Industry

Exelis successfully tests GPS threat detection product

Signal Sentry™ 1000, an Exelis product that detects and locates GPS interference sources, was deployed and tested during GPS jamming trials that occurred at UK in Aug’14. It was able to detect and geolocate stationary and moving jammers in both open and obstructed environments. The trials were managed and administered in the U.K. by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Off-the-shelf jamming devices, available to purchase via the Internet, were used during the tests. Signal Sentry 1000 successfully detected and located all GPS jamming during the trials. Exelis developed Signal Sentry 1000 with Chronos Technology Ltd., U.K.-based company.

Trimble New InSphere Data Marketplace

Trimbles new Data Marketplace service is for the Trimble® InSphere™ geospatial information management platform. It allows geospatial professionals to quickly search, locate and obtain spatial data on demand. InSphere users can now find and use additional free and premium spatial data layers, including aerial and satellite imagery, terrain, elevation and topographic maps, building footprints and other third-party data. In addition, new capabilities have been added to a variety of InSphere applications to streamline geospatial data access. www.trimble.com

Down Under and on Top with the New Spectra SP80

The benefits of the Spectra Precision SP80 GNSS receiver with its multiconstellation capabilities has improved the work efficiency of Philip Clark Land Survey Services and is helping the firm grow. According to the firm’s owner, Philip Clark, “The SP80 is enabling us to acquire fixed solutions faster that previous dual constellation receivers and to maintain the fixes for far longer even in and around buildings and heavily vegetated areas. We are now expanding the business, thanks in part to purchasing this most up-to-date equipment.”

For more than three months, Clark has been using a Nikon Nivo 2.C total station with Survey Pro software combined with the new Spectra Precision SP80 receiver with integrated UHF radio and T41 data collector running Survey Pro on a network configuration. www.spectraprecision.com

Dual-Frequency Pinwheel Antenna for Optimal Positioning

NovAtel, Inc. has introduced the GPS-702- GG-HV to its line of high-performance Pinwheel antennas. Tracking L1/L2 GPS and L1/L2 GLONASS frequencies, customers can use the same antenna for GPS-only or dual constellation applications, reducing equipment costs and need for future redesign. With the same form-factor and choke ring performance as the company’s other pinwheel antennas, the GPS-702-GG-HV has been enhanced even further to provide the robustness needed for use under high-vibration conditions. The phase center of the antenna 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, so placement and installation of the antenna can be completed with ease. www.novatel.com

Loctronix advances GNSS Integrity Monitoring

Loctronix® Corporation has unveiled the HGX Interference Detection System for identifying and monitoring intentional and unintentional interference sources. The IDS can detect sources of interference ranging between 5 dB and 60 dB GNSS Jamming to Signal (J/S) ratio. It not only detects, but can identify the type of interference given a database of known/previously recorded profiles. The IDS was developed using the Loctronix HGX hybrid sensor toolkit along with the company’s ASR-2300 ASR Workbench software defined radio platform.

London’s Station uses Leica GeoMoS

Crossrail, London’s 15 billion pound railway line, taking shape beneath the city, is Europe’s largest infrastructure project. A new station, under construction at Paddington, will be a key hub. As work progresses within a densely built area of the capital, a 24-hour monitoring system, using up to 52 Leica Geosystems robotic total stations and precise levelling, measures changes in ground movement caused by deep excavation works alongside an historic London site. Construction on the underground station continues alongside the existing Grade 1 listed terminus, whilst 18m below the site two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are also in operation. Base readings taken prior to construction allow the surveying team from Costain Skanska to define the level of ground deformation caused by natural daily and seasonal changes and to define the tolerance level for ground movement caused by the excavation process. new scanning geometry that offers industry-leading pulse rates of up to 1.0 MHz. www.leica-geosystems.com

Innovative method for measuring ocean winds and waves from space

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has successfully demonstrated an innovative method of measuring winds and waves from space, using GNSS Reflectometry. The measurements were taken from the SGR-ReSI, (Space GNSS Receiver Remote Sensing Instrument) which is flying onboard TechDemoSat-1, a technology demonstration satellite which was launched in July 2014. It collects the signals from GPS and other navigation satellites after they have been reflected off the ocean surface and processes them into images called Delay Doppler Maps, from which ocean roughness and wind speed measurements at the sea surface can be interpreted. www.sstl.co.uk

IFEN launches SX3 software receiver

IFEN has recently introduced its new SX3 GNSS software receiver, a major upgrade of the company’s SX-NSR. Redesigned hardware frontends feature four wideband RF frequency bands that can be split into a maximum of eight sub-bands per unit. At the same time the bandwidth has been expanded to a full 55 megahertz, offering additional signal power especially in the Galileo E5 band. A new USB 3.0 port of the frontend empowers a data transfer rate that makes possible a maximal bitquantization of up to eight bits for every single stream. The additional power is compressed into a significantly smaller and lighter hardware chassis than before. Among other options, a dual antennainput feature can be ordered as well as an OCXO-clock. (Standard equipment of the SX3 GNSS software receiver is a precise temperature-controlled oscillator.)

UnicoreComm GPS/BeiDou units

Unicore Communications, Inc. offers the UM220-INS, a BeiDou/GPS+inertial MEMS dual system inertial navigation module for in-dash automotive navigation and high-end navigation, and the UB280, a BeiDou/GPS dual-System dualantenna high precision heading board for precise RTK position and heading.It also features a built in six-axis (gyroscope and accelerometer, each with three axes operation) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) inertial sensor and can output GNSS+MEMS inertial positions.

SBG Systems Ellipse – more accurate, more robust, more features

SBG Systems released the Ellipse Series, a brand new product range of miniature inertial systems replacing the IG-500 Series. For the same budget, customers benefits from higher accuracy, advanced filtering and features inspired from high end inertial navigation systems. It integrates a GPS + GLONASS / BEIDOU receiver. It receives DGPS corrections and can be connected to an odometer for an even more robust trajectory.

EnsoMOSAIC Cropdrone UAS for agriculture mapping

MosaicMill Ltd. has released integrated UAS for precision agriculture. The system includes a quadcopter by Videodrone, calibrated NDVI camera and EnsoMOSAIC UAV orthomosaicking software. Videodrone is fully autonomous with Google Earth based flight planning. Wind resistance is over 8 m/s and one flight covers up to 100 hectares. Thanks to advanced post processing, CIR modified Sony A6000 outputs pure NIR, RED and GREEN bands instead of filtered NIR, Green and Blue.

SilvAssist Mobile by F4

F4 Tech has released its newest software offering, SilvAssist Mobile! This software presents a simple work flow solution for field data collection. It offers features that include but are not limited to: Automated data backup system, capturing cruiser productivity data, and it works seamlessly with SilvAssist toolbar for ArcGIS version 3.5.

Esri Brings Analytics to Urban Modeling for Smarter City Planning

Esri brings together the power of GIS analytics and the beauty of 3D urban modeling in its latest release of CityEngine. Now urban designers and architects can create 3D models with City Engine and export parts of the model into Esri ArcGIS software for spatial analysis. This provides urban planners, designers, and citizens easy to understand intelligence for improving their cities.

Bentley Advantage Seminar

The Bentley Advantage seminar, which was recently held in New Delhi, provided compelling insights on the future of Bentley Systems’ innovative software and services for sustaining infrastructure. It featured presentations by Bentley executives on the latest technologies enabling information mobility across multiple disciplines and the infrastructure design, build, and operations lifecycle.

Jean Baptiste Monnier, Bentley’s Senior VP, APAC, delivered the keynote presentation to around 250 delegates who were in attendance at this event. It highlighted topics like Bentley’s BIM Advancement, Bentley CONNECT, MANAGEservices, etc. Industry-focused parallel sessions were also organized to showcase Bentley’s solutions for Transportation Infrastructure, Architecture and Engineering Consultants, and Geospatial, Water, and Utilities industries, and to share global best practices from international projects which have innovatively used Bentley solutions. www.bentley.com