1. No category

BUSINESS
THE
Industry news and developments | GPS | Galileo | GLONASS
» AVIATION
» SIMULATION
FAA Seeks Comments
on UAS Proposal
Rohde & Schwarz Adds Testing for Russia’s ERA-GLONASS
The public has until April 24 to
comment on a framework of
regulations proposed in February by
the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA). The regulations would
allow routine use of certain small
unmanned aircraft systems (UAS),
while maintaining flexibility to
accommodate future technological
innovations, the agency said.
The FAA proposal offers safety
rules for small UAS (under 55 pounds)
conducting non-recreational
operations. The rule would limit flights
to daylight and visual-line-of-sight
operations. It also addresses height
restrictions, operator certification,
optional use of a visual observer,
aircraft registration and marking, and
operational limits.
Comments can be entered online
through the U.S. government
Regulations site (www.regulations.gov).
Effective January 1, all new car models introduced to the Russian market must
be equipped with the automatic ERA-GLONASS emergency call system. Rohde
& Schwarz now offers a standard compliant test solution for manufacturers and
suppliers of these in-vehicle systems.
Rohde & Schwarz has introduced an ERA-GLONASS test setup consisting of
the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester and R&S SMBV100A
vector signal generator as a GNSS simulator. The setup allows manufacturers
and suppliers of automatic in-vehicle systems (IVS) to perform reliable and
reproducible preconformance tests on their ERA-GLONASS modules in the lab.
In the Russian Federation, ERA-GLONASS works much like the EU’s eCall system.
When an accident occurs,
the IVS connects with a
public safety answering
point (PSAP) via the local
wireless communications
network and transmits a
standardized minimum
set of data (MSD). In
addition to GLONASS
or GPS coordinates, the
MSD contains information
about the accident vehicle. If no voice connection can be made or if data cannot be
transferred via the voice channel, the MSD is sent to the PSAP via SMS. This fallback
option is a special ERA-GLONASS feature. The Russian system is also certified for 2G
and WCDMA networks.
» PROFESSIONAL OEM
PPP Solution from NovAtel Improved for Sub-Decimeter Accuracy
NovAtel CORRECT with PPP (precise
point positioning) will now offer the
new TerraStar-C correction service as its
exclusive source for satellite-delivered
PPP correction data.
TerraStar-C contains an enhanced
correction data set that enables up to
4-centimeter accuracy and instant reconvergence when combined with the
receiver error models and positioning
algorithms offered by NovAtel CORRECT.
This new level of PPP performance is
available on NovAtel’s OEM6 receivers
with firmware version 6.600.
NovAtel CORRECT is the positioning
12
GPS World | April 2015
algorithm on NovAtel’s GNSS receivers
that handles corrections from a variety
of sources, including real-time kinematic
(RTK), PPP, spaced-based augmentation
systems (SBAS) and differential GPS
(DGPS).
NovAtel CORRECT with PPP combines
GNSS satellite clock and orbit correction
data from TerraStar’s global reference
station network with NovAtel’s receiver
algorithms to yield robust subdecimeter positioning without the need
for nearby base stations, NovAtel said.
Correction data provided by TerraStar
is delivered to the end user via Inmarsat
satellites. With satellites visible globally,
PPP helps the accuracy of precision
applications where communications
infrastructure is either unreliable or not
available.
In addition, applications where signal
interruptions are common will benefit
from a more robust positioning solution
with the ability to quickly regain full
accuracy following a temporary loss of
GNSS signals, NovAtel said.
NovAtel customers with current
TerraStar-D subscriptions have
the option to upgrade to the new
TerraStar-C service level free of charge.
www.gpsworld.com
THE BUSINESS
» TRACKING
Meitrack Offers GPS Tracker for 3G Networks
GPS tracking manufacturer Meitrack
Group is introducing a tracker that
runs on 3G networks. Meitrack said it is
transitioning all of its current trackers so
they work on the 3G network standard
instead of the outdated 2G technology.
The first model released is the T333
GPS tracker, which offers real-time
tracking, history reports, assisted GPS
tracking, geofence creation, and an
S.O.S. panic button. The tracker can
be installed in vehicles ranging from
everyday family cars, to construction
and commercial trucks. It uses the
u-blox 7 GPS module.
The T333 also comes equipped
with digital and analog inputs that
transform the GPS tracker into a central
hub where other accessories can be
simultaneously attached and synced.
These accessories include fuel sensors,
RFID card readers, handset phones,
cameras, and LCDs and LEDs displays.
» AVIATION
McMurdo Transmitter
Helps Locate Aircraft
McMurdo Group is offering the
Kannad Integra Smart Pack, an aviation
emergency locator transmitter (ELT)
bundle with both GPS and antenna
redundancy. The product can result in
Integra Smart Pack-equipped aircraft
being twice as likely to be found in the
event of an emergency compared to
standard ELTs.
The Smart Pack includes the Kannad
Integra ELT — a small, light ELT with
a built-in antenna and embedded
GPS receiver. It also includes the new
Kannad Integra e-NAV NMEA — an
NMEA-standard interface cable that
connects the Integra ELT to the aircraft
GPS. The latest known aircraft GPS
position is continually updated and
stored on the cable to provide an
additional level of redundancy over the
embedded Integra ELT GPS data.
Traditional ELTs rely on an
aircraft’s external antenna and GPS
equipment, which is subject to failure
in an emergency. The Integra ELT can
operate independently of the aircraft to
provide key positioning data through
its internal antenna and GPS receiver.
www.gpsworld.com
April 2015 | GPS World
13
THE BUSINESS
Mobile World Congress Sees Jump in Indoor Location Companies
By Kevin Dennehy
BARCELONA — Joining the 95,000 or so
Mobile World Congress attendees were
about three dozen companies who are
offering indoor location and location
advertising services. These companies
have exhibited at previous conferences,
but not in the numbers this year.
At the huge Fira Convention Center
where MWC was held, Los Altos, Calif.based Pole Star installed more than 600
beacons for indoor location. Visitors
were able to be guided to booths and
other areas through an interactive
map. “Business was good in 2014, we
sold 10,000 beacons. We are making
money,” said Christian Carle, Pole Star
CEO.
One company, which has developed
a popular mobile game, is using its
network to attract advertisers for
its location-based ad platform. “We
already have the infrastructure in place
because of our mobile game. With our
platform, we can allow advertisers to
launch campaigns using our beacon
signals and geofencing,” said Pedro
Jahara, CEO of Brazil-based RevMob.
New location technology, like the
ability to track SIM cards, was rolled
out at MWC. W-Locate, which is
partnering with Morpho in Thailand,
is tracking SIM cards with its XimLoc
product, which the company said is
more accurate indoors than other
technology.
Even the location-based advertising
market is gaining traction as
advertisers are seeing the benefit of
locating and attracting customers.
New York-based xAd said it has doubled
its revenue for the second year. “We
have billions of mobile ads processed
and billions of ad impressions. The
company is profitable,” said Dipanshu
Sharma, xAd founder and CEO. He said
the company has expanded into France
and Germany and added China to its
global ad network.
Another company using location
technology as a differentiator is Airpush.
The company’s Abstract Banners was
14
GPS World | April 2015
March 2–5, Barcelona, Spain
▲
The SK Telecom 5G robot depicts human
gestures in real time.
▲
Smartwatches and other wearables made
a huge splash, with offerings showcased
by Garmin, LG, Optus, Huawei, Amigo,
Sony and Telefonica.
▲
Ford announced an app that lets owners
charge up their vehicle, set cabin temperature, check battery charge level and
plan journeys remotely.
Read the full column at
gpsworld.com/opinions.
a big draw to attendees. Location,
particularly geofenced areas, has
created a call-to-action for consumers,
which is attractive to advertisers,
said Cameron Peeples, Airpush vice
president of marketing.
Connected Cars. Although the Geneva
Auto Show began as the MWC was
ending, there were still several big
announcements by connected car
companies in Barcelona. Even the
well-publicized Samsung S6 and S6
Edge and HTC One M9 handset rollouts
included Mirrorlink, the connected
vehicle standard from the Connected
Car Consortium.
In another big announcement,
Audi and AT&T said that all 2016 model
vehicles equipped with Audi connect
will come with the carrier’s 4G LTE or 3G
coverage. This increase in services is big
because the auto giant just rolled out
4G AT&T service in Audi A3s last year.
AT&T selected Airbiquity to provide
end-user registration and devicemanagement connected vehicle
services for select customer programs.
“Airbiquity will deliver these services
to AT&T using our Choreo cloud-based
connected vehicle services delivery
platform and project management,
engineering, and operations teams,”
said David Jumpa, Airbiquity chief
revenue officer. “This is a ‘white
label’ agreement whereby AT&T will
integrate Airbiquity’s service delivery
capability into AT&T’s connected
vehicle customer solutions.”
In other news, Spirent said its
simulators have the capability to
evaluate Wi-Fi offload and Wi-Fi
performance of mobile devices on its
test framework.
The new product allows companies
to test multiple devices on a single
unit to cover Wi-Fi/LTE mobility
and interoperability. The testing is
important in light of wireless carriers’
strategy to extend VoLTE in areas
where cell coverage is limited, said
Saul Einbinder, Spirent vice president,
venture development.
www.gpsworld.com
THE BUSINESS
BUSINESS
BRIEFS
GNSS positioning facilities to offshore
industries, has upgraded its Apex
and Apex² precise point positioning
services. The services now typically
provide users with a horizontal position
accuracy of better than 5 cm and 12
cm in the vertical at the two sigma (95
percent) confidence level.
LocationSmart, Locaid to Merge
SBG Offers Apogee MEMS INS
SBG Systems has released the
Apogee Series, inertial navigation
systems based on robust and costeffective MEMS technology. The INS/
GNSS integrates the latest generation
of MEMS sensors and a tri-frequency
GNSS receiver. Apogee achieves 0.008°
in roll and pitch in real time and 0.005°
in post-processing. With two antennas,
it delivers a robust and accurate
heading.
New Report Considers GNSS
Market Outlook 2015-2020
Research and Markets has added
the report “Global Navigation Satellite
Systems Market Outlook 2020” to
its offerings. The global core GNSS
market is forecast to grow at a CAGR
of 9 percent during 2015–2020.
Analysts look at various GNSS industry
segments and regions, highlighting
the areas offering possibilities for
companies to boost their growth.
LocationSmart, a provider of
cloud-based location and interactivity
services, and Locaid, a location-as-aservice platform for enterprise location,
have merged to create an enterprise
mobility platform for cloud-based
location services. Stockholders of both
companies approved the merger on
Feb. 19. The combined company will
operate under the LocationSmart
brand.
Veripos Offshore PPP Improves
Veripos, a supplier of high-precision
16
GPS World | April 2015
Trimble VRS Now Service Expands
The Trimble VRS Now correction
service has expanded to Australia
(specifically Queensland, New South
Wales, South Australia, Tasmania
and Victoria). The service is also now
in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The
commercial subscription service
provides surveyors with access to
real-time kinematic GNSS corrections
without the need for a base station.
GAPS PPP Software Upgraded
A new version of the online GAPS
precise point positioning software is
now available. GAPS — GPS Analysis
and Positioning Software — is
offered by the University of New
Brunswick Geodesy and Geomatics
Engineering Department. The latest
release provides capabilities for
handling GPS data files in both RINEX
2 and 3 formats, whether Hatanakacompressed or not, along with a
number of receiver raw file formats.
Also, additional input and output dataquality verification is now performed.
Smartphone Nav in Agriculture
A new app available on the Google
Play store enables farmers to use their
smartphone in the field. AgriBus-NAVI
is a GPS guidance system to mount
on agricultural machinery such as
tractors, combines and self-propelled
sprayers to help with straight-line
tasks in the field. Checking the display
while driving will enable the creation
of straight and evenly spaced lines in
large fields. No auto-steer included.
Farmers Edge Acquires GranDuke
Farmers Edge Inc., a precision
agriculture and independent
data-management company, has
acquired GranDuke Geomatics Ltd. of
Lethbridge, Alberta. The agreement
was finalized on Jan. 9, giving control of
the geospatial solutions and software
development company to Farmers
Edge.
which has been a significant hurdle
for cost-effective small cell indoor
deployments.
Microsemi GNSS Master Solves
Small-Cell Synchronization Issue
Microsemi is offering a new
Integrated GNSS Master (IGM) solution
for small-cell synchronization. The
IGM is the company’s first solution
that fully integrates a 1588v2 PTP
grandmaster with a GNSS receiver
and antenna in a small, fully contained
package, designed to mount indoors.
The Microsemi IGM solves the
challenge of indoor synchronization,
Trimble Offers Corrections
for Agriculture in Europe
Trimble is offering a new version
of its CenterPoint RTX correction
service that delivers convergence to
4-centimeter
horizontal
accuracy
in less than
5 minutes.
The service
is designed
for a variety
of precision
agriculture operations in Central and
Western Europe, and is available for use
with the Trimble CFX-750 display.
More Business News Online
See www.gpsworld.com.
Follow @gpsworld on Twitter.
www.gpsworld.com
THE BUSINESS
» TRANSPORTATION
Volvo Developing System for Integrating Autonomous Cars into Traffic
Volvo Cars has developed a
complete system solution
that makes it possible to
integrate self-driving cars
into real traffic, with ordinary
people in the driver’s seat.
As its autonomous Drive
Me project enters its second
year, the Swedish carmaker
is moving toward its goal of
placing 100 self-driving cars
in the hands of customers
on selected roads around Gothenburg,
Sweden, by 2017. This public pilot
project, planned in conjunction with the
city, is a central component of Volvo’s
plan to achieve sustainable mobility and
a crash-free future.
Volvo’s autonomous driving system is
based on a complex network of sensors,
cloud-based positioning systems
and intelligent braking and steering
technologies. The system is designed
www.gpsworld.com
to be reliable enough to allow the car
to take over every aspect of driving in
autonomous mode. The technology
advances a crucial step beyond the
automotive systems demonstrated
so far since it includes fault-tolerant
systems, Volvo said.
The system generates exact
positioning and a complete 360-degree
view of the car’s surroundings through
a combination of radars, cameras and
laser sensors. A network of
computers processes the
information, generating a
real-time map of moving
and stationary objects in
the environment.
Precise positioning is
based on this surround
information together with
GPS and a high-definition
3D digital map that is
continuously updated with
real-time data.
The high-performance GPS is
enhanced with a three-degrees-offreedom accelerometer and gyro. By
matching the image created by the
sensors with the map image, the car
receives information about its position
in relation to the surroundings, and
can choose the best course in real time,
factoring in road curvature, speed limit,
temporary signs and other traffic.
April 2015 | GPS World
17
THE BUSINESS
» DEFENSE
» EVENTS
European Navigation Conference
April 7–10, Bordeaux, France
http://enc-gnss2015.com/
The ENC gathers 150 members of
the scientific community and more
than 300 guests, providing a unique
opportunity to meet key players in
the navigation area. It is renowned
for its high-level scientific activities
highlighted during the conference and
the wide range of topics covered.
IFCS-EFTF 2015
April 12–16, Denver; http://ifcs-eftf2015.org/
The IEEE International Frequency
Control Symposium & European
Frequency and Time Forum Conference
includes topics on timekeeping, time
and frequency transfer, and GNSS
applications.
EGU General Assembly
April 12–17, Vienna; www.egu.eu
The General Assembly of the
European Geosciences Union will
feature a high-precision GNSS session.
9th International Navigation
Forum
April 22–23, Moscow; www.glonass-forum.com
The forum is designed to inform
a wide audience in Russia about
the current status and plans for the
development of GLONASS and other
satnav systems, state policies on the
commercial use of GLONASS in Russia
and overseas, innovative technologies,
and up-to-date navigation equipment
and services.
AUVSI Unmanned Systems 2015
May 4 –7, Atlanta; www.auvsi.org/home
Unmanned Systems 2015 convenes
a global community of commercial and
defense leaders in intelligent robotics,
drones and unmanned systems,
powered by AUVSI.
9th Annual Baška GNSS
Conference
May 10–12, Baška, Krk Island Croatia
www.baskagnssconference.org/ocs/
18
GPS World | April 2015
This event gathers worldwide
experts in satellite navigation and
related disciplines, and focuses on
GNSS resilience and GNSS applications
development.
Telematics Berlin
May 11–12, Berlin; www.tu-auto.com/berlin/
Telematics Berlin brings together
players in the connected car space to
deliver insights on changes brought
about by automotive data, including
speakers from TomTom, Ford and
Teradata.
UN/Russian Federation Workshop
on the Applications of GNSS
May 18–22, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation
www.unoosa.org
Organized jointly by the United
Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
and the Russian Federal Space Agency
(ROSCOSMOS), this workshop will
address the use of GNSS for various
applications that can provide
sustainable social and economic
benefits, in particular for developing
countries.
CSNC 2015: 6th China Satellite
Navigation Conference
May 21–23, Xi’an, China
http://182.92.190.247/english/about.asp
CSNC is an open platform for
academic exchanges that aim to
enhance academic innovation to
promote cooperation and exchange in
the field of satellite navigation.
Joint Navigation Conference
June 22–25, Orlando, Florida
http://ion.org/jnc/index.cfm
The ION Military Division’s Joint
Navigation Conference is the largest
U.S. military navigation conference
with joint service and government
participation. The event focuses on
technical advances in guidance,
navigation and control (GN&C) with
emphasis on joint development,
test and support of affordable GN&C
systems, logistics and integration.
Karel Launches HighPerformance GPS/INS
The VIA-100G, an integrated GPS and
MEMS-IMU (inertial measurement
system), has been added to the
ViaNav inertial navigation system
family produced by Karel Electronics
Corporation.
Featuring a high-accuracy fusion
filter running on an embedded
processor, the VIA-100G provides all
the functions of a vertical reference
unit (VRU), an attitude and heading
reference system (AHRS) and an
integrated GPS/IMU system.
The system contains GPS, 3D
gyroscopes, 3D accelerometers, a
magnetometer, a static pressure sensor
and temperature sensors in a compact
and rugged enclosure. The embedded
processor provides driftless and realtime navigation information over a
wide range of temperature in dynamic
and static conditions, Karel said.
The sensors are integrated with a
highly accurate fusion filter. A Kalman
filter running on an embedded
processor fuses data from the IMU,
GPS, magnetometer, altimeter and
barometer in an optimal manner to
output highly accurate navigation
solutions.
VIA-100G outputs highfrequency position, velocity and
attitude information in addition to
calibrated 3D acceleration, rotation,
magnetometer and pressure data.
KAREL provides a software
development kit (Vianav SDK) and
user interface with the device. System
parameters can be adjusted to
customize the system according to the
dynamic properties of the application.
www.gpsworld.com