In Memoriam

Javad Ashjaee
1949-2020

GPSWORLD.COM

COMBATING COVID-19
GNSS HELPS FIGHT CORONAVIRUS
WHILE COMPANIES ADAPT

JULY 2020 | Vol 31 | No 7

 VO L . 3 1 N O. 7 G P SWO R LD.CO M
JULY 2019
2020

Image and cover photos: Draganfly

COVER STORY

28 COMBATING COVID-19
GNSS Helps Fight Coronavirus
While Companies Adapt
BY Matteo Luccio

29 Skyports Joins Thales in COVID-19 Drone-Delivery Trial

30 Taking to the Field During the Coronavirus Pandemic
31 Cleaning from Above
BY Tracy Cozzens
32 Using Location Data in the Fight Against COVID-19
BY Miranda Ashby-Annoon

IN MEMORIAM

12 Remembering
Dr. Javad Ashjaee,
Photo: Javad GNSS

Pioneer and Visionary

33 ALTERNATIVE PNT BY Matteo Luccio & Tracy Cozzens

Not just supporting players, alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems strengthen,
augment and — when needed — replace GNSS. We explore how companies are using alternative PNT.

Matteo Luccio talks with John Fischer of Orolia and Alexis
Guinamard of SBG Systems about their companies’ latest
developments.
34 Orolia: Taking Resilient PNT
to the Next Level
35 SBG Systems: Software Joins Hardware
PLUS
36 Parker LORD Launches RTK System
36 NovAtel SPAN Prepares for Road Ahead
37 OxTS Board Set Ready for System Integrators
38 NASA’s Orion Travels with Honeywell, Lockheed
39 SimINERTIAL Designed for GPS/INS Testing
39 Inertial Labs Offers Gyroscopes

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 3
 JULY 2020
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

40 Keeping Interference at Bay

AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY and analysis on GNSS interference detection and localization systems reveal the path
forward for transportation and other critical infrastructure.
BY José Luis Madrid-Cobos, Ana Bodero-Alonso, Ignacio Fernández-Hernández,
Eric Châtre, Andriy Konovaltsev and Christopher Hegarty

LAUNCHPAD OPINIONS AND DEPARTMENTS

16 OEM 6 FIRST FIX 49 AD INDEX
GPS: Don’t Wait to Update
18 TRANSPORTATION GUEST COLUMN BY Paul Crampton 50 SEEN & HEARD
27 MAPPING
8 SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

MARKET WATCH First GPS III Maneuvered into Place

44 OEM 10 PNT ROUNDUP

MarRINav Project Calls for Terrestrial
46 TRANSPORTATION Navigation
47 SURVEYING BY Dana Goward

49 MAPPING 14 GPS World Welcomes New EAB Members

Why Users Will Need to Perform GNSS Occupations

as Part of a Leveling Project after 2022
BY David Zillkoski
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR,
SURVEY SCENE NEWSLETTER
This column will
address why users will
be required to perform
GNSS occupations when submitting a
leveling project to the National Geodetic
Survey (NGS) after 2022. It will highlight
a section of NGS Blueprint for 2022, Part
3, “Working in the Modernized NSRS,”
that discusses the process of performing
leveling projects after 2022. My October
2017 column briefly discussed NGS’
preliminary plans for incorporating
geodetic leveling data into the North
American-Pacific Geopotential Datum
of 2022 (NAPGD2022) to establish
orthometric heights consistent with
GNSS-derived NAPGD2022 orthometric
heights. It emphasized that after
NAPGD2022 is established, the primary
means for deriving orthometric heights
on monuments will be using GNSS
observations combined with the geoid
model...
One major change is that leveling
surveys will require GNSS occupations
to ensure orthometric heights computed
in leveling surveys are up-to-date and
are connected to the NSRS through
the NOAA CORS Network. After the
modernization of the NSRS in 2022,
the NOAA CORS Network will be the
primary access to the NSRS. This means
leveling and classical surveys will require
GNSS surveys to be part of the project.
NGS’ plans include creating an OPUS
option for processing all types of surveys.
Users will be able, within OPUS, to adjust
their projects using any mix of CORS data
and passive control. Saying that, these
same projects, on submission, will be
deconstructed at NGS and reduced to the
raw observations, then adjusted solely to
the NOAA CORS Network to determine
Final Discrete coordinates every GPS
Month...
What does this really mean to the
user when performing a leveling project
in 2022? For a leveling project to be
processed using NGS software and/or
submitted to NGS for inclusion into the
NSRS database, the user must follow
specific rules.
Read the full article at geospatial-solutions.com/category/opinions/.

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4 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
FIRST FIX Experts discuss GNSS/PNT news,
trends, obstacles and opportunities
GPS: Don’t Wait to Update
Delays to the implementation
of GPS L1C may mean GPS
misses the interoperability
boat entirely.
BY Paul Crampton, SPIRENT FEDERAL
A
s we bid farewell to the
last GPS-IIA satellite and
read of delays to both
the launch schedule for
GPS III satellites and roll-out of the
OCX program, we are mindful of the
need to maintain GPS as the “Gold
Standard” in GNSS.
Certainly, new signals, enhanced
resilience and expanded capabilities
are offered by the modernized GPS
playbook. Delays relative to both the
BeiDou and Galileo constellations could
seriously impact the position of GPS on
the medals podium — maybe not in the
longer term, but certainly in the coming
few years. This may have a secondary
impact on the receiver market, shifting
focus away from GPS to more capable
signals in the near term. Once GPS
has caught up, receiver manufacturers
may choose to retain the technology
that they developed to capitalize on
BeiDou and Galileo signals, rather than
developing their legacy GPS capabilities.
G P S L 2 C is c u r re nt ly “pre -
operational,” transmitted by slightly
more than half the existing mixed-
generation satellite fleet and waiting for
OCX support. As of Feb. 20, a realistic
estimate for operational capability of
GPS L2C is now 2023.
GPS L5 is also pre-operational,
transmitted by slightly less than half
of the GPS satellites and waiting for
OCX support. As of Feb. 20, a realistic
estimate for GPS L5 is 2027.
The forecast for GPS L1C operational
capability is the late 2020s. This is
intended to be the signal that offers
6 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
international interoperability with
the current interoperability signals
offered by existing BeiDou and Galileo
satellites.
Delays to the implementation of
GPS L1C may mean that GPS misses
the interoperability boat entirely.
During the delay, new interoperability
capability with even more robust
signals could be devised and lofted
aboard Galileo, BeiDou and GLONASS
satellites. By then, other countries could
also develop their own constellations,
possibly regional or even global
systems.
Potentially, GPS could be left behind
as other nations discuss non-GPS
internationally interoperable signals
on yet-to-be launched satellites. This
may have a profound impact on SBAS,
too. Differential corrections provided by
the Japanese MSAS, Russian SDCM and
European EGNOS SBAS systems might
evolve to support “beyond L1C” inter-
operability signals. Aircraft landings
at world airports could mandate the
use of corrections to these new signals.
This might mean that U.S. receiver
manufacturers could be frozen out,
or will have to incorporate these new
interoperable signal standards.
GPS Block III satellites along with
OCX offer improved signals, capabilities
and resilience, but the satellites need to
be flying, OCX needs to be operational
and receivers need to be in the hands
of the users. Sooner rather than later
is a must for Gold-Standard GPS.
Paul Crampton is a Senior Systems Engineer
at Spirent Federal Systems with more than
30 years of GPS experience.
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JULY 2020
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
EDITORIAL
Editorial Director Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Senior Editor Tracy Cozzens
tcozzens@northcoastmedia.net | 541-255-3334
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dsofranec@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3793
Digital Media Manager Allison Barwacz
abarwacz@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3796
Art Director Charles Park
charlespark@gmail.com | 858-337-8847
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
General Matteo Luccio | mluccio@northcoastmedia.net
Innovation Richard Langley | lang@unb.ca
Defense PNT Michael Jones | mjones@gpsworld.com
Professional OEM & UAV Tony Murfin | tamurfin@verizon.net
GeoIntelligence William Tewelow | wtewelow@gpsworld.com
Survey Tim Burch & Dave Zilkoski |
tburch@gpsworld.com & dzilkoski@gpsworld.com
BUSINESS
Publisher Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Associate Publisher Mike Joyce
mjoyce@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3723
Account Manager Ryan Gerard
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Director of Audience Engagement Bethany Chambers
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mmitchell@northcoastmedia.net | 216-363-7922
Event Manager Allison Blong
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PUBLISHING SERVICES
Manager, Production Services Chris Anderson
canderson@northcoastmedia.net | 216-978-5341
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asanchez-perkins@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3750
Reprints & Permissions Brett Petillo
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Circulation/Subscriber Services
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President & CEO Kevin Stoltman
kstoltman@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3740
Vice President of Finance & Operations Steve Galperin
sgalperin@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3705
Editorial Director Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Vice President of Graphic Design & Production Pete Seltzer
pseltzer@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3737
MANUSCRIPTS: GPS World welcomes unsolicited articles but cannot be held responsible
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Published monthly
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 SYSTEM
Policy and System
Developments
GPS Galileo GLONASS BeiDou

OF SYSTEMS
First GPS III Maneuvered into Place
BY Airman 1st Class

Screenshot: U.S. Air Force

Jonathan Whitely
50TH SPACE WING, SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE

T
he 2nd Space Operations
Squadron (2 SOPS) has
performed the first station-
keeping maneuver on a GPS
III satellite. The manuever  — made
to SVN-75 on May 14 at Schriever
Air Force Base in Colorado — set a
new standard for how GPS maneuvers
should be conducted.
A station-keeping maneuver is per-
formed to keep vehicles in their node
2 SOPS director of operations, Lt. Col. Michael Schriever, reads promotion orders at
by burning the satellite’s thrusters and a ceremony April 1, which was held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
changing its speed at a particular point
in its orbit. This keeps the vehicle in was a bit of a guinea pig for future “Station-keeping maneuvers are
the ideal position to provide coverage. maneuvers.” essential to satellite operations and
“All operational GPS vehicles are The unit was able to complete the must be done for regular maintenance,”
assigned nodes. When all nodes are maneuver flawlessly. The maneuver was said 2nd Lt. Tyler Gorman, 2 SOPS
filled with healthy vehicles, there is completed in a special mission area, and navigation payload engineer. “This
good global GPS coverage,” said 1st Lt. there were no changes to the normal activity helped validate a nominal
Michael Gallagher, GPS subsystems operations floor. maintenance activity for a new
analyst. “When new vehicles are “This maneuver had no effect on the generation of vehicles.”
launched, they typically aren’t launched rest of the [GPS satellite] constellation,” The unit plans to continue to use this
directly into their final new method and program
node. This means that This was a new process that we could for future GPS satellites
the 2 SOPS analysis flight learn from as it was the first station- that are being launched
must perform a re-phase and need to be re-phased
maneuver to put a vehicle
keeping maneuver performed for the into their operation slots.
in its node.” newest generation of GPS satellites. T h e n e x t s at e l l it e
The maneuver required that will need a station
the satellite's signal to be turned off, Gallagher said. “SVN-45 was in the maneuver performed is SVN-76, which
preventing users from receiving node SVN-75 was being placed into, is scheduled to launch in the next few
inaccuracies generated by a change in so there was no decrease in GPS signal months.
satellite velocity. quality as a result of this maneuver.” “G P S m ai nt e n an c e re qu i re s
“This was a new process that we The procedure was also the first of its a coordinated effort to ensure our
could learn from as it was the first kind to be performed with the 2 SOPS worldwide service is preserved,”
station-keeping maneuver performed Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP), with Gorman said. “That means careful
for the newest generation of GPS which all active satellites in the program planning and execution from our
satellites,” said Senior Airman Harrison are operated. Because GPS III vehicles analysts in 2 SOPS, our satellite
Sherwood, 2 SOPS satellite systems are fully integrated into the program system operator and the operational
operator, who sent the commands to with this maneuver, all maintenance is support from Lockheed Martin and
the satellite during the maneuver. “It conducted through the AEP. the Aerospace Corporation.”

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8 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
 Inertial Ranging & eLoran Wi-Fi Bluetooth

TERRESTRIAL

MarRINav Project Calls for Terrestrial Navigation

Image: Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation

BY Dana
Goward
PRESIDENT / RESILIENT
NAVIGATION & TIMING
FOUNDATION

I
n 2018, the first-ever European
Radionavigation Plan said “It is
recognized that [..] GNSS should
not be the sole source of PNT
information. Alternative PNT
systems, not necessarily using radio
frequencies, should thus be put in place
where the criticality of the application
requires it.”
In 2019, the European Space Agency
(ESA) published a permanent open
call for proposals for positioning,
navigation and timing studies and
systems, including those that had
nothing to do with space.
One of the first fruits of this is the
ESA-funded Maritime Resilience and
Integrity of Navigation project, or
MarRINav, recently completed by
researchers in the United Kingdom.
“Maritime navigation and port
operations are critical for almost
every nation,” said Jonathan Turner,
member of the MarRINav project
team. “As an island nation with a strong
maritime heritage, we in the United
Kingdom perhaps have an even greater A GRAPHIC FROM THE MARRINAV REPORT shows a system of systems approach to PNT resilience and
appreciation of this.” reliability.
Turner is co-founder of the blue
economy solutions company NLA other nations. important parameters for maritime
International, which led a team of Maritime is one of the sectors most navigation.
eight organizations cooperating on dependent upon GNSS, according Maritime is also one of the sectors
the project. to the project reports, and a sector most ready to integrate space and
While MarRINav focused its with great awareness of GNSS terrestrial navigation systems,
analysis on the UK, the intent was to vulnerabilities and their consequences. according to the report’s authors. The
provide information and an analysis MarRINav concludes that integrity International Maritime Organization
framework that could also be used by and resilience are two of the most has already introduced a performance

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10 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
standard for a multi-system receiver,
or MSR, that will incorporate a wide
variety of navigation signals.
Despite the distractions of Brexit
over the past four years, the UK
has been particularly focused on its
vulnerability to GNSS outages.
A 2017 London Economics report
concluded that a five-day GNSS outage
would cost the nation at least $1.3
billion per day. It cited eLoran and
Satelles as likely parts of the solution.
In 2018, the Government Office for
Science released a Blackett Review of
critical dependencies on GNSS.
In February of this year, the UK
government announced it was
establishing a virtual National Timing
Centre to protect the nation from the
risk of GNSS failure, and in March the
final MarRINav report was published.
A five-day GNSS outage would cost
the UK at least $1.3 billion per day.
Among the project’s findings: (eLoran) and the Ranging Mode
■ The UK needs a comprehensive ( R- Mo d e ) o f t h e V H F D a t a
maritime PNT architecture with Exchange System (VDES), and are
multiple, diverse sources to ensure complemented by the development
continuity of maritime operations. of a specific Maritime Receiver
■ Such a “hybrid solution” could Autonomous Integrity Monitoring
benefit other sectors, especially (M-RAIM) algorithm.
i f n on - m ar it i m e n e e d s we re ■ L O C ATA o r a s i m i l a r l o c a l
considered early in the design. positioning system should be
■ Ne w PNT systems shou ld b e implemented at UK ports to provide
terrestrial and sovereign. a backup for container operations.
■ Establishing such a system for the ■ Satelles Satellite Time and Location
UK has a very positive benefit to cost may have potential, but its utility has
ratio. yet to be demonstrated for maritime.
■ Important aspects of the new All the MarRINav project reports
architecture are E-GNSS (Galileo are available at https://marrinav.com/
and EGNOS), Enhanced Loran marrinav-reports/.
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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 11
/ IN MEMORIAM

Photo: Javad GNSS

Remembering
Dr. Javad Ashjaee,
Pioneer and
Visionary
DR. JAVAD ASHJAEE
Founder and CEO of Javad GNSS
1949–2020

J
avad Ashjaee, founder of Javad GNSS, died in
Moscow, Russia, on May 30 after a three-week fight
with COVID-19.
A tribute on the company website shared, “It
is with heavy hearts that we share the news of
the passing of our founder Dr. Javad Ashjaee, a GPS/GNSS
pioneer and visionary. Over the course of 37 years, Javad
made an incredible and far-reaching impact on the GNSS
community. He pioneered the world’s most advanced GNSS
technology through a multi-national effort that combined
GPS and GLONASS and established more than a quarter
century of partnership between Silicon Valley and Moscow.
He was always proud of this ‘success story of cooperation.’
Javad was a true industry disrupter long before the term and
concept became popular. His whole way of doing business was
challenging and disrupting to the status quo.”
Dr. Ashjaee described the founding of his company on the
Javad GNSS website. “In 1998 I founded Javad Positioning
Systems (JPS) and introduced Legacy, Odyssey and Regency
products, followed by HiPer. It was a 76-channel geodetic
receiver. Other companies later copied HiPer.
“In 2007, after my obligations to Topcon ended and
according to the provisions of our agreement, I founded
Javad GNSS and introduced Triumph products. These were
216-channel receivers, integrated with several communication
channels. We also introduced their Alpha, Delta, and Sigma
versions. We were again the first to offer European Galileo
and Japanese QZSS tracking in mass production. Triumph
technology has been shown to have the best signal quality
and best multipath reduction capabilities against all others
tested by the German Aerospace Center. We also introduced
GLONASS inter-channel (group/carrier delay) calibration to
0.2 millimeter which made GLONASS FDMA as good as GPS
CDMA. Javad GNSS is growing fast and gaining market share.”
A Journey from Iran to the U.S.
Dr. Ashjaee’s nephew Dr. Sol Adibnejad provided a short
biography on his uncle via social media: “Javad was born in
1949 in Qom, Iran. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in
electronic physics from the University of Tehran in Iran, he
left Iran in 1972 to continue his education at the University
of Iowa and earned his graduate degree, a doctorate in 1976.
“He went back to his native country Iran to teach at the
university. He became the chairman of the Department of

MESSAGE FROM THE ASHJAEE FAMILY

“ Once in a while an individual comes along with a spirit seemingly superhuman, a resolve and constitution seemingly indestructible.
Dr. Javad Ashjaee was one such individual. His talent, intellect, commitment and sheer guts were head and shoulders above the
rest, much to the chagrin and frustration of his competitors and naysayers. But those closest to him know that he was also simply,
beautifully, erringly human. He brought out in the rest of us the strength and wisdom we could not always see in ourselves. Yes, he was
a force of nature, as many describe, but Javad never did anything alone. Throughout the years, he has had a sizable family and team, by
blood as well as by love, behind each of his many achievements and contributions to his field. He once told us his name, Javad, means
‘generous.’ And that he was. All that he has given to, and all that he has inspired in, his family, team, and professional industry, forms a
legacy that will continue for years to come. We, his family, his team, his protégés and protectors, are here to stay and stronger than ever.
If he were here, he would surely wonder how his competition would proceed without that fire only he could ‘light up their asses.’”

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12 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020

A SAMPLING OF JAVAD
ASHJAEE’S KNOWLEDGE
SHARING IN GPS WORLD
“How GPS and GLONASS Got
Together — and Other Recent Events,”
June 2011, p. 60.
“Dealing with Interference: A
Proactive Approach for More Efficient
Spectrum Use,” December 2012, p. 30.
“Expert Opinions: What is the biggest
challenge facing designers of multi-
constellation GNSS receivers today?”
January 2018, p. 8.
“The Key to Accuracy for High-
Precision Applications,” February
2019, p. 40.
Computer Engineering at the Aryamehr
University of Technology where he
founded and managed a UNIVAC-100
computer center. There, he created the
first Iranian microprocessor lab. In 1978
he created one of the earliest student
online and interactive registration
systems in the world. In a few years
and after the 1978 revolution and the
political turmoil, things happened and
he had to flee the country in 1981.
“He went straight back to the U.S. and
started the next chapter of his journey
in life, which led to the pioneering
of GPS. He spent the rest of his life
designing and manufacturing many
generations of his [GNSS] products
at Javad GNSS, JAVAD ArWest and
JAVAD EMS in Silicon Valley. Dr. Javad
Ashjaee is listed as the primary inventor
in 102 granted patents, the last one in
April 2020.”
Photo: GPS World
DR. ASHJAEE LED THE SIGNALS TEAM of the
“Satellites vs. Signals” after-dinner debate at
the GPS World Leadership Dinner held during
ION GNSS 2008.
Industry Stalwarts Remember
Change Agent Javad Ashjaee
The GNSS community was deeply saddened by the loss of Dr. Javad Ashjaee — Javad, as he
liked to be called — on May 30. Following are excerpts of comments by GPS World Editorial
Advisory Board members and others, all of whom also expressed their heartfelt sorrow.
JULES MCNEFF
VP OF STRATEGY AND PROGRAMS
OVERLOOK SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES
“ Javad was a brilliant innovator,
although he could be a bit
infuriating at times. He loved to place
ads in GPS World in part to poke fun at
the DoD for our Selective Availability
policies, for which I was the principal
defender at the time. Javad was
a unique and talented person of
tremendous fortitude and intellectual
confidence who was never afraid of
controversy. The GNSS community
will miss his energy.”
MITCH NARINS
CISSP/FRIN
STRATEGIC SYNERGIES
“ When I think of Javad, the words
that come to mind are ‘brilliant,
dedicated, driven, and committed.’
The last time I saw Javad at an ION
GNSS+ conference, he knew he was
on the side of an argument opposing
many other experts in our GNSS
community. That did not bother
Javad. He was never one to go along
to get along — which was one of
the reasons he was able to develop
such innovative and capable systems.
Our GNSS community has lost a
leader, innovator and contributor to
the science and engineering behind
position, navigation and time.”
PAUL MCBURNEY
PH.D., CTO AND CO-FOUNDER
ONENAV
“ Javad was a one-man army
who was not afraid to fight.
From his days at Trimble, where he
developed major advancements in
receiver software, and through all
of his endeavors, Javad produced an
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JULY 2020
/
impressive amount of truly innovative
solutions. He used the LightSquared
crisis as an opportunity to add novel
front-end filtering to his products,
and cleverly marketed it. His writing
was unmistakable, featuring the
wordsmithing of both an engineer
and a salesman. He was a role model
to many aspiring GPS entrepreneurs.”
TIM BURCH
DIRECTOR OF SURVEYING
SPACECO
“ Javad’s contributions to the
surveying profession helped turn
every practitioner into a geospatial
information provider. From his
early days at Trimble pioneering
the commercial-grade receiver to
creating his company at Ashtech and
embracing GLONASS with GPS, he
continued to expand the capability of
the GNSS receiver. Many surveyors
today, however, only know his name
through his latest company, Javad
GNSS, and its unique line of receivers
and measuring devices, with their
distinct green color. Javad was a big
part of the GNSS revolution, so the
next time someone starts up his/her
receiver to collect survey data, take a
moment to thank him. His departure
leaves a giant hole in the geospatial
world.”
MICHAEL SWIEK
MANAGING DIRECTOR, EXECUTIVE BRANCH
AND INTERNATIONAL
GPS INNOVATION ALLIANCE
“ The ‘Original Cast’ of GPS
innovators is dwindling. Javad
was a complicated, self-made,
innovative, and entertaining man.
In the many years we knew each
See JAVAD, page 14. >>
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 13
/ IN MEMORIAM

JAVAD GREG TURETZKY members of the GNSS community of

<< Continued from page 13. CONSULTANT which he was such an important part.”

other, we worked on shared visions,

many challenges, laughed a lot, and
disagreed and argued more than a
bit. We always remained friends,
honest to each other. Javad was a
true GNSS pioneer.”
ELLEN HALL
PRESIDENT AND CEO
SPIRENT FEDERAL SYSTEMS
“ I have very fond memories of Javad
from the many years we attended
ION GNSS+ and other industry
conferences. I will always remember
a spirited ‘Satellites vs. Signals’
debate we had at a GPS World
Leadership Awards Dinner. We were
equally passionate about the debate
— despite not having chosen the
opposite sides to which we were
attached. These are the memories of
ALISON BROWN
PRESIDENT AND CEO
NAVSYS
“ I am so sorry to hear about Javad’s
passing. He was an innovator and an
orginalist. We worked together after
he left Trimble and was in the process
of starting Ashtech. I particularly
remember his championing the cause,
with me, against Selective Availability.

“ What a loss for everyone. Such a

talented person who truly made
his mark on the world.”
Javad I treasure. He was passionate,
informed, innovative and really good
at playing the game. His spirit of
He ran an ad with the iconic image of
the Mona Lisa as part of this cause,
with the slogan “Why ruin a work of
innovation will be missed, but I am art?” It is tragic that Javad fell victim to
confident it will be carried on by other COVID-19. He will be sorely missed.”

GPS World Welcomes New EAB Members

GPS World magazine is excited to announce two additions
to our Editorial Advisory Board.
Mitch Narins is the principal consultant and owner of
Strategic Synergies LLC, a technical and management
consulting firm that he formed after retiring following
over four decades of U.S. government service. He worked
at the Federal Communications Commission as an acqui-
sition engineer for the Field Operation Bureau; supported
the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps as branch chief for
Data Terminal Systems and Electronic Warfare Systems;
and served more than 26 years at the Federal Aviation
Administration as a program manager, systems engineer,
and finally as the chief systems engineer for navigation.
At the FAA, he was integrated into all aspects of avia-
tion sector position, navigation and
time systems engineering, stan-
dards development, and enterprise
architecture efforts in support of
the National Airspace System and
the Next Generation Air Transpor-
tation System (NextGen)
Narins is a recognized position,
navigation, and timing (PNT) ex-
pert, who has published numerous
MITCH NARINS articles and delivered many papers
at conferences and seminars worldwide. He is a Certified
Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a Fellow
of the Royal Institute of Navigation, an active member of
the Institute of Navigation (ION), and a member of RTCA,
RTCM, and SAE Standards Committees. He is a recipient
of ION’s Norman P. Hays Award and the International
Loran Association’s President’s
Award and Medal of Merit.
Stuart Riley is vice president of
GNSS technology responsible for
GNSS signal processing and prod-
ucts for several Trimble business
areas. In this role, he is responsible
for the core GNSS technology
from signal reception through to
the measurement engine that is STUART RILEY
used in all Trimble GNSS preci-
sion products. He oversees GNSS product development for
Trimble’s GNSS Real-time Networks, Geospatial, Heavy
Civil Construction and InTech OEM Divisions.
Beginning his career at Trimble in 1995, Stuart has
worked on GNSS receiver development in various engi-
neering roles, in addition to holding several management
roles. He holds several patents filed and pending in the
field of GNSS and is often a guest speaker at international
conferences.
His research interests include improving GNSS perfor-
mance in harsh environments, and taking measurements
from additional sensors along with optimizing the GNSS
receiver architecture, especially for the newer GNSS signals
BeiDou, Galileo, IRNSS, QZSS and next-generation GPS
and GLONASS signals.
Riley has an electronic engineering Ph.D. in the field of
GNSS from the University of Leeds in England. After he
graduated, he was a research fellow at the university on a
European Space Agency-funded project to develop a pro-
totype GNSS receiver for space applications.

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14 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
 September 21-25, 2020
Exhibit Hall: September 23 and 24
St. Louis Union Station Hotel
St. Louis, Missouri

REGISTER TODAY!
NEW Virtual Registration Available, Including
FREE Virtual Access for First Time Attendees!
2020 The 33rd International Technical
Meeting of the Satellite Division of
the Institute of Navigation

ion.org
 LAUNCHPAD | OEM
1
1. GEODETIC ANTENNA
DESIGNED FOR GNSS NETWORKS
AND MONITORING APPLICATIONS
The AT661 geodetic antenna for GNSS
networks or monitoring applications
supports all current and future GNSS
signals, including GPS, GLONASS,
BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, IRNSS, SBAS
and L-band. The antenna features both
high-gain LNA and wide beamwidth to
provide excellent flexibility in applications
requiring low-elevation satellite reception
and high availability of GNSS signals,
especially in obstructed situations. The
accuracy of the antenna’s phase center
reaches the millimeter level with extremely
high stability and repeatability to ensure
perfect processing of GNSS data regardless
of the length of the baselines. The AT661
withstands all types of weather, including
large temperature fluctuations, and is
protected by a waterproof radome.
CHC Navigation, chcnav.com
2. SPECTRUM ANALYZER
PORTABILITY FOR SIGNAL ANALYSIS
The ThinkRF R5750 Real-Time Spectrum
Analyzer with GPS offers high spectral
performance, low power consumption,
and portability. The R5750 analyzer is
built for outdoor, mobile and distributed
16 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
2
deployment scenarios, including regulatory
and intelligence monitoring, telecom
deployment optimization, and RF
application development. Users can deploy
units in a variety of network architectures,
analyze signals in real-time or later, and
easily integrate with leading software
applications to conduct demodulation or
deeper analysis of signals up to 27 GHz. The
R5750 analyzer includes embedded GPS for
time and location data, and comes with an
optional IP66 rating for increased durability
and ruggedness in difficult environments.
ThinkRF, thinkrf.com
3. PHASE NOISE ANALYZER
FOR PRECISION OSCILLATOR
CHARACTERIZATION
The 53100A Phase Noise Analyzer takes
precise and accurate measurements
of frequency signals, including those
generated by atomic clocks and other high-
performance frequency reference modules
and subsystems. It combines timing
technologies in a small, high-performance
measurement instrument designed for
engineers and scientists who rely on precise
and accurate measurement of frequency
signals generated for 5G networks, data
centers, commercial and military aircraft
systems, space vehicles, communication
satellites and metrology applications. Up
|
JULY 2020
4
to three separate devices can be tested
simultaneously using a single reference,
enabling higher capacity for stability
measurements.
Microchip Technology, microchip.com
4. RUGGED ANTENNA
FOR CONSTRUCTION
AND MACHINE CONTROL
The IP69K ruggedized HX-CVX600A
antenna provides end users with millimeter
accuracy, durability and productivity. The
antenna is designed for applications subject
to high shock and vibration environments
such as machine control. Integrated with
reliable signal tracking and strong anti-
interference performance, the Harxon HX-
CVX600A offers full support for reliable
and consistent satellite signal tracking,
including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou,
QZSS, IRNSS and SBAS, as well as L-band
correction services. Its stable phase center
adopts multipoint feeding technology,
exceptional low-elevation satellite tracking
with symmetric radiation patterns,
high gain with ultra-low signal loss, as
well as outstanding wide-angle circular
polarization. The aerodynamic enclosure
withstands exposure against dust, rain,
splash or sunlight.
Harxon, harxon.com
 Keep the lights on!
Protect Critical Infrastructure
if GPS is disrupted or manipulated
Introducing the PNT-6220 Assured Reference – the only
product combining Low Earth Orbit (LEO), GNSS,
terrestrial, wireline, and atomic clock services in one
small solution, specifically designed for Critical
Infrastructure applications.

The PNT-6220 is the first reference that can seamlessly

combine concurrent L1, L2, L3, and L5 GNSS reception
with a secure STL (LEO-based) timing receiver, terrestrial
receivers, and full PTP/IEEE-1588 Edge-Grandmaster
(EGM) and PTP/IEEE-1588-slave capability.

Whether you are looking for an Assured PNT reference for

Critical Infrastructure applications in response to the
directives of the recent Presidential Executive Order 13905,
a timing reference for 5G equipment, an ePRTC-capable
reference, or just a high-performance disciplined reference
that supports PTP/IEEE-1588, LEO-based Satellite Time
and Location (STL), RF distribution, and multi-frequency
GNSS capability — the PNT-6220 can do it.

Let us configure a version for your

state-of-the-art application.

www.jackson-labs.com | (702) 233-1334 | sales@jackson-labs.com JACKSONLABS

 LAUNCHPAD | TRANSPORTATION
1 2
3 4
1. MARINE RECEIVER
QUAD-BAND GNSS FOR MARINE
ENVIRONMENTS
The LD900 is a quad-band GNSS receiver
capable of tracking GPS, GLONASS,
BeiDou, Galileo and QZSS constellations to
provide reliable and accurate positioning.
The LD900 also receives L-band signals
on multiple channels, providing access to
Veripos’ worldwide independent correction
services. Using the independent L-band RF
input on the LD900 allows the connection
of a dedicated L-band antenna ensuring
optimal reception of correction services,
especially at high latitudes. Veripos provides
accurate and reliable positioning for all
marine applications via their redundant
positioning and multi-frequency precise
point positioning (PPP) Apex and Ultra
services. The Apex5 correction service
utilizes all GNSS constellations delivering
5cm positioning accuracy for use in the
most demanding offshore applications. Real-
time kinematic (RTK) corrections can be
utilized by the LD900 for applications where
this service is required. The intuitive color
display and navigation menu makes setup,
configuration and system status monitoring
simple. The display also helps troubleshoot
issues with the LD900, allowing faults to be
quickly diagnosed and resolved. The LD900
can also be configured remotely through the
Veripos Quantum software.
Veripos, veripos.com
18 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
2. TRACKING SYSTEM
SUPPORTS INTERNET-OF-THINGS (IOT)
DEPLOYMENTS
The edge-to-cloud IoT platform Particle is
offering a new tracking system that allows
organizations to track the locations of a
wide variety of mobile assets. Particle’s
Tracker system-on-module (SoM) provides
a powerful GNSS, microcontroller and
advanced peripherals in a compact form
factor. Tracker SoM serves as a starting
point for organizations that require a
tailored tracking solution for sophisticated
applications, as well as a fully certified
foundation for OEMs developing
commercial products. All of the company’s
tracking solutions come with a high-gain
GNSS antenna accurate to 1.8 meters. The
field-ready solution is configurable and can
track the real-time location of critical assets
and capture additional intelligence via sensor
data including temperature and acceleration
as well as remotely controlled mobile
equipment and vehicles.
Particle, particle.io
3. TELEMATICS PLATFORM
DESIGNED IN EUROPE, NOW AVAILABLE
IN NORTH AMERICA
The Trace 5 plug-and-play GPS-based
automatic vehicle location (AVL) tracker and
multifunctional fleet management platform
TrustTrack provide a ready-to-use telematics
|
JULY 2020
solution. The Trace 5 GPS tracker has LTE
Cat M1 (4G) connectivity and an integrated
battery. TrustTrack is an advanced telematics
platform for businesses to manage transport
resources. It connects dispatchers and drivers
and enables real-time monitoring and
drivers’ management. It also generates trip
reports.
Ruptela, ruptela.com
4. VEHICLE MANAGEMENT
USES IRIDIUM, GPS, LTE
The HawkEye 5500 is the a dual-mode
real-time tracking and vehicle management
system that supports Iridium, GPS and
2G/3G/LTE. A GNSS/Iridium antenna
is included in the kit. The HawkEye 5500
offers full integration of on-board systems,
support for both light and heavy-duty
vehicles, two-way messaging, a remote
emergency switch, collision detection,
audible alerts, RFID and Bluetooth driver
identification and customizable application
integration. It provides global always-on
coverage with high-resolution tracking
and communication. Users can customize
reporting rates based on movement or
location and provide driver feedback when
safety violations occur. All operations are
tracked via Blue Sky Network’s portal,
SkyRouter, which allows for effective high-
security command and control of fleets
anywhere on the planet.
Blue Sky Network, blueskynetwork.com
 C
E
 J-SHIELD

Al
lG ds
N SS B a n
 MAPPING | LAUNCHPAD
1. MOBILE MAPPER
1 FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, MINING, FORESTRY, CONSTRUCTION

The Stencil Pro, now in beta testing, is a professional-grade mobile mapping

platform with dimensional and visual fidelity. The all-in-one system can scan,
process and view captured data in real time. It offers panoramic high-definition
4K imagery and colorized point clouds, and is optimized for both indoor and
outdoor lighting. Its simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) capabilities
enable it to operate in GNSS-denied areas such as indoor, underground, under
thick canopy, or in urban canyons. However, it is also fully geo-enabled with an
integrated Trimble BD-990 receiver, AV-28 antenna and a range of other third-
party GNSS antennas. It supports accuracy enhancements through live RTK/
NTRIP processing as well as PPK corrections. GNSS positioning data is used to
align and geo-register data for accuracy. The onboard GNSS and color cameras
are fully integrated into real-time capture. If a colorized point cloud is not
2 required, or GNSS is not available, reliance on other sensors is seamless.
Kaarta, kaarta.com

2. MOBILE APP
WITH TOOL FOR GEOLOGISTS

Touch GIS is a powerful mobile app for field data collection and visualization.
Version 1.3 features a digital clinometer to assist field geologists in recording
strike and dip readings as well as a new attitude attribute type, which makes it
easy to record and display these readings on the map. Touch GIS has powerful file
support for industry-standard types, offline mapping capabilities, and accurate
drawing tools for points, lines and polygons.
Touch GIS, touchgis.app

UAV | LAUNCHPAD
1. DRONE PLATFORM
FOR PRECISE AERIAL INSPECTIONS AND DATA COLLECTION

The Matrice 300 RTK is DJI’s most advanced commercial drone platform to
date. It integrates modern aviation features, advanced artificial intelligence
capabilities, a six-directional sensing and positioning system and a UAV health
management system. It has 55 minutes of flight time. The drone platform has
AES-256 encryption and an IP45 weather-resistant enclosure. A built-in all-
new OcuSync Enterprise transmission system provides a triple-channel 1080p
video transmission signal reaching up to 15 kilometers away. The M300 RTK
can support up to three payloads simultaneously and up to a total payload
capability of 2.7 kg.
DJI, dji.com
1
2. GNSS/INS BOARD
ROBUST POSITIONING IN DEMANDING INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

The AsteRx-i D UAS combines centimeter-level positioning with 3D orientation,

enabling automated navigation of aerial drones and robots. It is compact and
lightweight, with a high-performance inertial measurement unit from Analog
Devices integrated directly into the receiver board. Its small form-factor
combined with exceptionally low power consumption results in extended battery
life and longer flight times. Both single-antenna and dual-antenna versions are
available. The single-antenna version provides a lightweight solution optimizing
the system size, weight and power (SWaP). The dual-antenna version is designed
for machines that need reliable heading from the start.
Septentrio, shop.septentrio.com
2

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 27
 /
COVERSTORY COVERSTORY

COMBATING
COVID-19 GNSS Helps Fight Coronavirus
Photo: Draganfly

While Companies Adapt

BY Matteo Luccio
crowds. The collaboration, called to discuss the use of UAVs for this

A
CON T RIBU TING EDITOR /GP S WORL D
s part of the effort to
combat the spread
of COVID-19 in
the United States,
UAV c o m p a n y
Draganfly has
partnered with Australia’s Department
of Defense (DOD), the University
of South Australia (UniSA), and
Vital Intelligence, a company that
collects and analyzes healthcare
data, to remotely detect and monitor
people with infectious and respiratory
conditions.
Draganfly’s UAVs will be fitted with
a specialized sensor and computer
vision system that can monitor
people’s temperature, heart rate, and
respiratory rate, as well as detect
people sneezing and coughing in
The Vital Intelligence Project, utilizes
technology developed with help from
the DOD’s Science and Technology
Group. Draganfly was selected as the
exclusive integration partner on March
25, with an initial budget of up to $1.5
million to commercialize and deploy
the technology.
The UAV uses u-blox LEA-M8S
GNSS modules integrated into the
company’s own interface printed
circuit boards.
In late January, recalledDraganfly’s
CEO Cameron Chell, the company
began to consider what kinds of
health data it could collect and analyze
that could help public officials and
private-sector managers flatten the
pandemic’s curve. It then contacted
Javaan Chahl, a UniSA researcher
who had been a customer for 20 years,
mission.
The technology was originally
designed to be deployed on helicopters
in disaster relief operations, to measure
the vital signs of survivors. It was
then adapted to measure the health
of wildlife populations, such as herds
migrating or threatened by drought or
fire, and in hospital neonatal wards to
monitor the vital signs of newborns.
To provide core temperature
readings as well as measurements of
heart rate and respiratory rate, the
technology uses RGB and thermal
cameras, both fixed and mounted
on UAVs. “The public sector and the
private sector are both interested in
this technology, but are approaching
it very differently,” Chell said.
The system’s capabilities include
detecting people who are coughing,

|
28 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
 /
Skyports Joins Thales in COVID-19 Drone-Delivery Trial
S

Photo: Wingcopter
kyports and Thales are partnering to conduct a
drone delivery trial for the National Health Service
(NHS) to support the United Kingdom’s COVID-19
response. The trial aims to prove the feasibility of delivering
urgent medical cargo, such as COVID-19 test kits and
personal protective equipment (PPE), between remote
medical facilities by delivery drone.
Skyports will conduct the trial and operate the flights
using delivery drones supplied by Wingcopter, because
of its proven capability through numerous delivery
operations around the world. The trial flights are planned SKYPORTS’ DELIVERY DRONE, manufactured by Wingcopter, in flight.
through Thales’ drone operations management platform,
SOARIZON, which offers digital tools to maintain ferry, to 15 minutes for on-demand delivery by drone. The
compliant and safe drone flying operations. speed would contribute to keeping front-line medical and
Based at Lorn and Islands Hospital in Oban, Scotland, delivery personnel safe.
the trial will consist of two-way flights between the hospital The two-week trial is a crucial milestone for unmanned
and Mull and Iona Community Hospital in Craignure 10 aviation in the UK. To undertake these flights beyond
miles (16 km) away on the Isle of Mull. visual line of sight (BVLOS), the project team has been
As COVID-19 testing picks up pace in the UK, the in close consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority.
proposed delivery service will help ensure that isolated Thales and Skyports are also working together within
communities have access to tests, delivered in a fast and the CAA Regulatory Sandbox program, exploring how
efficient way. The drone service would cut delivery times regulatory approvals can be granted for more widespread
from up to six hours one way by ground transport and BVLOS drone operations in the UK.

not wearing masks, or clustering in
violation of social-distancing rules.
The objective is to provide population
health information to public agencies
to help them make better decisions
by measuring the effectiveness of
their COVID-19 policies in real time,
rather than react to past information.
The system, Chell stressed, does not
record data on individuals but reports
such figures as “84% of the people are
socially distancing 24% of the time.”
“Based on what I see unfolding
with the measurement and data
industry as it relates to health
technology,” Chell said, “six or eight
months from now you are likely to see
health measurement reports the same
way that you see weather reports.
Eventually, it will be broadcast to
the consumer. That is our objective.”
People, he predicts, will use these
reports to make decisions about
where and when to travel.
To o b t a i n a c c u r a t e c o r e
temperatures, Draganfly’s thermal
sensor needs to be about 20 feet away
from its subject, and uses software to
zoom in on the tear ducts. To obtain
heart and respiratory rates requires
about 25 seconds of footage with at
least a 4K camera, magnification to
detect body micromovements, and
machine vision to detect skin tone
biometric measurements. The system
also picks up movements — such as of
the shoulders, lumbar area and upper
torso — that indicate coughing, Chell
points out. “The results certainly have
been promising in terms of having real
quantitative data,” he said.
The scenario is somewhat different
in the private sector, which typically
relies more on fixed-based cameras
for entranceways — for example, to
monitor workers entering a warehouse,
a factory or a shipyard to guard against
people who are infectious or have a
respiratory disease. “We have seen
several announcements by companies
that they are using thermal cameras
to do this,” Chell said. People pass
through the company’s fixed system,
which uses both thermal and RGB
cameras, in less than three seconds,
according to Chell, which is good
for such facilities as parks, office
buildings and convention centers.
Private organizations can then ask
people who exhibit certain symptoms
to consent to a secondary screening in
exchange for access.
Additionally, Draganfly will prov ide
UAV services for disinfecting outdoor
facilities.

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 29
 COVID-19
HANDS-ON TRAINING took place in the Sarasota City Hall parking lot, with trainees practicing social distancing.
Taking to the Field During the Coronavirus Pandemic
C
ity officials in Sarasota, Florida, kept their staff
actively working during COVID-19 social
distancing mandates by training and tasking
them with mapping utility data in the field.
The city’s plan to rebuild its GIS database had an estimated
five-year timeline. GIS Coordinator William Rockwell
suggested to city manager Tom Barwin that those unable
to work from home be trained to collect the data. Rockwell
worked with Sarasota IT Director Herminio Rodriguez to
calculate the cost of acquiring enough GNSS receivers for
the idle staff to use, and discovered a substantial cost savings.
“By implementing this project, we not only keep city
staff productive, but we’ll also be collecting data that
Photo: Eos Positioning
THE NEW TEAM mapped 93% of street lights and road signs in one
month.
|
30 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
Photo: Eos Positioning
would otherwise cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if
we outsourced the work,” Rockwell said.
Training from a Distance. Rockwell obtained affordable
Arrow 100 GNSS receivers from an Eos Positioning
distributor and hosted small-group training sessions in
the city hall parking lot. Employees from a multitude of
different departments were trained, such as a parking
enforcement officer and a transportation planner.
All employees were carefully kept six feet apart. From a
maintained distance, Rockwell explained the basic concept
of data collection using high-accuracy Arrow 100 receivers
with ArcGIS Collector.
The employees took turns collecting sample data so
Rockwell could address any initial concerns. He also gave
each of them a printed map series, created in ArcGIS Pro,
that showed the city divided into 28 grids. This allowed
the team members to easily mark off where they collected
data each day.
At the end of each day, the workers synced their data,
collected by the Arrow 100s, to ArcGIS Online, which
allowed Rockwell to monitor progress.
To date, 14 field workers have collected 93% of the city’s
6,000 street lights and 16,000 road signs. Although the
30-day project pilot has finished, the city plans to collect
the remaining lights and signs, as well as the city’s 35,000
trees, later this year. High-accuracy GIS data collection
has received encouraging feedback from management.
“I’m thrilled the city is supporting this initiative,”
Rodriguez said. “To be able to take employees doing
very, very different jobs and put them in the field — this
wouldn’t have been possible in a normal environment. We
are excited that everyone is chipping in.”
 COVID-19

Cleaning from Above /

Photo: TopXGun/Septentrio
I
n early February, the TopXGun Robotics — based in
Shanghai, China — started to use 10L drones for spraying
disinfectant to help fight COVID-19. Six volunteers
provided free disinfectant spraying service to more than
10 large companies, factories and universities, covering
about 800,000 square meters in the Shanghai area.
TopXGun outlined the advantage drones have over
manual spraying.
Safety. Using a UAV means no wokers inhale disinfectant.
Pilots stay distant, and no one enters a sprayed building
until it is safe.
Effectiveness. By spraying from above, drones can reach
difficult locations, such as a landfill or a roof. Reportedly, With reliable real-time kinematic (RTK) technology
the spray can kill the virus in the air. from the Septentrio receiver, the survey drone accurately
Cost-savings. Only one pilot and one assistant are generated a map of the operation area, marking the flight
required to operate, reducing labor costs. route. In this way, the spraying drone could fly and spray
The 10L drones are equipped with Septentrio’s high- automatically in most cases. If the operation area is in
precision GNSS, which provides robust anti-spoofing an irregular shape or has obstacles in the middle — such
and anti-jamming capabilities, important in urban areas. as poles or trees — the mapping pilot can use markers
Before spraying, TopXGun used a XC-05 vertical- to indicate these obstacles so the spraying drone will
takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) drone to survey the area. avoid it.
 COVID-19
/
Using Location Data in the Fight Against COVID-19
BY Miranda Ashby-Annoon
SENIOR DIREC TOR, P UBLIC SEC TOR
AMERIC A S AT HERE
I
n 1854, English physician John
Snow mapped the London cholera
epidemic to determine the exact
location of a contaminated water
pump on Broad Street, pioneering the
use of location mapping and data to
manage public health crises.
Today, governments and public
health officials are utilizing location
data to help fight the COVID-19
global pandemic. Location data and
maps are at the frontlines to aid
emergency responders and healthcare
providers, while GIS professionals,
data scientists and many others rely
on maps and location data to allocate
supplies, manpower and assets where
they are needed most.
Data as a Source of Truth
Location data has been one of the
most valuable tools to guide crisis
response. By referencing professionally
managed, comprehensive geospatial
databases, public health officials are
able to precisely locate key medical
and emergency resources, including
hospitals, medical centers, medical and
emergency services, pharmacies, and
food and water distribution centers.
For example, the HERE location
platform continually validates the
freshness and features of its map
through thousands of data sources.
This includes field-collected data,
third-party data from government
sources, and crowdsourced data
from expert communities. Taken
together, the process rapidly delivers
clear, timely location information
to end-users such as key medical
stakeholders.
It is critical that all levels of
government — local, state and
federal — have access to these types
32 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
SAN FRANCISCO, captured by HERE’s 3D mapping technology.
of valuable datasets during times
of emergency. In response to the
pandemic, we have seen incredible
agility from facilities that have been
converted to provide critical medical
services.
For example, the Javits Center in
New York City has been used as a
field hospital, a sports facility has
been converted into a drive-through
testing center, and schools are being
used to distribute food. By tracking
these updates, authorities have real-
time awareness of these facilities and
their availability to provide services.
Use Case #1
Social Distancing Efficacy
At this stage of the pandemic, the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency has tapped into location
data to track the efficacy of social
distancing policies and the spread
of the virus. It’s valuable to map the
virus’s spread for many reasons, but
a few key reasons include:
• Predicting the movement of COVID-19.
By mapping the spread, we can
proactively align the medical supply
chain behind these predictions.
• Understanding the effectiveness of
social distancing. Social distancing
is one of the most powerful ways
to stop the spread of the virus.
|
JULY 2020
Image: HERE
By tracking the efficacy of these
measures and regulations and
ensuring that citizens are complying
with shelter in place, we’re able to
predict how we are able to slow or
flatten the spread.
• Predicting the economic impact. As
we consider reopening America
for business, it’s important to
understand where the virus is most
prevalent, and the timeline for
recovery.
Use Case #2
The Strained Medical Supply Chain
The coronavirus has caused strain
across most industry supply chains,
but most notably, the medical supply
chain. Medical resources, including
hospital beds, masks and life-saving
ventilators have become scarce and
unevenly distributed.
In times of crisis, with thousands
of lives at stake and the potential
for further economic fallout, it’s
critical that public health officials
are equipped with authoritative,
comprehensive datasets to guide
decision-making. When organizations
are equipped with this valuable
data, they can harness the power of
location data for good and follow
in the footsteps of the location data
pioneer John Snow.
Image: NovAtel ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A

NOVATEL HAS DEMONSTRATED its SPAN technology in a sensor-fusion project aimed at autonomous vehicles. Read more on page 30.

Alternative PNT
Not just supporting players, alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems strengthen, augment and —
when needed — replace GNSS. We explore how companies are using alternative PNT, and talk with John Fischer of Orolia and
Alexis Guinamard of SBG Systems about their companies’ latest developments.
BY Matteo Luccio and Tracy Cozzens, GP S WORL D

S
ince the 1990s, GPS has provided the United States
military with a substantial tactical edge. Civilian
GPS applications are now deeply embedded in
every aspect of our lives. The U.S. Department of
Transportation recently reaffirmed that GPS’ positioning,
navigation, and timing (PNT) services are critical to the safe
and efficient use of the national transportation system, and
a Feb. 12 presidential executive order declared that satellite-
based PNT services “have become a largely invisible utility
for technology and infrastructure.”
It has long been equally well known, however, that GPS
is vulnerable to accidental and intentional interference (the
latter known as jamming), spoofing, and degradation or
denial of signals. Additionally, GPS satellites are increasingly
vulnerable to damage or destruction by space debris
or intentional attack. The executive order mentioned
above declared it U.S. policy “to ensure that disruption or
manipulation of PNT services does not undermine the
reliable and efficient functioning of [the country’s] critical
infrastructure.”
Protecting PNT requires not just strengthening GPS, but
also developing alternative sources of PNT data and ways
to integrate them into the myriad systems that currently
rely on GPS.
The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018
(passed by the U.S. Senate as part of that year’s Coast Guard
authorization act), called for “a complement to and backup
for” the GPS timing component “to ensure the availability of
uncorrupted and non-degraded timing signals for military
and civilian users in the event that GPS timing signals are
corrupted, degraded, unreliable or otherwise unavailable.” It
mandated the procurement of a wireless, terrestrial system
that would provide wide-area coverage and be synchronized
with UTC, resilient and extremely difficult to disrupt
or degrade, able to penetrate underground and inside
buildings, and capable of deployment to remote locations.
A report released on April 8 by the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), however, recommends “that
responsibility for mitigating temporary GPS outages
be the responsibility of the individual user and not the
responsibility of the federal government.” It points out
that research by one of DHS’ agencies “shows that users

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 33
 ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A
<<Continued from previous page.
can mitigate short-term GPS disruptions (e.g., inability to
read a GPS signal) with various strategies, ranging from
using local backup capabilities to delaying operations until
GPS is restored.” The report then focuses on “mitigation
against long-term or permanent disruption or loss of GPS
PNT capabilities.” It determines that the PNT functions in
critical infrastructure “are so diverse that no single PNT
system, including GPS, can fulfill all user requirements and
applications” and notes that maximum resilience is found
Orolia: Taking Resilient PNT to the Next Level
GPS World: What are Orolia’s latest advances and products
regarding alternative PNT?
John Fischer: Regarding timing, which we have been doing
for decades, our big alternatives to GNSS are internal atomic
clocks and network-based timing, such as precision time
protocol (PTP). Regarding positioning and navigation, the
two areas on which we focus are IMUs and getting updates
from GNSS, so that, when you lose GNSS momentarily, you
have something on which to coast. The breakthroughs in
MEMS technologies are astounding —they are getting better
and cheaper every day. That shows wonderful promise.
The other area is doing satellite navigation using low
Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which are much closer to the
Earth than GNSS ones and give you 30 dB or more of
signal strength. We are focused the most on the Satellite
Time and Location (STL) signal because it is available
today. Supplementing your navigation system with updates
from LEO satellites provides you some great non-GNSS
navigation capability.
GPS World: The positions of LEO satellites are not monitored
as closely as those of GPS satellites. Is that an issue?
JF: That is correct. You are losing accuracy by using what
is available today because you do not know the positions
of those satellites as well as you know those of the GNSS
satellites and maybe you do not have the best geometry.
All the GNSS satellites are in medium Earth orbit (MEO)
because they have much better geometries for a small
constellation. With just 24 satellites in MEO orbit, you
get great geometries. When you go lower, you need an
increasingly greater number of satellites.
The first generation of LEO satellites, the Iridium STL,
are a much larger constellation, with 66 satellites, but still
not enough to give you the good geometries. Today, you
are getting less accuracy, but there are all kinds of new
satellites being launched and the capability to track them will
improve. We expect to be able to use signals from hundreds,
if not thousands, of LEO satellites, so the geometry problem
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34 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
in diversity of solutions. Therefore, it recommends that the
federal government “encourage adoption of multiple PNT
sources [to expand] the availability of PNT services based
on market drivers.”
In the interview below and on the following page,
I discussed these challenges with John Fischer, vice
president of Advanced R&D at Orolia, and Alexis
Guinamard, chief technical officer of SBG Systems.
— Matteo Luccio
will start to go away and there are other things we can do to
improve the accuracy. Meanwhile, we can get rather good
performance with what we have today.
GPS World: What are some of your most recent advances,
releases, or products?
JF: On the timing side we have what we call a mini-
Rubidium, the mRO-50, which we launched on June 4. [See
page 44 of this issue.] Smaller, better, cheaper atomic clocks
are coming out very soon.
GPS World: Do you have any comments on the recent
executive order on resilient PNT?
JF: We coined the term “resilient PNT,” so we are glad to
see it in use. We fully support those efforts.
GPS World: What about other alternative sources of PNT data,
such as radar, lidar, and signals of opportunity?
JF: Yes, they are that next level. Loran is ideal because it
is so different from GNSS. When you are trying to design
a reliable system, you want a lot of diversity, because if two
systems have the same kinds of failure modes you have not
gained in redundancy. Loran is literally at the other end of
the spectrum from GNSS: It is a low-frequency microwave
system. Instead of being space-based, it is land-based; instead
of being low power, it is high power. However, there still are no
stations up. It requires big equipment, so it will take some time.
When it comes to what you can do today, Loran does not
contribute much. We support efforts to implement Loran
very much, because we do need non-GNSS ways to make
things resilient. Prior to GPS, we had to depend only on
Loran. Today, with modern digital signal processing (DSP)
techniques and receivers, I think we can expect the new
Loran system to have much better accuracies than we had
in the bad old days of the first generation of Loran.
The auto industry is doing a marvelous job of doing
navigation using lidar or cameras. They are pretty much
navigating driverless cars the way that humans drive, by
just using visual cues. Those things have promise in certain
unique areas.
 ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A

Photo: SBG Systems

SBG Systems: Software Joins Hardware
GPS World: What are the main challenges to GNSS that require
developing alternatives?
Alexis Guinamard: GNSS technology can be easily
disturbed by a wide variety of factors. Urban canyons or
foliage environments can obstruct GNSS signals or cause
multipath effects. Intentional and unintentional jamming
and spoofing are also a big concern for PNT users.
Alternative technologies are developed to add robustness
to GNSS positioning and useful features like orientation THIRD GENERATION of the Ellipse Series of IMUs. Clockwise from top:
tracking (inertial + GNSS), or ultimately to work in pure Models D, E, A and N.
GNSS-denied environments (SLAM).
and RTK capability, within a miniature form factor.
GPS World: What is your range of products? A multi-constellation, multi-frequency receiver is much
AG: We develop and produce GNSS-aided inertial harder to jam or to spoof, which makes the Ellipse-N very
navigation systems, but also provide a post-processing robust and able to operate despite interference.
software (Qinertia). Our latest innovation is the third Finally, the new Ellipse-D, which provides dual-antenna
generation of the Ellipse series — our best-selling heading capability, has been drastically improved in terms
product — which is an industrial-grade INS. Based of size, weight and power.
on the same inertial core, we integrated cutting-edge Our post-processing software is compatible with all our
technologies, such as a multi-frequency GNSS receiver See SBG, page 37. >>
 ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A
Parker LORD Launches RTK System
P
arker LORD’s new 3DM-GQ7 is a dual-
antenna real-time kinematic
(RTK) inertial
navigation
system with multiple
integrated aiding sensors
and support for external
aiding.
It has two integrated
RTK-capable multi-
band multi-constellation
GNSS receivers, integrated
barometric pressure sensor,
magnetometer, and hardware support for
wheel odometry. It also has an application programming
interface (API) for external sensor measurements.
The 3DM-GQ7 offers advanced sensor fusion for
accurate measurements in challenging environments.
It provides seamless operation during temporary
GNSS signal outages and online tracking of inertial
measurement unit (IMU) error sources for superior
dead-reckoning.
An optional network RTK receiver, the 3DM-RTK,
allows users to connect and communicate to the
company’s SensorCloud RTK Connection network.
This makes for an all-in-one solution (GNSS-INS +
RTK + SensorCloud RTK).
Justin Bessette, manager of technology for Parker
LORD, answered questions for GPS World about the
3DM-GQ7.
GPS World: What are its key markets and applications?
NovAtel SPAN Prepares for Road Ahead
G
NSS positioning is highly accurate and reli-
able — until satellite signals are disrupted.
Hexagon | NovAtel has developed SPAN tech-
nology that integrates GNSS positioning with
inertial measurements for a three-dimensional understand-
ing of position and orientation.
SPAN technology delivers accurate heading, velocity,
azimuth, pitch, and roll. NovAtel SPAN-enabled receivers
and enclosures are effective across applications, including
marine environments to monitor heave movements from
waves and autonomous vehicles requiring a higher level
of precision and integrity.
NovAtel has demonstrated SPAN technology’s capa-
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36 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
Justin Bessette: T h e k e y
Photo: Parker LORD
markets for the 3DMGQ7
m
iinclude: autonomous or mildly
ssupervised delivery drones and
vvehicles, as-built construction
ssurvey platforms, automated
agriculture vehicles, and many
other platforms that demand high-
output rate precise position, velocity and
attitude information.
GPS World: Does the sensor fusion take place in real
time on the device?
JB: The 3DMGQ7 is powered by MicroStrain’s next
generation adaptive Kalman filter, which fuses raw
satellite measurements, RTK base-station corrections,
dual-antenna heading measurements, and other corrective
sources with IMU measurements in real time, resulting in
a 1-kHz position, velocity and attitude output.
GPS World: What are some use cases for the barometric
pressure sensor? For the magnetometer?
JB: For many applications, the barometric pressure
sensor can be used when GNSS altitude sources are
perceived as unreliable or temporarily unavailable.
The same logic can be applied to the magnetometer for
heading information. In general, the magnetometer is a
backup heading reference; since our product has a dual-
antenna GNSS receiver, heading information is generally
derived from that source. When transitioning through
areas of poor GNSS reception, our product can revert
to using both these sensors to aid the inertial position,
velocity, and attitude solution.
bilities in a sensor-fusion project alongside AImotive and
STMicroelectronics. Leveraging sensors on a moving
vehicle — GNSS, inertial measurements, and cameras for
visual odometry — allowed the teams to produce prom-
ising results for continuous positioning on real roads,
in underground parking garages, and through tunnels.
NovAtel’s PwrPak7-E1 enclosure was used as a reference
system in the project, gathering data to confirm the ac-
curacy of the sensor-fusion solution.
Through this project, NovAtel and its partners validated
how alternative PNT like SPAN and other sensor fusion
solutions complement and extend GNSS positioning
availability, accuracy, and reliability.
 ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A

OxTS Board Set Ready for System Integrators

O
xford Technical Solutions (OxTS) offers

Photo: OxTS
a future-proof inertial navigation system
(INS) board set for system integrators.
The xOEM v3 includes the architecture
from the company’s IP65-encased xNAV v3 as well as a
full range of software interfaces, providing integrators
maximum configuration flexibility, real-time monitor-
ing, post-processing and analysis. Software interfaces
can be customized using the OxTS NAVsuite. Plugins
can be created using the company’s NAVsdk, allow-
ing the xOEM v3’s software to be easily packaged and
included as part of a product.
The board set is compact at 150 grams, which en- sophisticated boresight calibration tool.
ables manufacturers to seamlessly integrate and build The high-grade MEMS inertial sensors and real-
a high-performance INS into their products, such time kinematic (RTK) capable GNSS receiver within
as commercial mapping applications on land and in the xOEM v3 board set deliver high performance
the air. Its light weight means more payload capacity capabilities. The board set provides 0.1° heading
for other critical components. An add-on lidar geo- accuracy, 0.05° pitch/roll accuracy and 2 cm global
referencing software package is also available with a position accuracy.

SBG
<<Continued from page 35.
INS products. So, we can post-process these data to obtain
centimeter precision in a PPK mode. Qinertia is running
a tightly coupled navigation filter to obtain the best
navigation performance in post-processed applications.
Thanks to the raw data output of the Ellipse’s sensors, it’s
really straightforward to do post-processing with Qinertia
PPK software and obtain the highest level of accuracy.
We worked hard to make the user experience as easy
as possible. The latest version of Qinertia allows the
customer to process either INS systems with GNSS or
purely GNSS data.

GPS World: What are primary uses of your systems?

AG: We have many advanced robotics applications,
including UAV, driverless cars, and agricultural robots. We
divide them into mapping applications, remote-sensing
applications and control applications.
Inertial sensors can help a lot for the control applications
because we are able to reject false GNSS measurements in
both loosely and tightly coupled schemes. We can also use
them to provide a precise heading, which is required by
many of these applications. So, I would say that advanced
robotics is one of the major growth areas for us.

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 37
 ALTERNATIVE PNT
NASA’s Orion Travels with Honeywell, Lockheed
H
oneywell, under a contract
with Lockheed Martin,
will supply guidance and
navigation systems for
NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions,
which will fly humans to the moon
for the first time since 1972.
The companies are supplying
key components to NASA’s Orion
spacecraft fleet for the Artemis
missions. Components include the
barometric altimeter, the inertial
measurement system, and the GPS
receiver.
Honeywell will provide 14 product
types for Artemis missions III
through V, including both hardware
and software solutions, to support
NASA’s lunar missions. NASA
awarded Lockheed Martin a long-
term, multibillion-dollar production
contract for the Orion spacecraft,
aimed to meet the space agency’s
anticipated needs into the 2030s.
Working in collaboration with the
Orion team over the next decade,
Honeywell will support Lockheed
Martin and its partners through
the development and production of
essential guidance and navigation
systems, command data handling,
and display and control products.
The focus of the missions is to
conduct science and learn lessons
that will help take humans to Mars.
Hon e y w e l l w i l l s up p l y t h e
following types of technology for
the Artemis missions:
Guidance and Navigation Systems.
Ke y navigat ion and guidance
solutions, including the barometric
altimeter, which tracks the altitude
of the Orion capsule in Earth’s
atmosphere, as well as the inertial
measurement system (INS) and GPS
receiver, which track the position and
movements of the capsule.
Command Data Handling. Several
data-handling products, including
38 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
Q+A
Artist’s concept: NASA
ARTEMIS MISSIONS: Flown on the Orion spacecraft, the missions will gather information to help
take humans to Mars.
the vehicle management computer, Honeywell will provide
which acts as the central computing 14 product types for
platform supporting flight and Artemis missions III
vehicle control, as well as spacecraft through V to support
communication functions.
Displays and Controls. Three display NASA’s lunar missions.
units and struts, seven control panels,
Photo: NASA
and two hand controllers used inside
the spacecraft to help astronauts
in the Orion capsule monitor and
control the vehicle.
Core Flight Software. Includes
the integrated modular avionics
software, a key system responsible for
supporting maintenance functions
sharing flight data information.
The contrac t to supply ke y
components of the Orion crew
module and service module is being
managed and performed out of
Honeywell’s facility in Clearwater,
Florida. Work is also being conducted
at the company’s facilities in Glendale, FIRST ORION SPACECRAFT: In this March 30
Arizona, and Puerto Rico. photo, Orion I is moved to the Final Assembly
and Systems Test cell at Kennedy Space
Honeywell was part of NASA’s Center. The spacecraft returned from Ohio
previous crewed space missions, after a successful series of environmental
including those that took humans tests at Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook
to the moon. Station.
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JULY 2020
 ALTERNATIVE PNT Q+A

SimINERTIAL Designed for GPS/INS Testing

T
esting the full operational performance of GPS/
inertial systems usually requires expensive
and time-consuming field testing on an ap-
propriate moving vehicle platform. Spirent’s
SimINERTIAL system emulates inertial sensor outputs
while simultaneously simulating GPS RF signals. This
enables controlled, repeatable testing of integrated GPS
and inertial units, reducing the need for field trials.
SimINERTIAL is housed in a PC platform equipped
sensor error modeling and supports a range of popular
inertial formats. SimINERTIAL architecture is also avail-
able in configurations to support transfer alignment and
multiple sensor architectures. SimINERTIAL solutions can
also be equipped to deliver a barometric altitude output
via a MIL-STD-1553B card installed in the SimINERTIAL
controller PC.

Photo: Spirent
with the appropriate data interface card. The simulated
motion data is streamed from Spirent’s state-of-the art
SimGEN application via Ethernet to SimINERTIAL, which
translates this simulated motion data into representative
real-time data streams at the data rate and with the data
format appropriate to the unit being tested.
SimINERTIAL is equipped with fully user-configurable

Inertial Labs Offers

Gyroscopes

I
nertial Labs has released its TAG-200 two-axis and
TAG-300 three-axis gyroscopes, developed for electro-
optical systems, gimbals, line-of-sight, and pan-and-tilt
platforms for stabilization and pointing applications.
TAG-200 and TAG-300 use advanced performance,
tactical-grade MEMS-sensitive elements, with the size,
power consumption, reliability and performance needed for
complex tasks requiring accurate stabilization of assorted
platforms. Designed for use in harsh environments,
they can withstand
Photo: Inertial Labs

e xt reme sho ck
and vibration, in
accordance with
MIL-STD-810
ground mobile
use. They are fully
digitized, include
built-in test functionalities and have no moving parts.
Features of the gyroscopes include low noise, low latency,
wide bandwidth, high data rate, low bias drift, low VRE
and high MTBF. The gyroscopes are factory calibrated over
operational temperature range with low non-orthogonality
and misalignment between sensitive elements. They are
also ITAR-free, QA/QC tested and supplied with individual
calibration and acceptance test certificates.

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 39
CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Keeping Interference at Bay
AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY and analysis on GNSS interference detection
and localization systems reveal the path forward for transportation and other critical infrastructure.
BY José Luis Madrid-Cobos AND Ana Bodero-Alonso, ENAIRE,
Ignacio Fernández-Hernández and Eric Châtre, EC, Andriy Konovaltsev, DLR, AND Christopher Hegarty, MITRE
T
h e re c e i v e d p ow e r
of GPS and Galileo
navigation signals at
the antenna output of a
user receiver is typically
extremely small, from
approximately –165 up to –150
dBW, which makes them inherently
vulnerable to radio-f requenc y
interference (RFI) caused by the
emissions of other radio systems. This
interference is often unintentional,
such as from malfunctioning or
spurious emission from a transmitter
in the vicinity of the GNSS receiver.
However, we have seen numerous
reports about the deliberate jamming
of GNSS signals. The most frequent
examples of such interference reports
are caused by so-called personal
privacy devices (PPDs) — low-power
GNSS jammers used to locally disable
the operation of GNSS receivers.
Although the use of PPDs is illegal,
they can be easily acquired on the
internet. A $10 jammer with 100 mW
of transmitter power is enough to
degrade performance or disrupt GNSS
receivers in a range of 10–100 meters.
In the past decade, more complex and
powerful jammers have also become
available, along with spoofers —
devices that create GNSS-like signals
that fool receivers to provide false
location or time solutions. A $100
software-defined radio bought online
can be used as a spoofer.
ENAIRE (the Spanish air navigation
service provider) conducted an
international survey and associated
analysis of GNSS RFI detection and
localization systems. The survey was
40 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
part of the EU–U.S. Working Group
Photo: ENAIRE
C Sept. 2017–Sept. 2019 Work Plan,
with contributions of the European
Commission (DG DEFIS), the German
Aerospace Center (DLR), the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
Eurocontrol, the MITRE Corporation
and Stanford University. Working Group
C promotes cooperation between the
U.S. and EU on design and development
of the next generation of civil satellite-
based navigation and timing systems.
The survey was conducted within
the Resilience Subgroup focused on
counteractions required in view of
growing concerns over jamming and
spoofing threats.
Manufacturers and Users
The survey was provided in two
versions: one targeted to manufacturers AN ENAIRE GNSS RFI monitor close to the
Madrid-Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain.
and another to the users of interference
detection systems. The two surveys
were implemented online July 12–Oct. even less. Most RFI systems demodulate
26, 2018. There were 23 responses: 11 or analyze the GPS L1 C/A signal. Only
from manufacturers and 12 from users 8% and 17% of users analyze GPS L5
(see Acknowledgments on page 35 for and Galileo E5a, respectively.
companies that participated). Regarding Capabilities. 55% of the industry, and
the manufacturers’ responses, the nine 25% of the users’ surveyed products,
surveyed companies represent about provide RFI localization capabilities,
50% of the market of RFI monitoring while 45% of the industry, and only
products available in 2018. 33% of the users’ surveyed products,
detect some type of spoofing.
RFI Equipment Used Power and Antenna Gain. Most of the
We present here the aggregated results systems achieve a sensitivity better
of the RFI equipment manufactured than or equal to –120 dBm, meeting
and used by the participating entities. the International Civil Aviation
Frequency Bands and Signals. The Organization requirement for GPS
L1/E1 band is covered by all of the and SBAS L1 airborne receivers to
manufacturers’ and users’ surveyed withstand interference (–120.5 dBm
products. L5/E5a and other bands are CW, in-band) after steady-state
monitored in only 42% of the cases, or navigation has been established. The
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JULY 2020

gain of antennas used in RFI detection
systems ranges from 2 dBi up to 45
dBi.
Real-Time Bandwidth. The maximum
real-time monitored bandwidth of
the surveyed products ranges from
16 MHz up to 60 MHz in L1. Most
of the products monitor a 20-MHz
bandwidth (similar to the GPS L1 C/A
reference bandwidth for pre-GPS III
satellites, which is 20.46 MHz).
Spectrum Refresh Time. The time
needed by the RFI detector to
capture and process a plot of the RF
spectrum in a specific band to look
for interference signals ranges from
1 microsecond to 2 seconds.
Jamming Detection Techniques. The
most widespread jamming detection
technique is RF power monitoring
(45% industry, 92% users), followed
by digital beamforming (CRPAs),
carrier-to-noise-density ratio (C/N0)
monitoring and spectral analysis/
transforms (see FIGURE 1). Note that
RF power monitoring and automatic
gain control (AGC) monitoring are in
essence the same detection technique:
AGC voltage levels — after calibration
with a reference RF generator — can
be converted into RF input power
levels.
Spoofing Detection Techniques.
The most widespread spoofing
detection techniques are PVTF
consistency monitoring (industry
products, 27%) and correlation peak
monitoring (users, 25%), followed
by digital beamforming (CRPAs), C/
N0 monitoring and spectral analysis/
transforms (see FIGURE 2).
Localization. The most widespread
RFI localization technique is direction/
angle of arrival (DOA/AOA): 55% in
industry products and 25% in users’
systems. AOA techniques used are
correlative interferometer (phase-
difference), Watson-Watt (amplitude-
difference) and array signal processing.
The AOA accuracy of surveyed
products ranges from ±3° to ±10°.
FIGURE 1 Jamming detection technique.
Event Recording. For an interference
event, most products record the
time stamp, received power, central
frequency, frequency spectrum, the
spectrogram (frequency versus time
plot) and the jammer type. Only 8%
of surveyed users perform spoofing
event recording (see FIGURE 3). 92% of
users record RFI/spoofing events;
half also report them to their national
spectrum administration. Users have
from one to 11 jammer detectors.
Only four users have been registered
with spoofing detectors, each using
one.
Event Sharing. 75% of surveyed
users are willing to collaborate in the
creation of an international RFI and
spoofing events common database,
but the remaining 25% explicitly do
not want to share their databases.
Future RFI Monitoring Equipment
Based on the analysis of the aggregated
results from the survey, we identified
some recommendations for improving
RFI monitoring:
L5/E5a band. To be ready for
introduction of the L5/E5a band into
aviation operational use (expected
by 2025), it is suggested that aviation
organizations increase efforts to
monitor and analyze the RFI situation
in the L5/E5a band.
Spoofing detection. Nat iona l
organizations in charge of critical
infrastructures should increase their
efforts to detect spoofing (at least at
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JULY 2020
CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Charts: Authors
the same level as jamming detection).
Multi-constellation and dual-frequency
spoofing detection should be promoted
(not only L1/E1 spoofing).
GNSS RFI monitoring with enough
bandwidth: The maximum real-time
monitored bandwidth of the surveyed
products ranges from 16 MHz to 60
MHz, while most of the products
monitor only a 20-MHz bandwidth.
The receiver reference bandwidth for
E1 is 24.552 MHz, while for L1 GPS
III it is 30.69 MHz. U.S.-EU GNSS
RFI detection systems for critical
infrastructures should be designed to
monitor at least 31 MHz of bandwidth
in the L1/E1 band, with 50 MHz
recommended to cope with typical
–3 dB bandwidth of pre-low-noise-
amplifier (LNA) GNSS L1/E1 receiver
filter. The same rule should be applied
to other GNSS bands. Even more
bandwidth for monitoring could be
needed to cope with rare interferers,
such as a high-power source, whether
intentional or unintentional, radiating
in near-band L1/E1 but not in the
passband frequencies, bypassing the
rejection of the receiver’s filters and
degrading the GNSS signal reception.
Air Navigation
In the EU, performance-based
navigation (PBN) will become the
norm in all flight phases, and GNSS
(with or without SBAS) will be the
main position source, by June 2030. A
similar scenario is being developed in
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 41
 CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Charts: Authors
FIGURE 2 Spoofing detection technique.
the U.S. Conventional procedures and
ground-based navigation aids will be
used only in contingency situations.
GNSS RFI can degrade the current
GBAS CAT I (GAST-C) service in
airports and could jeoparize safe
operation of upcoming GBAS CAT
II-III (GAST-D) service. GNSS also is
the key enabler for ADS-B.
Therefore, it is critical for air
transportation to improve its capability
to detect radio frequency interference to
GNSS and mitigate its harmful effects,
both on the ground and in the air.
Ground Detection and Localization.
These systems should be installed at
and around all airports. ENAIRE has
recently deployed an AOA RFI detection
and localization system around the
Madrid airport called DYLEMA. It
consists of nine AOA RFI and spoofing
detectors, two spoofing-only detectors,
an IP communication network and a
GNSS monitoring center operated 24/7.
From this center, ENAIRE will report
RFI events to the Spanish spectrum
agency. Similar systems will be deployed
in other large Spanish airports in the
next years. In small airports, ENAIRE
is deploying single-unit RFI detectors
(one detector per airport, currently
without the AOA feature). These systems
are complemented by handheld and
airborne spectrum analyzers equipped
with directional antennas and RFI AOA
features, used if an RFI event of high
power or duration takes place.
Airborne Detection and Localization.
Several initiatives are under study or
42 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
initial design for airborne detection
and localization systems, using current
avionics receivers with no hardware
modification or new hardware such
as additional antennas in the aircraft.
Future airborne RFI detection systems
should include indoor coverage to detect
jammers and spoofers in the airplane
itself. EUROCONTROL is leading one
of these initiatives using ADS-B. Given
a reliable ADS-B data feed with suitable
coverage information, a search algorithm
could scan for outages. If the data is
dense enough, it is possible to locate
the source, even if the GNSS airborne
antenna is omnidirectional with no
AOA features. Another commercial
initiative, GATEMAN, uses new GNSS
antennas and components to provide
AOA detection and localization features.
UAV-Embedded Detection and
Localization. Detection and localization
systems embedded in UAVs are not
widely commercially available, but they
will be useful to complement fixed
or ground RFI monitoring systems,
especially to detect fast moving mobile
jammers and spoofers. A jammer
moving at high speed could be found
by a fixed detector, trigger the UAV
take-off (collocated with the detector
or close to it), and start tracking the
target. If equipped with a camera, it
could identify the vehicle carrying the
jammer or spoofer. Such a system has
to function in GNSS-denied scenarios,
and needs to use sensors other than
GNSS. Stanford University has recently
developed a prototype of such a system.
|
JULY 2020
Other Sectors
Shipping. RFI detection systems should
be installed at and around harbors, where
positioning requirements are the most
stringent. Mobile AOA detectors can be
installed in vessels. A DLR experiment
integrated its GALANT GNSS RFI
detector on a ship sailing from Spain to
South Korea and back.
Railroads. Detection and localization
systems should be installed at train
stations and main railway junctions or
switches. It is possible to install mobile
detectors in trains to detect jammers
inside the train apart from outdoor
coverage to detect jammers outside the
train.
Roads. Most PPD jammers in use
are on roadways. Jammers not only
jeopardize aviation and timing systems;
they can jeopardize the safety of the
coming autonomous road vehicles. We
strongly recommend that police and road
surveillance systems include jammers
and spoofers as a daily target, to detect,
localize and punish their users.
Supporting proposals include
installing fixed detectors at tollbooths,
road gantries or other points near
roads; and using mobile detectors —
for example, on police vehicles for
locating a car that carries a jammer.
Public transport services with enough
vehicles (such as taxis or busses) could
also detect RFI.
Smartphone Platforms. Initiatives
are using smartphone crowdsourcing
platforms to detect interference based
on C/N0 or AGC measurements. At
this time, only prototype apps for
Android phones are available. The
Apple iOS does not allow access to
GNSS raw data. Android applications
can include localization capabilities
based on Time Difference Of Arrival
(TDOA) or Power Difference Of Arrival
(PDOA). Having a detection system in
a mass-market product would create
millions of detectors around the world.
Reward programs by national or local
administrations would encourage use

Charts: Authors
FIGURE 3 RFI events recording/database. Jammer classifications: Class I — continuous wave
signal; Class II — chirp signal with one saw-tooth function; Class III — chirp signal with multi
saw-tooth functions; Class IV — chirp signal with frequency bursts.
of the app. User consent to obtain the
data will be needed.
Space-Based Detection. Space-based
detection is feasible to find medium-
to high-power jammers and spoofers.
Several projects have performed
simulations, such as the ground to
space threat simulator from Qascom
and Spirent Communications. In this
project, simulations achieved an error
of less than 1.5 km using a medium-
Earth-orbit (MEO) satellite as the RFI
sensor and a 20-dBm static jammer on
Earth, with 15 minutes of observation
time. Also, an experimental program
from the International Space Station has
demonstrated that RFI can be detected
from low Earth orbit.
The main issue of such detection
systems is the cost to deploy all the
satellites needed to have a global coverage
with a low response time (2 hours or
less to detect RFI). The performance
of a space-based RFI system is better
when using a LEO constellation (as,
compared to an MEO system, it detects
RFI with a lower transmitted power).
One such system by HawkEye 360 was
deployed in 2019. The company plans
to operate a fleet of 30 satellites in LEO
orbit, enabling it to gather new signals
from any point on the planet within 30
to 45 minutes.
General Recommendations
Increased Effort Needed. Public
administrations and transport
service providers should increase
their efforts to deploy GNSS RFI
detection and localization systems.
In parallel, governments should
punish individuals or organizations
using jammers or other types of illegal
transmitters or emissions. Jamming
and spoofing is illegal in the EU and
the U.S. An increased RFI monitoring
effort should be coordinated at the
national or regional level to find
synergies and avoid duplications.
Planned Interference. Government
a g e n c i e s , i n c lu d i n g n at i on a l
radiofrequency spectrum agencies,
should coordinate nationally and
inter nat iona l ly wit h air, rai l,
road, maritime and other critical
infrastructure entities before any
planned intentional interference
is conducted, such as militar y
exercises or protection of special
events from potential terrorist
attack. This coordination includes
an analysis of the estimated area
and airspace volume affected by the
RFI, the associated notification to
the GNSS users before and during
the RFI radiation period (such as a
NOTAM, Notice to Airmen), as well
as the indication to use established
alternative procedures (non-GNSS).
A Common Database. The creation
of an international common database
of GNSS RFI events could boost the
fight against GNSS RFI. A specific
action could define a standard of the
|
JULY 2020
CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
RFI data format to be registered and
shared in an international database,
including a possible RFI classification
(also defined and agreed to as part of
the standard). One initiative related
to the creation of an international
GNSS RFI threats database was
proposed by the EU-funded STRIKE
3 project in 2017.
Acknowledgments
The work presented in this report
has been performed under the
U.S.-EU Agreement on GPS-Galileo
Cooperation, Working Group C,
Resiliency Subgroup. The authors
thank the participants of the Working
Group and the Resiliency Subgroup
— in particular, Eurocontrol and
the FAA for distribution of the
survey in the EU and the U.S.,
respectively. The authors also thank
the organizations that participated in
the survey: Spirent Communications,
G M V, C e n t u m S o l u t i o n s ,
THALES, IDS AirNav, Chronos
Technology, Innovationszentrum
für Telekommunikationstechnik
(IZT), Collins Aerospace, German
Aerospace Center (DLR), Netherlands
Aerospace Centre (NLR), Deutsche
Flugsicherung (DFS), Direction des
Services de la Navigation Aérienne
(DSNA), Polish Air Navigation
S e r v i c e s A g e n c y ( PA N S A ) ,
Belgocontrol, ENAV and ENAIRE.
José Luis Madrid-Cobos is the technical
manager of GNSS interference detection
and localization systems at ENAIRE,
the Air Navigation Service Provider in
Spain. Ana Bodero-Alonso is the head of
the Satellite Navigation Department at
ENAIRE. Ignacio Fernández-Hernández
is responsible for Galileo high accuracy
and authentication at the European
Commission. Eric Châtre is the head of
the GNSS Exploitation and Evolutions
Sector at the European Commission.
Andriy Konovaltsev is a research
assistant at Institute of Communications
and Navigation of the German Aerospace
Center (DLR). Christopher Hegarty is
a technical fellow with The MITRE
Corporation.
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 43
 MARKET Segment Snapshot:
Applications, Trends & News

OEM WATCH
2
Orolia Offers Miniaturized Oscillator

O
rolia has x 19.5 millimeters. It takes high-precision atomic clock

introduced a
miniaturized
rubidium
oscillator, the Spectratime
mRO-50, to meet the latest
commercial, military and
aerospace requirements
where time stability and
power consumption are
critical. The oscillator is
low SWaP-C — size, weight,
power and cost.
The Spectratime mRO-
50 provides a one-day
holdover below 1 µs and a
retrace below 1 x 10-10 in a
form factor sized 50.8 x 50.8
up only 51 cc of volume —
about one-third the volume
of st and ard r ubi d iu m
clocks  — and consumes
only 0.45 W of power.
The Spectratime mRO-
50 provides accurate
frequenc y and precise
time synchronization to
mobile applications, such
as militar y radio-pack
systems in GNSS-denied
environments. Its operating
temperature of –10° C to
60°C (the military version
extends to –40° C to 75° C)
is also suitable for UAVs and
Photo: Orolia
technology.
Orolia’s Atomic Clocks
team received the 2019
PTTI Distinguished Service
Aw ard i n Janu ar y for
advancing the state of the
art in high-stability atomic
underwater applications. cl o ck s and pro du c i ng
Orolia is a leader in the space-based passive
space-based atomic clocks hydrogen maser operating
and h ig h-e nd cr y st a l, on all Galileo satellites. and
rubidium, hydrogen is the most stable clock
m a s e r an d i nt e g r at e d ever flown for GNSS. The
GPS/GNSS clocks. The Spectratime mRO-50 is the
company also provides latest technology solution
testing instruments for from this team.
space missions that rely on

Xsens Embeds RTK in Motion Sensors

X
sens has launched real-time-
Photo: Xsens

kinematic (RTK)-compatible MTI-680G

motion trackers to bring
centimeter-accurate positioning within
reach of a new generation of affordable
commercial devices.
The RTK extension to conventional
satellite positioning signals reduces
the maximum positioning error
from around ±1 meter in standard
commercial GNSS receivers to typically
±2 centimeters.
The MTi-680G is a new product
in the Xsens MTi 600-series. The
MTi-680G, an integrated GNSS/
inertial navigation system (INS)
module, features an integrated RTK
GNSS receiver, as well as providing
synchronized 3D attitude (tilt,
inclination) and heading outputs.
The MTi-680G also features
upgraded firmware that substantially
FEATURES
■ Precise factory calibration
■ High immunity to magnetic
interference
■ Adaptive firmware operation
to optimize performance in
various types of scenarios
■ Free MT Software Suite
developer tools to accelerate
accelerates the module’s internal signal integration into end-product
processing compared to non-RTK designs
modules. ■ Out-of-the-box operation with
Synchronizing the global position Xsens’ MTi development kits
coordinates with the module’s attitude, ■ Applications include smart
heading and velocity outputs, the MTi- farming, autonomous
680G can provide a comprehensive vehicles and coastal maritime
positioning and navigation output for equipment.
any carrier device, including drones
that move at high speed, at a maximum
output data rate of 400 Hz.

|
44 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020
 MARKET WATCH

OEM 2
Tersus Board Provides All-in-View Tracking

Photo: Tersus GNSS

ersus GNSS has released
the BX40C RTK board, the
latest addition to its series of
GNSS boards that provide
highly accurate and fast positioning.
Powered by the company’s new
ExtremeRTK GNSS technology, the
BX40C board can support multi-
constellation and multi-frequency
all-in-view satellite tracking.
The Tersus BX40C is a compact
GNSS real-time kinematic (RTK)
board that supports 576 channels
and can achieve centimeter-level
position easily. It supports multiple
c onstel l at ions and f re qu e nc ie s
to improve t he cont inuit y and
reliability of the RTK solution, even
in harsh environments. Its enhanced
positioning accuracy and constellation
tracking can control deviation within
3 centimeters for sur veying and
mapping applications.
It also is suitable for high-precision
positioning. It can be integrated with
autopilots and inertial navigation
units to meet various developing
requirements.
It offers 4 GB of built-in memory
for data collection, and is compatible
with other GNSS boards on the
market via flexible interfaces, smart
hardware design and commonly used
log/command formats.

GNSS Simulation for

Every Testing Environment
From automotive factories to defense test
ranges, and fixed hardware to flexible software
solutions, Orolia delivers proven GNSS
simulation for every testing environment.

Easy to Use – Skydel

– Powerful –
– Affordable
GSG-51/61
Essential Single Satellite
GNSS Simulators
orolia.com • Single satellite per
constellation
sales@orolia.com • All GNSS constellations
supported
• Multi-frequency
• Front panel
operation/lockout
Orolia PNT Coffee Talk • Full remote API and
web interface
PNT Vulnerability Testing for Critical Infrastructure: • Small, portable form
factor
Lessons Learned from Defense
July 16, 2020 2pm EST
orolia.com/resources/webinars
GSG-5/6
Essential GNSS
Simulator for Smart
Applications
• StudioView scenario
generation software
• All GNSS constellations
supported
• Up to four frequency
bands in a single chassis
• Up to 64 simultaneous
signals
• Hardware-in-the-loop
• Premade scenarios
included
• Test suites for
automated testing
• Small, portable form
factor
Simulation
Engine
Advanced Simulation
Software
• Runs on your own
hardware or an Orolia
turnkey system.
• 1000Hz simulation
iteration rate
• Scalable to multiple
GPU’s
• Intuitive UI and
automation
• Comprehensive API
(Python, C#, C++,
LabVIEW)
• Advanced jamming
and spoofing
• IQ file generation and
playback
• All-in-view simulation

|
JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM G P S W O R L D 45
 MARKET WATCH
TRANSPORTATION
Swift Drives with Skylark across US
S
wift Navigation has
completed a demonstration
drive test across the
continental United States.
The goal of the drive, from San
Francisco to New York and back, was to
measure the efficacy of Swift’s recently
expanded Skylark cloud corrections
service and to demonstrate true
nationwide lane-level GNSS correction
coverage at the accuracy, reliability and
availability levels required by Swift
customers.
The drive took the Swift team across
26 states and Washington, D.C., with
6,614.7 miles (10,645.3 kilometers)
Image: Swift Navigation
NovAtel Delivers OEM Driver Built on Robot Operating System
Hexagon | NovAtel has released its first
purpose-built driver, powered by Robot
Operating System (ROS), to support its
OEM7 family of GNSS receivers.
The driver, developed by NovAtel
engineers, provides an optimized
interface enabling users to accelerate
autonomous development projects by
quickly incorporating NovAtel OEM7
receivers into custom applications.
The driver is available for immediate
download through the new NovAtel
46 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
2
driven over 116 hours and 14 minutes
logged. A Swift vehicle was equipped
with 20 different GNSS devices, tested
using six unique chipsets that included
Swift’s Piksi Multi, Duro and multiple
leading GNSS silicon providers.
The results of the drive confirmed
that Swift’s precise positioning
solution — composed of Skylark and
the Starling positioning engine —
delivers consistent lane-level accuracy
at continental level. Skylark delivered
100% availability, with sub-decimeter
accuracy, over the entire United
States, wherever cellular coverage was
available.
GitHub repository or as a ROS Binary
Package for direct installation.
With the new driver, developers can
now access the critical data needed
to build autonomy algorithms for
academic investigations, ride-share
programs, and other applications.
Data from numerous sensors can
be combined to help move projects
into higher levels of autonomy faster
without the need to adapt community-
developed drivers. Tested using the
|
JULY 2020
DEMO HIGHLIGHTS
Performance highlights from the
drive include:
■ Sub-meter horizontal accuracy
(2-sigma) achieved across all
environments
■ 100% Skylark availability
■ Highly repeatable results with
Starling + Skylark across a variety
of dual-frequency GNSS chipsets
Skylark performed as intended and
expected in both open-sky and urban
environments. It also demonstrated
that “Skylark is truly a cross-continental
corrections network delivering the high
integrity and high availability required
by automotive OEMs, last-mile
applications, rail, mobile and micro-
mobility companies,” according to
Anthony Cole, executive vice president
of engineering.
In addition to full contiguous U.S.
coverage, the Skylark corrections
service is now available in Europe and is
being built out to support autonomous
applications across the globe.
Download a complete write-up
of the cross-country drive test at
www.swiftnav.com.
Hexagon | AutonomouStuff platform,
the driver ensures that the data
received accurately reflects the output
provided by the receiver, while also
giving users the ability to record raw
data for post-processing.
The driver’s development is a result
of collaboration between NovAtel
and AutonomouStuff in support of
Hexagon’s Smart Autonomous Mobility
(SAM) initiative, unveiled at CES 2020 in
Las Vegas.

SURVEYING
Septentrio to Integrate Sapcorda Corrections
S
eptentrio has entered into
a commercial agreement
with Sapcorda, a global
provider of sub-decimeter
GNSS corrections. Through the
collaboration with Sapcorda,
Septentrio will integrate corrections
into a new line of products for the
high-accuracy industrial market.
The new products will consist
of Sapcorda’s SAPA Premium
corrections integrated directly into
Septentrio’s latest GNSS receiver
t e c h n o l o g y. T h e r e s u l t i s s u b -
decimeter accuracy, available to
users out of the box. This significantly
s i m p l i f i e s r e c e i v e r s e t- u p a n d
eliminates the hassle of subscribing
GOOSE© - GNSS RECEIVER WITH
OPEN SOFTWARE INTERFACE
The rapid prototyping solution for leading-edge GNSS receiver development
Technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS
2
to and maintaining a corrections
service.
S u c h G N S S re ce i ve r s a c q u i re
corrections via the internet as well
as via satellite broadcast and deliver
reliable, broadly available sub-
decimeter positioning to high-volume
industrial applications.
S a p c o r d a r e l e a s e d i t s S A PA
augmentation service integration
program on May 14, following the
launch of its SAPA Premium service.
The program targets companies
integrating GNSS chips or receivers
who are looking to enable their
systems to perform in high-accuracy
mode.
The program offers step-by-step
|
JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
MARKET WATCH
service integration and proof-of-
concept guidance for upgrading the
integrators’ GNSS systems to
deliver down-to-centimeter-level
positioning accuracy.
The program also includes the
offering of free service data, used to
validate positioning performance on
the target application. The program
participants also receive commercial
support for introducing the correction
data on their marketed products.
The SAPA service is delivered using
an optimized data format and can be
integrated by modern or traditional
high-accuracy receivers compatible
with open standards such as SPARTN
and RTCM.
https://teleorbit.eu
G P S W O R L D 47
 MARKET WATCH
SURVEYING
CHCNAV’s P5 geodetic GNSS receiver is now atop Everest, carried there by China’s National Survey Team.
CHC Navigation’s Receivers Summit Everest
C
HC Navigation’s P5 geodetic
GNSS receiver was successfully
used by a Chinese team of
surveyors to complete the 2020
Mount Everest Elevation Survey.
This is the first time BeiDou-based
Chinese GNSS receivers have been
used to measure the height of Mount
Everest, known in China as Mount
Qomolangma.
The Everest Project. To promote
research on Mount Everest’s elevation
and to ensure the scientific character
and accuracy of measurements,
the Ministry of Natural Resources
mobilized the Shaanxi Bureau
of Topography and Geographic
Information Mapping from the
Chinese Academy of Topography
and Mapping to plan and implement
the measurements Mount Everest’s
elevation. China’s National Geodetic
Survey Team and its Mountaineer’s
Team would undertake the arduous
climb.
The plan set out the technical
guidelines and required that the
Everest Elevation Project be designed
to achieve innovative and technological
breakthroughs in several areas of
research. The first is to use the BeiDou
48 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
2
satellite navigation system to perform
GNSS measurements; the second is to
use Chinese surveying and mapping
equipment to complete the task.
Meeting Harsh Challenges. In October
2019, CHCNAV received a request from
the Ministry of Natural Resources to
provide GNSS equipment for the 2020
Everest Elevation Project. A dedicated
team combining different departments,
from R&D to manufacturing, was set
up. The team worked with National
Survey engineers on the specific
technical requirements to meet the
difficulties related to the altitude of
Everest.
At over 8,800 meters, the minimum
temperature can reach –45° C, while
atmospheric pressure is only 30
kPa (compared to the normal 101
kPa). Operation of the instruments
needed to be as simple and reliable as
possible — surveyors wear thick winter
clothing and lack oxygen, making every
movement an extreme challenge.
Military-Grade Solution. To meet
t he s e st r i nge nt re qu i re me nt s ,
CHCNAV provided military-grade
GNSS receivers that passed rigorous
environmental and reliability tests.
Its material supports an operating
|
JULY 2020
Photos: CHC Navigation
temperature range of –45°C to +85° C,
while redesigned lithium-ion batteries
offer 12 hours of operation even at
extremely low temperatures. Also used
were antenna cables with a specific
compound material to avoid cracking
or signal attenuation.
T h e re c e ive rs h ave bu i lt - i n
waterproof and breathable valves
to maintain internal and external
pressures. Ruggedized reinforcement
prevents damage in the event of
accidental receiver drop, keeping the
display and connectors safe.
A h e a d o f t h e c l i m b, t h i r d -
party organizations performed
environmental testing and reliability
verification, including storage and
operating at high/low temperatures,
vibration, shock, rain, dust, humid heat,
salt and fog. The National Photoelectric
Rangefinder Testing Center also gave
the equipment rigorous evaluation.
Reaching the Summit. On April 5,
2020, at the Everest Elevation Survey
Expedition Ceremony in Lhasa,
CHCNAV officially donated GNSS
equipment to the National Survey
Team. Both product and technical
training was provided to the team.
Continued on next page. >>
 MARKET WATCH

MAPPING 2
NavVis Launches N avVis has launched NavVis VLX, a wearable mapping
system that captures high-quality data in built environments
Wearable Mapper such as construction sites, staircases and technical rooms.
The all-in-one reality capture capabilities of NavVis VLX
include both survey-grade point clouds and high-resolution
panoramas. The compact, economical design enables high-
quality data to be captured for architecture, engineering and
construction (AEC) projects. Uses include conventional
building documentation such as CAD drawings and BIM
models, as well as web-based digital-twin solutions, such as
NavVis IndoorViewer.
NavVis VLX is equipped with two lidar sensors and
captures survey-grade point clouds using the company’s
SLAM technology, originally developed for the NavVis M6
indoor mobile mapping system. NavVis VLX also captures
high-resolution panoramic images in a 360-degree field of view.
The wearable device gives the operator more control over
Photo: NavVis

where the sensors are scanning. A built-in screen provides live

feedback of what has been scanned and the quality of the data
being captured.

<< Continued from previous page. ADVERTISER INDEX: COMPANIES FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
Editor’s Note: This ad/edit index is for reader convenience only.
Publisher accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions.
The 53 members of the first National Survey Team
overcame the difficulties related to the environment, bad
ADVERTISER PAGE(S)
weather and the additional impact of COVID-19, and
conducted a series of measurements on Mount Everest and CAST NAVIGATION INSIDE FRONT COVER
surrounding areas including snow depth, level, gravity and
GNSS position. INSTITUTE OF NAVIGATION (ION) 15
Thirty of the 60 points of the GNSS control network were JACKSON LABS 17
measured with CHCNAV GNSS receivers, including three
of the seven Everest elevation intersection points. JAVAD 19-26
On May 27, the CHCNAV GNSS receivers finally reached
L3 HARRIS 7
the summit and successfully completed the task.
The successful achievement of the Everest elevation NOVATEL BACK COVER
measurement reflects the performance of the Chinese
surveying and mapping industry, confirms BeiDou as a major OROLIA 31, 35, 45
part of the GNSS systems, and demonstrates the technical RACELOGIC 9
success of CHCNAV as a major player in the GNSS industry.
Results to Come. it will take two to three months for sci- SBG SYSTEMS 11
entists to calculate and release the mountain’s exact height.
SPIRENT FEDERAL 5, 39
Scientists will use multiple measurement techniques to per-
form comprehensive calculations of the measurement data. SUZHOU FOIF 37
After data analysis and processing, they will carry out
theoretical studies and repeated verifications to determine TELEORBIT 47
the accurate height. Complex calculations are needed to
UNICORE COMMUNICATIONS INSIDE BACK COVER
eliminate errors caused by factors such as temperature, air
pressure and the refractive environment.

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JULY 2020 WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 4
49
9
SEEN HEARD
WHERE’S THE BEEF? USE THAT APP IN GERMANY?
A new mapping app is NO WAZE!
helping Los Angeles The German
County residents find government has
more than 2,000 food amended its road
resources, during and traffic regulations
after the COVID-19 to outlaw apps
pandemic. Sponsored that alert drivers
by the non-profit 211 to speed cameras.
LA County, the LA The law makes it
FoodFinder is powered by Slingshot Earth, which aggregates clear that any app
food resources and service data from multiple public and private used for traffic-
sources. The app enables residents to find resources for child monitoring alerts
nutrition, meal services, groceries/food pantries, senior food is forbidden,
needs and government food benefits programs. Since the whether it runs on a phone, tablet or a GPS
COVID-19 outbreak, 211 LA County has experienced a 10-fold navigation system. Violating the traffic laws
increase in website traffic for food needs. and using speed camera apps inside a car could
result in a fine of up to €75 (about $83). Both
Garmin and TomTom have emailed registered
users alerting them to the news.

MAKING THE MOST OF GPS DATA

University of Nevada 2020 Outstanding
Researcher Geoffrey Blewitt has made the
most of GPS data to study changes in Earth’s
crust, from the Ice Age to today. Nevada Today
outlines his significant discoveries, including
that GPS data may hold a key to detecting
dark matter. Other discoveries: Nevada is the
fastest growing state, geologically speaking,
as it spreads apart. Drought in the western
U.S. is causing the Sierra Nevada to lift, and the
melting of ice sheets in Greenland is changing
the shape of Earth.

KOALA CARE
Drones equipped with FLIR thermal-imaging cameras helped
save koalas injured in this summer’s Australia bushfires. In
a search-and-rescue operation, Victoria wildlife experts and
police used DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual drones to scan the
forest for injured koalas, many found clinging to scorched
eucalyptus trees. The images were relayed to a ground
station in a nearby van for closer inspection. When a koala
was located, the experts stepped in to assess the animal, and
if needed, provide healthcare and relocate it. The team used
cherry pickers to retrieve the little animals.

PHOTO CREDITS: Grocery store/Drazen Zigic/iStock/Getty Images/Getty Images Plus; speed control in Hamburg/Symbiont/iStock/Getty Images Plus; Geoffrey Blewitt/ Debra Vigil;
koala/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
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50 G P S W O R L D WWW.GPSWORLD.COM JULY 2020

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