INDUSTRY

Northrop Grumman and Airbus MOU

Northrop Grumman and Airbus have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to address the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) military satellite communication system requirements as an integrated team. The team will work together to address future aspects of the SKYNET program ensuring that UK social value and industrial participation is maximised, and that the ‘allied by design’ approach is implemented to drive towards interoperability with key national allies. www.northropgrumman.com

Trimble introduces new scanning and imaging solution

Trimble has introduced the new Trimble X12 scanning system to the geospatial scanning portfolio. It integrates intuitive Trimble software for precise data capture and in-field registration with state-ofthe-art 3D laser scanning and imaging hardware technology from Zoller+Fröhlich (Z+F), combining the expertise of two industry leaders into a single solution.

The Trimble X12 can be operated by using Trimble Perspective field software installed on a Trimble T10x tablet to enable registration and refinement of scans in the field, ensuring project accuracy and completion before leaving the jobsite. Users can also leverage Trimble’s customized on-board software menu to configure and operate the scanner. Data is exported from the field and processed in the office with Trimble RealWorks™ software or third-party software. Final deliverables can be shared online with clients and stakeholders using Trimble Clarity, a browser-based data collaboration and visualization tool. www.trimble.com

GeoSLAM technology deployed on large-scale urbanisation project

GeoSLAM’s handheld LiDAR technology has been utilised to document informal settlements in one of India’s largest cities, Bengaluru, as part of a largescale urbanisation project. Geospatial mapping services company, Nakshatech, surveyed the area and digitally mapped the informal settlements. Over the course of the three day project data was collected from more than 40 different areas of the settlements, automatically processing each dataset in itsvsoftware.

Once compiled, orthophotos were created using the point cloud in GeoSLAM Draw, allowing the team to extract further information such as encroaching settlements. www.geoslam.com

Launching of of Street View in India

Tech Mahindra and Google have announced a strategic partnership that licenses street-level imagery to Google toward the launch of their Street View feature in the country. The partnership will leverage output from Tech Mahindra’s ‘Gullyfy’ project done in collaboration with eco-system partners, and is being carried out in accordance with the accuracy thresholds laid out in the geospatial guidelines. As a part of the partnership, Tech Mahindra will be responsible for GIS processes from data creation, resourcing, insights generation, and the actual collection of the streetlevel imagery. www.techmahindra.com

Telit and Thales announce partnership

Telit and Thales have have entered into an agreement under which Telit intends to acquire Thales’ cellular IoT products. The intended transaction includes Thales’ portfolio of cellular wireless communication modules, gateways, and data (modem) cards, ranging from 4G LTE, LPWAN to 5G. www.telit.com

Hexagon announces Leica BLK360 laser scanner

Hexagon AB has announced the introduction of the all-new, nextgeneration Leica BLK360, which dramatically advances reality capture by delivering two of the most soughtafter necessities: speed and efficiency.

The new BLK360 creates stunning, photorealistic, accurate digital twins within just 20 seconds. Like its predecessor, it encourages new users to introduce reality capture to new industries and markets due to its speed, portability, and ease of use.

Mapping the entire ocean floor

Terradepth and The Nippon FoundationGEBCO Seabed 2030 project have announced a new partnership, which will utilize Terradepth’s geospatial data portal known as Absolute Ocean. Seabed 2030 will use Absolute Ocean as a data visualization and exploration tool as part of the international effort to map the entire ocean floor.

Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation in Japan and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) with the mission of inspiring 100% mapping of the ocean floor and making it freely available to all by 2030. GEBCO is a joint program of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO). Seabed 2030 comprises five Data Centers – four Regional Centers and one Global Center – which are responsible for coordinating and assembling mapping data.

In addition to producing and delivering global GEBCO products, the Seabed 2030 Global Center is also a Trusted Node for receipt of citizen-sourced data in support of IHO’s Crowdsourced Bathymetry (CSB) initiative which encourages government, academic and privately owned vessels, including superyachts and fishing boats, to participate in increasing our knowledge of the ocean by sharing depth measurements from navigation instruments. https://seabed2030.org

First cloud-connected cockpit system

Cyient has announced a partnership with Honeywell to manufacture the aviation industry’s first cloud-connected cockpit system – The Honeywell Anthem. Cyient has inked a multi-year deal with Honeywell for this project. With design validation for electronics, Cyient will provide turnkey manufacture and testing of multiple LRUs that comprise the Honeywell Anthem avionics suite. With the help of Cyient’s supply chain management technologies and Industry 4.0 linked plants, Honeywell will obtain predictable delivery schedules and continuous quality improvement over the program’s life. www.cyient.com

Drone Package

he E300 drone package includes the E300 real-time kinematic (RTK) drone, flight-control software and an optional camera. The drone is embedded with a high-precision K8 GNSS module that supports GPS L1/L2/L5, BeiDou B1/B2/ B3/B1C/B2a, GLONASS L1/L2, Galileo E1/E5-a/E5-b/AltBOC/E6 and QZSS L1/ L2/L5. With its intelligent recognition algorithms, the E300 can capture highresolution images consistently even in complex environments. comnav.com

New Timing Antenna by Tallysman

Tallysman® Wireless recently introduced the housed TW3885T dual-band (L1/ L5) Accutenna® technology timing antenna. The antenna supports GPS/ QZSS L1/L5, Galileo E1/ E5a/b, BeiDou B1/B2/B2a, GLONASS G1/G3 and in the region of operation, satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS): WAAS (North America), EGNOS (Europe), MSAS (Japan), or GAGAN (India).

The antenna is housed in a throughhole mount, weatherproof (IP69K) enclosure. L-bracket (PN 23-0040- 0) or pipe (23-0065-0) mounts are available for permanent installations.

Hi-Target launches vRTK receiver with GNSS, IMU and cameras

Hi-Target has launched a real-timekinematic (RTK) GNSS receiver that has an eye for visual positioning. The pocket-sized vRTK GNSS RTK System is equipped with professional dual cameras to enable non-contact image surveying. It also has an advanced inertial measurement unit (IMU).

vRTK is suitable for non-contact measurements in a variety of hazardous and complex environments. Highquality sensors ensure the stability of the receiver’s accuracy in working status. By combining imagery with high-precision positioning equipment, users benefit from the convenience of visual positioning technology, which allows them to obtain the location of the target with a touch of a finger from a distance. https://en.hi-target.com.cn

GMV wins European NAVGUARD contract for Galileo PRS

GMV has been awarded the NAVGUARD project by the European Commission.

NAVGUARD (Advanced Galileo PRS Resilience for EU Defence) will develop ground and space systems to detect illegal activities on GNSS frequencies and geolocate their sources. It also will build an information-management subsystem together with a user interface to provide a situational awareness picture.

The Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) is an encrypted navigation service for governmental authorized users and sensitive applications that require high continuity.

According to the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), the PRS signal will ensure better continuity of service to authorized users when access to other navigation services may be degraded (resilience). In cases of malicious interference, PRS increases the likelihood of the continuous availability of the signal-in-space (robustness).

NAVGUARD is among various European Defence Fund (EDF) projects designed to sharpen the competitiveness of the European Union defense industry and strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy. Besides navigation, the projects contracted to GMV will focus on developing missile defense system capabilities, systems for dismounted soldiers, avionics, command and control and cyber defense. www.gmv.com

Locating Shackleton’s historic endurance vessel

Having been lost for more than 100 years beneath more than 3,000 metres of sea ice in the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, the almost fully intact wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance has been found, supported with underwater navigation and positioning technology from Sonardyne.

The pioneering search, launched in February this year, saw the Endurance22 team deploy Saab Seaeye Sabertooth hybrid autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) from the ice-breaking polar supply and research ship SA Agulhas II.

During their hunt of the seabed, close to where the 1914–1917 expedition came to its end, these underwater robots used Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav hybrid acoustic-inertial navigation system (INS) technology to navigate their search routes. They also used its AvTrak 6 tracking and telemetry transceiver, to send commands and position updates from a Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) system, onboard the SA Agulhas II.

For ease of deployment, the Ranger 2 was configured with a Gyro USBL transceiver. This comes with an inbuilt attitude, heading and reference sensor (AHRS) and is pre-calibrated, making it easy to deploy on vessels of opportunity. A second Ranger 2 Gyro USBL system was also on hand, ready to be deployed from the surface of the ice if the SA Agulhas was unable to get through the Weddell Sea’s sea ice. Both were LMF systems, enabling tracking at ranges beyond 7,000m, to meet the Endurance22 team’s potential under-ice tracking requirements.

High -accuracy mapping solution for GIS field applications by Trimble

Trimble recently announced a new high-performance data collector for its Mapping and GIS portfolio—the Trimble® TDC650 handheld. Built for GIS data collection, inspection and asset management activities, the TDC650 provides users a rugged solution with scalable high-accuracy GNSS positioning for professional field workflows. www.trimble.com

Dual-band GNSS timing receiver for the OCP-TAP

Protempis (formerly Trimble’s Time and Frequency Division) has announced that the company is providing its industryleading dual-band timing receiver Res720 embedded module for Open Compute Project Time Appliance Project (OCPTAP) open-sourced time card reference design. The module is an ideal solution for data center, 5G Open RAN / XHaul, smart grid, industrial automation, and SATCOM networks. It provides unparalleled performance with five nanosecond timing accuracy, dual-band GNSS support, and anti-jamming/anti-spoofing capabilities.

In 2020, OCP-TAP started working on highly precise and hyper scalable time synchronization services in its data center market, using a GNSS clock source[es] and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) technologies. OCP-TAP technology adds scalability and improves the accuracy of timekeeping within the infrastructure industry. In 2021, OCP-TAP integrated its technology into the Time Card and introduced it as an open-source solution to build time servers. protempis.com

Quectel launches singleband GNSS module

Quectel Wireless Solutions released its LC76G module, a single-band compact GNSS module featuring fast and accurate location performance as well as ultralow power consumption. The LC76G has already entered mass production with sufficient supply to meet the needs of the global positioning market. www.quectel.com

GEODNET base-station by HYFIX.AI

HYFIX.AI announces the availability of a GEODNET base-station using the LC29H module from Quectel Wireless Solutions.

The Mobile Centimeter (MobileCM) base-station is a dual-band GNSS basestation for Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) precise-positioning applications in Autonomy, Agriculture, Construction/ Survey, Drones and Geo-Science applications. www.quectel.com

Korea’s first convenience store drone delivery station

PABLO AIR, in cooperation with South Korea’s 7-Eleven branch, has opened the first convenience store drone delivery station in Korea for the commercialization of drone delivery. It primarily consists of a control tower and the drone’s vertical take-off and landing aerodrome (Helipad), which allows one-stop processing, from the taking of delivery orders to the completion of the delivery flight. The drone delivery service is a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight in which the drone is controlled with a wGCS (Webbased Ground Control System) paired with a smart mobility integrated control system (PAMNet, PABLO AIR Mobility Network) for safe and agile operation of the aircraft.

In June, the Korean government promised to ease regulations and establish a legal basis for the drone delivery industry as part of its new industry regulation improvement plan. pabloair.com