The sweeper Woxiaobai has been in service for a year. (Photo: Unicore)
Fall is a beautiful time of year. But when the leaves drop, it means a lot of sweeping for most of us. Not so for the 200 campuses and parks in China using IdriverPlus’ WO series of unmanned sweepers.
High-precision GNSS positioning plays an important role in making the autonomous units possible, providing real-time high-precision position, speed and time information.
The sweeper in Beijing’s Haidian Park. (Photo: Unicore)
Unicore’s high-precision GNSS technology and their products’ high reliability have enabled IdriverPlus’ unmanned sweepers and logistics vehicles — China’s first mass-produced products in intelligent driving. In January, IdriverPlus received the green light to test self-driving cars in Beijing.
Diagram: Unicore
Sweepers and logistics vehicles are not only used in open-sky areas, but also in complex environments shadowed by buildings or trees or experience multipath. These areas include school campuses, factory and science parks, and community squares.
Complex environments result in different GNSS availability, reliability and convergence. In autonomous driving, the inputs the vehicle receives from GNSS and other sensors must be accurate and reliable.
A customer removes her express package from the Wobida logistics vehicle. (Photo: Unicore)
The UM482 module used by the IdriverPlus is characterized by dual antennas, compact dimensions, high performance and low cost, providing anti-jamming performance.
Integrated with on-board MEMS and Unicore’s U-Fusion combination technology, the UM482 can effectively solve the disruption of positioning results caused by the loss of satellite signal, and further optimize the continuity and reliability of positioning and heading outputs in complex environments such as city canyons, buildings and tunnels.
Unicore Communications’ Liyang Dao offers GPS World an overview of the company’s UB4B0M BDS/GPS/GLONASS/Galileo multi-system multi-frequency compact high precision board at Intergeo 2018 in Frankfurt, Germany. According to the company, the board features low-power consumption design and offers millimeter-level carrier phase observation value, as well as centimeter-level RTK positioning, supporting chip-level multi-path mitigation.
Unicore Communications has launched CLAP-B, a multi-GNSS/MEMS integrated inertial navigation board, which integrates 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 three-dimensional position, velocity and attitude, as well as original acceleration and angular velocity measurements, even in GNSS-denied environments, the company said.
CLAP (Concurrent Localization & Attitude Pilot) technology is a high-precision multi-sensor fusion positioning and orientation technology developed by Unicore.
The CLAP- B, along with all the UM and UB family of receivers, are on display at BDStar booth C12.0C.022 for the duration of Intergeo 2018 starting Oct. 16 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Key features of the CLAP-B include:
Compact size: 46 × 71 × 17.1 mm
5-ns RMS PPS output
0.1 degree (1σ) pitch and roll
WINS optimized technology (wheel INS) for vehicles, wheeled robotics
With the features of compact size, light weight, low power consumption, and easy for integration and mass production, CLAP-B is suitable for applications such as autonomous driving, smart surveying, unmanned aerial vehicles and various attitude stabilization platforms. Customer samples will be available by the first quarter of 2019.
With the successful launch of newest BeiDou-3 navigation satellites, Beidou’s pace of globalization is quickening. As a provider of China’s domestic GNSS core products, Unicore Communications brought its full range of products to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas.
Unicore’s exhibits are targeting intelligent drive and the internet of things (IoT).
For intelligent drive, Unicore is showcasing its UM482 high-precision GNSS module, which is designed for high-end L3 self-driving and robots.
Unicore also is introducing a cost-effective low-power GNSS module — UM442 — which is suitable for L2 ADAS applications and community-based GNSS navigation and maps.
UM442 is a cost-efficient high-precision real-time kinematic (RTK) and heading module that can simultaneously track GPS, BDS, GLONASS and Galileo. It also supports SBAS and QZSS.
Based on high-performance data-sharing technology and the simplified operation system of the Nebulas II chip, the UGypsophila RTK algorithm dramatically optimizes matrix processing. Therefore, the UM442 can track many more satellites and shorten the initialization time to 5 seconds.
Satellite view during a UM442 road test using the UGypsophila RTK algorithm. UM442 achieves centimeter-level RTK positioning using a low-cost ceramic antenna.
With on-board MEMS and the U-Fusion integrated navigation algorithm, UM442 can achieve accurate and reliable positioning even in the most challenging environments such as urban canyons and tunnels.
UM442 also provides attitude information such as rolling angle and pitching angle, which is suitable for many new applications such as community-based navigation maps and ADAS. Even with a low-cost ceramic antenna, the UM442 can achieve centimeter-level RTK positioning, as well as a 0.2-degree/1-meter baseline heading accuracy.
At CES, Unicore plans to introduce BeiDou products into the large volume market of consumer electronics. Ufirebird is an ultra-small, ultra-low-power multi-GNSS positioning system-on-chip (SoC), using 28-nm technology. The chip supports BDS, GPS, GLONASS and Galileo signals, and the software can be extended to support WAAS/QZSS/EGNOS/MSAS/GANGAN enhanced signals.
Unicore’s UFirebird-UC6226 low-power GNSS SoC is designed for mobile devices.
Two packaging methods are available: WLCSP and QFN40. For WLCSP packaging, the chip size is only 1.73 x 2.87 mm, and for QFN40 packaging, the chip is AEC-Q100 compliant, aimed for highly reliable automotive-grade applications.
UC6226 is equipped with a built-in sensor hub capable of providing access for multiple sensors for fusion positioning. It supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS hybrid positioning, and better than 1-m differential positioning accuracy.
Compared with Unicore’s previous generation GNSS SoC, UC6226 has reduced power consumption by 60%. The minimum tracking power consumption is lowered to 18 mW, significantly improving battery endurance.
With a built-in anti-jamming module, LNA and -162dB sensitivity, UC6226 can maintain accurate and precise positioning under complex environments.
UC6226 has been successfully applied by China’s bicycle sharing companies. In addition, the chip will be used in intelligent watches, smartphones, smart cameras and many other IoT devices requiring smaller size, lower power consumption.
Unicore Communications’ Kongzhe Chen discusses the company’s UM482 all-system multi-frequency high-precision heading module and UFirebird UC6226 GNSS SoC at Intergeo 2017, which took place Sept. 26-28 in Berlin, Germany.
Unicore has launched its next-generation quad-system GNSS module, the UM482.
The UM482 is a multi-frequency high-precision heading module with a small footprint, supporting the satellite signals BDS B1/B2, GPS L1/L2, GLONASS L1/L2, Galileo E1/ E5b and SBAS.
The module is designed for applications such as robotics, drones, intelligent drives and mechanical control.
1-cm RTK positioning accuracy and 0.2-degree heading accuracy with 1-m baseline
Dual antenna input with support of antenna signal detection
Supporting simultaneous output of heading and positioning, 20-Hz data output rate
Adaptive recognition of RTCM input data format
On-board micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) integrated navigation
The UM482 GNSS RTK module adopts Unicore’s new-generation Nebulas II chip and UGypsophila real-time kinematic (RTK) algorithm.
Based on high performance data-sharing technology and the simplified operation system of the Nebulas II chip, the UGypsophila RTK algorithm dramatically optimizes matrix processing, the company said. It can involve all satellites from GPS, BDS, GLONASS and Galileo in RTK and heading processing, shorten RTK and heading initialization time to 5 seconds and significantly improve the reliability and accuracy of RTK and heading.
Furthermore, the UM482 integrates the onboard MEMS chip and U-Fusion integrated navigation algorithm, resulting in optimized continuity and reliability of accurate heading and positioning output in tough environments such as city canyons, tunnels and overpasses. Inputs of odometer and external higher performance inertial components are supported.
The UM482, along with all the UM and UB family of receivers, will be on display at booth B4018 for the duration of the Intergeo 2017 trade show, which takes place Sept. 26-28 at Berlin Exhibition Center, Berlin, Germany.
