Industry

2020 – A record year for NovAtel GAJT GPS Anti-Jam Technology

NovAtel has announced that their GPS Anti-Jam Technology (GAJT) product lines achieved a milestone of more than several thousand units shipped worldwide in 2020. Despite COVID-19, 2020 has proven to be one of NovAtel’s most successful years in protecting PNT from Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) for military and civil organizations.

Jamming and interference are growing threats, from a crowded RF spectrum to malicious jamming attempts. However, the GNSS market is responding with anti-jam technologies. Across the world, on land, in the air and at sea, NovAtel customers use GAJT to protect their GNSS (GPS & Galileo) navigation and precise timing receivers from intentional jamming and unintentional interference. The GAJT portfolio includes commercial off-theshelf solutions with short order lead times for rapid deployment. novatel.com

AVL and R&S announce strategic vehicle-in-the-loop collaboration

Rohde & Schwarz and AVL have intensified their collaboration with the integration of a Rohde & Schwarz radar test system into the AVL DRIVINGCUBE™ toolchain, creating new possibilities for testing radar enabled ADAS features and validating autonomous driving functions with a vehicle-in-the-loop test bed.

The AVL DRIVINGCUBE™ combines both simulation and real vehicles on a chassis dynamometer and powertrain testbed. It provides a new way to speed up the validation and approval process of ADAS and AD systems. The key concept of this solution is operating the real vehicle in a virtual environment, taking into consideration all parts of the “sense, plan, act” chain. www.pressebox.de

New Topcon solution for North America

A new point creation software from Topcon Positioning Group to directly benefit construction professionals is now available. Topcon Point Manager, available as a plug-in for Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Revit users in the U.S. and Canada, is designed to automate point creation and easily import and export layout files to and from a robotic total station. The new solution will simplify the BIM-to-field process with a faster, more seamless point creation experience from within the design platform, reducing the time and cost of layout. www.topconpositioning.com

SCCS and Senceive partnership

SCCS, part of Hexagon, an authorised distributor and a flagship business for both the rental and sale of Leica Geosystems solutions has formed a partnership with Senceive to distribute the company’s wireless remote condition monitoring technology. UK based Senceive brings unrivalled technical expertise and locally based customer support to enhance the SCCS team. They offer a comprehensive range of geotechnical and structural solutions based on their two wireless communications platforms FlatMesh and GeoWAN. FlatMesh provides intelligent, reliable and rapid responsiveness using mesh technology and GeoWAN offers an alternative longer range LoRaWAN based solution. www.sccssurvey.co.uk

GTT adds GNSS to Opticom solutions

Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) has announced that it has added the GNSS to its Opticom™ solutions. This collection of satellites transmits positioning and timing data to GNSS receivers, which use this data to determine location. Adding GNSS will enable more consistent, reliable priority control in dense urban areas with obstructions such as bridges, tunnels and tall buildings. It will reduce the kind of performance issues that can diminish priority control’s effectiveness by helping ensure the correct intersection receives the request for a green light as priority vehicles approach intersections. Better location services will minimize disruptions to traffic, and help fire and emergency personnel, bus drivers and light rail train conductors navigate dense urban areas in safer and faster.

Even with access to more satellites, communication to these satellites can be lost temporarily in areas with tall buildings, tunnels or multilevel roads. To address this, GTT has also added the ability to more effectively determine vehicle position in these areas with software-based “dead reckoning.” www.gtt.com

ViaLite links used in next generation of space development

ViaLite recently supplied its L-Band links, GPS links, associated outdoor enclosures and indoor system chassis solutions to a major privately funded spaceflight services company. The L-Band link featured the market-leading ViaLite Hyper Wide Dynamic Range (HWDR) solution which provides a spurious free dynamic range of up to 115 dB/Hz. The GPS links were supplied together with the unique ViaLite Multizone Lossless Splitter, for easy distribution of the GPS signals with effectively no signal loss. The products were used to operate the spaceflight company’s L- Band communications link and for GPS based network server timing and synchronization. www.vialite.com

SailPlan launches to enable intelligent navigation for ships

SailPlan is building an intelligent navigation platform for ships that makes navigation dramatically safer and more efficient in a world with an ever-growing demand for cargo.

Seafaring is the world’s deadliest job. In the past ten years, nearly 1,000 ships and thousands of lives have been lost. Most catastrophic incidents result from human error, as navigators rely primarily on their eyes and ears in crowded environments with little room for error.

Founded by Jacob Ruytenbeek, an autonomous systems expert, Sailplan’s platform makes ship operations safer and more efficient by identifying collision risks beyond the navigator’s line of sight so that ships can safely navigate around them.

Drawing on data around vessel traffic, weather, geographic awareness, and more, SailPlan offers operators unparalleled situational awareness that improves safety and efficiency. Its’s routing engine alerts ship navigators to potential collision risks hours, or even days, in advance.

SailPlan’s requires no external sensors to provide enhanced navigational capabilities. For increased visibility, it allows operators to integrate almost any external sensor through a standard interface. Sailplain.ai

Fugro awarded PETRONAS contract

Fugro in the Caribbean has received a contract award from PETRONAS Suriname E&P for the provision of positioning services for an exploration program in Block 52, off the coast of the capital Paramaribo in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. PETRONAS is a global energy and solutions partner and ranks amongst the largest corporations in Fortune Global 500.

The 2-year contract involves Fugro’s Starfix precise positioning solution to help ensure safe and efficient transit, anchoring and drilling activities for the programmer’s semi-submersible rig and support vessels.

Eos Positioning Systems announces new Arrow Bundles

Eos Positioning Systems (Eos) has announced the availability of two new Arrow bundles. The Arrow Gold Bundle and Arrow 100 Bundle are immediately available for sale in the United States. These bundles allow customers to combine Esri ArcGIS software licenses with the purchase of Eos Arrow Series® GNSS receivers.

“We are extremely pleased to offer, in partnership with Esri, a hardware and software bundle that has already proven widely effective and popular among our joint customers,” said Jean-Yves Lauture, Chief Technology Officer at Eos. “The bundles make it more convenient for organizations to acquire all of their industry-leading field mapping software and hardware.” www.eos-gnss.com

An Indian startup is mapping potholes

Intents Mobi, a Gurugram-based startup, is making a navigation app that can send pothole alerts, a feature that is non-existent in Google maps. The app called Intents Go is a free, privacy focussed, navigation app, aimed at making drives safer and easier.

The app could update users in real-time on road conditions while driving. It supports voice-guided turn by turn navigation, sends speed breaker alerts and helps find restaurants, toilets and mechanics. The company says it won’t collect users’ personal data. www.thehindu.com

Planet releases ArcGIS Add- In & QGIS Plugin V2.0

Planet announces the release of the new and improved Planet ArcGIS Add-In & Planet QGIS Plugin V2.0. The new integration products are designed to make it easier for GIS users to discover and apply imagery in their preferred mapping and analysis tools, enriching their applications and projects with more frequent satellite imagery.

The ArcGIS Add-In & QGIS Plugin V1.0 were released in December 2019 and enabled customers to search for, preview, and download Planet imagery & Basemaps directly within ArcGIS Pro and QGIS desktop. The update to 2.0 both strengthens these existing features and adds new capabilities to augment users’ imagery workflows in their GIS. www.planet.com

Trimble introduces 2 new GNSS smart antennas

The AX940 and AX940i are the two GNSS smart antennas introduced by Trimble. They are designed for a broad range of applications including precision agriculture, milling machines in the construction, forestry harvesting equipment, autonomous vehicles, port automation, and mobile mapping, and several others.

The full-featured smart antennas are equipped with 336 channels for multiconstellation support, Trimble RTX and OmniSTAR support, flexible RS232, USB, CAN and Ethernet interfaces, and advanced RF spectrum monitoring. The AX940i also includes WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity for wireless interface and control. www.trimble.com

Airbus and Thales win €1.47 bn contracts

The European Commission has awarded two contracts for 12 Satellites (6 satellites each), for a total of €1.47 billion, to Thales Alenia Space (Italy) and Airbus Defence & Space (Germany) following an open competition.

With this, the Commission is initiating the launch of the 2nd Generation of Galileo, the European satellite positioning system. The aim is to keep Galileo ahead of the technological curve compared to global competition and maintaining it as one of the best performing satellite positioning infrastructures in the world while strengthening it as a key asset for Europe’s strategic autonomy. The first satellites of this second generation will be placed in orbit by the end of 2024. https://ec.europa.eu

Hexagon and Gold Fields Ghana complete project successfully

Hexagon’s Mining division has announced completion of a significant safety installation with Gold Fields Ghana. More than 220 mine vehicles were equipped with Hexagon’s

MineProtect Collision Avoidance System (CAS) at Gold Fields’ Tarkwa Mine in Ghana’s Western Region. MineProtect’s Operator Alertness System, Personal Alert and Tracking Radar were also installed with minimal delays, despite pandemic lockdowns. www.hexagon.com