Trimble today introduced the Trimble BD930 module as part of its GNSS OEM portfolio. This small module features triple-frequency support for GPS and GLONASS plus dual-frequency support for BeiDou and Galileo constellations. Capable of receiving a wide range of commercially available GNSS signals, the 220-channel BD930 takes advantage of all available signals to provide optimal and reliable RTK centimeter positioning.
The announcement was made today at ION GNSS 2013 Conference and Exhibition.
“The OEM and system integrator communities trust Trimble to supply high performance, accurate and reliability positioning solutions for their systems,” said Ed Norse, portfolio manager of Trimble’s GNSS OEM modules. “The Trimble BD930 delivers the latest GNSS technology in an easy-to-integrate form factor for demanding conditions and applications such as high-precision navigation and control, robotics and lightweight unmanned vehicles.”
The triple-frequency Trimble BD930 (measuring 41 x 51 millmeters) is a small, yet powerful GNSS module specifically designed for applications requiring high accuracy in a compact package. Form-Fit-Function compatible with the Trimble BD920 receiver, the module tracks all available GNSS constellations including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.
The BD930 is designed for all levels of accuracy with an advanced engine that provides GNSS, DGNSS and RTK positioning in challenging environments such as under tree canopy and urban canyons. The BD930 allows for easy integration and rugged dependability. Flexible connectivity options — Ethernet, RS232 or USB — provide fast data transfer and easy configuration via standard Web browsers. External 10 MHz frequency input is supported for advanced applications.
The Trimble BD930 module is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2013 through the Trimble Precision GNSS + Inertial worldwide sales channel.
Settop Survey is offering the Settop Repeater, which allows network RTK rover use in areas of low- or non-GSM coverage by receiving differential corrections via radio. A new firmware update allows connection via any external radio to connect the repeater to precision agriculture systems or machine control. Repeater field application versatility is managed by intuitive software using a touchscreen.
The Topcon Tesla RTK handheld controller can serve as a network RTK rover. It is designed to maximize 3D measurement tasks and use of Magnet Enterprise. Magnet is a browser-based solution to manage field and office data in the cloud, as well as track assets and communicate on projects.
The Tesla RTK features an integrated RTK GNSS receiver, 5.7-inch touchscreen, Windows 6.5.3 OS, 806-MHz processor, built-in 3.2MP camera, 3.5G cellular modem, and Bluetooth/Wi-Fi ability.
Advanced Navigation has released Spatial Dual, its new dual-antenna GNSS/INS. Spatial Dual is a ruggedized miniature GPS-aided inertial navigation system and AHRS that provides accurate position, velocity, acceleration and orientation under demanding conditions. It combines temperature calibrated accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and a pressure sensor with a dual-antenna RTK GNSS receiver. These are coupled in a sophisticated fusion algorithm to deliver accurate and reliable navigation and orientation, the company said.
Spatial Dual contains the Trimble BD982 GNSS receiver, which is a triple frequency dual-antenna RTK GNSS receiver. Using dual-frequency moving baseline RTK, Spatial Dual is able to provide heading accuracy of less than 0.1 degrees using its dual antennas. The dual-antenna heading works while both stationary and moving and allows for very accurate heading in both slow moving and 3D vehicles, where equivalent single antenna systems must rely on magnetic heading. An additional benefit of the dual antennas is the ability to measure slip angle to within 0.2 degrees.
Spatial Dual supports all of the current and future satellite systems, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou. In addition, Spatial Dual supports RTK for centimeter positional accuracy and the recent Omnistar G2 network for 10 centimeter accuracy.
Spatial Dual provides position, velocity and orientation at rates up to 1000 Hz for highly dynamic applications. When Spatial Dual loses a GNSS fix it continues to navigate using dead reckoning inertial navigation to provide seamless navigation data through tunnels and other outage situations.
Spatial Dual is housed in a precision marine-grade aluminum enclosure that is waterproof and dirtproof to the IP67 standard and shockproof to 2000g, allowing it to be used in tough conditions.
Spatial Dual supports a wide range of peripherals including odometers and wheel speed sensors for ground vehicle navigation, DVLs and USBLs for underwater navigation and many other external sensors. It supports both industry standard NMEA output and an efficient binary protocol.
Leica Geosystems has announced the release of the Leica Viva GS14 GNSS receiver. The GS14 is designed to be the best-price performance GNSS receiver in its class. The built-in GSM and UHF radio, internal memory and IP68 protection fully equips a user for nearly any measuring task, providing a reliable, revenue-generating production unit, the company said.
When combined with the Leica Viva GNSS RTK, the GS14 creates a tightly integrated GNSS system ensuring the highest degree of flexibility, quality and reliability, Leica Geosystems said.
The compact Leica Viva GS14 offers comfort in the field and a variety of setups and operating options, the company said. The Viva GS14 can be used as a light-weight rover and as a base station. The Leica Viva GS14 further enhances the Leica Viva series by offering a complete range of GNSS and total station solutions combining precision with maximum versatility. Users gain speed and efficiency by reducing the number of setups and control points with the unique SmartStation, and the versatile SmartPole allows instant switching between GNSS and TPS with a simple icon tap, Leica Geosystems said. The system exceeds specifications going beyond industrial standards. Moreover, the temperature range from -40°C to +65 °C ensures a flawless performance even in most challenging working environments.
With Leica Geosystems’ SmartTrack and SmartCheck technology integrated, the Leica Viva GS14 tracks signals with the highest quality and constantly evaluates and verifies the RTK solution to ensure the most reliable RTK positions. Together with the innovative Leica xRTK technology, positions are delivered in difficult GNSS environments. The Leica Viva GS14 also is ready for future satellite signals.
The Leica Viva GS14 is available this month. Ordering information can be obtained from authorized Leica Geosystems representative.
Editor’s Note: This article reproduces the acceptance speeches given by the winners of GPS World’s 2012 Leadership Awards, at the Leadership Dinner in Nashville in September. The Leadership Dinner was sponsored by Lockheed Martin and Deimos Space.
Remarks by Todd Humphreys, Radionavigation Laboratory (director), University of Texas at Austin (assistant professor), winner in the Signals category. He is the leader of several seminal studies on spoofing and jamming, and he testified this summer before Congress on the subject.
It’s a genuine honor to receive this award. I’d like to thank Alan Cameron and all the contributors to GPS World. GPS World plays an essential role in building our GNSS community and keeping it together, providing GNSS news, instruction, and, indispensably, gossip!
I’d also like to thank my students at the University of Texas Radionavigation Lab. Much of the credit for this award goes to them.
The futurist Ray Kurzweil spoke at a conference I attended back in 2001. Maybe some of you have heard of Ray. He’s regarded variously as a prophet, or a crackpot. He’s taking hundreds of vitamins every day to keep himself alive until the singularity arrives, at which point he’ll download himself onto a robot and live forever, or at least he’ll have his head cryogenically frozen so that he can be downloaded and live forever later on.
In that 2001 talk, Ray made some bold predictions. One, in particular, I remember well. “Within the decade,” Ray assured us, “we’ll all be wearing special contact lenses that give us a permanant Internet feed directly to our eyeballs.”
Nonsense, I thought, and indeed it was nonsense. Here we are in 2012 and no such contact lenses exist, nevermind their being in widespread use.
I resolved back then that if I were ever called on to peer into the future and tell what I see, as Alan has asked me to do tonight, I’d be more modest about it.
So tonight I’m going to make a modest prediction, and only one of them. I predict that by the GPS World dinner in 2020, carrier-phase differential GNSS, or, if you prefer an adjective for what should be a noun, Real-Time Kinematic, will be cheap and pervasive. We’ll have it on our cell phones and our tablets. There will be app families devoted to decimeter- and centimeter-level accuracy. The consequences will be fantastic. And this will be enormously disruptive to the current precision navigation industry. This will be the commoditization of centimeter-level GNSS.
Now you may very well object to this prediction. You might point out that integer ambiguities will be difficult to resolve in the face of the near-field effects around and poor placement of the GNSS antenna in handheld units. You might also argue that the increased power requirements of carrier-phase techniques will be a dealbreaker for mobile devices. That’s all fine. I agree that those are hard problems. My students and I are looking into them, trying to overcome them.
But please don’t make as one of your objections the one that I’ve heard so many times: “Why would anyone ever want centimeter-accurate positioning in their cell phone?” Because I’ll object that your objection lacks imagination.
To see one example of what could be done with commoditized centimeter-accurate GNSS, I invite you all to a presentation by my students Daniel Shepard, Ken Pesyna, and Jahshan Bhatti tomorrow in the F5 Session (Millimeter-accurate Augmented Reality Enabled by Carrier-Phase Differential GPS). They’ll show off a crude box that we’ve built, through which, if you peer, you can see a sandcastle that’s not really there. And you can walk around the sandcastle and see it from all sides with centimeter accuracy.
Imagine when this technology is in our tablets! Or, better yet, when it’s in our glasses — or, I suppose, our contact lenses. Not that I’m making any predictions about contact lenses.
[Ed. For a short video demonstration of the RTK-enabled augmented reality box built by Todd Humphreys’ students, visit this site.]
Topcon Positioning Systems has unveiled the HiPer SR — an advanced GNSS RTK receiver that Topcon describes as having “the most compact and lightweight design of any fully integrated precision receiver — ever.”
With the HiPer SR, Topcon is expanding the delivery of high-accuracy RTK technology to a variety of users — surveyors who need a tool for small boundary or stakeout work, non-traditional users such as landscape architects who need a low-cost mapping solution, and law enforcement or any others requiring high-accuracy 3D positioning.
Cable-free and weighing under 2 pounds, the rugged and fully integrated design delivers a 1,000-foot working radius through Topcon’s new LongLink technology. The LongLink wireless data link was developed specifically for the HiPer SR, and provides reliable and interference-free RTK base-to-rover communications that don’t require an FCC license to operate, Topcon said. Base and rover units can be used interchangeably.
The HiPer SR can also be a dedicated network rover. All standard RTK correction formats and network protocols are supported, and a comprehensive range of field workflows are realized with the Magnet family of cloud-enabled software solutions.
The HiPer SR’s 226-channel Vanguard GNSS chip provides precision measurement and advanced multipath rejection, offers support for all modernized GNSS constellations, and incorporates Topcon’s patented Universal Tracking Channel technology whereby any channel can track any available signal, reducing power consumption and system weight. As more GNSS signals come online, this flexibility enables the 226-channel Vanguard design to scale up and track more signals than other GNSS systems.
Additional features of the HiPer SR include:
Quartz Lock Loop technology. Designed by Topcon engineers for superior GNSS tracking in high-vibration environments, such as on a four wheeler;
Capable of simultaneous LongLink operation with multiple rovers;
Sealed battery pack provides more than 15 hours of operation;
Lightweight and shock-resistant magnesium alloy housing, allowing the HiPer SR to take a 6 ft. (2m) pole drop onto concrete
Nexteq Navigation, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has announced the T5A, its new flagship multifunctional GNSS handheld data collector. The device is a high-accuracy GPS unit capable of 2-centimeter accuracy using real-time kinematic (RTK) and 50-centimeters globally using Nexteq’s i-PPP technology. With the T5A, users can achieve extremely accurate and consistent results anywhere in the world with no loss in flexibility, Nexteq said, adding that the unit’s centimeter-level precision coupled with versatility allows for accurate data collection in the most diverse weather conditions.
Suitable for projects in all-environments, the T5A has a professional quality internal GPS receiver that provides accurate real-time results. Using Nexteq’s Freedom, i-PPP, or RTK technologies, the T5A data collector can provide flexible and accurate positioning in all parts of the world, Nexteq Navigation said.
The T5A has a 3.7-inch color touchscreen that is both waterproof and dustproof. The device includes features such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, digital cellular data and voice, microSD card slots, and a 3.0 megapixel digital camera.
Like all Nexteq Navigation GPS handhelds, the T5A is a ruggedized and tough unit. The T5A has an IP66 rating with excellent dust and water resistance.
Nexteq Navigation has release the newest version of its NexGeo software line-up: NexGeo Mobile, NexPos and NexGeo Office. Optimized for Nexteq handhelds, NexGeo Mobile integrates Nexteq Freedom, i-PPP, and RTK positioning augmentation technology into a more reliable, user-friendly data collection software, the company said. With easy display of features, background images, labeling and attributes, data is readily collected, accessed and edited. The tracking feature now allows for efficient communication and management between field workers and the office. Raw data recorded in NexGeo Mobile can be used for post processing in NexGeo Office.
Those using third-party software with a Nexteq handheld are not left behind. NexPos was created with the intent of allowing freedom in benefitting from Nexteq position augmentation technology, the company said. The NexPos software acts as a bridge, applying Freedom, i-PPP, or RTK algorithms to GPS measurements. The final positions are transferred to third-party software via virtual COM port, allowing users to benefit from improved position accuracy while NexPos runs discreetly in the background. Raw data can also be recorded and used for post processing in NexGeo Office.
On the desktop, NexGeo Office ties together collected data, attributes, and post-processing information to provide efficient project management capabilities, data organization, live field monitoring and integration with a wide variety of other software, Nexteq said. Building and maintaining a project specific database is easy using NexGeo Office: import existing data, build on the project using a Nexteq handheld and transfer it back to the office for editing. Exporting the project to ESRI or AutoCAD file formats allows for users to seamlessly continue expanding.
NexGeo software suite is available and included with all Nexteq Navigation handhelds.
NovAtel Inc. today announced the development of its OEM625S Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) GNSS receiver, a collaborative effort between NovAtel and L-3 Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC).
System integrators have come to rely on the centimeter-level positioning accuracy made possible with real-time kinematic (RTK) commercial GPS receivers. Many authorized defense customers rely on access to the Precise Positioning Service (PPS) for single-point positioning. The OEM625S will combine a commercial dual-frequency NovAtel GNSS receiver with an L-3 IEC XFACTOR SAASM in a single card solution, reducing overall size and power requirements for end customer applications.
The OEM625S will maintain NovAtel’s OEMV-2 form factor, ensuring a successful drop-in replacement and backward compatibility for existing customers. Integrators can continue to use their existing user interface, which will be enhanced with OEM625S logs and commands for SAASM functionality.
NovAtel’s well-established, comprehensive set of software commands facilitates system integration, NovAtel said. The SAASM position is provided via a dedicated communication port, as well as through NovAtel’s software command protocol, allowing for maximum flexibility.
“For the past 17 years NovAtel’s customers have enjoyed great success in integrating our OEM family of high-precision receivers into a wide array of defense applications,” stated Graham Purves, executive vice president of NovAtel. “Adding the L-3 XFACTOR SAASM to our receiver card will allow defense customers to continue to use our products in the most demanding military environments.”
Ric Pozo, general manager of L-3 IEC’s Navigation Systems business unit, commented, “We are pleased to collaborate with NovAtel and provide the warfighter this highly flexible and capable GPS SAASM product. Our combined teams are looking forward to bringing this one-of-a-kind solution to market.”
NovAtel will accept orders for the OEM625S from authorized customers starting in the third quarter of 2012.
Nexteq, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, announces the release of its new RTK-F (Real Time Kinematic Float) positioning augmentation system for its T6 GNSS handheld (at right). RTK-F is well suited for demanding applications by providing the highest accuracy available for the T6, Nexteq Navigation said. With RTK-F, the T6 reaches a consistent 20-centimeter accuracy level, further improving upon the unit’s sub-meter level accuracy currently available with Nexteq’s Freedom or i-PPP point positioning technologies. The addition of RTK-F further enhances the flexibility of the T6 platform.
The T6 RTK-F augmentation system utilizes RTCM messages with code and phase corrections from reference networks or stand-alone base stations. These corrections can then be transmitted over the Internet with non-proprietary hardware, drastically improving efficiency and giving freedom of movement to the user with minimal latency, Nexteq said. Further, Nexteq Navigation’s upcoming T5A GNSS handheld can be used as a reference base station for RTK-F, eliminating the need for costly subscriptions to corrections from commercial sources.
Like all Nexteq Navigation handhelds, the T6 is a ruggedized and tough unit. The T6 has an IP66 rating with excellent dust and water resistance, Nexteq said.
In my 20-plus years of involvement in the GPS/GNSS industry, nothing has come close to the LightSquared debate for technical and political complexity, nor for potential effects on nearly every high-precision GPS/GNSS user in the United States. The industry’s destiny is somewhat controlled by a federal agency that is not very knowledgeable about how, when, and where GPS is used — although I’m sure they’ve learned a lot in the last 14 months.
While receiver manufacturers have a firm grip on the technical complications of what LightSquared proposed, they have jockeyed for market position, as information released to the public is filtered through their marketing heads. Finally, media coverage is all over the place, from “LightSquared is doomed” to “this will happen.”
On January 13, as we all know, the U.S. deputy secretaries for defense and transportation wrote, on letterhead of the Space-Based Positioning Navigation & Timing National Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM), to the head of the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA), declaring that “there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations that would permit the LightSquared broadband service, as proposed, to operate in the next few months or years without significantly interfering with GPS.”
On February 14, the NTIA director wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman in a similar vein with nearly the same language. That same day, the FCC stated its intent to “not lift the prohibition on LightSquared,” and to “vacate the Conditional Waiver Order, and suspend indefinitely LighSquared’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component authority.”
It just so happens that LightSquared cannot accomodate military GPS users nor aviation GPS users. Those of you who use high-precision GPS can thank your lucky stars that the military and aviation folks are standing in your corner. Otherwise, as I warned back in May of last year, high-precision users would have been thrown under the onrushing bus of national broadband.
In testimony to a House of Respresentatives subcommittee meeting on GPS and aviation in early February, the Transportation deputy secretary revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spent more than $2 million of taxpayer dollars with two different independent labs to conclude that LightSquared proposals were not compatible with several GPS-dependent air safety-of-flight systems.
Don’t expect the Department of Defense (DoD) ever to provide similar testimony. The Pentagon played its veto card off-air and out of the public eye.
LightSquared has continued to complain about GPS receivers “looking into our spectrum” as the reason for the interference GPS receivers are suffering. If you missed Richard Keegan’s December 2011 article in GPS World, you should take a look. He succinctly addresses this issue, as I did in my November 2011 Survey Scene column.
As LightSquared has clearly lost the engineering argument, it has taken a very creative approach in an attempt to convince the FCC that this isn’t an engineering problem, but rather all about the FCC rules. LightSquared petitioned the FCC to confirm that “GPS devices are not entitled to protection from interference.”
Crazy statement? If you think so, see if you recall reading this statement on equipment such as GPS receivers. It is on almost every electronic device that relies on radio signals.
“This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
“(1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.”
What if LightSquared can convince the FCC that GPS receivers do, indeed, fall within the confines of Part 15 of the FCC rules and aren’t entitled to interference protection? That’s what the company is trying to do, and that’s why this fight ain’t quite done.
Don’t underestimate the power of the White House pushing the National Broadband Plan, or of commercial interests — of which there are myriad — seeking to turn a buck on the hunger, whether real or only perceived, for limitless broadband. Even the transportation depsec allowed in his testimony as how “in the Obama administration, we believe deeply in what LightSquared is attempting to do, which is to make the Internet more accessible to more people all across the country. This is an urgent national priority.”
Communications for My RTK
Some people in the GPS industry who believe that the LightSquared service will do wonders for RTK operations, somehow replacing the communications methods we currently use (UHF/VHF, 900MHz, GSM/GPRS, CDMA, Wifi/Mifi, etc.). I disagree.
LightSquared was relying on Sprint’s infrastructure (~31,000 towers) for its terrestrial operations, supplementing them with ~3,400 LightSquared towers at some point. I’ve used Sprint’s mobile phone service for about 12 years and I used Sprint’s data card service for several years (not any longer). I pretty much know that Sprint is good for metro areas and poor for rural areas. Like other wireless providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.), Sprint is strong in some geographic areas, and weak in others. Since LightSquared is focused on serving people (densely populated areas) rather than geographic areas (e.g., farmlands), their terrestrial service is not going to be even close to being nationwide. LightSquared’s solution for areas not covered by their terrestrial service is to use satellite communications for Internet connectivity.
If you think you would enjoy ubiquitous coverage with satellite communications for your RTK operations, consider OmniSTAR’s service, which is in the same spectrum as what LightSquared proposed. OmniSTAR works great when there’s a clear view of the sky to one of OmniSTAR’s satellites (ironically, operated by LightSquared) such as in the agriculture industry. But I’ve used it a bit and — just like GPS — it doesn’t work in buildings, in vehicles, under trees, or in other obstructed-sky locations.
Can you imagine using a LightSquared mobile phone that doesn’t work in buildings, in cars, or under trees? You wouldn’t. Anyone who’s ever used RTK knows that spotty base/rover communications is the quickest way to spoil an RTK party. With GPS/GLONASS receivers allowing us to use RTK in places where we’ve rarely ventured before, the limitation wouldn’t be the number of navigation satellites in view, but rather if the LightSquared satellite was in view.
For those of you who heard that LightSquared might have been a good idea in order to make wireless mobile Internet access more affordable, I seriously doubt that statement as well. Documents in a huge Freedom of Information Act release by the FCC reveal what LightSquared was planning to charge its wholesale customers (not retail) when they were out of range of the terrestrial system and forced to use LightSquared’s satellite for wireless broadband. The wholesale cost of their satellite broadband service was to be $10 per megabyte (not gigabyte), an astonishingly high price for a company that’s been touting affordable, nationwide wireless broadband Internet service.
Upgrade Costs
A cool $2.4 billion was the official estimate given for aviation industry upgrades, should LightSquared have gone forward. I think that’s conservative because I doubt it covers the infrastructure upgrade cost (WAAS, GBAS, and so on) or the cost of NextGen program delays.
How about something closer to home? I queried the administrator of a statewide RTK network of 103 GNSS reference stations, and used his estimates to extrapolate national costs in that regard: 7,000 CORS receivers across the United States. They look like this: optimistic scenario, $64 million; likely,$92 million; worst-case scenario, $120 million.
Keep in mind that this is only the high-precision GPS/GNSS infrastructure in the United States. There are still hundreds of thousands of high-precision GPS/GNSS receivers owned by users across the country that would have to be upgraded. For many GPS receivers (think handheld), there will be no upgrade solution, so the manufacturer might offer trade-in credit for a new GPS receiver.
After spending time to understand the actual costs of accomodating LightSquared, one state legislator who initially voiced his support for LightSquared said “we can’t afford it.”
New Beginnings
Included in the NTIA report was a recommendation that, with time, GPS receivers could be redesigned in order to accomodate LightSquared’s 10L signal.
NTIA also reported that during the January 13 EXCOM meeting, it was agreed that “federal agencies will move forward this year to develop and establish new GPS spectrum interference standards that will help inform future proposals for non-space commercial uses in the bands adjacent to the GPS signals and ensure that any such proposals are implemented without affecting existing and evolving uses of space-based PNT services vital to economic, public safety, scientific, and national security needs.”
In summary, GPS/GNSS receiver designs will change in the coming years and move towards more efficient use of spectrum. To me, a critical statement in the NTIA letter to the FCC is “without affecting existing and evolving” — meaning that not only should GPS be considered, but also GPS-like systems from other countries such as Russia’s GLONASS, Europe’s Galileo, and other developing satellite navigation systems and applications.
ERIC GAKSTATTER is contributing editor for survey of GPS World, and editor of Geospatial Solutions.
