the PDF here.

BUSINESS
THE
Industry news and developments | GPS | Galileo | GLONASS
»
SURVEY / WIRELESS
Septentrio Consolidates Sales for Americas with Altus
By Bethany Chambers
Asian economies has increased demand for
surveying equipment, and speculates what’s
elgium-based Septentrio is
happening in the U.S. and other Western markets
consolidating its sales, service and
with OEM growth will eventually be mirrored
customer support functions for the
there. He estimates the Chinese receiver market
Americas in the Altus Positioning Systems
alone has grown ten-fold since he was president
facility in Torrance, California.
of Leica GPS nearly 20 years ago.
The change is part of a larger growth
“What’s interesting and exciting is that it
strategy “across a wide range of market
will be a big growth market for OEM or nonsectors,” said Neil Vancans, president of Altus.
survey applications based on domestic Asian
It expands the relationship formed in June
manufacturers using Western and increasingly
2011 between Septentrio and Altus, with
▲ ALTUS President Neil Vacans
Asian OEM,” Vancans said. “If you can master the
Septentrio more closely integrating the Altus
distribution capabilities in the OEM market in North America
subsidiary.
in the next couple of years, that will form the foundation of
Also, Septentrio is now manufacturing Altus GNSS RTK
what happens in Asia in the future.”
receivers at its factory in Belgium and closing its separate
Altus’ announcement also came with news the company
sales office in the U.S., merging that functionality into Altus.
hired Mo Kapila as OEM sales manager for Septentrio
Vancans started Altus in 2007 to focus on the surveying
products. Kapila’s background is in embedded wireless,
sector. “Ten years ago, 90 percent of the high-precision
according to Vancans.
GPS market was survey or survey-related. But survey is
“The professional high-precision market is stable, and
not a high-growth market. Today, survey is probably 20
products have a long shelf life,” he said. “On the other hand,
percent of the market, and that’s doing things like putting
the good thing with the consumer market is the constant
a $10,000 receiver on a $4,000 lawn mower,” Vancans said
changes in devices, the churning. As consumer markets take
at CTIA Super Mobility Week. “The growth market outside
up high-precision GNSS products , they will be embedded in
that (in consumer wireless) is huge, and it offers many new
products which are rapidly outdated.”
opportunities and will continue to grow.”
Altus is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to
The survey market will continue to be in the Altus and
professional-grade receivers for the consumer market. “If the
Septentrio strategy, particularly leveraging Altus products
price lowers, the longevity will too,” Vancans said. “The high
with Septentrio’s advanced receiver technology experience
end will likely go down to meet the low end — the cheap
in the OEM market.
and easy, changeable model.”
Vancans has watched for two decades as use in emerging
B
»
DEFENSE / MAPPING
NovAtel Adds IMU to SPAN Line
NovAtel, Inc., has added the IMU-ISA-100C as an inertial
measurement unit (IMU) option to its SPAN GNSS+INS
line of positioning products. The IMU-ISA-100C is a highperformance, near navigation-grade IMU designed
for platform stabilization, general-purpose navigation,
photogrammetry, remote sensing, and ground mobilemapping applications.
Commercially exportable, the IMU-ISA-100C integrates
with a NovAtel SPAN-capable receiver to provide a tightly
coupled 3D navigation solution, NovAtel said. Offering
customers continuous position, velocity, and attitude (roll,
12
GPS World | October 2014
pitch, and azimuth)
measurements, a SPAN
system is stable and
available even through
periods when satellite
signals are blocked or
unavailable, the company
said. With the IMU-ISA-100C, customers will receive near
navigation-grade performance at an affordable price
point, NovAtel said. The product features a new enclosure
designed to maximize versatility for a range of applications.
www.gpsworld.com
THE BUSINESS
IFEN Launches SX3 Software Receiver
IFEN’s new SX3 GNSS software receiver
is based on the company’s previous
scientific software receiver, the SX‐NSR.
The SX-NSR was subject to major
upgrades, while the respective hardware
front-end was completely redesigned.
Together, they build the new SX3.
A key features is four RF frequency
bands, which can be split into a
maximum of eight sub-bands per unit.
This enhances the bandwidth to a full
55 MHz per RF band, offering additional
signal power, especially in E5 band. The
new USB 3.0 port empowers a data
transfer rate that makes a maximal bitquantization of up to 8-bit possible, for
every stream.
The additional power is compressed
into a significantly smaller and lighter
hardware chassis than before. Among
other options, a dual antenna-input
feature can be ordered as well as an
OXCO clock. The proofed difference
correlator ruggedizes acquisition
and tracking of navigation satellite
signals, while polyfit tracking reduces
measurement noise through averaging.
ION Awards Given
to Misra, Banville
The Institute of Navigation’s (ION)
Satellite Division awarded Pratap
Misra its Johannes Kepler Award
on September 12 at the ION GNSS+
Conference in Tampa, Florida, for his
contributions to satellite navigation
education, the understanding of
GLONASS, and receiver autonomous
integrity monitoring.
Misra is credited with tracking
GLONASS satellites using the AF Deep
Space Tracking Network to determine
their orbits in the coordinate frame
used by GPS, while the satellites
broadcast their positions in the Soviet
coordinate frame, and is the West’s
leading expert on GLONASS.
Parkinson Award. Simon Banville,
a Ph.D. geodesy and geomatics
engineering student at the University
of New Brunswick, was awarded this
year’s ION Bradford W. Parksinson
Award. Banville is a student of GPS
World Innovation Editor Richard
Langley.
www.gpsworld.com
October 2014 | GPS World
13
CTIA Super Mobility Week
What Mattered at CTIA
14
To those attending CTIA’s Super Mobility
Week in Las Vegas September 9–11, it
was clear that we’ve entered a period of
divergence. Sensors, multiple platforms,
all sorts of devices, computing in clouds,
processing in clouds, car companies,
JANICE PARTYKA
connected houses, smart watches, and
Wireless Editor
indoor location positioning are being
touted as part of the “Internet of Things”
that will work together seamlessly. Some day.
Ford, a newbie at CTIA, entered the conference with a
bang, hosting what it claimed to be the first developers’
conference for the automobile. Developers from 17 countries
participated and received access to simulated vehicle data,
including speed, fuel economy, and GPS, based on data
from Los Angeles. Currently, there are 60 apps developed
for Ford; the company forbids apps with games, videos
and complicated demands on the driver. Ford had been
at the forefront of the connected vehicle and already has
connected collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control,
smartphone integration, and parallel parking assistance.
GM is furthest ahead in bringing cars to market with
embedded connectivity and, unlike Ford, has plans for an
app store. Embedding connectivity into the car greatly
deepens the functionality of car apps and also allows for
over-the-air updates of firmware and software. Egil Juliussen
of market research firm IHS expects to see self-driving
vehicles on highway lanes in 2017, followed by automated
lane switching and local road driving in 2025.
Besides pleading to the FCC for more spectrum, most
keynote speakers talked about technologies or products
that require LTE (often called 4G) for fast connectivity.
GM, in partnership with AT&T, leads U.S. car makers in LTE
deployment. The 2015 Chevrolet Malibu is the first 4G LTEequipped GM vehicle, to be followed by more than 30 more
GM models by the end
of the year. In 2016, GM
plans to roll out “Super
Cruise” for hands-free
highway driving, at
both highway and stopand-go speeds, as well
as lane following, speed
control, and braking
that will be available in
▲ TWILIO CEO Jeff Lawson says Tesla’s
an undisclosed Cadillac
Model S interior forgoes extra buttons for useful, adaptable software.
model in 2017.
Google and Apple each
want to get a proprietary connected platform into vehicles
as a way to control the integration of apps with vehicles, as
well as to “own” the ecosystem. The traditional automotive
players, including the OEMs, have banded together to create
MirrorLink, a collaborative, standards-based non-proprietary
platform, an effort facilitated by the Car Connectivity
Consortium. “The biggest concern we have right now, is
how to get the platform distributed throughout the world,”
remarked Alan Ewing of Car Connectivity Consortium. “In
three years we will be talking about the ecosystem of apps,
and you will see 100 more times than what we see today.”
The location services that deliver content to vehicles
and devices have been in the foreground, but there is
a quieter category of location services. Companies like
LocationSmart and Locate are automatically identifying the
location of customers (with permission) for enterprises
that include asset management, mobile gaming, financial
security services, and customer management services.
Initially, the services were based on identifying the location
of callers to customer service centers, who could then route
callers accordingly. A broader set of use cases is now seen.
(See WHAT MATTERED, next page.)
▲
▲
Cody Remington, sales manager for UASUSA, says his company’s
UAVs are “efficient and aesthetically pleasing.”
GPS World | October 2014
Ron Gividen, media director for Ohio-based ESCORT, Inc., shows off
a crowd-sourced, GPS-enabled radar detector.
www.gpsworld.com
CTIA Super Mobility Week
u-blox Rolls Out Strategy
Several companies at CTIA are
attempting to find niche opportunities
in the crowded machine-to-machine
market — and Switzerland-based u-blox
is no exception. The company is focusing
on the mobile, industrial, and consumerKEVIN DENNEHY
location markets, said Thomas Seiler,
LBS Editor
u-blox CEO.
While Seiler says there is no one
dominant market for u-blox, the fleet market and asset tracking
have been very good for the company. “We are also seeing
consumer markets such as e-bikes, golf carts, commercial
helicopters, and drones growing,” he said.
While many location companies are fretting about
government regulation, u-blox is taking the position that
most agency requirements have actually helped build the
market.
“Regulatory requirements have been driving business
for us. The [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]
proposes that vehicles report location, speed, and direction,”
said Nikolaos Papadopoulos, u-blox America president. “The
collision avoidance regulations have helped to create an
ecosystem that drives business.”
www.gpsworld.com
▲
THE MEXIA heat map showed connected people on the show floor.
What Mattered
(Continued from previous page.)
“LocationSmart is providing financial service companies
with the location of a customer’s phone, which is matched
with the location of financial transactions,” says Mario Proietti
of LocationSmart. If a credit card is being used at a store in
Chicago while the customer’s cell phone is in Miami, fraud
may be involved.
An engaging heat map of all attendees in the exhibit hall
demonstrated the power of indoor positioning. On the hall’s
ceiling, Mexia Interactive installed Wi-Fi/Bluetooth sensors to
receive attendees’ cellular signals. The sensors were spaced
about every 10,000 square feet.
October 2014 | GPS World
15
ION GNSS+ Conference
Indoor Location Takes Center Stage
ION GNSS+, which took place September
9–12 in Tampa, Florida, held a panel
and demonstration session on indoor
location, reflecting the huge interest in
indoor E-911 and commercial indoor
applications.
TONY MURFIN
One of the leading outfits working
OEM Editor
the indoor problem using beacons
is NextNav in California, who chose not to demonstrate its
capabilities. However, I did learn that NextNav is active in
around 47 urban markets, is setting up another large trial
in Seattle, and has recently acquired another $70 million
investment. Rx Networks was also there to show its latest
assistance and location products including Zed, a service
that calibrates pressure sensors to determine floor level, and
XYBRID Cloud, a cloud-based GNSS engine that achieved
GNSS fixes down to two meters inside the exhibition hall
where there was otherwise no GNSS coverage.
The Indoor Location Panel discussion was around
establishing standards for development of indoor location
capabilities — there were eight panel members and
apparently four prevailing standards areas/groups involved
in developing standards for different aspects of what
essentially is a wide field of differing communications
systems. For someone involved in making and using one
common standard for a particular GNSS and aviation
industry application, this session was basically baffling.
The interesting indoor location story at the show came
in the following afternoon session, where seven companies
set up live (or close to live) demonstrations in a large area on
the first floor of the Tampa Convention Center, where there
was little prospect for any GNSS sky signals to penetrate. A
number of Wi-Fi access points (AP) were set up in the room,
along with a Nokia beacon.
Rx Networks.
Basically using
the Wi-Fi APs,
and their vertical
measurement Zed,
the Rx team was
trying to show static
positioning of their
location in the demo
room. They certainly
had a hiccup during
the demo and may
have lost a bunch
of accumulated data, but they didn’t comment on what
appeared to be large errors they showed on a Google Earth
representation of the convention center.
Broadcom. This team was using a Round Trip Timing
(RTT) method, ranging off the three Wi-Fi APs, and
16
GPS World | October 2014
measuring location and collecting data on a smartphone.
To demonstrate its ranging accuracy, Broadcom measured
range to an AP using a laser rangefinder and demonstrated
high correlation with the range measured by RTT.
CSR. Using Wi-Fi ranging and integrated MEMS inertial
for pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR), CSR plotted a path
walked round the room, with what appeared to be pretty
good accuracy. CSR also indicated how magnetic/compass
measurements can be thrown off by ferrous structures in
buildings.
PNI Sensor Corporation. Following an initial crash and a quick
restart, PNI ran an excellent demo of plotted position on a
tablet using a 15-state Kalman filter using extremely lowpower gyro, accelerometers, and mag-sensor (PDR), which
also indicated mag-sensor errors.
Indoo.rs. Indoo.rs indicated that its solutions are fielded
commercially and use Wi-Fi fingerprinting and iBeacon/
Bluetooth tracking sensor fusion, with added floor-plan
constraints when available. Unfortunately, efforts to follow
a smartphone around the room with a video camera did not
capture the demonstration for the audience.
Navizon. Navizon claimed 1–2 meter indoor accuracy
using Wi-Fi fingerprinting, BLE iBeacons, and inertial, using
a portable software solution it provide to integrators. The
systems works best when the system is “trained” using a floor
plan and PDR. A YouTube video recorded earlier was used to
demonstrate the system’s capabilities.
Nokia. Nokia presented its
angle-of-arrival technology
with HAIP RF tags and a remote
positioning server, which was
demonstrated with tags on
radio-controlled cars, with a
tablet display that indicated that
tracking appeared to be highly
accurate.
To summarize, the participants
were very brave to attempt
these real-time demos and
▲ HANNU LAINE of Nokia
most pulled off the challenge,
displays one of two
tagged remotewith varying degrees of success
controlled cars used in a
and demonstrated accuracy.
demonstration of HAIP
This would seem to indicate
(High-Accuracy Indoor
that the anticipated FCC ruling
Positioning).
for new indoor E-911 location
requirements could well be met by existing technologies.
READ MORE ONLINE
Go to GPSWorld.com for longer versions of our editors’ CTIA
and ION GNSS+ columns, videos, photos, and related news
stories.
www.gpsworld.com
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
www.gpsworld.com/products
For more ION GNSS+ news, see page 16.
Exhibited at ION GNSS+, September 9–12, Tampa
Wireless Data Link
High-Performance RTK
The Pacific Crest
XDL Rover 2 is an
advanced, highspeed, wireless
data link built to
withstand the
rigors of GNSS/
RTK surveying and
precise positioning.
It can be configured
with an Android device in the field
and UHF data can be transmitted via
Bluetooth to a paired host device for
operational efficiency.
Trimble, www.trimble.com
The APS-NR2 incorporates GNSS and
wireless technology into a sleek and
compact design to provide an intelligent
network rover with on-board configuration
and extended operation time. Based on a
low-power and small-footprint OEM GNSS
receiver, the APS-NR2 offers robust RTK while
consuming less power for longer operation
time on battery power.
For easy configuration and status
monitoring, the APS-NR2 features an
on-board web interface accessible via Wi-Fi.
This makes the APS-NR2 configurable from
any device that has a browser and Wi-Fi, and
with any operating system. Real-time data
is streamed over Bluetooth for a completely
cable-free operation.
A 3.5G Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE + HSPA cellular modem supports reliable RTK
network connectivity with an intelligent reconnect feature. In addition to standard
Li-Ion battery chargers and USB cable interface, the design includes on-board USB
battery recharge.
Septentrio, www.septentrio.com; Altus Positioning, www.altus-ps.com
Fiber-Optic Gyro
The 1775 IMU is
a premium sensor
designed to deliver
the highest level
of performance
for challenging
environments.
Providing ease of integration ffor
designers of high-level inertial
navigation, guidance, or stabilization
systems, the 1775 IMU offers a flexible
interface with user-programmable
data output rates from 1 to 5000 Hz. It
includes three axes of magnetometers
for automatic gyro bias compensation
even in the presence of strong magnetic
fields. The 1775 IMU is designed for
sophisticated systems and applications
where very high bandwidth, low latency,
and extreme stability are critical.
KVH, www.kvh.com
Always-On Location for Mobile Applications
The Broadcom BCM4773 low-power GNSS and
sensor hub combo chip is designed for always-on
location applications for mobile devices. It minimizes
battery drain and adds a new layer of intelligence to
location technology on mobile devices by integrating
the GNSS chip and sensor hub into a single chip. The
architecture enables information from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Low Energy (BLE), GPS, and micro electro-mechanical
systems (MEMS) to be calculated on a single systemon-chip instead of the application processor (AP). This design drives more than 80
percent power savings by offloading from the AP and lowers cost by reducing board
area by 34 percent. It provides support for GPS, GLONASS, SBAS, QZSS, and BeiDou.
The chip enables mobile apps in areas such as health, fitness, and lifelogging to
dynamically predict and react to consumers’ needs.
Broadcom, www.broadcom.com
Inertial Measurement Unit
The STIM300 inertial measurement unit is a small, tactical-grade, low-weight, highperformance non-GPS-aided IMU. It contains three highly accurate MEMS gyros, three
high-stability accelerometers, and three inclinometers. It is factory calibrated and
compensated over its temperature operating range.
The STIM series is designed for use below and on the ocean, on land, in the air, and
in orbit and space. The STIM300 IMU is well suited for stabilization, guidance, and
navigation applications in the industrial, aerospace, and defense markets. It is designed
to be a building block for inertial navigation systems in UAVs, AUVs, AGVs, UGVs, and
ROVs. It is also used for camera turret stabilization and for use in various handheld
devices that require a small IMU to secure operations during GPS outage.
Sensonor, www.sensonor.com
54
GPS World | October 2014
www.gpsworld.com
www.gpsworld.com/products
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
For more ION GNSS+ news, see page 16.
Exhibited at ION GNSS+, September 9–12, Tampa
Dual-Frequency Pinwheel Antenna
BeiDou/GPS+MEMS High-Precision Heading Board
The GPS-702-GG-HV pinwheel
antenna tracks L1/L2 GPS and
L1/L2 GLONASS frequencies,
allowing customers to use the
same antenna for GPS-only or
dual-constellation applications
and reduce equipment costs
and need for future redesign.
The GPS-702-GG-HV has the robustness needed for use
under high-vibration conditions, and is enclosed in a
durable, waterproof housing.
The phase center remains constant as the azimuth and
elevation angle of the satellites change. Signal reception
is unaffected by the rotation of the antenna or satellite
elevation, which aids in placement and installation. With the
phase center in the same location for both L1 and L2 signals
and with minimal phase-center variation between antennas,
this antenna is designed for baselines of any length.
NovAtel, www.novatel.com
The UB280 is a BeiDou/GPS dual-system dual-antenna
high-precision heading board for precise RTK position
and heading. The UB280 is based on Unicore’s BeiDoucompatible multi-system GNSS system-on-chip, features
low-power design and dual-antenna input, can offer
millimeter-level carrier-phase observation value and
centimeter-level RTK positioning accuracy, and supports
multipath mitigation. Its advanced technology of instant
and long-distance RTK is designed for high-precision
positioning, navigation,
and heading applications
an
in static and dynamic
environments. Features
en
incude a design compatible
in
with mainstream OEM
w
boards; rapid RTK integer
bo
ambiguity resolution; web
am
aand graphical Interface;
and instant heading technology, with real-time dynamic
heading on variable baseline length for a moving base
station. High-quality carrier observation and RTK algorithm
can provide a 0.2° heading accuracy on a 1-meter baseline.
Unicore Communications, www.unicorecomm.com
Improved Capabilities for GPS Threat Detection
Based on customer feedback, Exelis has improved its
Signal Sentry 1000 to include enhanced analytics and alerts.
Signal Sentry detects and locates sources of intentional and
unintentional interference to GPS signals and provides users
with actionable intelligence. New features include superior
sensors that increase detection accuracy to better pinpoint
the jamming source, enhanced analytics to recognize
patterns of jamming, and easy-to-use history functionality to
comprehend where interference happened and to follow its
path. Instant reporting of jamming events via text or email so
that appropriate resources may be deployed to an incident
has also been added.
Exelis, www.exelisinc.com
GNSS Integrity Monitoring
The HGX Interference Detection System (IDS) identifies
and monitors intentional and unintentional interference
sources. It can detect sources of interference ranging
between 5 dB and 60 dB GNSS jamming to signal (J/S) ratio.
Its profiling function can identify the type of interference
given a database of known and previously recorded profiles.
Loctronix Corporation, www.loctronix.com
www.gpsworld.com
October0 2014 | GPS World
55