Treyki Mini relies on u-blox positioning and wireless communication technologies.
Photo: Arvento/u-blox
U-blox, a global provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies, is partnering with Arvento Mobile Systems, a Turkey-based fleet telematics company, to develop a compact people and asset tracking device with a long battery life.
The Arvento Treyki Mini has eight operating modes, including special settings for tracking children (with geofencing) and senior citizens (with an integrated fall sensor). It is also suitable for use in sports, racing and asset management. It can also be used as an emergency beacon.
The tracker has an onboard positioning receiver, and reports its location using an internal GSM/GRPS modem. It can operate for up to seven days from its 900mAh LiPo rechargeable battery before it needs to be recharged.
Photo: Arvento/u-blox
The Treyki Mini relies on the u-blox ZOE-M8Q concurrent multi-GNSS module to discover its location. This system-in-package (SiP) offering is 4.5 x 4.5 x 1.0 millimeters. It provides high accuracy thanks to its ability to receive 72 channels simultaneously, from up to three different GNSS constellations, the company said.
It also offers reliable positioning in challenging environments because it has a sensitivity of –167 dBm and is energy efficient.
Communications for the Treyki Mini are provided by the u-blox SARA-G340 dual-band GSM/GPRS module — its very low standby power of less than 0.90 mA helps extend the Mini’s battery life. The SARA-G340 module also supports firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates, enabling Arvento to continue to refine the Treyki Mini after production.
“The Treyki Mini is the result of a very close collaboration between Arvento and u-blox to optimize its size and power consumption,” said Özer Hıncal, general manager, Arvento. “We expect that the strong sense of partnership that evolved between our two companies during the development of the Treyki Mini will lead to further collaboration in the future, especially when it comes to telematics system solutions.”
A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the December 2018 issue of GPS World magazine.
OEM
Combination antenna
Long-range connectivity
Photo: Molex
The Molex highly compact 2.4/5-GHz combination GPS/Wi-Fi ceramic antenna is designed to be a cost-competitive solution covering the full GNSS band, 1.561 to 5.85 GHz. The triple-band ceramic antenna has Wi-Fi HaLow compatibility and is interference-resistant, supporting larger but lower (900-MHz) frequency ranges than 2.4/5-GHz connections. It also operates with lower power over longer ranges than 2.4/5-GHz Wi-Fi. Advanced Wi-Fi applications the internet of things, connected cars, smart homes and smart cities.
The MSB1054 multi-receiver module requires no external components, meeting needs of smartwatches, fitness trackers, logistics and navigation. Its Flash memory saves navigation data to optimize performance and provide a hot start. The ability to receive signals from several satellite systems significantly reduces the time to first fix. The module provides a built-in RF-front end (SAW filter, low-noise amplifier) as well as a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), so no external component is required other than an antenna. It measures 5.8 × 6.2 × 1 millimeters and uses 3.4 mA current in low-power mode, such as for tracking.
The GE310-GNSS is an internet of things (IoT) module with GSM/GPRS, multi-constellation satellite positioning and Bluetooth functionality in a 270-millimeter-squared form factor. It meets European demand for GSM/GPRS compact form factors and is part of Telit’s migration-support program that helps customers leverage 2G’s low cost and broad coverage while preparing for 4G and 5G. The GE310 enables OEMs and system integrators in asset management, utilities and telematics to meet the strong demand for low-cost, highly compact devices without tradeoffs in performance, reliability and functionality, particularly in regional markets such as Europe, where 2G is forecast to remain in strong growth in number of IoT connections for many years.
With multi-sensor fusion positioning and orientation
Photo: Unicore
The CLAP-B multi-GNSS/MEMS integrated inertial navigation board features a miniaturized high-performance inertial measurement unit (IMU) on a compact high-performance GNSS board. The high-accuracy GNSS positioning coupled with a high-precision gyro and accelerometer provides stable, continuous 3D position, velocity and attitude, as well as original acceleration and angular velocity measurements, even in GNSS-denied environments. CLAP (Concurrent Localization & Attitude Pilot) technology is a high-precision multi-sensor fusion positioning and orientation technology developed by Unicore. The board is compact, light weight and has low power consumption. It is designed for ease of integration and mass production, and is suitable for autonomous driving, smart surveying and UAVs.
The UNI-GR1 RTK GNSS receiver offers highly accurate heading and positioning output. It can be connected to any device through Wi-Fi, mobile data, radio, USB or serial cable. It simultaneously tracks GPS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS L1/L2, Galileo E1/E5a/E5b and Beidou B1/B2/B3 on 432 channels. The receiver has a built-in level, a LED ring driven by a nine-degrees-of-freedom inertial measurement unit. Users can configure numerous settings such as real-time kinematic, or begin surveying immediately with a smartphone or laptop.
Dynamic tilt functionality has been added to the Trimble SPS986 GNSS smart antenna. The dynamic tilt upgrade allows for faster data collection to enable construction surveyors to create larger digital terrain models faster and with improved accuracy. It can capture higher accuracy measurements on steeper slopes from a moving vehicle and more accurate volume measurements to save time and money on material planning. The dynamic tilt measurement mode also auto-measures antenna height. From inside the vehicle, contractors can set the height of the antenna and quickly interrogate surface models using the real-time 3D surface display in Trimble Siteworks field software.
The Skycatch Edge1 is an on-premise data processing and GNSS base station optimized for the Skycatch Explore1 and DJI Phantom 4 RTK drones. Field teams can fly a drone, process the data and receive centimeter-level data output in 30 minutes or less, directly to a tablet, without the need for internet or cellular connectivity. 2D maps and 3D point clouds can be shared from the tablet. The Edge1 includes built-in WiFi, LTE and reliable sub-5-centimeter accuracy, and delivers high-quality data output. It is also capable of running deep learning algorithms to extract more insights from collected data in near real time.
Drone surveying software Virtual Surveyor now eliminates the need for clients to use third-party applications to prepare data for processing. Version 6.1 handles on-the-fly projections that previously required a separate software package to set the data in the proper coordinate system. It bridges the gap between UAV photogrammetric processing applications and engineering computer-aided design (CAD) packages. The software generates an interactive onscreen environment with UAV orthophotos and digital surface models where the surveyor selects survey points and breaklines to define the topography, creating highly accurate topographic products for CAD input up to five times faster than otherwise possible. Surveyors can drag and drop all kinds of files into Virtual Surveyor: points, raster, vectors and point clouds. The point clouds are converted to a DSM for manipulation and processing, dramatically accelerating the time required to generate the CAD model.
Includes Efficiency Gap Measure to explore redistricting problems
Screenshot: Mapitude
Maptitude for Redistricting is a professional tool for political redistricting. Maptitude provides measures and reports that support the creation of fair and balanced districts, and regularly enhances the software. Maptitude was used to democratize redistricting in California and is used by redistricters from independent commissions, non-profits, and civil rights groups, to the courts and political parties.
Stockpile measurements are up to 80% more accurate
Photo: DJI
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone is now part of the Kespry stockpile measurement solution for mining and aggregates companies. Kespry’s stockpile measurement solution produces data up to 80% more accurate than manual measurement. All of the survey data is stored in a central cloud application, accessible for analysis by the entire team. Large aggregates and mining companies can standardize and capture stockpile data across all their sites in the Kespry platform, while using Kespry 2s or DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones.
Designed for next-generation automotive applications
Image: Quectel
The automotive-grade C-V2X module AG15 features the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset paired with Quectel LTE module AG35. It is designed to meet the telematics and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity requirements of autonomous driving and road safety. It features a built-in multi-constellation high-precision GNSS (GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/Galileo/QZSS) receiver with additional support from satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) and Qualcomm 3D dead-reckoning technology, which improves positioning accuracy and speed while simplifying customer designs. It is designed to allow low-latency, highly reliable and highly dense data exchange between vehicles and their surroundings, enabling effective information sharing among road users to avoid collisions, thus improving automotive safety, automated driving and traffic efficiency.
The SPC58 Chorus H microcontroller (MCU) line can run multiple applications concurrently to allow more flexible and cost-effective vehicle electronics architectures. The line is designed for high-end body, networking and security applications such as gateways, body-control modules, battery management and ADAS safety systems. The line has three high-performance processor cores, more than 1.2-MB RAM and powerful on-chip peripherals. The MCU securely delivers updates over the air for vehicle powertrain, body, chassis and infotainment features. With high security and large on-chip code storage, ST’s Chorus automotive microcontroller is a gateway/domain-controller chip capable of handling major OTA updates securely. Two independent Ethernet ports provide high-speed connectivity between multiple Chorus chips throughout the vehicle and enable responsive in-vehicle diagnostics.
The VBOX 3i RTK is a real-time-kinematic-enabled version of the VBOX 3i dual antenna that can be used in conjunction with an RTK differential base station to obtain ±2-centimeter positional accuracy in real time at 100 Hz. The data logger combines the advantages of a twin antenna GPS setup with GLONASS satellite tracking. It can be used in vehicle tests where positional accuracy and repeatability are of key importance, such as lane departure testing, distance to a fixed object or precise mapping. The VBOX 3i RTK comes with the VBOX manager, a display enabling users to change dynamic modes and filter settings, set up slip angle data and define antenna locations.
The StarLink TrackerWi‑Fi advanced vehicle-tracking device combines u-blox GNSS, 4G and Wi-Fi technology, eliminating the need to equip vehicles with a separate mobile Wi‑Fi hotspot. StartLink is suitable for applications for connected cars, telematics, vehicle diagnostics, fleet management, vehicle security, usage-based insurance, and rental and leasing service companies. With the Wi‑Fi hotspot, users can tap into cellular 4G to transfer telematics data to the fleet manager and send real-time data to the driver’s smart device or infotainment system.
The Notilo Plus team with the iBubble. (Photo: Notilo Plus)
Notilo Plus has launched iBubble, a fully wireless, autonomous and intelligent underwater drone that can be used for search-and-rescue operations, naval or underwater infrastructure maintenance, and subsea patroling. iBubble can accompany divers for up to an hour and down to 197 feet depth, enabling superior underwater imaging. The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was designed using a patented underwater localization technology, which is mainly based on acoustic signal transmission and image recognition (video tracking). By combining these technologies, iBubble is able to locate precisely its target underwater and shoot stable footage. The iBubble is equipped with an obstacle avoidance system, real-time image recognition, a stabilization system and direct surface control.
Anafi Work is an ultra compact tool for professionals, helping them make informed decisions using the drone’s aerial insights. Anafi Work includes the advanced Anafi drone equipped with an innovative imaging system, a 4K/21MP camera with a 180° vertical orientation, allowing users to capture images of inaccessible areas.The drone operates for 1 hour and 40 minutes with its 4 USB-C smart batteries. It can be transported anywhere in a compact shoulder bag. Professionals can create 3D models of buildings, quickly and easily, using a one-year subscription to Pix4Dmodel.
The Riegl VQ-480 II and VQ-580 II are designed for airborne applications at mid-altitudes for use on both manned and unmanned aircraft. The new Mark 2 designs of previous models improve both performance and user-friendliness. Both offer a measurement rate of up to 1,250,000 measurements/second and a 75-degree field of view of suitable for corridor mapping, city modeling and applications in agriculture and forestry. Weighing approximately 10kg, they are ready for integration into helicopters and unmanned UAVs with a higher payload capacity. The VQ-480 II and VQ-580 II are prepared for smooth GNSS/IMU integration, offer interfaces for up to five optional cameras, and are have built-in and removable storage.The VQ-480 II works at a laser wavelength of 1550 nm; the VQ-580 II at the1064 nm wavelength suited to measure on ice and snow.
DroneNode is a portable, compact and inconspicuous counter-drone jamming device that law enforcement can use at large outdoor events without raising public concern (it is not yet authorized for use in the U.S.) It can simultaneously jam 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz and GNSS L1 and L2 bands up to one kilometer, causing drones to return to their point of origin or land. It is also effective against swarm attacks. Emergency broadcasts, cellphone communication and other dedicated channels are unaffected.
Skydio R1 users now have the ability to follow cars. New modes include Car Follow, improved Lead Mode, and other improvements throughout the system, which is built on top of the Skydio Autonomy Engine. The engine operates 13 cameras, enabling it to map and understand the world in real time, allowing it to be fully autonomous and independently capture video footage. Its Nvidia Jetsonl AI runs neural networks that trained for the Car Follow feature on datasets of automobile images.
The device combines u-blox GNSS, 4G and Wi-Fi technology, eliminating the need to equip vehicles with a separate mobile Wi‑Fi hotspot.
According to the companies, the StartLink TrackerWi‑Fi is suitable for applications for connected cars, telematics, vehicle diagnostics, fleet management, vehicle security, usage-based insurance, and rental and leasing service companies.
The internet of things (IoT) and connected-car initiatives are providing rental car companies and transportation and logistics firms with tools to track vehicles, preemptively detect and diagnose disturbances from a distance, and monitor the behavior of their drivers in real time. ERM has more than 1.8 million vehicle fleet-tracking devices deployed on roads world-wide.
As onboard Wi‑Fi becomes increasingly widespread, many companies are fitting vehicles with Wi‑Fi hotspots to offer drivers and passengers internet access. With its integrated Wi‑Fi hotspot, ERM’s StarLink TrackerWi‑Fi lets users tap into the cellular 4G connectivity to transfer telematics data to the fleet manager. This makes it possible to send real-time telematics data to the driver’s smart device or onboard infotainment system, and it also reduces the number of SIM cards needed from one per device to one per vehicle.
Sourcing the GNSS tracking, cellular 4G LTE, and Wi‑Fi technology from u-blox played a key role in achieving the device’s fast time to market. By using u‑blox’s pre-tested positioning and communications modules with integrated software, the manufacturer was able to cut the time needed for production and development by several months.
“We saw an opportunity to provide more values to our customers by adding Wi‑Fi hot spot functionality to our StarLink Tracker, our leading telematics product, but knew that we had to be quick to stay ahead of the game,” said Kfir Lavi, senior vice president of ERM Advanced Telematics.
“Our partners are always at the top of our priorities, and we are working to adapt our offerings to the market demands and the changing needs of their customers. Working with u‑blox as the provider of the positioning and wireless communication technology helped us move from concept to commercialization in under six months and provide our partners with an advanced product in a short time,” Lavi said.
“This successful collaboration demonstrates that we have evolved from a provider of individual technologies, namely GNSS positioning, cellular 4G connectivity, or short range radio communication, to a provider of solutions that bundle these technologies,” said Thomas Seiler, CEO of u-blox. “We are seeing increased demand for such bundled solutions and are convinced that the close integration of our technology portfolio offers our customers the unique ability to jump-start even challenging projects on extremely short notice.”
U-blox is collaborating with LynQ, which developed a location tracker that doesn’t use cellphones, networks, apps or monthly fees. By syncing up the devices before heading out, group members can find each other within a five-mile radius and link up again.
LynQ surpassed its fundraising target on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, raising more than $1.5 million, and is now on pre-sale.
The device uses the u-blox CAM-M8Q GNSS receiver, a GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou positioning module with an embedded antenna. With its slim size of 9.6 x 14 x 1.95 millimeters, it is easy to integrate it into handheld devices, u-blox said.
The first generation of the weather-proof tracker uses long-range, low-power radio frequencies to connect devices. Up to 12 people can join a group, split up, and use the only button on the clip-on device to toggle through the group members and find out in which direction and how far away each one is.
LynQ’s crowdfunding success shows the extent to which the company’s founders uncovered an unmet demand on the market. While smartphone-based solutions to locate friends and family, for instance in a crowd, abound, they are limited by the availability of mobile network reception.
LynQ’s location tracker helps friends regroup outdoors or at crowded events, parents keep an eye on their children, and caregivers watch over the safety of people with special needs, elderly family members, or loved ones suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
The tracker has been field-tested on numerous continents and in most topographies and use cases.
“We found the u blox CAM-M8Q to be the best solution for us to achieve the requirements our use cases demand,” said Drew Lauter, COO at LynQ. “We’re extremely price sensitive, yet we need a highly dependable GPS module; u-blox worked closely with us to deliver that.”
For u blox, accompanying LynQ in the development of its product has been an exciting adventure, said Suresh Ram, president of u-blox America. “We’re thrilled to see how well their idea has been received by the public and look forward to our continued collaboration in the future.”
The toolset is a rapid-prototyping platform that lets product designers test and optimize the position accuracy and power consumption of wireless location tracking applications that use LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular networks, as well as GNSS technology. The toolset targets product engineers working on battery powered applications such as sport, people and asset trackers.
An increasing number of battery powered consumer and industrial products feature integrated GNSS receivers. These products include virtual reality headsets, smart watches, and devices to track elderly people, containers or parcels.
With the ongoing roll-out of low power wide-area cellular networks (LPWAN) such as LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies around the world and the extremely low power consumption they enable, the range of use cases for wireless location trackers is expected to expand further.
Screenshot: u-blox
“With today’s technology, product designers can now include optimized battery life in their applications,” said Florian Bousquet, product manager, Product Center Positioning, at u-blox.
“We developed this toolset to give customers a quick and easy way to test the accuracy and the power consumption of their product ideas using the latest generation of our technology,” he said. “In many cases, they can replicate their applications and start testing the performance of different device configurations in under 15 minutes.”
“The toolset offers access to the very latest technologies, from LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular communication to our proprietary Super-E mode(see video below) that delivers the best balance between power consumption and GNSS positioning performance,” he added.
The u-track software runs from embedded firmware on the new u-blox C030-R410M application board. The board, specifically designed to rapidly prototype applications for the internet of things (IoT), includes an ultra-small, low-power u-blox ZOE-M8B GNSS receiver and a size-optimized SARA-R410M LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular communication module.
Additionally, u-track includes a PC software application. Its user-friendly dashboard lets users log, retrieve, and visualize power consumption, accuracy, and other important values, such as the time it takes the GNSS receiver to calculate a position (time-to-first-fix, TTFF).
The u-track and C030-R410M toolset will be showcased on Sept. 12-14 at Mobile World Congress Americas, u-blox Booth no S.2702.
U-blox, a global provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies, has released the ANN-MB multi‑band active GNSS antennas, tailored specifically to the needs of applications requiring centimeter-level positioning accuracies.
The ANN-MB series. (Photo: u-blox)
ANN-MB offers product designers an easy-to-implement and reliable multi-band antenna solution, u-blox said. It is designed for small- to medium-size customers with little experience with GNSS antennas who would like to accelerate their time to market.
The ANN-MB antenna series builds on u‑blox’s two decades’ worth of experience with high-performance antennas for GNSS receivers. Developed in conjunction with the recently announced u‑blox F9 multi-band high precision positioning platform, ANN‑MB receives signals on the L1 and L2/L5 bands of all four global navigation satellite constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou).
The antenna features versatile mounting and connector options (SMA, SMB, MCX) and supports an extended temperature range (up to 105 degrees Celsius), making it suitable for applications subject to extreme temperatures, the company added.
“With the u‑blox F9 platform, we took a major step in bringing down the cost of ownership of high-precision GNSS technology, such as our recently announced u‑blox ZED‑F9P module,” said JunJun Lu, senior engineer of product management, Product Center Positioning at u‑blox. “The ANN-MB multi-band antenna series takes this effort one step further, paving the way for new high precision positioning applications in the consumer and industrial markets.”
A limited number of ANN-MB-00 (SMA) prototypes are available now, with production of the ANN-MB series planned for December.
Qianxun Spatial Intelligence Inc., a high-precision positioning service provider, and u-blox are joining forces to deliver high-precision positioning solutions to the Chinese market.
By coordinating their product offerings, they seek to meet growing demand for increased positioning accuracy for mass-market applications. Some of the areas driving up demand for high-precision positioning services in China are internet of things (IoT) tracking devices such as those used on shared bikes, as well as automotive, UAV and robotic vehicle applications.
u‑blox is bringing to the partnership its high-precision GNSS receivers. Its u‑blox F9 multi-band positioning platform uses integrated real-time kinematic (RTK) technology to process the high-precision positioning correction data provided by Qianxun SI, delivering down to centimeter-level positioning accuracy for wide-ranging applications. It enables even faster and more robust performance by leveraging a greater variety of GNSS signals.
Two major advancements have enabled sub-meter-level positioning accuracy for mass-market applications. The first is modern GNSS correction services that constantly monitor GNSS signals to determine positioning errors caused, for example, by atmospheric distortions, and wirelessly transmit correction data to compensate for these errors to millions of GNSS devices. The second is a new generation of small, power-efficient, and affordable GNSS receivers that are able to use the correction data to achieve such high levels of accuracy.
Qianxun SI, a high-precision positioning service provider, has already laid the groundwork for the large-scale expansion of high-precision positioning in the IoT era, the company said. Based on BeiDou, which is compatible with GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, Qianxun SI’s high-precision positioning service is built on the nationwide ONE Network, composed of more than 2,000 Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and using proprietary algorithms. It offers vehicles and other applications a range of 24/7 high-precision positioning services in most regions of the country.
By the end of 2018, Qianxun SI’s dynamic centimeter-level service will cover the entire mainland of China, the company said.
“We are delighted to cooperate with u-blox to provide users with high-precision positioning solutions that are user friendly and affordable,” said Jinpei Chen, CEO of Qianxun SI. “I believe our high-precision positioning technology is a key enabler of IoT development, and the cooperation with u‑blox will accelerate the go-to-market process of the technology in an extensive range of industrial and automotive market applications.”.
“This collaboration is a genuine win-win for all involved in that it allows us to develop high-precision solutions that will foster innovation across markets,” said Thomas Seiler, CEO of u-blox. “Partnering with China’s leading GNSS correction service provider allows u-blox customers to bring cutting edge applications to the China market in the shortest possible time.”
AUVSI Xponential was a big show once again — 8,500 attendees, more than 600 exhibitors, 200 educational sessions and 400 speakers. The show floor was huge as usual, with virtually every kind of UAS product and service imaginable for inspection at small, large and larger booths or display areas.
The morning kick-off presentation on Tuesday was enthusiastic about the coming large-scale adoption of drones and associated robotic technology, with a couple of real-time examples — driverless vehicles at Babcock Ranch in Florida and drone supply deliveries for humanitarian aid in Rwanda.
A view of show floor.
However, there still remain a number of barriers to wide-scale integration of drones into daily life from a regulation perspective, as Steven Bradbury, general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation, pointed out — while at the same time also indicating that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted hundreds of waivers where the safety case has been adequate for lots of commercial UAS operations.
Most of the major GNSS players were exhibiting at the show, so we focused on gathering their news while also collecting a flavor of the many drone system suppliers in attendance.
U-blox introduced its new ZED-F9P multi-band, multi-constellation chip — with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou signal reception and processing and on-chip multi-band RTK with fast convergence times — promising centimeter-level accuracy and low 85 mA (4x GNSS) power consumption in a 17 mm x 22 mm package.
ZED-F9P signals: coverage added in two stages. Option A – available now. Option B – available Q2/2020.
Initial urban testing in Finland in challenging conditions has indicated RTK performance at 9 cm 94%, with high availability, short convergence times (<10 seconds) and fast reconvergence. This kind of performance is apparently initially targeted at automotive applications — u-blox is a member of the Sapcorda automotive group — and is forecasting samples for this July, with production beginning before the end of this year.
The NovAtel tagline for the show was “Assured PNT,” which matches many U.S. and International agency objectives — this was accompanied by several announcements for both commercial and government agency products and applications.
The integrated E1 package includes NovAtel’s SPAN technology, which optimizes positioning and attitude performance during extended GNSS outages. Both new PwrPak enclosures come with the Interference Toolkit advanced interference detection and mitigation capability.
With most UAVs, the electronics on the airframe can produce a disruptive internal interference environment, and can lead to potential problems for the integration of sensitive GNSS. To help overcome this issue, NovAtel has released the OEM7600 receiver board in an extremely small form factor, enclosed with protective shielding to reduce the effects of emissions from nearby electronics.
The 7600 comes with 555 channels, multi-frequency/constellation positioning; L-band support for TerraStar corrections; serial, USB, CAN and Ethernet interfaces; advanced interference detection and mitigation features; RTK; GLIDE and Steadyline firmware options with 20-g vibration rating and the option to add integrated SPAN GNSS + inertial.
NovAtel also announced Inertial Explorer Express, which provides the same core processing and utilities as Waypoint Inertial Explorer software for applications including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and smaller projects. Inertial Explorer Express will produce centimeter-level position and attitude solutions for lidar, camera and other sensor data with faster processing times and reduced complexity.
On the government/agency business side of the house, NovAtel has been quite successful with the GAJT antenna, which includes integrated anti-jam technology. GAJT is in use operationally and has been shipped to 16 allied nations around the globe, with the latest success being with the artillery Observation Post Vehicles (OPV) for the Canadian Army.
The NovAtel GAJT-710ML GPS anti-jam antenna.
The Type 26 Frigate of the British Fleet will use NovAtel anti-jam technology. (Photo: BAE Systems)
Canadian OPVs are used on the front-line of combat, so its essential that their location and timing information should not be compromised by enemy jammers. The NovAtel GAJT is readily retrofitted to existing vehicles to provide the necessary jamming defense needed by front-line forces.
Previously, NovAtel also announced the selection of GAJT for the UK fleet of Type 26 Frigates – providing essential anti-jam protection for its onboard navigation system.
MB-Two module by Trimble.
Chris Wheeler and Omar Subra were good hosts when we visited them at the Trimble booth — Chris first made a YouTube video for GPS World (see below) and then gave me some insights into what’s new.
Basically, the OEM line has rolled over new versions of almost all individual receiver boards, with the addition of the BeiDou B3 frequency, capability for RTX PPP (precise point positioning) corrections, the addition of new constellations and inertial integration options.
An updated MB-Two receiver module can be configured for single frequency GPS through to dual frequency GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, Galileo and Beidou, uses RTX PPP and has an improved RTK engine for cm positioning from a base-station, or from over-the-air RTK corrections, or provides relative RTK against a moving base.
A typical Trimble application could include capturing an Insitu ScanEagle UAV in a difficult shipboard multipath environment with integrated GNSS-inertial, UAV navigation and control, UAV payload stabilization, or providing a “truth-system” for autonomous unmanned ground vehicles.
Since last year when Trimble introduced a “cell-phone” software receiver application, one useful application could have involved an insurance company using a “pocket-carried” antenna (with integrated RF) for field incident assessments. The cell-phone software license would be transferable to other assessors in the department, while a few pocket antennas are available for the whole assessment crew. This saves purchasing a whole load of hardware, and being limited to where the functionality can be moved or deployed. Everyone has a cell phone, and the relatively inexpensive antenna/RF can be available to all needing them.
Watch this video to learn about Trimble’s latest products, including its BD990 and BD992 GNSS receiver boards.
Trimble is also ramping up its OEM customer service and repair capabilities to improve turn around for multiple customers and applications in the field. Improved results are beginning to help customers and its OEM business, while increased R&D investment is expected to put new products into the field in the fall.
This year Intel’s emphasis continued to be on how to manage the huge amount of data that high-precision visual and multi-spectral cameras are gathering by UAVs carrying out asset inspections for their customers. The Intel view is that this data is useless to an end-user unless it is interpreted and presented in a format that can be readily understood and used for the purpose it was intended.
Let’s say a company operates 75 drones inspecting installations it owns or operates across several states, and that 50 GB of data is the nominal amount of data each drone collects on each mission. That means that nearly 4 TB of data could be collected daily if all 75 drones operate at once. More likely, over 1 TB daily shows up in a central location — a huge amount of unprocessed data.
In a live demonstration, Intel showed how a typical installation inspection — by a drone taking high-resolution still photos at a remote location – could be collected and managed. Once in an Intel processing environment, the data quickly became visual format in 2D or 3D, and could be accessed remotely by an inspection team, saving significant travel costs and time to actionable results.
Intel also promised to soon exceed its record at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for the number of drones flown at once — currently set at 1,218 drones. The company’s next target is for a light display using 1,500 multi-colored drones.
Insitu CEO Esina Alic
Insitu held a media event at the show to announce its ScanEagle-3 drone system. Esina Alic, the new Insitu CEO, led a team who introduced and then unveiled the new commercial-standard ScanEagle variant.
This new variant has grown out of 20 years of experience and 15 years of working with the FAA to enable integration of drones into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS). The ScanEagle-3 (SE-3) has been rebuilt with the objective of developing a certifiable vehicle with increased payload and endurance capability that is free of any ITAR restrictions — allowing export without restrictions to the rest of the world.
Insitu unveils the ScanEagle-3 is at Xponential 2018.
SE-3 features include:
Significantly increased (x2) payload
Still provides for full integration of all existing payloads
Commercial, non-ITAR product for the global market
Long-endurance platform
Service contracts available
Product release in Q2 2019
Fully compatible with existing launch and recovery systems
Around ~100 lb without payloads
ScanEagle variants were used in emergency response to the California wildfires at Santa Rosa and Medicina, gathering real-time information for fire-line combatants.
ScanEagle helped fight these wildfires using High Accuracy Photogrammetry (HAP) sensors. Military-grade electro-optical (EO) cameras during daylight and infrared (IR) cameras for night-time imaging extended the time available for tracking fire lines. Penetrating smoke or darkness, these UAVs gathered video and still images that were used to create geo-referenced, high-resolution digital fire progression and suppression maps to guide firefighting on the ground.
This small overview of Xponential 2018 attempts to provide a flavor of the breadth of activity we saw at the show last week. A good portion of this has also been captured through short videos published on the GPS World website, along with news articles.
There is more to come, with a report to follow from the show on Septentrio’s new product releases, Spirent’s GNSS simulation demo, DJI’s overview of drone products featured at the show, CyPhy Works tethered drones, Swift’s announcement of its Skylark correction service trials, Hemisphere’s new Vector Smart Heading Antenna, and Harxon’santennas for drones.
A big show to cover, that’s for sure! It’s a good sign that people were perhaps talking more business than in previous years and a sign that the UAS industry is perhaps moving into its next growth phase.
u-blox, a global provider of leading positioning and wireless communication technologies, has released the ZED-F9P multi-band GNSS module with integrated multi-band real-time kinematics (RTK) technology for machine control, ground robotic vehicles and high-precision unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) applications.
The ZED‑F9P measures 22 x 17 x 2.4 millimeters and uses technology from the recently announced u‑blox F9 platform to deliver robust high-precision positioning performance in seconds.
The u-blox ZED-F9P is a mass market multi-band receiver that concurrently uses GNSS signals from all four GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou). Combining GNSS signals from multiple frequency bands (L1/L2/L5) and RTK technology lets the ZED‑F9P achieve centimeter-level accuracy in seconds, the company said.
Receiving more satellite signals at any given time maximizes the availability of centimeter-level accuracy even in challenging environments such as in cities.
With its high update rate, the ZED‑F9P is suitable for highly dynamic applications such as UAVs. Featuring on-chip integration of advanced multi-band RTK algorithms, it requires no additional hardware or third-party RTK libraries. Ready to use on delivery and easy to integrate, it helps product developers quickly bring their ideas to the market.
ZED-F9P is fully geared to clearing the three main hurdles that have kept centimeter-level positioning accuracy from breaking into mass-market applications: cost, size and power consumption. Significantly smaller and more energy efficient than existing solutions, and as a cost efficient alternative, the ZED-F9P will enable new high-precision positioning applications for the mass market.
“The new ZED-F9P GNSS receiver builds on the success of our NEO-M8P high-precision GNSS module, but takes performance to another level by leveraging all the available GNSS signals,” said Mårten Ström, senior principal product management, product center positioning at u‑blox. “By making robust and affordable high-precision positioning technology more accessible, we hope to fuel innovation and enable a new generation of high-precision GNSS navigation applications.”
Engineering samples will be available at the end of July.
Japan-based Aerosense Inc. has commercialized its AEROBO marker solution for drone surveying using the u‑blox NEO‑M8T timing module.
Photo: Aerosense
Conceived to compute absolute time to within 20 nanoseconds using incoming GNSS signals, the NEO-M8T lets users access raw GNSS data output, making it attractive for positioning applications that rely on post-processing GNSS data to enhance location accuracy.
Aerosense’s surveying solution is designed to reduce the time spent surveying construction sites. By combining ground markers equipped with a GNSS receiver with surveying drones and cloud-based data processing, Aerosense has converted huge workloads into a user-friendly application.
The surveying operation on the site involves setting up ground markers fitted with u‑blox NEO‑M8T high-performance GNSS receivers. The smart ground markers send the GNSS data they receive to the cloud, where it is post-processed using a static surveying algorithm to achieve high accuracy.
The AEROBO solution can transform high-resolution drone images into a survey-accurate map by using the absolute geographic coordinates of specific points on the surveyed terrain. Images gathered by overflying the terrain with the drones are combined to create centimeter-precise outputs, including orthomap views, 3D models and point clouds.
The challenge that engineers at Aerosense faced while developing their solution was achieving sufficiently high position accuracy. “We found a robust solution to the accuracy challenge by using the u‑blox NEO‑M8T high-performance positioning module,” said Satoru Shimizu, project leader of AEROBO technology development at Aerosense.
u‑blox has rolled out the u-blox F9 technology platform, which was designed to deliver high-precision positioning solutions for mass market industrial and automotive applications.
The platform combines multi-band GNSS technology with dead-reckoning, high-precision algorithms, and compatibility with a variety of GNSS correction data services, to achieve precision down to the centimeter level.
u‑blox F9 paves the way for the next generation of high precision navigation, augmented reality, and unmanned vehicles, the company said.
The u-blox F9 platform will underpin the next wave of u‑blox positioning modules targeting mass market industrial and automotive applications. It uses GNSS signals in multiple frequency bands (L1/L2/L5) to correct positioning errors caused by the ionosphere and deliver fast time to first fix (Fast TTFF).
Its ability to receive signals from all GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou) further improves performance by increasing the number of satellites visible at any given time. Stand-alone u‑blox F9 solutions robustly achieve meter-level accuracy.
To achieve centimeter-level accuracy, u‑blox F9 offers optional on-chip real-time knematic (RTK) technology. In addition to offering an open interface to legacy GNSS correction service providers, it supports the main GNSS correction services, bringing RTK high-precision positioning to the mass market.
“High precision is the next frontier in positioning for mass markets, with countless applications in need of a robust and scalable high precision positioning solution. u‑blox F9 provides the hardware and integrated software components to address these needs,” said Daniel Ammann, executive director of positioning product development at u-blox.
Optimized for low power consumption, the u‑blox F9 platform sets a high standard for security with built-in jamming and spoofing detection systems that protect against intentional and unintentional interference. Dead-reckoning technology based on inertial sensors extends high-precision performance to otherwise challenging urban environments.
Automotive applications of the technology include lane-level navigation for head-up displays and vehicular infotainment systems as well as for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, a prerequisite for highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles.
In the industrial realm, u‑blox F9 will enable mass adoption of commercial unmanned vehicle applications including drones and ground vehicles such as heavy trucks or robotic lawnmowers.
The u‑blox F9 platform’s technology will be showcased at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany from Feb. 27-March 1 at Booth #3-139. Product samples will be available later in the year.
u‑blox is offering the automotive-grade MAX‑M8Q‑01A GNSS module, which measures 9.7 x 10.1 x 2.5 millimeters and has an operating temperature range from –40 degrees Celsius to 105 degrees Celsius.
The MAX‑M8Q is the company’s third automotive-grade GNSS module to date, alongside the NEO‑M8Q‑01A and NEO‑M8L‑03A modules.
MAX‑M8Q‑01A is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the automotive market, providing superior positioning accuracy even in challenging environments such as urban canyons. Its extended temperature range ensures reliable performance even in harsh environments, e.g. when mounted in a car‑roof antenna.
Produced in adherence to the u‑blox 0 ppm program, which aims to bring down product failures rates to zero and consistently achieve high production quality, the module is delivered with the automotive industry’s standard PPAP documentation to ensure compliance with customer requirements.
The module offers product developers a reduction of design and qualification time and effort, shortening time‑to‑market and considerably reducing risks for new product development.
“We developed this automotive grade GNSS module in the small MAX form factor in response to customer requests for a GNSS receiver that operates reliably in an extended temperature range,” said Franck Berny, senior principal, automotive market development, u-blox. “We are confident that the module’s high quality, robust and secure performance, and small form factor will appeal to the automotive industry at large.”
