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Tag: SAPA Premium

  • Sapcorda expands GNSS augmentation service for autonomous vehicles

    Sapcorda expands GNSS augmentation service for autonomous vehicles

    Image: Sapcorda
    Image: Sapcorda

    GNSS augmentation solution targets North America and Europe with safe and precise centimeter-level accuracy performance from two geostationary satellites.

    Sapcorda Services GmbH is now testing its GNSS augmentation services for the L-band signal in North America and Europe. The testing lays the foundation for a Dec. 1 launch of what Sapcorda said will be the strongest, most reliable GNSS augmentation signal for safety-critical navigation in autonomous vehicles and machinery.

    Available in areas without GSM coverage or mobile internet signal, the new Sapcorda L-band beam solutions from two geostationary satellites provide PPP-RTK data-feed redundancy in real-time by swapping to a second data feed when internet connectivity is not available. This automated swapping significantly improves reliability for life-critical applications such as autonomous cars.

    “To use GNSS in mass-market safety-critical applications, manufacturers need GNSS augmentation services that provide correction data with safety-critical positioning,” said Botho zu Eulenburg, CEO, Sapcorda. “By expanding our SAPA services with L-band transmission, we enable a high-power correction data stream for homogeneous performance and end-to-end data security with continental coverage in the United States and Europe — thus improving accuracy, reducing convergence time, and enabling the use of lower-cost receivers and antennae.”

    The Sapcorda L-band signal will be transmitted in the open SPARTN format, a format specifically developed for IP-based and geostationary satellite distributions. It will be invaluable for safety-critical applications in automotive (such as V2X and autonomous driving, AD/ADAS) and maritime, as well as a wide variety of uses across sectors such as industrial, robotics and drones.

    The L-band satellite beam coverage will be available on December 1, 2020. Sapcorda’s safe and precise augmentation (SAPA) service will broadcast SAPA Basic and SAPA Premium correction data streams.

    These data streams feature:

    • 99.9% service availability with fast convergence and an accuracy of less than 10 cm, delivering the precision required for safety- and life-critical applications
    • Redundancy through dual data streams when internet connectivity isn’t available, ensuring uninterrupted broadcast streaming
    • Demodulation by any L-band demodulator on the market, simplifying hardware design and reducing bill of materials
    • Availability of service coverage areas in North America and Europe, allowing manufacturers to use a single GNSS augmentation services’ solution for major global regions
    • Distributed in the same open format as IP-delivery channels (SPARTN)

    Sapcorda’s SAPA services are supported by experienced engineering teams dedicated to systems integrators and enterprise business customers. The Basic and Premium SAPA services for L-band signal operation begins in both regions on Dec. 1.

  • New Septentrio products to integrate Sapcorda GNSS corrections

    Septentrio has entered into a commercial agreement with Sapcorda, a global provider of sub-decimeter GNSS corrections.

    Through the collaboration with Sapcorda, Septentrio will pioneer an no-hassle corrections integration into a new line of products for the high-accuracy industrial market.

    These new products will consist of Sapcorda’s SAPA Premium corrections integrated directly into Septentrio’s latest GNSS receiver technology. The result is sub-decimeter accuracy, which is available to users right out of the box. This significantly simplifies the user’s GNSS receiver set-up process and eliminates the hassle of corrections service subscription and maintenance.

    Such GNSS receivers acquire corrections via internet as well as via satellite broadcast and deliver reliable, broadly available sub-decimeter positioning to high-volume industrial applications.

    Sapcorda integration program

    Sapcorda release its SAPA augmentation service integration program on May 14, following the launch of its SAPA Premium service. The integration program targets companies integrating GNSS chips or receivers and looking to enable their systems to perform in high-accuracy mode.

    The program offers step by step service integration and proof of concept guidance for upgrading the integrators’ GNSS systems to deliver down to centimeter-level positioning accuracy.

    The program also includes the offering of free service data, used to validate positioning performance on the target application. The program participants also receive commercial support for introducing the correction data on their marketed products.

    The SAPA service is delivered using optimized data format and can be integrated by modern or traditional high-accuracy receivers compatible with open standards such as SPARTN and RTCM.

    Sapcorda’s SAPA services are designed to bring high-precision GNSS positioning to mass market, as well as general industrial and automotive applications. The correction data stream is optimized for homogeneous performance and end-to-end data security with continental coverage in the United States and Europe.

    The service data transmission also provides unmatched low bandwidth consumption, with broadcast transmission via direct IP connection or geostationary satellite signal (L-band).

    Sapcorda was established in 2017 to provide an open approach to a safe, broadly available and scalable corrections service. By adding Sapcorda’s SAPA service to its corrections portfolio, Septentrio begins offering sub-decimeter accuracy with quick convergence time anywhere in the U.S. and Europe.

    Autonomous vehicles, robots

    “This collaboration allows both companies to bring innovative solutions, inspired by the growing market of autonomous vehicles and robots, to the high-accuracy industrial markets,” said Jan van Hees, business development director at Septentrio. “By integrating Sapcorda’s SAPA service into our products, we are completely removing the hassle of managing corrections for the customers. This means faster set-up times and worry-free, always-on high-accuracy positioning throughout the whole receiver lifetime.”

    “At Sapcorda our focus is on providing a high-accuracy service suitable for demanding applications where both performance and safety is critical. This includes land robots, UAVs, logistic applications and autonomous vehicles,” said Botho Graf zu Eulenburg, CEO at Sapcorda. “Septentrio’s field-proven high-precision GNSS receivers and their focus on reliability and robustness aligns perfectly with our mission and the capabilities of our SAPA services.”

    This broadens the range of Septentrio’s existing GNSS solutions, allowing the company to serve a wide range of customers with various requirements in terms of accuracy, operation location and scalability. Read Septentrio demystifies GNSS corrections for more about GNSS corrections and correction methods such as Sapcorda SAPA (PPP-RTK) service.