LBS & AUTONOMOUS

Government of India to expand Skill India to include AI and IoT

Government of India will soon launch a nation-wide strategy to train the youth in the country to create capable personnel of handling new developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and machine learning. The government of India has identified 6 sectors to create a program in the fields of banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, e-commerce, healthcare and telecommunications.

Rostec embarks on massive IoT Project

GLONASS-TM, a company related to state-run tech firm Rostec, will build a RUB53bn ($811mn) federal network for Internet of Things (IoT) in a bid to secure a presence in a market that is expected to boom over the next few years. It aims to start building the network in 2020 and complete it in three years, projecting to recoup all the investment in its fifth year of operation. Of the RUB53bn investment figure, construction of base stations will account for about half, or RUB24.6bn. The IoT network will be used for collecting, monitoring and analysing various kinds of data. So far, the company mentioned several areas, in which it expects IoT to be in demand, such as control of water, electricity and natural gas consumption, monitoring engineering and other systems in buildings, access control and collection of data related to numbers and the behaviour of people in public areas. www.intellinews.com

Gogo and ForeFlight enabled GPS

Gogo Business Aviation and ForeFlight have partnered to bring new GPS location information and altitude to the ForeFlight Mobile iOS-based application for business aviation. Using an onboard Gogo AVANCE system or an ATG 4000/5000, ForeFlight Mobile can now deliver flight location information throughout the cockpit and cabin using Wi-Fi – it’s information typically provided via a separate GPS system that requires additional onboard hardware and antennas. business.gogoair.com

SwRI system tests GPS spoofing of autonomous vehicles

Southwest Research Institute in the US, has developed a cyber security system to test for vulnerabilities in automated vehicles and other technologies that use GPS receivers for positioning, navigation and timing.

GPS spoofing is a malicious attack that broadcasts incorrect signals to deceive GPS receivers, while GPS manipulation modifies a real GPS signal. GPS satellites orbiting the Earth pinpoint physical locations of GPS receivers embedded in everything from smartphones to ground vehicles and aircraft. SwRI designed the new tool to meet United States federal regulations. Testing for GPS vulnerabilities in a mobile environment had previously been difficult because federal law prohibits over-the-air re-transmission of GPS signals without prior authorization.

SwRI’s spoofing test system places a physical component on or in line with a vehicle’s GPS antenna and a ground station that remotely controls the GPS signal. The system receives the actual GPS signal from an on-vehicle antenna, processes it and inserts a spoofed signal, and then broadcasts the spoofed signal to the GPS receiver on the vehicle. This gives the spoofing system full control over a GPS receiver. While testing the system on an automated vehicle on a test track, engineers were able to alter the vehicle’s course by 10 meters, effectively causing it to drive off the road. The vehicle could also be forced to turn early or late.

KOITO and Blickfeld explore to integrate Lidar into Headlamps Koito

Manufacturing and Blickfeld have announced that they will explore advanced technologies for the development of LiDAR that can be fully integrated into headlamps.

The collaboration of KOITO’s lighting technologies and LiDAR technologies provides high-end automotive component with built in LiDAR for car manufacturers and are expected to function interactively with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) or autonomous driving technology.

As LiDAR’s core technology, Blickfeld’s 3D solid-state LiDAR adopts silicon MEMS mirror. As its compactness, the LiDAR can be integrated directly into a vehicle’s lighting equipment, enabling real-time 3D mapping and object detection, classification, and tracking without protruding or altering the exterior design of the vehicle. www.blickfeld.com

5th Generation Autonomous AI Security Patrol Vehicle

NXT Robotics Corp. has announced the launch of its Generation 5 Autonomous Vehicle and Cognitive Software Platform called “Maverick.” Its baseline model includes four high resolution PTX security cameras which can be used to do AI based analysis of a physical environment along with license plate detection and facial and object recognition. It also has the capability to open a two-way audio stream so that robot can communicate with people it encounters along its largely autonomous patrol routes. The audio system can also stream pre-recorded messages and noises in response to particular situations it encounters. www.nxtrobotics.com

Monitoring world’s water resources through IoT

Myriota, a nanosatellite Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity leader based in South Australia, has teamed up with cloud-based environmental platform Eagle.io with the aim of preserving global water supplies.

The partnership announced recently will provide global software and telemetry solutions for water management issues faced by agricultural players and governments worldwide. The partnership would integrate Eagle.io’s cloud-based IoT platform that manages alerts from more than 100,000 environmental sensors with Myriota’s secure, low-cost, lowpower satellite connectivity. This will allow the agricultural sector to increase the accuracy of its water measurements through regular, automated recordings. The two companies will work with third party data logger manufacturer MIoT, with Myriota integrating its module into their Captis product line and Eagle.io building a feature that will allow device configuration and management for the Captis from within their application.

NavVis Launches IndoorViewer 2.4

NavVis has announed that version 2.4 of their IndoorViewer software is now available. This major release includes a number of relevant updates that will increase the possibilities of the 3D visualization solution, such as an option to automatically generate highly detailed floor plans, enhanced routing capabilities, a new way to customize and view content, and enterprise-ready security features.

NavVis IndoorViewer includes a map view to give users a 2D overview of the scanned structure(s) and its surroundings. The default floor plans that appear in the map view are simple outlines of the buildings that have been automatically generated from the scan data. Advanced functions let users replace the simple outlines with custom floor plans that have been created using photo editing or CAD software.

Toyota teams with Carmera on HD maps for autonomous cars

Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development and Carmera have joined forces to conduct a proof of concept about developing camera-based automation of high-definition (HD) maps for urban and surface roads.

This is the first step towards realizing TRI-AD’s open software platform concept known as automated mapping platform (AMP) to support the scalability of highly automated driving, by combining data gathered from vehicles of participating companies to generate HD maps. In this proof of concept, the two companies will place cameras in Toyota test vehicles to collect data over several months from areas of downtown Tokyo. The cameras installed in the test vehicles use Toyota Safety Sense components that Toyota installs on its vehicles globally.