The profession of land surveying has taken advantage of many technological location and measuring advancements, yet most of the data collectors used today are still based upon aging proprietary data collectors and even older operating system platforms.
A common tool for most surveyors is the smartphone or tablet, so TerraGo developed an application that takes advantage of the nimble programming of iOS and Android.
The TerraGo Edge 4 mapping application utilizes all the best features of today’s mobile technology, according to TerraGo. Besides an intuitive interface, Edge 4 allows users to customize how their data is collected and presented, including overlays on Google and Apple maps.
Depending on the user’s needs, Edge 4 can use the device’s Bluetooth connection to an external GNSS receiver for greater accuracy.
Sharing is also easy with publishing and ArcGIS exporting plug-ins, all in a mobile environment most users are familiar with using every day, the company said.
GPS and GIS features include:
Sub-meter and centimeter precision
Real-time GPS monitor
Full NMEA GPS metadata display and capture
GPS accuracy settings
RTK support
Dynamic BT device list
Auto-record GPS Lines and Polygons
Import and export Esri file geodatabase, Shapefile, KML, CSV, JSON
TerraGo Edge version 4.0 offers a completely redesigned app based on customer feedback, field user observations and task-centered design cycles, as well as a host of new features including the addition of Google and Apple basemaps.
“The new interface is so much more than just a ‘look and feel’ change; it will allow us to more efficiently execute projects and improve data quality in less taps and less time, which is a force multiplier when you’re talking about thousands of data points per day,” said Scott Riccardella, director of oil and gas business development at Structural Integrity Associates. “Having the right tool is essential to getting any job done right, and TerraGo is ahead of the game when it comes to giving my field teams the best possible tool for the fastest, most accurate and highest-quality asset inspections.”
“We have completely rebuilt the mobile user interface from the ground up to improve all aspects of the app’s performance, and while users will notice the stunning graphics and aesthetics, the real value is that the feature or data you need is always just one tap away,” said Dave Basil, vice president of product development at TerraGo. “By incorporating the latest native design elements like tabbed navigation, responsive split screens and adaptive list views, we found ways to improve the speed and efficiency of the work our customers do every day.”
TerraGo Edge’s latest features include:
Reimagined user experience: Rebuild of the Edge mobile user interface incorporating both years of user feedback from the field and interactive design cycles with live users.
Google and Apple maps: Standard, satellite and hybrid maps are available for data collection and are paired with new precise location pin icons for a cutting edge data collection experience.
Tabbed app navigation: With the new, easier to reach tabbed navigation, it’s easier to collect data in the field.
Quick capture button: Allows users to create notes, complete forms, take photos, drop points and draw lines/polygons from virtually anywhere in the app, with only one tap.
Unlimited attachments: Now users can attach as many forms, photos or videos as you would like to a single note.
Responsive split screen view: When holding a tablet or larger mobile device in landscape mode, new split screens will automatically allow userse to view lists/maps or lists/details on one screen.
Detailed list view: The new detailed list view shows more of the important note data making it easier to find notes, and enables one-tap actions directly from the list.
One-tap forms and maps lists: Now users can view all the form templates, and instantly create notes using them, or view all your offline maps and directly access them, from one master list.
Precise location: Users can capture a more accurate location when creating notes by using the center crosshair target and coordinate level accuracy for dropping points and drawing lines/polygons.
Filter by map extent: This new feature keeps the notes on a map and in a list dynamically in sync.
Quick basemap preview: Preview online and offline basemaps in real-time from the selection screen to choose a map with one tap and no toggling back and forth.
Arc2Edge plug-in: ArcGIS Desktop users can directly share maps and features with mobile users, allowing them to roundtrip updates and new features from the field back to ArcGIS.
The TruPoint 300 total station by Laser Technology.
Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) has released its TruPoint 300 for field data collection and mapping, as well as producing +/–1 millimeter range accuracy. It is a fully integrated laser with vertical and horizontal angle encoders capable of producing 3D, survey-grade measurements.
The TruPoint 300 is LTI’s first phase-technology product with a laser diode that emits light pulses with a distinct wavelength and pulse repetition frequency that obtains millimeter accuracy.
The fully integrated MapStar Angle Technology make the Trupoint 300 suitable for GIS, incident mapping, crush analysis, surveying, electric utilities, architecture and construction.
It will measure the distance between two remote points and has onboard solutions for volume, height, and 2D and 3D area, the company said. Professionals can navigate through measured data, routines, and menus with a full-color touchscreen.
In addition, the laser features an integrated red-dot visual indicator and crosshair with four-power zoom camera, which makes taking measurements easier, especially indoors, LTI said. The unit will also capture a photo of every shot taken that includes raw measurement values and onboard calculations.
Both photos and data can be stored in a CAD-friendly format for professional documentation. With Bluetooth and WLAN, professionals can communicate with apps and transfer X-, Y-, Z-point data files with images.
Several measurement and mapping apps designed by LTI are expected to be released in the coming months. Besides professional-grade lasers for mapping, LTI also provides a line of recreational rangefinders by Bushnell for golfing and hunting.
French space agency CNES has made available two applications on the Google Play store for Android apps. Both are compatible with Android N (Nougat).
RTCM Converter: This app aims to convert the smartphone GNSS raw measurements to Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM message type 1077) and send them to a caster, for use by third-party software.
PPP WizzLite: This app is a port of the CNES PPP client (code and Doppler only, light version) on Android. Accuracies of 1-2 meters can be reached in kinematic mode, and sub-meter in static mode (using external SBAS data). To do so, users need to pull external RTCM streams for orbits/clocks corrections and broadcasts, such as ones available from the International GNSS Service Real-Time Service (IGS RTS).
Both apps have been validated on a Nexus 5X device with no phase support.
As government agencies expand their use of cell-site simulators or “stingrays” and other digital tracking technology, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Rep. John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich., introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (known as the GPS act) to create clear rules for when agencies can access and track an individual’s geolocation information.
Chaffetz introduced the House version of the bill on March 6, with four Republican and three Democratic cosponsors. Wyden introduced the Senate bill Feb. 15.
Courts have issued conflicting opinions about whether the government needs a warrant to track Americans through their cell phones and other GPS devices. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2012’s U.S. vs. Jones case that attaching a GPS tracking device to a vehicle requires a warrant, but it did not address other digital location tracking, including through cell phones, OnStar systems and consumer electronics devices.
The GPS Act applies to all domestic law enforcement acquisitions of the geolocation information of individual Americans without their knowledge, including acquisitions from private companies and direct acquisitions through the use of cell-site technology. It would also combat high-tech stalking by creating criminal penalties for surreptitiously using an electronic device to track a person’s movements, and it would prohibit commercial service providers from sharing customers’ geolocation information with outside entities without customer consent.
Wyden and Chaffitiz have now introduced versions of the GPS Act four times since 2011. Though hearings have been held, the Act has yet to make it out of committee for a vote.
“Outdated laws shouldn’t be an excuse for open season on tracking Americans, and owning a smartphone or fitness tracker shouldn’t give the government a blank check to track your movements,” Wyden said. “Law enforcement should be able to use GPS data, but they need to get a warrant. This bill sets out clear rules to make sure our laws keep up with the times.”
“Congress has an obligation to act quickly to protect Americans from violations of their privacy made possible by emerging technologies,” Chaffetz said. “As we welcome innovative technologies that help fight crime, we must be mindful of the potential for abuse. This bill will build a framework governing the use of geolocation and cell site simulator technologies.”
“We must enact the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act to require the government to obtain a warrant based on probable cause to compel companies such as cell phone service providers to disclose the geolocation information of their customers,” said Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13). “Geolocation tracking, whether information about where we have been or where we are going, strikes at the heart of personal privacy interests. The pattern of our movements reveals much about ourselves. When individuals are tracked in this way, the government is able to generate a profile of a person’s public movements that includes details about a person’s familial, political, professional, religious, and other intimate associations. That is why we need this legislation to provide a strong and clear legal standard to protect this information.”
Support for the Act
Technology and civil rights organizations praised the bill’s introduction.
Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union: “In today’s world, most Americans use cell phones or other electronic devices that are capable of tracking their every move, including visits to a mosque, doctor’s office, domestic violence shelter, or political rally. This information that the government should not be able to get without a warrant – yet law enforcement routinely fails to meet this standard. Congress should swiftly pass the GPS Act to protect this sensitive information.”
Gabe Rottman, deputy director of the Freedom, Technology & Security Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology: “As we move into the world of connected devices, and as the sheer number of these devices grow, location tracking becomes more accurate, and more revealing. Basic notions of American privacy necessitate passage of this important reform to require a warrant for location tracking.”
Amie Stepanovich, U.S. policy manager at Access Now: “Computer scientists have proven that even a few location points can be used to reveal incredibly broad and personal information about an individual. At the same time, ever more devices are collecting our location data. Law enforcement agencies are using an increasingly sophisticated array of technology to obtain that information without proper legal protections. What you don’t know can hurt you. Access Now applauds the GPS Act for protecting this sensitive information and mandating a warrant requirement for law enforcement access.”
Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation: “Geolocation data paints a detailed portrait of our daily lives that reveals sensitive information about us and our families — whether a visit to a children’s cancer specialist or to a church, synagogue or mosque. The government shouldn’t be able to track us without a warrant just because we use cellphones. The GPS Act ensures all Americans have strong legal protections for their geolocation data.”
Geographic data specialist Bluesky has secured funding from the United Kingdom’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, to investigate the potential of mobile phones for capturing accurate 3D spatial information.
Designed to reduce the costs of monitoring and managing essential infrastructure, such as overhead electricity cables, and mitigate the effects of potentially damaging vegetation, the Bluesky-led study will assess the feasibility of extracting 3D measurements from standard smartphone video footage.
Using specialist software and specially developed photogrammetric algorithms, it is possible to compute depth values for individual pixels within overlapping images taken from video to create dense 3D point clouds of an object or scene, Bluesky said.
Working in partnership with ADAS, an environmental consultancy, Bluesky will provide experience gained through previous data capture and management projects with electricity distribution network operator (DNO) companies in the UK and overseas.
The initial application of this innovative use of mainstream technology would be the accurate measurement of vegetation encroachment in the field for maintenance purposes. The company will also explore other applications of the solution in sectors such as forensics, insurance and emergency response.
World Market
DNO companies spend millions monitoring and maintaining clearance between trees and power lines, with the market potential in Europe alone estimated at £10 million per annum.
By using readily available mobile phone technology, Bluesky hopes to reduce this cost of overhead networks, both power and telecommunications, across the world, and provide managers with an easy-to-use and easy-to-update efficient audit trail.
Spireon Inc., an aftermarket telematics company for risk management and business optimization, will introduce its latest connected car solution, Kahu.
Photo: Kahu
Kahu is designed for dealers, providing streamlined lot management while delivering a new finance and insurance (F&I) profit center by offering consumers a modern location tracking and stolen vehicle recovery service, Spireon said.
Additionally, Kahu empowers dealers to grow service retention with car buyers by providing accurate vehicle data for proactive maintenance reminders that can improve vehicle health and keep vehicles within warranty.
“New car dealer margins have been flat for several years, driving a need to create new revenue and profit opportunities,” said Kevin Weiss, CEO at Spireon. “Connected cars are changing the industry, but dealers are receiving little value from this shift. Kahu changes that dynamic, giving dealers the tools they need before, during and after the sale to grow profits and benefit from the connected car revolution.”
Kahu includes an aftermarket GPS device and mobile apps for both dealers and their customers. The solution provides these features and benefits to dealers:
Lot Management — Dealers can manage inventory, track specific vehicle location, and see low-battery indicators using a mobile phone or tablet, streamlining operations and creating a better buying experience for consumers. Virtual geofences and after-hours alerts allow dealers to identify and recover stolen vehicles within minutes.
F&I Profit Center — Kahu offers dealers a high-value add-on for consumers who seek peace of mind with a next-generation vehicle recovery service and an arsenal of easy-to-use mobile features. From 24/7 vehicle location visibility, so consumers can track their vehicle and family at all times, to smart alerts for speeding and low battery, Kahu is an attractive add-on that safeguards consumers while driving dealer profit.
Customer Loyalty — Kahu uses GPS-based mileage tracking to improve the accuracy of service reminders and increase service retention. Consumers benefit by being able to maximize warranty protection and ensure recommended service intervals are maintained.
“Our partnership with Spireon has paid for itself tenfold,” said Jon Hansen, general sales manager, Burien Nissan. “Being able to offer a product that I find value in to our customers and making it a revenue generator for the dealership is really big for us. I would absolutely recommend Spireon to other dealerships.”
Spireon’s aftermarket GPS devices are installed on more than 3.5 million vehicles and offered by 14,000 dealerships across North America. With Kahu, car dealers and consumers now have access to state-of-the-art mobile location services, which protect their vehicle assets and can lead to reduced insurance premiums.
Kahu is already installed with a select group of early adopter customers, and will be generally available in the second quarter of 2017.
U.K.-startup Focal Point Positioning has unveiled two new positioning technologies. S-GPS and D-Tail represent step changes in consumer GPS processing and smartphone indoor positioning, the company said.
S-GPS is a new signal processing, sensor fusion and machine learning scheme that dramatically improves the accuracy and availability of satellite-based positioning signals, the company said. The patent-pending S-GPS technology provides increased sensitivity and multipath mitigation capabilities that allow modern smartphones to maintain accurate GPS fixes deep indoors and in complex urban environments.
The improvements have the capability to address challenging navigation problems such as locating emergency mobile phone calls, navigating autonomous vehicles through dense urban environments, and improving consumer interaction with location-based services (LBS).
D-Tail is a human motion modeling system that can accurately track users in three dimensions using the inertial sensors in their smartphone or wearable devices. The result is a precise trace of the user’s motion, better than the detail and accuracy provided by dead-reckoning and Wi-Fi fingerprinting techniques. D-Tail is designed to improve the performance and accuracy of activity tracking apps and LBS analytics.
The company is starting to engage with chipset manufacturers to deploy the technologies in smartphones, according to founder and CEO Ramsey Faragher.
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Here are the nominees for Top GNSS/PNT News Story 2016.
Stabilized system turns smartphones into intelligent motion cameras
Drone-maker DJI has launched the Osmo Mobile, an extension for smartphones that turns them into intelligent, precision camera systems.
Using DJI’s signature three-axis gimbal stabilization and SmoothTrack™ technology, the Osmo Mobile enables smartphone users to shoot effortless, high-quality photos and videos on the go.
In combination with the DJI GO App, cinematic photos and videos can be live streamed or shared instantly on various social media channels. DJI’s ActiveTrack function allows users to simply tap the screen to automatically create perfectly framed shots of objects in motion. Users no longer have to choose between directing a shot or taking part in it.
“DJI continues to revolutionize the way we capture and share memories,” said Frank Wang, DJI CEO and founder. ” The Osmo Mobile combines the best of DJI’s beloved Osmo smart stabilization technology with the robust DJI GO app. This is a breakthrough, allowing smartphone users unprecedented control of and creative possibilities for their devices.”
The Osmo Mobile’s three-axis stabilization technology increases precision down to 0.03 degrees of accuracy. In combination with DJI’s SmoothTrack technology, which compensates for shaking and small movements, the Osmo Mobile makes it easy for anyone to capture smooth, cinematic shots.
By using the trigger control, users can access various modes, as well as switch between the phone’s front and rear cameras. Camera settings, such as ISO, shutter speed and white balance are reachable directly onscreen.
The Osmo Mobile is compatible with most recent smartphone models, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s Plus, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Huawei Mate 8. It should accommodate any Android or iOS smartphone with a width between 2.31 and 3.34 inches.
Features of the Osmo Mobile include:
Three-axis stabilization
Intelligent SmoothTrack
User-friendly DJI GO App with powerful functions (including ActiveTrack, Motion Time lapse, Live Stream, Panorama, Long Exposure, Camera Settings)
Trigger control (double-tap for re-center, triple-tap to change between front and rear-end camera, long press for locking gimbal direction)
Different operation modes (Standard, Portrait, Flashlight and Underslung)
Swedish-based survey and GIS equipment maker Satlab Geosolutions is offering a multi-purpose handheld that sends centimeter-level NMEA position data to the user’s tablet or smartphone.
The SLC RTK handheld brings professional high-precision positioning in a new design concept with Bluetooth connectivity for Android, Windows and iOS Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) smart devices, according to the company.
Alternatively, it can be used as a fixed sensor for any compatible NMEA driven positioning application.
The design includes a mounting plate to attach the user’s tablet device so it acts as the SLC’s display. Connectivity also is available via a USB/RS232 port. With a built-in wireless modem and optional remote antenna and pole- or fixed-mount accessories, the SLC can be configured as a sensor for machine control or other mobile applications.
SLC is flexible — it can be paired with data-collection software running on Windows, Android or iOS BLE with compatible applications. Its RTK positioning information can be used in numerous markets including land surveying, high-accuracy GIS, web-based facility management, utilities, pipelines, precise farming, hydrography, geophysics or aeronautics. With 32-GB internal memory, the SLC is also able to record RAW data to be used for post-processed applications.
The SLC has a built-in lithium ion battery and GNSS antenna for up to 12 hours of portable operation. It includes a Telit 3.5G GSM modem for operation as an RTK base or rover, transmitting or receiving corrections from NTRIP networks or via Satlab’s free Internet RTK service. Satlab Internet RTK allows users to stream corrections via IP to any of three Satlab servers around the world; any Satlab rover device can then connect to that same IP connection to receive full GNSS constellation corrections.
“Our new Scandinavian-designed SLC handheld is a different concept, offering RTK centimeter-level positioning at an incredible price in a flexible form factor,” commented Bjorn Agardh, CEO of Satlab. “With our simple SLC Toolbox software utility, users set up the SLC once, and it remains configured every time it’s used.”
The SLC comes in two configurations: as a handheld in a soft case with two tablet/panel mounting plates and a charging USB cable; or bundled with external geodetic antenna, cable and pole mount.
I didn’t get to this year’s IEEE/ION PLANS meeting in Savannah, Georgia, in April, but I did find a few papers that interested me. You might have read past articles of mine that looked at the challenges of indoor navigation. And, of course, unmanned vehicles technology also is one of my favorites.
So, I was pleased to find papers that addressed a few key issues for me:
An approach that employs cooperative smartphones to achieve about 3 meters indoor location.
Another look at the problems in using smartphone embedded GNSS for RTK positioning.
Relative positioning between UAVs using GNSS, radio and inertial, and also adding image processing in a GNSS denied environment.
Analysis of encounter-alerting issues for UAV detect and avoid systems.
Indoor navigation
Indoor navigation is an area which is seeing quite intense research, and several companies have now put initial products on the market. The general approach has been to use sensors within smartphones combined with radio-frequency (RF) signals which seem to be readily available in stores and malls which indoor location is finding commercial applications.
If a position can be generated by an internal GNSS receiver within the phone in an outdoor setting prior to entering a building, the trick is to carry that position forward as GNSS signals disappear when the user moves away from the entry area. Inertial sensors in the phone are usually not accurate enough to do this job on their own, so ranging using RF from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transmitters/beacons may be integrated to provide a position solution. Magnetic sensors in the phone have also been used to detect fixed metal structures within a building and use this data to aid location determination.
The problem is that you need an up-to-date database of where the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are located, and it has been taking a lot of work to map or “fingerprint” the interiors of buildings — and guess what, these “beacons” often are moved after a mall or store is mapped, so RF ranging can become quite inaccurate.
So, fearless investigators from the University of Buckingham and University of Northampton in the U.K. have come up with the concept of using ranging between cooperative smartphones to aid each other and achieve location accuracies of 5-10 meters.
While outdoors with good GNSS position, the inertial sensors in each phone are calibrated, each phone gets position using its internal GPS and a network is formed between the phones using their relative positions. Then when a phone goes inside the building, step counting is used to maintain relative positioning in the network. This can result in around 3 meters positioning for the interior phone.
Well, yes, not everyone has two other buddies waiting around so one guy can go in and find the classic comic store, but for applications such as firefighters, urgent/health care, and security/police, this approach might work well.
Cooperative smartphone location overview. (From “UNILS: Unconstrained Indoors Localization Scheme based on cooperative smartphones networking with onboard inertial, Bluetooth and GNSS devices,” H.S. Maghdid, A. Al-Sherbaz, N. Aljawad and I.A. Lami.)
Another paper looked hard at the options there might be to resolve problems with GPS performance which has previously precluded running RTK on smartphones. If we could achieve centimeter positioning on a mass-market basis, many current applications which are inhibited by cost, could become possible and revolutionize even the way we live. People have already used external solutions to solve some of the problems, but leading researchers at Texas U, with Broadcom and Radiosense support, may have come up with a self-contained solution.
It is known that there are issues with the capability of the GNSS chip and oscillator components in smartphones — the observables they produce are not currently of sufficient quality to sustain RTK performance. So these researchers worked with Broadcom, who supplied them with an Android smartphone, which provided access to raw code and carrier-phase outputs and was also able to process these measurements internally.
A smartphone’s Android software stack with the GNSS components and data flow highlighted. (From “On the Feasibility of cm-Accurate Positioning via a Smartphone’s Antenna and GNSS Chip,” T.E. Humphreys, M. Murrian, F. van Diggelen, S. Podshivalov, K.M. Pesyna, Jr.)
Carrier phase measurements in smartphones suffer from five anomalies not found in survey-grade GNSS receivers — but four of these can be fixed in post-processing. The remaining phase measurement error increases with time and precludes RTK centimeter-level positioning — it could be the result of round-off error due to processing limitations. Otherwise it seems possible that carrier-phase differential GNSS positioning might be achievable.
However, the researchers also studied antenna performance and found that its gain pattern was significantly affected by strong local multipath. The impact is that deep, unpredictable fading and large phase error will compromise centimeter-accurate positioning.
So we’re not quite there yet, but with a new smartphone version showing up almost every other year, it is always possible that researchers and manufacturers will eventually evolve designs in the right direction, and ultimately solve the problem.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Meanwhile, researchers at West Virginia University have been investigating methods to maintain relative positioning between UAVs in flight. With drone “swarms” and cooperative drone missions becoming more common, if a simple method could be derived to maintain relative separation, these applications could become more prevalent, especially in a GPS denied environment.
So, with only noisy ranging radios between UAVs, and an onboard navigation system solution on each vehicle, the researchers set about developing an algorithm which can maintain relative position. The solution is complicated by the geometry between the UAVs, how often range measurements are made, and the noise in those measurements. To constrain these variables, the study was run assuming the UAVs travel at the same altitude.
The study concluded that— provided the UAVs travel in the same direction, parallel to each other — that their algorithm could find a solution all the time. The focus of the study appears to be on determining hearing and relative bearing between the vehicles and results were varied depending on the frequency of range measurements, the amount of noise and the geometry. So a few steps forward along the path towards making drones work together in a hostile environment where GPS is jammed. (See “Cooperative Relative Localization for Moving UAVs with Single Link Range Measurements,” J. Strader, Y.Gu, J.N. Gross, M. De Petrillo, J. Hardy.)
Another study on the same problem of maintaining relative position between drones was also undertaken by West Virginia University, Systems & Technology Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory. However, their solution didn’t only use ranging between vehicles. It took advantage of inertial measurements on each drone, computer vision calculations derived from downwards looking cameras on both UAVs, and finally magnetometer measurements were also added into a Kalman filter solution.
UAV platform payload diagram and assumptions. (From “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Relative Navigation in GPS Denied Environments,” J. Hardy, J. Strader, J.N. Gross, Y. Gu, M. Keck, J. Douglas, C.N.Taylor.)
With several additional sensor measurements, the researchers were able to predict that relative positioning could be maintained in a GPS denied environment. They also considered ranging radio, magnetometer and vision update rates, and the performance/update rate of various quality inertial sensors. The principle objective is to enable accurate target hand-off between drones as one approaches the other. Overall, they found their model could support 10-meter-level position and 0.5 degree accuracy.
Finally, for safe operation of UAVs in the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS), minimum Detect and Avoid (DAA) standards for small to medium size UAVs are being developed for operations within drone-accessible airspace. DAA has to provide the “see and avoid” for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that pilots of manned aircraft use to avoid other aircraft. So surveillance sensor information needs to supply the UAV and the remote Pilot in Command (PIC) operator with the situational awareness needed to remain well clear of other aircraft.
Part of what DAA should provide are alerts working to universal standards for all UAS.
Zones used in alert evaluation. (From “Analysis of Alerting Performance for Detect and Avoid of Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” S. Smearcheck, S. Calhoun, W. Adams, J. Kresge, F. Kunzi.)
The research presented by CAL Analytics and General Atomics (with technical support and guidance by RTCA committee SC-228 and NASA) outlined the evaluation alerts generated when other aircraft are anticipated to penetrate into a well-clear volume around a UAV.
Alerts can be “missed,” “late” and “early” — all of which can impair DAA performance and safety and which need to characterized and mitigated. Sensors currently under consideration for use in DAA include Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), active surveillance transponder and airborne radar — this study looked at ADS-B and radar and the trade-off that they provide related to desirable and undesirable alerts.This analysis will likely feed into the development of UAS DAA alerting standards and requirements.
Typical DAA tracker approach. (From “Analysis of Alerting Performance for Detect and Avoid of Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” S. Smearcheck, S. Calhoun, W. Adams, J. Kresge, F. Kunzi.)
Radar surveillance errors were found to increase the probability of Missed, Late, Short, Early and Incorrect Alerts, all of which is bad news for radar. ADS-B surveillance errors increased the probability of Short, Early, and Incorrect Alerts. However, ADS-B did not lower performance as much as radar — better news for ADS-B. All levels of surveillance errors were seen to increase the amount of alerting jitter, with radar seeing the most significant undesirable effects.
Guardian UAS used in DAA tests.
Highly reliable, proven DAA systems are likely an essential part of the safety system for UAS if they are to become a regular part of operations in the NAS. General Atomics has tested a DAA system including GA’s Due Regard Radar (DRR) aboard a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Guardian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a maritime variant of the Predator B UAV. The DAA system also includes Honeywell’s Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and Sensor Tracker, specifically designed for DAA.
Schiebel Camcopter S-100 demonstrating detect and avoid system.
And, also in December of last year, a Schiebel Camcopter S-100 flew demonstration flights with an NLR-developed AirScout Detect and Avoid System. Two helicopters flew “intruder” profiles against the UAV during the demonstration. The Camcopter S-100 flew several scenarios and “unexpectedly” encountered an intruder aircraft. The system determined in real time the corrective action to maintain separation from the intruder aircraft.
So, progress on indoor navigation, research towards running RTK on smartphones, relative positioning between UAVs, and advances in Detect and Avoid solutions for UAVs. Something of a mixed bag, but all promise further progress around different solutions for a number of market navigation segments.
Live from ESRI in San Diego Focus on using RTK on mobile devices (iOS, Android) Sponsored by:NavCom Broadcast Date: Thursday, July 17, 2014
Topic: Using your iOS/Android Smartphone or Tablet with High-Precision GNSS Receivers. Moderator: Alan Cameron, Group Publisher, GPS World & Geospatial Solutions Keynote speaker: Eric Gakstatter, Editor, Survey Scene Newsletter Summary: The mobile device market has been in crazy-mode for the past two years. Every month, a new smartphone or tablet is introduced, giving geospatial more choices than ever before about what they can take into the field. A $200 7″ tablet? An iPad? A $1,200 ruggedized tablet? A Galaxy III smartphone? The mobile device smorgasbord is incredible. How do these devices behave as GIS data collection devices? Do they interface to high-precision GNSS receivers and other instruments? What are other companies using? Join us for a look at the benefits and pitfalls of using consumer-grade mobile devices for professional geospatial applications.
The profession of land surveying has taken advantage of many technological location and measuring advancements, yet most of the data collectors used today are still based upon aging proprietary data collectors and even older operating system platforms.
