ION GNSS+ 2020 organizers have decided to host the event both in person and virtually. The ION GNSS+ 2020 virtual option will mirror the technical program being presented live, Sept. 21-25 in St. Louis, Missouri.
“This year, recognizing that some won’t be able to attend ION GNSS+ 2020 due to restrictions and with the goal of increasing global accessibility to everyone who wants to participate, the Institute of Navigation is excited to offer an ION GNSS+ 2020 virtual option,” the Institute of Navigation (ION) said.
Two session tracks will be live streamed, including the keynote plenary session, all panel sessions and mix of other sessions from various technical tracks. Virtual attendees also will be invited to participated in a moderated Q&A.
In addition, all technical sessions will be audio-recorded as they are taking place, with the slides uploaded to the ION GNSS+ 2020 virtual conference site. Virtual attendees will have the option of viewing all technical presentations on demand and on their own schedules, organizers added. The virtual conference option, however, does not include the pre-conference tutorials or pre-conference short courses.
All scheduled technical papers will be presented by authors in-person in St. Louis. The conference, however, will not include pre-recorded or off-site virtual presentations of technical papers.
ION will also provide an expanded online exhibitor profile that will allow exhibitors to upload a complete company profile with sales and contact information, company logos and company brochures. The online exhibitor profile also will include a link that allows attendees to email an exhibitor directly to ask questions or set up a phone or virtual appointment. Additionally, companies that purchased an island booth will be provided the opportunity to live stream an exhibitor demonstration during a scheduled conference break.
Virtual meeting attendance will be free for all first-time ION GNSS+ attendees. If an individual or organization requires assistance in order to participate in the show, ION is also offering a COVID-19 economic impact discount for the virtual option.
The United States Space Force’s GPS III program reached another milestone with the successful core mate of GPS III Space Vehicle 08 at Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility in Waterton, Colorado, April 15.
With core mate complete, the space vehicle was named in honor of NASA trailblazer and “hidden figure” Katherine Johnson.
The two-day core mate consisted of using a 10-ton crane to lift and complete a 90-degree rotation of the satellite’s system module, and then slowly lowering the system module onto the satellite’s vertical propulsion core. The two mated major subsystems come together to form an assembled GPS III space vehicle.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and its mission partner Lockheed Martin ensured that SV08 core mate took place, in accordance with all Centers for Disease Control and local guidelines to minimize exposure or transmission of COVID-19. The GPS III Processing Facility’s cleanroom high bay was restricted to only key personnel directly supporting the operation.
“Core mate is the most critical of the GPS space vehicle single-line-flow operations,” said Lt. Col. Margaret Sullivan, program manager and materiel lead for the GPS III program. “Despite the restrictions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, our team adapted and worked tirelessly to achieve this essential milestone.”
Katherine Johnson. (Photo: NASA)
Katherine Johnson. When the core mate operation is successfully completed, a GPS III satellite is said to be “born.” In keeping with the team’s tradition of naming GPS III satellites after famous explorers and pioneers, SV08 was named “Katherine Johnson” in honor of the trailblazing NASA mathematician and “human computer” who designed and computed orbital trajectories for NASA’s Mercury, Apollo and space shuttle missions.
One of four African-American women at the center of the nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly and the movie Hidden Figures, Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 for her groundbreaking contributions to the U.S. space program.
Other GPS III satellites have been named in honor of explorers including GPS III SV01 “Vespucci” after Amerigo Vespucci; GPS III SV02 “Magellan” after Ferdinand Magellan; and GPS III SV03 “Columbus” after Christopher Columbus.
Next up, performance tests. The next step for the newly christened “Katherine Johnson” is the post-mate Systems Performance Test (SPT) scheduled to begin in August. SPT electrically tests the performance of the satellite during the early phase of build and provides a baseline test data set to be compared to post-environmental test data.
GPS III SV08 is currently scheduled to launch in 2022.
The Mobile Service Tower rolls back from the ULA Delta IV rocket carrying the GPS III SV02 satellite in preparation for launch. (Photo: ULA)
GPS III is the most powerful GPS satellite ever developed. It is three times more accurate and provides up to eight times improved anti-jamming capability over previous GPS satellites on orbit. GPS III brings new capabilities to users as a fourth civilian signal (L1C), designed to enable interoperability between GPS and international satellite navigation systems, such as Europe’s Galileo system.
GPS III satellites will also bring the full capability of the Military Code (M-code) signal, increasing anti-jam resiliency in support of the warfighter. These continued improvements and advancements to the GPS system makes it the premier space-based provider of positioning, navigation, and timing services for more than four billion worldwide.
GPS III SV03 is scheduled to launch on June 30.. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
GPS III SV03 to Launch June 30. Launched in December 2018 and August 2019, GPS III SV01 and SV02 became part of today’s operational constellation of 31 satellites, on January 13 and April 1, 2020 respectively. GPS III SV03 is scheduled to launch on June 30.
The SMC, located at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the center of excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems. Its portfolio includes the GPS, military satellite communications, defense meteorological satellites, space launch and range systems, satellite control networks, space based infrared systems, and space situational awareness capabilities.
Orolia and Seven Solutions have partnered to deliver resilient, accurate, and stable time and frequency for global military, commercial and critical infrastructure applications.
According to the companies, the partnership will address the ultra-precise, resilient timing and frequency requirements of industries such as defense, aerospace, data centers, telecom, financial services, smart grids and other critical infrastructure.
Through the partnership, Orolia will offer a modular approach to resilient PNT, which includes a combination of GNSS signals protected with interference detection and mitigation technology, together with low Earth orbit secure alternative signals. The Orolia-Seven Solutions partnership also will offer terrestrial sub-nanosecond time distribution from distant and potentially redundant locations.
“This partnership is a key example of Orolia’s commitment to combining best-in-class technologies into more robust resilient PNT solutions for our customers,” said Orolia CEO Jean-Yves Courtois. “Those who require the most accurate, extremely precise time and frequency technology will now also benefit from an unprecedented level of resilience to protect critical PNT data sources, for more confidence and peace of mind.”
This new partnership between Seven Solutions and Orolia will facilitate global operations and naturally integrate with reliable time sources. Seven Solutions will focus on bringing the best-in-class time and frequency distribution, the companies said.
Bentley Systems‘ Year in Infrastructure 2020 conference will be hosted in a digital format.
The virtual Year in Infrastructure 2020 conference will provide complimentary access to a wide range of content relevant to infrastructure professionals in every role and at every phase of the infrastructure lifecycle, the company said.
Highlights of the 2020 conference will include the Year in Infrastructure 2020 awards finalists’ presentations, which will be held Oct. 5-16; the Year in Infrastructure 2020 Executive Perspectives, which will be held Oct. 20-21; a TwinTalks premier on Oct. 20; the Year in Infrastructure 2020 awards ceremony on Oct. 21; and Accelerate Sessions, which will take place Oct. 27 and beyond.
During the Executive Perspectives session, Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley will be joined joined by leading infrastructure executives for an interactive discussion on the resilience challenges they face and how to meet those challenges through digital advancement. In addition, Bentley Systems Founder and Chief Technology Officer Keith Bentley will discuss the company’s open strategy for digital twins.
The TwinTalks will feature leading industry figures as they discuss the implications of digital twins for digital cities, design and construction, digital plants, energy utilities, rail and transit, and roads and bridges.
The Accelerate sessions will feature Bentley product executives, including Dustin Parkman (project delivery), Robert Mankowski (digital cities), Ken Adamson (design integration), and Alan Kiraly (asset and network performance), as they and their leadership teams review the latest advancements in Bentley applications and cloud services.
Bentley Systems, headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, provides comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction and operations of infrastructure.
Swift’s first-of-its-kind, cross-continental drive demonstrates the performance of Skylark. (Image: Swift Navigation)
Swift’s first-of-its-kind, cross-continental drive demonstrates the performance of Skylark.
Swift Navigation, a San Francisco-based tech firm redefining GNSS and precise positioning technology for autonomous vehicles, has completed a cross-country drive test.
The goal of this first-of-its-kind drive, from San Francisco to New York and back, was to measure the efficacy of Swift’s recently expanded Skylark cloud corrections service and to demonstrate true nationwide lane-level GNSS correction coverage at the accuracy, reliability and availability levels required by Swift customers.
The drive took the Swift team across 26 states and Washington, D.C., with 6,614.7 miles (10,645.4 km) driven over 116 hours and 14 minutes logged. A Swift vehicle was equipped with 20 different GNSS devices, tested using six unique chipsets that included: Swift’s Piksi Multi, Duro and multiple leading GNSS silicon providers.
The results of the drive confirmed that Swift’s precise positioning solution — composed of Skylark and the Starling positioning engine — delivers consistent lane-level accuracy at continental level. Skylark delivered 100% availability, with sub-decimeter accuracy, over the entire United States, wherever cellular coverage was available.
Performance highlights from the drive:
+Sub-meter horizontal accuracy (2-sigma) achieved across all environments
100% Skylark availability
Highly repeatable results with Starling + Skylark across variety of dual-frequency GNSS chipsets
“This is the longest continuous GNSS-based precise positioning drive test of its kind and we are proud of the engineering team at Swift for undertaking this ambitious task,” said Anthony Cole, executive vice president of engineering. “The results show that Skylark performs as intended and expected in both open sky and urban environments and demonstrate that Skylark is truly a cross-continental corrections network delivering the high integrity and high availability required by automotive OEMs, last-mile applications, rail, mobile and micro-mobility companies.”
In addition to full contiguous U.S. (CONUS) coverage, the Skylark corrections service is now available in Europe and is being built out to support autonomous applications across the globe.
Download a complete write-up of the cross-country drive test at www.swiftnav.com.
Members of Congress were not pleased with the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), saying the long-delayed report contained numerous errors and failed to address many of the things Congress had required.
On the April 8, DHS submitted to Congress the brief, 26-page report on the nation’s PNT requirements. It took more than three years to produce and was delivered more than two years late.
In comparison, just two weeks earlier a team of eight British organizations sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a 1,174-page report on the PNT needs of maritime commerce. The report from the Maritime Resilience and Integrity of Navigation (MarRINav) project was produced in less than a year.
House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chair John Garamendi (D-CA) and Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) expressed their disappointment this week in a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. In addition to outlining their concerns, it asked that the report be retracted, rewritten and resubmitted within six months.
While the letter did not specifically mention the contrast between the DHS and British efforts, it did use the MarRINav report as a reference. And it was clear that the disparity in length and quality of the reports accentuated the disappointment for those who had hoped for a better product from DHS.
The letter asked that the report be retracted, rewritten and resubmitted within six months.
Factual errors
Factual errors in the DHS report, according to the letter, included getting the mandated timing for financial systems wrong, and mischaracterizing coverage areas and capabilities of various technologies including several that had been recently demonstrated for the Department of Transportation (DOT).
The letter also observed that DHS focused on commercial PNT users to the detriment of most Americans. It failed to consider the needs of public service organizations, governmental entities, and individual citizens in its analysis.
The lawmakers contend the report did not recognize that PNT provided by GPS is frequently a safety-of-life service and a public good that must be reinforced to protect economic vitality and national security.
Suspending operations, subscribing are flawed options
Two of the solutions to temporary GPS disruptions suggested in the DHS report are for users to suspend operations until the disruption is over, and to have purchased commercial PNT services as backups in advance of a disruption.
Suspending operations for emergency services and other critical functions is unacceptable, say the congressmen. And commercial PNT services to provide needed wide area PNT backups are not available.
Even if they were available, questions of affordability for the many non-profit and public entities that needed them, whether it would be more cost effective for the federal government to support such services, and similar issues would need to be addressed before the department could make a recommendation.
Suspending operations for emergency services and other critical functions is unacceptable.
No national backup
The letter also observed that the department has discounted the value of a national backup system, a position that seems to conflict with both longstanding and recent presidential policy. Having a backup for GPS has been policy since President Bush established the requirement in 2004. President Trump’s recent Responsible Use of PNT Executive Order called for a national research program on non-space-based PNT and “…mandates the Department of Commerce make available a GNSS independent source of Coordinated Universal Time for all users.”
DHS’ recommendation against a national backup also differs from the Europe/UK MarRINav report. In addition to calling for improvements to be made by commercial entities such as port and ship operators, MarRINav identifies the need for “terrestrial and sovereign” eLoran and VHF DES Ranging mode systems to support reliable maritime commerce. Establishing such systems will require support by the national government.
Most members of industry agree that some government involvement is needed. A CEO of one of the companies demonstrating its backup technology for DOT observed that the market would never solve the problem on its own.
“We have tried for 16 years to figure out a business case, and it’s just not there,” the CEO said. “GPS is too good and it’s free. You can’t compete with that. If America is going to have one or more new wide-area capabilities that most people can use — not just niche solutions for high-demand, well-heeled customers — the government is going to have to prime the pump.”
DHS did propose some efforts that resonated with the Congressmen, such as encouraging use of GPS receivers that resist spoofing and jamming. The lawmakers described these as “necessary but grossly insufficient” before requesting the report be withdrawn and redone.
DHS’ “Report on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Backup and Complementary Capabilities to the Global Positioning System (GPS)” is available here.
The letter from Congressmen DeFazio and Garamendi is available here.
The Maritime Resilience and Integrity of Navigation (MarRINav) project report is available here.
Version 8.5 of SimActive’s Correlator3D mapping software allows users to share and visualize projects in the cloud. (Photo: SimActive)
SimActive has launched version 8.5 of its Correlator3D mapping software. According to the company, this new version users to share and visualize projects in the cloud. More specifically, results can be exported to the cloud directly from the software interface, and shareable links are automatically created for online visualization.
Version 8.5 also features tools for the calibration and processing of multispectral imagery. Calibrated reflectance panels and sun sensors can be used to produce reflectance maps, with multispectral bands perfectly registered, the company said.
“Our software attracts a variety of clients, with a wide range of needs,” said Louis Simard, CTO at SimActive. “This new version brings advantages to customers having data exploitation requirements such as online viewing, and to users processing imagery from highly sophisticated sensors.”
SimActive, founded in 2003 and based in Montreal, Quebec, develops photogrammetry software. Its Correlator3D software, is a patented, end-to-end photogrammetry solution for the generation of high-quality geospatial data from satellite and aerial imagery.
The technology multinational GMV has won a contract under the Spanish Ministry of Defense’s (MoD’s) RAPAZ program for the supply of four Class I Seeker RPASs to be integrated into the intelligence units of the Paratrooper Brigade and the Tercio de Armada de Infantería de Marina (Marine Infantry Protection Force).
The contract will provide the armed forces with the most advanced version of the unmanned aircraft Seeker.
The UAS Seeker is an autonomous, rapid-deployment system developed by Aurea Avionics and supplied by GMV. It provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities over a 15-kilometer range with a 90-minute endurance and a weight of 3.5 kg.
The aircraft will strengthen the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of Spanish troops, ensuring better operational capability and tactical superiority.
Seeker constitutes the core of a situational awareness system, providing real-time intelligence. It is designed for rapid-deployment and high-mobility military applications carrying out low-level intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks.
The system components can be broken down into two major groups: the air segment and the ground segment. The air segment comprises the unmanned aerial system (UAV), fit for daytime and nighttime operations and capable of completely autonomous flying. The ground segment comprises a ground control station, a ground data terminal, and a remote handheld control. These systems between them monitor the UAV’s operation and process its real-time video data.
Within this project, due for delivery by October 2020, GMV will be running the design and manufacturing activities and also the various flight campaigns scheduled to check that the systems work properly before handover to the MoD.
GMV developments for unmanned aircraft
GMV boasts great expertise and experience in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), built up on the strength of many previous projects such as ATLANTE, where it developed the aircraft’s flight control computer; EGNSS4RPAS, where it weighed up EGNOS performance for RPAS operations; and DOMUS, where it developed emergency-management and -monitoring service demonstrators for drone traffic control under the U-Space system.
This Spanish MoD Seeker system supply contract boosts GMV’s growing renown as developer and supplier of UAV systems and services.
Oceanographic & Geophysical Instruments (OGI) has selected iXblue’s Atlans INS to provide robust and uninterrupted data georeferencing to its newly unveiled mobile-mapping lidar solution dedicated to road assessment surveys.
A fully integrated mobile mapping solution, this new vehicle-based system integrates advanced systems to provide highly detailed georeferenced survey data to transportation departments throughout the United States.
“Highly accurate and reliable georeferencing of the collected data being crucial for road assessment operations, we were seeking a compact and robust navigation solution for our mobile scanner project,” said Darren Moss, program manager at OGI. “We tested other inertial navigation systems (INS) during mobile surveys in New York City and Boston with poor results, as those INS units relied mainly on GPS signals. Maintaining good GPS signals in the urban canyons of large cities proved to be impossible. This deeply impacted the georeferencing of the acquired lidar data, leading to highly inefficient operations. This is the reason we turned to iXblue’s Atlans A7 INS.”
Based on fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) technology, the Atlans A7 north-seeking INS offers highly accurate and robust data georeferencing. Resistant to GPS outages, it enables continuous acquisition operations within environments lacking continuous GPS signals. The Atlans A7 is a valuable system for high-accuracy data acquisition without interruption.
“Working with iXblue in other markets, we were familiar with the high-quality instrumentation they are known for. We were confident their FOG-based INS systems would perform even during GPS outages,” Darren said. “By choosing the Atlans A7, we are assured to get robust and uninterrupted georeferenced data in urban environments, tunnels, forests, and mountainous areas, which is crucial for our customer’s operations. With this INS, iXblue brings high-end FOG performance to the mobile-mapping industry at a very affordable price.”
“The Atlans A7 integrates very well within our new mobile lidar solution and, combined with Teledyne Optech Polaris high-resolution lidar scanner and QPS Qinsy display and acquisition software, it brings high-accuracy and efficiency to the core of our Mobile lidar solution,” Darren said.
TDC’s Freeance field applications leverages Trimble GNSS for accurate, streamlined data collection
TDC Group has joined Trimble’s GIS (geographic information system) Business Partner Program. As part of the program, TDC has implemented the Trimble Precision SDK (software developer kit) to integrate high-accuracy positioning capabilities in its Freeance mobile software applications running on tablets and smartphones using Trimble GNSS receivers.
Freeance provides field crews with simple yet powerful and configurable location-based mobile apps to manage data collection and inspection activities across utility and public works organizations. By adding the Trimble R1 and R2 receivers to Freeance workflows, users are empowered with real-time access to high-quality, reliable data.
The Trimble R1 receiver will be accessible with TDC’s Freeance software. (Photo: Trimble)
“Trimble recognizes the value our GIS software partners bring to our customers by delivering targeted, industry-specific solutions,” said Stephanie Michaud, strategic marketing manager, Trimble Survey & Mapping Field Solutions. “We’re very pleased to collaborate with TDC and leverage their domain expertise, and to integrate Trimble technology into the Freeance solution for the utilities and public works markets. As a direct result of this relationship, Freeance users can now work with the confidence of knowing their field workflows are precision-enabled with Trimble GIS technology.”
“We’re excited about the integration of high-accuracy Trimble GNSS receivers with Freeance software that enables organizations to add sub-meter or better accuracy to mobile workflow activities using smartphones and tablets,” said Matthew Reddington, CEO of TDC Group. “Adding high-accuracy positioning to field workflows by means of simple mobile apps paired with Trimble GNSS increases the quality and uses of data captured during field operations.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report on alternative sources of PNT on May 6. It was submitted to U.S. congressional committee leaders on April 8.
Section 1618 of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of Dec. 23, 2016, required the DHS to address the need for a GPS backup by identifying and assessing viable alternate technologies and systems.
The report is a summary and analysis of that assessment by the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) of PNT systems currently used by critical infrastructure. It also provides recommendations for the federal government’s next steps to increase the resilience of critical infrastructure to disruption of GPS services.
In the report, DHS offers the following recommendations to address the nation’s PNT requirements and backup or complementary capability gaps:
Temporary GPS disruptions: End users should be responsible for mitigating temporary GPS disruptions. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration maintains sufficient PNT capabilities to assure the continued safe operation of the national airspace, albeit at a reduced capacity, during GPS disruptions. The federal government can facilitate this mitigation for various critical infrastructure sectors, but should not be solely responsible for it.
PNT Diversity and Segmentation: The federal government should encourage adoption of multiple PNT sources, thus expanding the availability of PNT services based on market drivers. Encouraging critical infrastructure owners and operators to adopt multiple PNT systems will diffuse the risk currently concentrated in wide-area PNT services such as GPS. Federal actions should focus on facilitating the availability and adoption of PNT sources in the open market.
System Design: PNT provisioning systems, assets, and services must be designed with inherent security and resilience features. Critical infrastructure systems that use PNT services must be designed to operate through interference and to identify and respond to anomalous PNT inputs. These attributes are applicable to the PNT receivers and the systems that use them.
Pursue Innovation that Emphasizes Transition and Adoption: Incorporating PNT signal diversity into the PNT ecosystem should be pursued with an emphasis on research and development that prioritizes successful transition and adoption into existing GPS receivers, taking into account factors such as business case considerations, financial costs, technical integration, and logistical deployment.
Table 1 shows timing requirements for critical infrastructure are, according to the report.
Table 1. (Image: DHS report)
Table 2 from the report shows proposed timing solutions submitted by industry to DHS during a Request for Information (RFI) in December 2018. Systems that can meet or exceed timing requirements for critical infrastructure are indicated in green.
Table 2 (Image: DHS report)
Satelles responds
The Satelles company, which offers STL, issued a statement on the report. “This important report highlights the urgent need for GPS backup for critical applications, and it identifies and characterizes a variety of solutions that are available to meet this need today,” said Michael O’Connor, CEO of Satelles. “The report also describes the essential role of the federal government in urging industry to implement multiple technologies, without making the mistake of providing or selecting a single PNT solution.”
Continued O’Connor, “DHS goes on to define a baseline requirement for timing services accuracy for critical infrastructure. Not only does Satelles meet or exceed the precision timing specifications stated by DHS, but also our solution provides national coverage (including Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories) and is commercially available now.”
Signing the letter were Senators Mike Lee, Brian Schatz, Ron Johnson, Edward Markey, Ted Cruz, Mark Warner, John Thune and Chris Coons. All except for Senator Coons serve on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees the FCC. Senator Coons serves on the appropriations subcommittee that funds the FCC each year.
The letter referred to the hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee on the issue, and stated that only parties opposed to the FCC’s action were heard. The senators were concerned that the public also hear from the FCC.
Thirteen specific questions covered topics including:
How long the proceeding was on the docket
What notice given federal agencies of the proposed final order
Which agencies were consulted and how input was considered
The adequacy of the guard band and how the FCC has used the 1-db interference standard in the past
The 13th question asked the FCC why it believed granting the application was in the public interest.
A copy of the letter is available on the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation website.
