R has an RTK initialization time under 10 seconds and a maximum update rate of 10 Hz. Its update rate provides in-time positioning with a fast response time and improved guidance for fast-moving applications, the company said.
Moving-base RTK for GNSS precise heading is also supported. By using two PX1122R and two antennas with 1-meter separation, highly accurate 1-sigma heading accuracy of 0.13 degree can be obtained; such heading accuracy is immune to magnetic interference and unaffected by the receiver’s speed.
The PX1122R can serve as a key component to provide precise position and heading information for autonomous applications. PX1122R sample, data sheet and evaluation boards are available now.
Founded in 2005, SkyTraq Technology Inc. develops high-performance chipset and module solutions for the consumer market. Its initial product is L1-GPS-centric, and now its products cover L1, L2, L5, L6 band GPS/GLONASS /Beidou/Galileo/QZSS/NavIC/SBAS applications.
For the past decade, widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles (AV) has been just over the horizon — that imaginary line that recedes as you approach it.
It has been delayed mainly by technical issues, which will eventually be followed by legal and regulatory ones, mainly regarding liability, and by a struggle to gain public acceptance. When they finally reach the mass market, however, AVs will reduce traffic fatalities by at least an order of magnitude because they do not get distracted, drunk, drowsy or enraged and are much better able than humans to gauge distances and speeds.
Additionally, they will be able to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure, which will not only further improve safety but also reduce congestion and fuel consumption via the adoption of techniques such as convoying.
Logically, even if AVs only somewhat reduced traffic fatalities (about 38,000 per year in the United States), the public should welcome them with open arms. In reality, though, the reaction to even a single death caused by an AV — like the one in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018 — can set AV deployment back years.
Therefore, car manufacturers are challenged to develop AVs that can navigate extremely safely in a wide range of traffic, road and weather conditions. For more than a century, human drivers have routinely managed sudden obstructions, poor visibility and dangerous behavior by other drivers that still bedevil their new robotic counterparts, despite the sensors, microprocessors and algorithms at their disposal.
The primary technological obstacle to widespread deployment of AVs on roads is “the complexity of the system and the amount of time that it takes to develop a functionally safe autonomous vehicle,” said Steve Ruff, general manager of Trimble’s On-Road Autonomy Division, which develops positioning solutions for autonomous vehicles that operate on public roadways. He cites the time required to develop “a comprehensive, safe, autonomous vehicle technology stack” and points out that “we are on the verge of going from level two to level three, which requires the driver to stay engaged in the driving experience in case the autonomous system has a problem.”
Multiple sensors
While AV developers are exploring different ways of obtaining reliable sub-centimeter positioning accuracy, all generally rely on collecting data from multiple sensors on the vehicle and applying an algorithm to synthesize the data in real time and generate a continuous, accurate position. Computer vision, radar and lidar play important roles in an AV by perceiving its surroundings and localizing it to an a priori map. This functions well in feature-rich urban environments, but can degrade in sparse highway settings.
Radar has good ranging accuracy, but is unable to detect and recognize traffic signs and road markings. Lidar has even greater ranging accuracy but is challenged in featureless areas, such as straight highways and country roads. Digital cameras are good for detecting objects and navigating in tunnels and urban canyons, but, like lidar, are less effective on featureless roads and in low visibility conditions (rain, fog, darkness, snow, sun glare).
Plus, they are challenged by the absence of road markings or the presence of construction. Inertial navigation systems (INS), while excellent at compensating for brief GNSS outages, can only guide vehicles for short stretches due to their inherent drift. (INS are essential on aircraft and vessels, whose attitude is constantly changing, but that is not relevant for vehicles, which travel essentially flat relative to, and at a constant distance from, the road surface.)
GNSS and Corrections
Satellite navigation plays a central role in an AV. At a minimum, it guides it from a trip’s origin to its destination, including stops or waypoints in between, the same way it would advise a human driver. It also continuously alerts the vehicle to upcoming stops, slowdowns, turns, congestion and other challenges that are already mapped—whether long in advance by map makers or moments earlier via crowdsourced updates. Finally, if sufficiently accurate, it can steer the vehicle to keep it in the center of its lane and to make smooth lane changes and turns. Determining on which road a vehicle is requires an accuracy of less than 5 meters; determining in which lane it is requires an accuracy of less than 1 meter; and determining where in the lane it is requires an accuracy of less than 0.5 meters.
Two kinds of GNSS corrections are commonly used for AVs: real-time kinematic (RTK) and precise point positioning (PPP). RTK, which is generally accurate to the centimeter level, relies on ground-based reference stations at fixed, surveyed locations that process and transmit error-corrected signals to receivers within a 10- to 20-kilometer range, typically in real-time via a cellular link. PPP, which is accurate to the tens of centimeters, uses a global network of ground stations to generate an accurate signal, and transmits it to subscribers via the internet or geostationary satellites. However, the receiver in the vehicle needs 20 to 60 minutes to align with the PPP signal before it can rely on it.
Both RTK and PPP are established in industries such as mining, construction and precision agriculture, where vehicles operate in controlled environments with little or no traffic. AVs on public roads present a far greater challenge. A car’s typical range far exceeds that of any RTK base station, and base stations can also have down time, while in-vehicle systems must use multi-frequency receivers to reduce the convergence time of the PPP signal. In case of outage of either the GNSS signal or the correction signal, the vehicle’s system must rely on data from its other sensors and recover swiftly from the error state.
Trimble’s RTX is road ready
The first PPP service in commercial use for passenger vehicles is Trimble’s RTX, which provides real-time, centimeter-level positions via IP/cellular connection or satellite broadcast worldwide. It delivers positioning via satellite to GM’s Super Cruise, a hands-free driver assistance feature for use on limited access freeways.
“We’re GNSS receiver-agnostic,” said Steve Ruff of Trimble’s On-Road Autonomy Division. “We’ll use any receiver that’s preferred by the OEM building the AV.”
Image: Trimble
Trimble, he recalled, became GNSS agnostic with regard to automotive navigation nearly 15 years ago, when it decided to get out of the commercial-grade or consumer-grade GNSS business. “It has worked out quite well, because not only can we meet the quality costs and performance targets of our OEM customers, it also allows us to do what we’re good at. We can take our positioning solution, adapt it to work with any measurement engine, and put together a solution that fits the OEM’s requirements just right.”
Automotive companies, Ruff explained, generally have certain requirements for the GNSS receiver, including certain standards for application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) and automotive safety integrity level (ASIL), as well as meeting their accuracy requirements. “So, if the receiver has suitable code and carrier phase measurements that can support their accuracy level, then that will be the third requirement for the receiver for the automotive segment.”
For off-road vehicles for agriculture, construction and mining, Trimble only uses its own receivers, said Thomas Utzmeier, general manager of the company’s Off-Road Autonomy Division. Their requirements center on precision, position availability in challenging environments, and integrity of the position. “In the use cases on which we are working,” Utzmeier said, “we certainly see sub-decimeter accuracy. We are targeting probably three, four, sometimes five centimeters.” In more challenging use cases, GNSS plus sensor fusion — including INS and optical data — maximizes position availability and accuracy, he explained.
For the on-road segment, Ruff’s division offers a “positioning stack” that includes corrections, the GNSS position algorithm and inertial fusion. “Then we provide services to help the OEMs take our software and integrate it on the platform of their choice.”
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.”
Partnership combines Aceinna’s integrated precise positioning and advanced guidance expertise with ST’s products, technologies and solutions.
Innovative sensing technology company Aceinna Inc. has joined the STMicroelectronics Partner Program to make its inertial measurement unit (IMU) and real-time kinematic (RTK) precise positioning solutions available to engineers and developers working on next-generation solutions that safely and accurately position autonomous automobiles, trucks, robots and delivery vehicles.
Aceinna is also participating in the Virtual ST Developers Conference on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, which discusses precise positioning for autonomous vehicles. Register here.
“By leveraging ST technology, Aceinna is providing customers with vertically integrated performance sensing platforms,” said Yang Zhao, CEO of Aceinna. “These system-level solutions help customers greatly accelerate development time as well to reduce the time to market for new autonomous vehicle technologies.”
“The ST Partner Program helps customers’ design teams access extra skills and resources to aid engineering development and shorten time-to-market for new products,” said Alessandro Maloberti, partner ecosystem director, STMicroelectronics. “By selecting, qualifying, and certifying our program partners like Acennia Inc., we are taking yet another major step in helping customers accelerate design and development, and ship to market the most robust and efficient products and services.”
STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, created the ST Partner Program to speed customer development efforts by identifying and highlighting to them companies with complementary products and services. The program’s certification process assures that all partners are periodically vetted for quality and competence.
Vision-RTK enables applications in previously unreachable areas and unlocks new possibilities for autonomous ground robots and drones
At this year’s Intergeo Digital event, taking place Oct. 13-15, Fixposition is debuting the Vision-RTK positioning sensor, a compact centimeter-accurate solution with high reliability and availability in environments that are challenging for traditional GNSS.
Photo: FixPosition
The Vision-RTK’s sensor-fusion algorithm is based on the deep integration of satellite, camera and inertial sensors, and enables unprecedented reliability and availability in diverse and challenging applications, the company stated.
“The highly integrated nature of our Vision-RTK sensor and our deep expertise in computer vision and real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS enabled us to implement completely new approaches in sensor fusion, resulting in previously unseen performance,” said Lukas Meier, CTO and co-founder of Fixposition.
Traditional GNSS sensors suffer from limited reliability in GNSS-challenging and denied areas. On the other hand, standalone computer vision is sensitive to light conditions (such as snow, strong sunlight and rain) and struggles in situations where there is a lack of features such as cornfields and grass. Errors accumulate over time with standalone inertial technology, causing large drifts.
As a result, devices using either sensor are limited in their range of operation and are likely to fail in certain conditions. Fixposition’s solution increases the potential of these sensors with its unique sensor-fusion technology by increasing the trustworthiness of the positioning accuracy and the range of operation in different environments.
The real-time sensor fusion provides centimeter-accurate absolute positioning at any time, in any outdoor environment. This small module integrates two RTK-GNSS receivers and visual inertial navigation, and is suitable for applications where size and accuracy are of paramount importance.
The dual-receiver configuration, together with Fixposition’s advanced algorithms, provides a true-heading output and increased resistance to electromagnetic radiation.
The sensor provides USB and Wi-Fi connectivity and a web interface. It enables straightforward integration in state-of-the-art autopilot control systems for drones and robots. It’s also plug-and-play compatible with platforms such as PX4, ROS and Apollo.
For ground robotics and drones applications, Vision-RTK increases the device uptime and efficiency while enabling new market segments in areas previously inaccessible. For end-device manufacturers, this technology eliminates the need for an in-house development of advanced localization solutions, shortening their sales cycle and reducing costs and investments.
Visit the Fixposition booth and meet the team at Intergeo Digital 2020 to learn more about the Vision-RTK sensor.
The new INS-DU delivers high-accuracy RTK positioning for air, land and marine applications
Photo: Inertial Labs
Inertial Labs has released a new GPS-aided inertial navigation system (INS). The INS-DU is a high-performance strapdown system that determines position, velocity and absolute orientation to any platform it is mounted to.
The INS-DU has a dual-antenna u-blox GNSS receiver that provides 1-cm real-time kinematic (RTK) position from RTCM 3 RTK corrections and supports a wide range of GNSS constellations.
Designed for UAVs, land vehicles and marine vessels, the INS-DU is an effective, low-cost solution that uses a range of aiding data for different applications. With highly accurate navigation in GNSS-denied environments, the INS-DU delivers a cost-effective GNSS-denied solution, according to Inertial Labs.
One of the key elements to the success of the INS-DU is its use of the miniAHRS, which utilizes 3-axes each of precision magnetometers, accelerometers and gyroscopes to provide orientation of the device under measure. It contains cutting-edge algorithms for the motion of robots, unmanned and autonomous vehicles, and antennas.
MiniAHRS mini fluxgate magnetometers have an advantage over commonly used magneto-inductive or magneto-resistive alternatives and have been a trusted North reference for more than 70 years.
The INS-DU provides a full navigation solution for both GNSS and GNSS-denied environments. With custom interfaces and a power consumption of two and a half of a Watts, the INS-DU is a versatile solution fit for a wide variety of users with power consumption restrictions.
In addition, the INS-DU contains our on-board sensor-fusion filter, state-of-the-art navigation, and guidance algorithms and calibration software.
Depending on your age, 30 years represents a varying opinion of time. For some, it may seem like forever; for others, it may be a blink of an eye. In respect to technology, it can represent a complete change in the way we do things.
When we turned the calendar page to January 1990, our world had yet to experience the internet, the Hubble telescope had not been deployed to share its fantastic views, and The Simpsons television series was preparing to become the cartoon juggernaut it remains today.
Yes, lots has changed since 1990, and surveying is no exception.
Most professions look back through their history and see various periods where discoveries and inventions revolutionized how the work was completed.
For surveyors, the past 30 years have contained more advancements than all other years combined, with the greatest achievement being the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). With the United States leading the way with its Global Positioning System and the civilian ability to use this measuring system, modern surveying was forever changed.
Solar and lunar observations replaced
Before the implementation of a satellite navigation system, true global navigation was only computed using solar and lunar readings under specific conditions. GPS provided a new frontier for surveyors to establish positions without having to perform traversing from known points or collecting solar/lunar observations.
As the constellation grew, it became easier to use GPS to gain initialization for accurate and redundant position determination. As processor speeds and data storage capability increased, real-time kinematic (RTK) observations became the norm for surveyors everywhere.
The Russian satellite constellation, GLONASS, began operating fully in the late 1990s, and is now included to create today’s GNSS. More satellites provide more coverage, which in turn means more data collection potential.
Many nations and regions are building their own constellations to augment the current GNSS lineup, and also to safeguard the ability to obtain geographic locations when other systems are not available.
Bathymetric surveys made easy
GNSS capability and integration revolutionized several aspects of surveying, including a new and more reliable way of performing bathymetric surveys over large bodies of water. Computerized depth sounders were programmed to coincide readings with GNSS data collection to provide a more accurate and precise method of hydrographic surveying.
The past decade has continued the reliance on GNSS technology with many more devices and applications — not just for the surveyor, but for the public as well. While surveyors are using GNSS receivers on unmanned vehicles such as UAVs and boats, satellite navigation has infiltrated into many of our everyday routines. Cellphones, fitness trackers and our automobiles use this technology to guide us to our destinations.
Surveyors have used the GNSS revolution to create a digital world for better data collection, asset management and increased efficiency. Much has changed in 30 years for the surveyor and the world around us, so we should not be surprised about what technology will bring us next.
Using RTK’s pinpoint-level location data in the Verizon network is a building block to bring to scale emerging technologies such as driverless city zones, expansion of precision agriculture and drone delivery.
Verizon has launched what it calls hyper-precise location using real-time kinematics (RTK) to provide accuracy within one to two centimeters on the Verizon network.
Verizon has built and deployed RTK reference stations nationwide so that compatible internet of things (IoT) devices can receive the higher accuracy. Verizon is working to make RTK accessible with myriad device makers.
RTK will also support emerging technologies that depend on high-level location accuracy, such as delivery drones and customer-approved location data for first responders in emergencies.
RTK technology reduces the cost and risk associated with inaccurate location data, Verizon said in a press release. “Billions of IoT devices across a multitude of industries will benefit from improved location accuracy, with hyper-precise location information enabling a host of new services.
“For instance, robotics at distribution centers will be able to perform more efficient, accurate and safe logistics operations. More accurate positioning can help speed deployment of high-value assets in emergency situations to the precise location, and more precise tracking of emergency equipment can provide faster redeployment in disaster response scenarios.”
The rollout of its hyper-precise location services along with Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network and 5G Edge will pave the way for more autonomous technologies, the company said.
“We are scaling RTK to enable mobile location accuracy to within a few centimeters, transforming what is currently possible when it comes to location-enabled services and new IoT solutions coming onto the market,” said Nicola Palmer, chief product development officer for Verizon. “Continued growth in the IoT environment means billions of devices in fields where precision location services are becoming more critical, such as vehicle automation, unmanned aerial vehicles, precision agriculture technology, infrastructure monitoring, asset tracking and high-value shipping.”
Image: 4X-image iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images
Reimagining road safety
In partnership with HERE Technologies, Verizon is building next-generation technologies for vehicle and pedestrian safety using hyper-precise high-definition mapping and RTK.
This work paves the way for connected services that are designed to drive road safety improvements. By creating a vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication system equipped with hyper-local location accuracy, collision avoidance applications can precisely identify vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles, and relay the information through Verizon’s 5G Edge and HERE’s AI to predict likely travel paths and warn vehicles of impending potential collisions. This partnership is one of multiple recent initiatives Verizon has taken to increase road safety.
“Moving beyond the static fidelity of satellite-based location data enables an exciting new generation of connected, autonomous experiences,” said Jørgen Behrens, SVP, chief product officer at HERE Technologies. “By pairing HERE’s live, hyper-precise HD Map and HD Positioning technologies with intelligent RTK algorithms, and making that scalable, Verizon is putting a transformative level of location insights into the hands of developers and consumers alike.”
Powering the autonomous future
Hyper-precise location accuracy will be critical to advancing autonomous driving and together, Verizon and Renovo are ushering in a new era of transformative solutions critical for the future of autonomy on the road. These solutions leverage machine learning and RTK technology, powered by a combination of next-generation solutions such as 5G.
“RTK is a critical technology for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). Accurate positioning helps ADAS vehicles navigate better, drive smoother, and react faster to the surrounding environment,” said Christopher Heiser, CEO and Co-Founder of Renovo. “Nationwide, reliable RTK networks make for a viable way to deliver these enhanced capabilities to mass-market cars and trucks. For companies that manage the huge datasets that power next-generation vehicle platforms like Renovo, this is very exciting.”
IoT devices currently using RTK can be accessed and managed through Verizon’s ThingSpace management platform and APIs.
