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  • The Patent Brouhaha

    Two British technologists backed by the U.K. Ministry of Defense have filed patents on the future interoperable GPS and Galileo signal designs that severely disrupt modernization plans for both systems and suddenly, unexpectedly place receiver manufacturers in a highly uncertain and unfavorable situation. Some of the patents have been granted in the U.K. and in Europe, and applications are pending in U.S. patent court, with a ruling expected at any time.

    Companies in the United States and outside the country are being approached and asked to pay royalties, on the basis of the patent filings, for use of the European E1 Open Service signal and the modernized GPS L1C signal. Should such initiatives prevail, costs would presumably be passed along to end users of GPS and Galileo — the same taxpayers who have already paid once for the systems.

    The purveyor of the royalty solicitations is Jim Ashe, vice president for sales and intellectual property at Ploughshare Innovations Ltd., Hampshire, UK. The patents, if successfully used to collect fees from satellite manufacturers or receiver manufacturers, would have a chilling effect on the use of the new interoperable signals that all parties have labored so hard, for so long, to design. They could quite possibly lead to a return to a BOC(1,1) structure for these signals, losing the benefits of MBOC.

    “There’s quite an argument going on,” said one person familiar with the controversy. “Some of the methods of arguing have not been too kind.”

    The Background. A great deal of work was accomplished cooperatively between the United States and the European Union (EU) to develop the landmark 2004 signal agreement that emerged from the Galileo Signal Task Force, formalizing cooperation on satellite navigation between the United States and more than two dozen European countries, including the U.K. Part of that agreement concerned a common signal structure (spectrum) for the civilian signals for both the E1 Open Service (OS) signal — the Galileo equivalent of GPS L1 — and the new U.S. GPS L1C signal to be implemented on the GPS III satellites, coming as early as 2015.

    The EU said during that process, in effect, “Even though we have agreed on this, Europe wants to be able to optimize the E1 OS signal beyond the agreement on that civilian signal being a binary offset carrier BOC(1,1) signal.” Both international entities had agreed that would be the waveform or the spectrum of the new signal.

    The Europeans began to evaluate methods of optimizing their signal. They had some designs called composite binary coded symbols (CBCS), a mechanism of putting a higher frequency componenent into the signal structure, and also a version called CBCS*, meaning that they found there was a bias generated by that extra signal, and so they had to invert every other one of its repetitions.

    The signal structure that they were playing with was centered on a plus and a minus 5-MHz component. (Actually five times 1.023, because of the inherent clock of GPS, you can think of it as 1.023 MHz. Everyone in doing compatible or interoperable signals agreed upon that; when reference is made to 5 or 10 MHz, or an even 5 or an even 10, it means that number multiplied by 1.023).

    The Europeans were were putting an additional BOC signal on top of the BOC 1,1, and it would have plus or minus 5 MHz as the centers of those two BOC peaks, and then some kind of waveform to modulate that.

    The United States pushed back against that to some degree, and proposed adoption of the so-called MBOC waveform, in which case the U.S. signal was equally optimized with a concept called time-multiplexed BOC (TMBOC). The Europeans used the CBOC approach. So, very different ways of doing this. In the European way, they transmitted a continuous but very low-power BOC(6,1) term. The U.S approach transmits four BOC(6,1) chips out of every 33 chips of code (see “Future Wave” sidebar).

    A chip in this case means a part of the spreading code, so each signal has its spreading codes, just like the C/A code is a spreading code, meaning a pseudorandom code modulating the carrier. L1C and E1 OS have a pseudorandom spreading code.

    The U.S. approach does not put BOC(6,1) components onto the data; that’s what is commonly called MBOC. The U.S. approach is TMBOC, on the pilot carrier only, not on the data component. The European system is like two separate signals, the BOC(1,1) signal having both pilot and data, and a BOC(6,1) signal having both pilot and data. They’ve put the (6,1) into both data and pilot components.

    Cue the Antagonists. Part of the task force from Europe and the United States considering the future signals’ make-up were Tony Pratt and John Owen, who works for the U.K. Ministry of Defense and whose office sponsored Pratt’s work. The two participated heavily in all these signal discussions. They stated in early meetings they planned to file patents in some areas.

    “Frankly,” states one source, “people should have paid more attention when they said that, and asked ‘What do you mean, and how’s it going to work, etcetera?’ And secondly, there probably should have been a written agreement between parties that nobody will take advantage or patent any of these ideas that we are developing.”

    Pratt and Owen filed a number of patents domestically, in the U.K., and and in the European Union, in 2003 and in 2006, and in other places around the world, such as Japan, Canada, and in the United States as well. Some of the U.K. and European patents have been granted. The first of some of those U.S. patents may be issued in the near future.

    The original patent filings were later amended to include new claims. The new claims were much more specifically oriented toward TMBOC and CBOC, whereas the original claims were more generally oriented toward modulated methods. The claims have been modified over the years; this is fairly standard patent practice.

    As a result, the original 2003 patent doesn’t necessarily read on a particular signal, but its early filing date has precedence. The claims have been updated and modified, and if the patent office issues those, as a true patent, then the new claims apply. Plenty of big patent battles have been fought over just such issues.

    Once the patent is issued, a satellite or receiver  manufacturer must assume that it is valid, and has only two responses to make, other than acquiescing to royalty claims. The manufacturer can either say, if building a product, “No, my product does not infringe, and I will prove that it doesn’t.’” The other choice for manufacturers is to go back into the patent office and sue the patent filer (and grantee) in the patent courts and prove that the patent was invalid in the first place that the patentee should not have been granted it.

    The United States and others were taken off-guard when the U.K. company Ploughshare, which is owned and controlled by a part of the British MoD called Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), started making claims on manufacturers. The DSTL is similar to the U.S. Defense Advance Research Products Agency (DARPA), which is credited with inventing the Internet. If taxpayer money goes into something new and interesting, it is considered in some circles legitimate to file patents on those and attempt to recover taxpayer money through royalties on that taxpayer investment. That concept is not being challenged. Questions as to whether the patents are legitimate are very much in discussion.

    Ploughshare has contacted companies, saying, “If you use these signals coming from either the European satellites or the U.S. satellites, we will go after companies using these signals.” There are different patents issued, one by the European Patent Office, applying to most of the EU countries, that applies directly to the TMBOC signal, the E1 OS signal, and possibly also to Europe’s E5 signal, which is E5a and E5b; and there is also a patent for GPS III, the L1C signal.

    The Devil. For details on the various patents, see Application 10594128 and Application 12305401. See also European patent specification EP 1 664 827 B1, and International Application WO2007/148081. These are examples; there are other applications as well. It is to be argued in some future court as to how those patents are to be interpreted.

    “If you take the patent that hits TMBOC, and you take the broadest possible interpretation of that patent against receiver companies, it says: if you bring into your antenna and process that signal, whether you use all parts of it or not, for instance if you use the BOC(1,1) and not the BOC(6,1) part — then you infringe the patent. Others argue that if you don’t use both components, you don’t infringe.

    “But the claim is written broadly enough that it would apply to any receiver receiving and processing the signal. Nobody says what processing means. The patent says if you receive and process the TMBOC signal, as defined in the prior claim, you infringe the patent.

    “There is confusion as to whether that will apply or not apply — some people expect that it doesn’t and some people think that it might. That’s up in the air.”

    George Is Getting Upset. Various factions in the United States are upset by and trying to figure out what to do about the impasse. From a government point of view, there are three paths that the U.S. government can follow:

    • Put pressure on the U.K. diplomatically. That would be up to the State Department to put pressure on the EU or the U.K. in particular. The EU and the continental Europeans are equally furious at the British for doing this, as far as parties in the U.S. understand. This can’t be stated as a fact but is widely understood and thought to be the case. The diplomatic approach has its limits, obviously.
    • Go into Europe and fight the patents in European patent court and try to prove them invalid, to invalidate the patents. Companies could do the same thing, go into various courts, whether they be U.S. or European or Japanese, and say: “Our receivers don’t infringe,” and then have to prove that to the court; or say “The whole patent should not have been allowed, and I’ll fight the legitimacy of the patent.”
    • Some believe — and there is controversy and anger on this point — that, just as Galileo’s IOV satellites have the capability to transmit without the BOC(6,1) component, the United States should be able to do that with the GPS III satellites as well. Because if the signal is not there, and if the receivers are therefore not designed to process the signals that are not there, then the patent no longer has any relevance.

    “If we are to turn off the BOC(6,1) term for a period of time until the legal or diplomatic or other approaches worked, then we would be able to turn the BOC(6,10) term back on again, and return to the original agreed MBOC and TMBOC signals. That requires some coordination between the United States and Europe, and it requires some work to make that possible in the GPS III satellites, putting a switch in the GPS III satellites to permit the operators to turn that (6,1)BOC on and off. This is being hotly debated.”

    Some parties object, stating that L1C is too important a signal to mess with, and this proposal runs the risk of slowing down the program, and/or making it more expensive. They believe strongly that the off/on switch is not the best or most far-sighted option: why should the United States be forced to change its signal design due to an illegitimate patent, and in the end wind up with a less capable system?

    It is not publicly known whether the Air Force is or is not looking into that option.

    During the week of June 25 there was Working Group-A meeting in Washington D.C. followed by a plenary meeting between the EU and United States. The patent controversy was presumably discussed in some fashion, but whether formally addressed or lurking in the background is unknown at this time.

    “There is some naivete around this,” said the magazine’s soure. “It’s a serious threat. People think maybe they’ll only go after the high-end receivers, and maybe the royalties won’t be so bad. Ploughshare is trying to lull people into a false sense of security. The impact of this will be great unless it is defeated.”

    Future Wave

    Excerpted from the “Future Wave” article on L1C, GPS World, April 2011:

    “The L1C waveform originally was to have been a pure BOC(1,1) (a 1.023 MHz square wave modulated by a 1.023 MHz spreading code). Negotiations between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) at that time resulted in an agreement that both GPS and Galileo would use a baseline BOC(1,1) signal. However, the EU reserved the right to further optimize their signal within certain bounds. Some of the optimization proposals were known as CBCS and CBCS*. However, in further EU/US discussions it was decided that L1C and the Galileo E1 open service signal should have identically the same spectrum. This was a significant challenge because of different baseline signal structures and existing designs.

    “The breakthrough came when [U.S. representative] John Betz proposed what is called MBOC. The MBOC waveform has 10/11th of its power in BOC(1,1) and 1/11th in BOC(6,1). However, L1C and E1 OS achieve this result in very different ways. The Galileo technique is called CBOC. The GPS technique is called TMBOC. Whereas Galileo has a 50/50 power split between pilot and data and includes the BOC(6,1) component in each, GPS includes the BOC(6,1) waveform only in the pilot component by modulating four of every 33 spreading code chips with a 6 MHz square wave and 31 chips with a 1 MHz square wave. With 75 percent of the power in the pilot, the result is 3/4 x 4/33 or 1/11, as required. It is likely the BOC(6,1) signal component will be ignored by consumer-grade GNSS receivers where a narrow RF bandwidth is preferred. Fortunately that is a loss of only 12 percent (0.56 dB) of the L1C pilot power. However, for commercial and professional grade receivers, the extra waveform transitions (wider Gabor bandwidth) can be used to improve code tracking signal-to-noise ratio, and with certain advanced techniques it should be possible to improve multipath mitigation. This final point depends on careful control or calibration of the transmitted code timing and symmetry.”

  • Acquisition of Cognovo Gives u-blox Own 4G Chip Technology

    u-blox, a positioning and wireless semiconductors, announces the acquisition of UK-based Cognovo Ltd., a company specializing in software defined modem (SDM) chip development technology. The acquisition extends u-blox’ chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

     

    “This is a very exciting acquisition for u-blox as it positions us as an agile and cost-effective supplier of high-speed wireless modem products based on our own chip IP. This allows us to meet market demand for connected systems that require positioning, connectivity and application-specific functionality on a single integrated circuit,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “This new foundation broadens our serviceable market, and will increase our margins in the automotive, consumer, and industrial sectors. Our first 4G product is planned for 2013.”

     

    Cognovo’s Software Defined Modem (SDM) technology and development tools quickly translate complex radio modem designs into fully characterized low-power semiconductor chips, u-blox said. The combination of technologies from Cognovo and the recently acquired 4M Wireless will result in a new wireless modem platform based on IP owned by u-blox.

     

    Cognovo has already demonstrated its SDM baseband chip running high-speed 4G cellular functionality working with the LTE protocol stack from 4M Wireless at Mobile World Congress. With these acquisitions, u‑blox lays the groundwork for establishing a leading position in 4G wireless modems similar to the strategy that u-blox followed to become a market leader in GPS/GNSS modules, u-blox said. The market for 4G modems used for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications is predicted to grow rapidly, surpassing 20 million units by 2016.

     

    “We are very pleased to deploy our SDM technology within u-blox,” said Gordon Aspin, Cognovo CEO. “With over 300 man-years of R&D invested in our SDM technology, this acquisition brings together the industry’s most advanced software modem development platform with some of the best IC design and GNSS engineers in the world. This will be an unbeatable team.”

     

    Key terms of the transaction include:

    • Acquisition of 100% of the shares of Cognovo Ltd at a price of 16.5 million US.
    • Acquisition of key intellectual property and software.
    • Integration of the Cognovo business and 30 employees into u-blox’ organization.

  • Topcon Helps Search for Evidence of UFOs in New Show

    Chris Carter’s famous X-Files slogan,“The truth is out there,” is put to the test when a team of pioneering investigators pushes the limits to find the truth behind unexplained UFO sightings, using modern technology for data collection and analysis. Topcon’s IS-3 imaging station is featured in "Chasing UFOs," which premieres June 29 on the National Geographic Channel.


    Topcon’s Scott Langbein (right) provided training on the Topcon equipment to
    investigator Ben McGee (left) during the filming of the series “Chasing UFOs.”

    According to the National Geographic Channel (NGC), these real-life “Scullys and Mulders” are not looking for more stories on extraterrestrial activity — they want answers. An investigative team comprised of one believer, one skeptic and one independent thinker, the dynamic team examines a well-documented UFO sighting (Roswell, N.M.), meets with an alleged alien abduction survivor in Colorado and even tracks glowing orbs near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
     
    NGC’s new eight-part series “Chasing UFOs,” premieres Friday, June 29, 2012, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with a second all-new episode airing at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
     
    A Topcon IS-3 imaging station is used to gather site data for analytic research in three episodes — the June 29 series premiere “Texas is for sightings,” July 13 “UFO landing zone,” and July 20 “Abducted in Arizona.” In Texas, the experts witness lights in the skies that leave them with new questions.  In the July 13 episode, the three thrill-seekers explore the famed crash site in Roswell where they challenge a possible military cover-up and in the July 20 episode, the team collects video footage of unusual-shaped lights over Arizona.

    Scott Langbein, Topcon Positioning Systems director of product marketing, served as onsite technical consultant for the New Mexico shoot, working with the team on the use of the IS-3 imaging station for pinpoint scanning and mapping of the Roswell site.
     
    Langbein said, “Topcon was invited to meet up with the investigative team in Roswell. The IS-3 imaging technology of measurements and photo documentation is powerful, so a little training was required. They picked it up really fast and were able to take the gear with them to their other scenes.  It was a lot of fun to see the IS-3 used in a unique way. Who would have thought an IS-3 would be used to investigate UFOs?


    Investigator Ben McGee, shown here while shooting the new series “Chasing UFOs”
    at night, used the Topcon IS-3 imaging station to quickly establish onsite reference grids.

     

    “The three investigators — Ben McGee, Erin Ryder and James Fox — were completely professional in their scientific approach to the project, and quickly picked up how beneficial the IS-3 scanning speed and image collection could be for the investigations.”

    The IS-3, in addition to taking the industry’s longest scanning range (to 6,500 feet), provides industry-best accuracy, automatic scanning speed as well as on-board features providing quicker scanning definition, faster image collection and real-time preview of scanned data.

    Ben McGee, an experienced geologist, radiation scientist and field explorer said, “As a field geoscientist, I cannot speak highly enough of Topcon's survey, scanning and imaging equipment. Holding up under the most demanding field conditions and shrugging off the rigors of off-grid travel, we were able to rely on the IS-3 to help us quickly establish onsite reference grids for scientific data and sample collection, survey key topographic features, and digitally preserve the site using 360-degree panoramic imaging — all from a single tripod.  With this unit, we were able to accomplish multiple days' worth of work in a fraction of the time.”

    McGee said, “On the Roswell UFO debris field and at the alleged century-old UFO crash site in Dublin, Texas, we established reference survey grids of appreciable size of the sites we were investigating.

    “Additionally, the imaging station was also used to create detailed panoramas of the famed ‘Fire in the Sky’ Travis Walton UFO abduction site in the deep forests outside of Snowflake, Arizona, and used for onboard ranging to identify the precise locations of historical tree core sampling.”
     
    McGee said, “Survey projects that would have taken hours and days 10 years ago, with the aid of Topcon's IS-3, now take only seconds and minutes. The IS-3 allowed us to hit all our goals and objectives quickly and with incredible accuracy.”

  • Gakstatter Speaks at Field Tech Conference, Registration Now Open

    Eric_Gakstatter_Savannah_9137Eric Gakstatter, GPS World’s editor for survey and Geospatial Solutions Weekly, will be a keynote speaker at the Second Annual Field Technology Conference (FTC 2012). FTC 2012 is hosted by the Western Forestry and Conservation Association (WFCA), GPS World magazine, and Geospatial Solutions Weekly.

    The conference will be held September 26-27 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. This unique conference, centered around geospatial technology, features tracks on field devices (handhelds/tablets, GPS, lasers, 3D scanning), remote sensing (aerial photography, satellite imagery, airborne lidar), and mapping software (mobile GIS, open source GIS, datum conversions).

    The opening general plenary session will feature world-class experts in emerging geospatial technologies of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Systems (UAV/UAS), Mobile GIS, Open Source GIS, and GPS/GNSS. The keynote speakers will discuss how these emerging technologies are changing the way geospatial data is collected and managed. Besides Gakstatter, featured speakers include:

    • Dr. Joe Paiva – Paiva Consulting
    • Jeff Shaner – Esri Mobile Technology Program Manager
    • David Percy – Portland State University GIS Research Faculty

    “Audience feedback from last year’s conference was very good,” said keynote/moderator Eric Gakstatter. “Attendees said they appreciated our intimate and focused content as well as expert analysis of technology trends. Listening to feedback from last year’s attendees, we’ve expanded a bit this year to include outdoor demonstration sessions with UAVs, handhelds/tablets, laser rangefinders, mobile phones, and GPS units. We’ve also attracted more experts from around the country to present their work and thought leadership.”

    Registration for the Second Annual Field Technology Conference (FTC) is now open. 2011 attendees included representatives from federal, state, and local government, Fortune 1000 companies, Native American tribes, higher education, and natural resource consultancies.

    The registration fee is $245 if registered by September 21, and $295 if registered after September 21, 2012. The registration fee includes lunch on both days as well as refreshments during breaks. The conference room rate is $99/night plus tax. After September 5, the reduced rate will be subject to availability.

    For more information as well as a draft of the conference agenda, visit the website.

    Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Richard Zabel.

    A two-minute Youtube video of last year’s conference:

     

     

  • Google Reveals Nexus 7 Tablet with GPS

    Google’s much-anticipated tablet computer has been revealed. The Google Nexus 7 is a 7-inch tablet powered by a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor that runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 1.3-GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM, and come in 8 GB ($199) and 16 GB versions ($249). Asus built the tablet, but it will be Google branded.

    The display is high-definition at  1280 x 800, and there’s a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera and microphone for video chatting. It has a micro USB port, GPS, near-field communication and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

    At its size an price point, the tablet is expected to compete with the Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook tablets, rather than the 9.7-inch iPad or the 10.6-inch Microsoft Surface.

    Google is offering a $25 credit for the Google Play store in an introductory offer.

  • Hemisphere GPS Introduces A325 GNSS Smart Antenna

    Today, Hemisphere GPS introduced the A325 GNSS Smart Antenna. It incorporates professional-level centimeter and sub-meter positioning accuracy powered by Hemisphere GPS' Eclipse receiver technology and includes L-band and Bluetooth communications support. A325 is designed for a variety of applications including agriculture, construction, straddle carriers, robotics, marine, survey, and GIS, Hemisphere GPS said.

    A325 accuracies are software scalable to be custom configured for the customer's specific needs and budget. Users can take advantage of free SBAS sub-meter accuracy or decimeter-level L-band support. For more precise needs such as land and hydrographic surveying, customers can activate the centimeter-level RTK feature with robust GPS and GLONASS positioning utilizing Hemisphere GPS' exclusive SureTrack technology.

    Various communication options within A325 make it compatible with a range of data collectors, terminals, and software applications. With dual serial ports offering NMEA 0183, a wireless Bluetooth mode, controller area network (CAN) interface that supports NMEA 2000, and pulse outputs the A325 will quickly and easily connect to systems used by positioning, navigation, and machine control professionals, Hemisphere GPS said.

    With a durable IP-69K sealed and lightweight enclosure that houses both antenna and receiver, A325 is easy to install and operate in harsh environmental conditions, the company said, and can be mounted on vehicles and backpacks. Wireless connections to a data controller make it easy to establish positions and attributes, making A325 useful for mapping municipal assets, forestry, and topographical features. The easy-to-see multi-color LED status indicator and integrated 2D tilt sensor enable offset corrections and add to the simplicity of A325.

    "A325 offers customers a very versatile precision GNSS smart antenna at an amazing price," said Phil Gabriel, Vice President and General Manager, Precision Products, for Hemisphere GPS. "This enhances our GNSS receiver portfolio, allowing us to offer customers a wider range of products and solutions to meet their needs."

    A325 is now available through the Hemisphere GPS Precision Products global dealer network. For more information about Hemisphere GPS' Precision Products and A325 antenna, visit www.hemispheregps.com/precision.

  • TMW Systems Certifies Integration with Rand McNally Devices

    Rand McNally has announced that its mobile communication systems are now certified and integrated with two applications from TMW Systems, Inc. As a result, fleets that use TMWSuite or TL2000 now can pull data from Rand McNally’s TND 760 and TruckPC in-cab devices through their TMW products.

    “Rand McNally has been a TMW Business Alliance Partner for decades,” said Scott Vanselous, CMO of TMW Systems. “By certifying integration with Rand McNally’s mobile communication and management systems, our customers have ready access to a full suite of Rand McNally solutions.”

    One customer is Freight Exchange of North America (F/X), a Chicago-based, North American full truckload carrier that operates nearly 300 power units from its terminals in Southern California, El Paso, Dallas, and Chicago. F/X has integrated information from Rand McNally’s TND 760 (Fleet Edition) with TMWSuite. For F/X, the integration allows for the use of real-time information from the in-cab device to dispatch trucks, receive automatic arrival and departure notification, match loads with available drivers, and track the progress of the driver’s daily workflow.

    “TMWSuite has been a tremendously successful tool to manage our operation. Rand McNally’s integration allows us to leverage our investment even further,” said Fred Alaimo, V.P. of Operations at F/X. “The TND 760 offered more functionality than other solutions we reviewed, and it’s priced significantly more competitively. The icing on the cake is that the drivers love the new device and have been quick to adopt and use the technology, making everybody a winner.”

    The TMW certified integration pulls critical data from Rand McNally’s in-cab systems via Rand McNally Connect software. The data provided by Rand McNally’s devices enable TMW products to deliver the following:

    • Automated and standardized driver daily workflows;
    • Notification of vehicle arrival and departure via Rand McNally’s automated geofencing capability;
    • Integrated turn-by-turn navigation, provided by Rand McNally’s IntelliRoute TND GPS software;
    • Automatically linked information — such as bill of lading numbers — from one form to another further simplifying the driver experience;
    • Integrated Hours of Service information into load planning and dispatching operations.

    “Having a certified solution with TMW’s industry-leading enterprise transportation management systems enables customers to confidently integrate the benefits of mobile communication, award winning navigation and fleet management,” explained Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally. “In particular, our TND 760 Fleet Edition device offers fast ROI recognition due to its cost effectiveness, ease of use and driver acceptance.”

  • Two New Kindle Fire Apps Leverage Skyhook Technology

    Skyhook, a location information, context and intelligence company, has announced that two new Kindle Fire apps have integrated Skyhook to provide location services on this device. The applications include Happy Hour Finder and Scope. They join a list of other apps using Skyhook for location services on the Kindle Fire, including MapQuest, KAYAK, deCarta, and TweetCaster.

    Happy Hour Finder is a local search app that shows the nearest bars and restaurants with discount happy hours. Scope is an aggregated social media app that organizes all of a person’s social networks in one place.

    “"Location check-ins are a valuable piece of the complete social picture Scope provides of your friends' activity,"” said Anit Kumar, CEO of Scope. “"We knew we couldn'’t launch the app on Kindle Fire without location, and wanted to ensure all of our Android versions were the same, so Skyhook was necessary.”"

    "Developers are increasingly concerned with Android fragmentation,"” said Maggie Taylor, marketing manager of Skyhook. "“Our system provides consistent location functionality and protects developers from this problem, so apps are built once and will work across the board.”"

    Happy Hour Finder and Scope are both free and available today in the Amazon App store for download. Skyhook provides an SDK for developers across most platforms.

  • Trimble to Deliver High-Accuracy CenterPoint RTX Correction Service to Farmers in Latin America

    Trimble announced today that its high-accuracy, satellite-delivered CenterPoint RTX correction service is now available for farmers in Latin America.

    Trimble CenterPoint RTX can deliver better than 3.8-centimeter (1.5-inch) accuracies in real time without the use of traditional reference station RTK infrastructure, the company said. Initially, the CenterPoint RTX satellite-delivered correction service covered approximately a 1.8 billion-acre swath of central North America, extending from Canada into northern Mexico. The new coverage area has been expanded to include all of Mexico, Central America, and South America, where farmers can use the GNSS correction service for cultivating, planting, pest and nutrient management, harvesting and water management.

    "The expanded coverage of Trimble's satellite-delivered CenterPoint RTX service into Latin America further extends our broad portfolio of correction services, which also includes OmniSTAR VBS, HP, XP and G2; Trimble CenterPoint VRS; and the CenterPoint RTX service delivered via cellular communications," said Patricia Boothe, general manager of Trimble's Positioning Services Division. "By offering a suite of correction technologies and services, we can satisfy a variety of accuracy, delivery and budget requirements."

    "We're committed to expanding the services and software applications that we provide to the global farming community.  Increasing the coverage area for high-accuracy GNSS correction services for Trimble's agriculture customers around the world is an example," said Erik Arvesen, vice president of Trimble's Agriculture Division. "In 2011, we offered real-time, satellite-delivered corrections over a central swath of North America where it was well received. Now, farmers in Latin America can also benefit from CenterPoint RTX services to perform precision agriculture operations. Our customers want a broad range of solutions and with CenterPoint RTX, we're delivering those options."

    Trimble CenterPoint RTX real-time corrections are satellite delivered directly to the GNSS receiver, so there are no additional costs for mobile data plans or hardware such as radios and antennas. The CenterPoint RTX service is compatible with the Trimble CFX-750 display, FmX integrated display, and the AG-372 GNSS receiver. The service is expected to be available by mid-July. For more information, visit www.trimble.com/agcorrectionservices.

  • Google Lowers Pricing and Simplified Limits with Google Maps API

    In it's developers blog, Google announced that it will lower API usage fees and simplifying limits for both Styled and regular maps. According to the announcement:

     

    • Changes to pricing. While the Maps API remains free for the vast majority of sites, some developers were worried about the potential costs. In response, we have lowered the online price from US $4 per 1,000 map loads to 50¢ per 1,000 map loads.
    • Simplified limits. We’re eliminating the previous distinction between Styled Maps and regular unstyled maps. The same usage limits and pricing now apply to applications using Styled Maps and the default Google Maps style.

    Google reports they're beginning to monitor Maps API usage starting today, June 22, 2012, and based on current usage, fees will only apply to the top 0.35% of sites regularly exceeding the published limits of 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days. The application of these limits is not automated, so if your site consistently uses more than the free maps allowance we’ll contact you to discuss your options. Your map will not stop working due to a sudden surge in popularity.

    We hope the changes we’re announcing today will help you continue to deliver the most innovative maps experience to your users. If you have any questions or concerns please post to the Google Maps API forums or contact the Google Maps API for Business Sales team using this form. We look forward to helping you build great Maps applications for many years to come.

    Posted by Thor Mitchell, Product Manager, Google Maps API

  • UPDATE: EGNOS Satellite Launch Set for August 6

    News courtesy of CANSPACE Listserv.

     

    UPDATE: The Interfax news agency has announced that the rescheduled launch date for SES-5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, originally scheduled for June 18, is August 6, 2012.

    The launch is being delayed due to a problem with a first stage subsystem on the Proton launch vehicle. The rocket has been rolled back to the assembly building for further tests.

    SES-5 is also known as Sirius 5 stemming from the development of the Sirius satellite constellation by Nordic Satellite AB, now owned by Luxembourg's SES.

    The satellite carries a transponder for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The transponder is intended to eventually replace or one of those on the currently used EGNOS satellites (Inmarsat 3-F2 at 15.5 degrees west using PRN 120, Artemis at 21.5 degrees east using PRN124, and Inmarsat-4-F2 at 25 degrees east using PRN 126 and designated for industry tests).

    Unlike the present L1-only EGNOS satellites, SES-5 will have transponders on both the L1 and E5 frequencies similar to the setup on the Wide Area Augmentation System satellites, which broadcast on L1 and L5.

    SES-5 is to be stationed at 5 degrees east longtiude.

    A second SES satellite with EGNOS transponders is under construction. The SES Astra 5B satellite is scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2013 and will be positioned at SES Astra's 31.5 degrees east orbital position.

    Role Switch. On March 22 and 23, Inmarsat-4-F2 at 25 degrees east using PRN126 and Artemis at 21.5 degrees east using PRN124 switched roles. PRN126 became an EGNOS operational signal-in-space satellite while PRN124 became the test satellite, transmitting message type 0. PRN120 and PRN126 returned to service around 17:00 UTC on Tuesday, June 26.

    According to an EGNOS service announcement dated April 3, the switch was due to the aging state of the Artemis satellite.

  • GSA Begins Preparations for Future EGNOS Services

    The European GNSS Agency (GSA) Wednesday published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union inviting operators to bid for the provision of EGNOS services over the 2014-2021 period. This contract will consist in operating, maintaining and upgrading the EGNOS system infrastructure, and ensuring the continuous and safe provision of the three services offered by EGNOS.
     
    The new EGNOS service provision contract is planned to be awarded in 2013 and is aimed at guaranteeing the provision of EGNOS services for eight years starting on January 1, 2014, without service interruption. The future EGNOS operator shall become certified for provision of the EGNOS services according to the Single European Sky (SES) regulation. The requests to participate shall be transmitted to the GSA by July 16 and the deadline for submission of initial tenders is expected to be in November 2012.
     
    The GSA is carrying out this procurement on behalf of the European Commission and is expected to become responsible for the management of EGNOS from 2014.
     
    The EU Official journal notice can be accessed here.
     
    All the documentation related to this call for tender can be found on the GSA procurement link here.
     
    The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) improves the accuracy of GPS by using 34 ranging and integrity monitoring stations (RIMS) that receive signals from the U.S. GPS satellites. Four mission control centers handle data processing and differential corrections counting and six navigation land earth stations manage accuracy and reliability data for sending to the three geostationary satellite transponders for relay to end-user devices.

    EGNOS offers 3 services:

    1. Open Service: free and open for anyone with an EGNOS-enabled GPS device.
    2. Safety-of-life Service: provides an integrity message warning the user of any malfunction of the GPS signal in 6 seconds. This is essential when satellite navigation is used for applications where lives are at stake. EGNOS was certified for civil aviation in 2011.
    3. The EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS): provides EGNOS information in real time over the internet.

    EGNOS is the first pan-European satellite navigation system. Similar services are provided in North America by the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and in Japan by the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS).