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Collins Aerospace has introduced NavHub-200M, a vehicle navigation system for the international market compatible with military code (M-code) receiver technology. The NavHub-200M is not controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Collins Aerospace made the announcement at Eursatory 2022, taking place June 13-17 in Parsis.

NavHub-200M’s message formats and signal modulation techniques ensure faster and more accurate performance for ground vehicles on the connected battlespace, the company said.

NavHub-200M provides assured positioning, navigation and timing (APNT) capabilities while improving overall resistance to existing and emerging threats to GPS, such as jamming and spoofing.

“With GPS-based Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) receivers set to become obsolete, it is critical that M-Code receiver technology is made available to ground forces around the world as quickly as possible so they can trust that the signals they receive in a fast-moving, hostile environment are accurate and actionable,” said Ryan Bunge, vice president and general manager, Communication, Navigation and Guidance Solutions for Collins Aerospace. “Our NavHub-200M provides an improved resistance to jamming and interference, as well as advanced security features to prevent unauthorized access or exploitation.”

NavHub-200M also includes the open interface standards and sensor-fusion capabilities required for a GNSS upgrade path, such as that for Europe’s Galileo constellation, as well as the ability to interface with key vehicle sensors such as the inertial measurement unit (IMU) and odometer, among others.

Collins, a leader in APNT solutions for ground platforms, has delivered more than 10,000 navigation systems to military armed forced around the world.

Attendees at Eurosatory can learn more by visiting Collins Aerospace at booth number C523.

Amazon customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the United States, later this year. According to an Amazon blog, the company has been working for almost a decade to make it a reality.

Customers in Lockeford will see Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon. They will place an order as usual and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order. For these deliveries, the drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer’s backyard, and hover at a safe height. It will then safely release the package and rise back up to altitude.

Customer feedback about Prime Air, with drones delivering packages in their backyards, will help Amazon create a service that will safely scale to meet the needs of customers everywhere, according to the company.

“Lockeford residents will soon have access to one of the world’s leading delivery innovations,” said California State Assemblyman Heath Flora, whose district includes Lockeford. “It’s exciting that Amazon will be listening to the feedback of the San Joaquin County community to inform the future development of this technology.”

“We are working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local officials in Lockeford to obtain permission to conduct these deliveries and will continue with that collaboration into the future,” the blog said.

Amazon designed its drones’ sense-and-avoid system for two main scenarios: to be safe when in transit, and to be safe when approaching the ground. Its algorithms use a diverse suite of technologies for object detection, enabling it to identify a static object in its path, such as a chimney. It can also detect moving objects on the horizon, such as other aircraft, even when it’s hard for people to see them.

When obstacles are identified, the Amazon Prime drone will automatically change course to safely avoid them. As the drone descends to deliver a package into a customer’s backyard, it ensures that there’s a small area around the delivery location that is clear of  people, animals or other obstacles.

Prime Air is one of three drone-delivery companies that has gone through the rigorous process to earn an FAA air carrier certificate, which will be required to operate drones using these advanced capabilities.

The company is engaged in trials with customers in mapping, surveying, robotics, construction, trucking, defense, aerospace and autonomous vehicle applications

Anello Photonics has made available an optical gyroscope and GNSS/inertial navigation system (INS) evaluation kit (EVK) for autonomous applications.

Powered by Anello’s optical gyroscope solution and sensor-fusion engine, the Anello EVK can maintain centimeter accuracy in conditions where far more expensive ground-truth positioning and localization systems degrade.

The Anello EVK is accurate in extended full GNSS-denied operation and is stable over wide temperature ranges and under extreme vibration.

“We are actively engaged with many customers to drive new technology adoption and explore how by providing high precision, highly scalable, optical gyro-based solutions we can accelerate and improve position accuracy for a wide range of autonomous use cases,” said Mario Paniccia, CEO of Anello Photonics. “We see a lot of interest around our unique and innovative integrated silicon photonics technology and our product roadmap, and are excited to be working with many industry leaders looking for cutting-edge innovation.”

The Anello EVK is designed to be easy to use while enabling seamless navigation and positioning in challenging GNSS-denied environments where accuracy is paramount.

“Anello’s optical gyroscope solution is perfect for our offerings due to its performance compared to other MEMS solutions currently available and used by the industry. The Anello solution provides ease of installation together with high accuracy and reliability,” said Sean Kish, CEO of Psionic. “Through our work with Anello, we’re seeing significant improvements in the performance of our SurePath product for long-range precision navigation in GNSS-denied environments.”

The Edge 1040 Solar has breakthrough solar charging and multi-band GNSS technology

Garmin International has announced the Edge 1040 Solar, a GPS-based bike computer featuring solar charging and multi-band GNSS technology.

The Edge 1040 has a Power Glass-branded solar charging lens, giving cyclists more ride time between charges – up to 100 hours in battery saver mode – while multi-band GNSS technology provides more accurate positioning in challenging ride environments, such as dense urban areas or under deep tree cover.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen also features a refreshed, modernized user experience, giving cyclists easier access to key information, the ability to customize the home page and an improved ride summary view.

Its innovative advancements include:

• Solar charging: The Power Glass solar charging lens extends battery life to up to 100 hours in battery saver mode, giving cyclists an additional 42 minutes per hour during daytime riding.
• Multi-band GNSS technology: Provides better positional accuracy and coverage, even in challenging environments.
• Cycling ability and course demands: The device can classify a cyclist’s strengths and weaknesses, focus on improvement and prepare for the demands of a specific course.
• Power guide: Recommended power targets make it easier to manage efforts throughout a course.
• Real-time stamina insights: Cyclists can monitor and track exertion levels in real-time during a ride.
• Simple setup: Custom ride profiles prepopulate based on previous Edge data, ride types and sensors. From there, cycling activity profiles can be managed directly on a compatible smartphone from the Garmin Connect smart device app.

The tests will assess whether UKSBAS can develop into a full operational capability to support safety-critical applications

An Inmarsat-led team of companies in the United Kingdom has begun broadcasting a satellite navigation signal as part of a program to explore the creation of a sovereign national capability in resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) for the aviation and maritime sectors.

The signal, being broadcast in coordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union Space Programme Agency (EUSPA), is now stable and operational, enabling ongoing testing and validation by industry, regulators and users.

Inmarsat, a satellite communications company, alongside British partners Goonhilly Earth Station and GMV NSL, is delivering the UK Space Agency-funded tests with the European Space Agency via ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Program (NAVISP).

The UK Space-Based Augmentation System (UKSBAS) generates an overlay test signal to the U.S. GPS, compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, to enable assessment of more precise, resilient and high-integrity navigation for maritime and aviation users in UK waters and airspace. It increases accuracy in positioning to a few centimeters of accuracy rather than the few meters provided by standard GPS.

This is a similar system to that already under evaluation in Australia and New Zealand, supported by Inmarsat.

Since leaving the European Union, the UK is not part of the Galileo satnav system and cannot use the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) safety of life (SOL) services, which enable the use of GPS for airport approach and landing operations for aircraft.

By repurposing the SBAS transponder on Inmarsat’s I-3 F5 satellite in geostationary orbit at 54° west, the UKSBAS signal enables testing of this potential alternative system. Built by Inmarsat’s Athena partner Lockheed Martin and launched in 1998, I-3 F5 covers the UK as part of its Atlantic Ocean region service overlay. This makes it a suitable candidate to participate in this test and demonstrates the commitment to sustainability of Inmarsat with a satellite that has already served the equivalent of several low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite life cycles.

“The Inmarsat team is inspired by delivering solutions to new problems through technology and innovation,” said Todd McDonell, president, Global Government at Inmarsat. “Repurposing a transponder on a long-serving satellite to deliver a new capability to the UK, potentially a vital and enduring one, certainly lives up to that core Inmarsat ethos. Working with our fellow British companies at Goonhilly and GMVNSL to deliver such a capability for the country is very rewarding, and we look forward to reporting on the results.”

The tests will assess whether UKSBAS can develop into a full operational capability to support safety-critical applications such as airport approach and landing operations or navigating ships through narrow channels, especially at night and in poor weather conditions.

Goonhilly provides the signal uplink for the system from Cornwall; software from Nottingham-based GMVNSL generates the necessary navigational data.

“The UK’s thriving space sector is developing at pace, and British-led innovations like this have the potential to deliver crucial navigation services for our aviation and maritime sectors.” said Transport Minister Robert Courts. “That’s why this government is investing millions in new technologies to make our transport network even safer while boosting high-skilled job opportunities across the nation.”

UKSBAS is helping to regenerate UK strategic capabilities in this domain. The establishment of this new national platform creates the opportunity to evaluate high-integrity, resilient and precise navigation across the country, in its airspace and within surrounding waters. The project may be crucial for UK users who need accurate, high-integrity navigation capabilities to enable their operations, initially covering aviation and maritime operations but with potential extension into rail and road applications.

“Congratulations to Inmarsat, Goonhilly and GMVNSL on this impressive achievement,” said Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency. “In recent years, the UK Space Agency has invested in the development of UK expertise in positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), and the government’s commitment to strengthening PNT resilience is set out in both the National Space Strategy and Integrated Review, given its importance to our critical national infrastructure and economy. “This project is a great example of the innovation found throughout the UK space sector and demonstrates how we can work effectively with the European Space Agency to strengthen our national space capabilities.”

In a world where GPS and other GNSS signals can be easily denied or, worse, spoofed, interest in other forms of navigation has rebounded.

Imagine being able to locate yourself within a couple of centimeters with just your cellphone – deep underground. Or inside a metal structure. Or underwater (assuming you can keep your equipment dry).  

No satellite signals, no Wi-Fi ranging, no inertial system. Just the ambient magnetic flux that constantly surrounds us all. Everywhere. 

That’s the vision AstraNav Vice President Martin Neill offered to the President’s National Space-based, Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board in May.

Animals have used the Earth’s magnetic field to find their way for millions of years. People have been using magnetic compasses for over a thousand. Until the advent of GPS, magnetic compasses were foundational tools for aircraft and ship navigation, especially when out of sight of easily recognized landmarks.  

Then GPS came along, and almost everyone’s eyes turned to space. 

But in a world where GPS and other GNSS signals can be easily denied or, worse, spoofed, interest in other forms of navigation has rebounded. And because GPS helped demonstrate the efficiencies geospatial services provide, users also want those services to be more resilient and to work in places signals from space just can’t reach. 

According to Neill, “Our solution builds upon inexpensive magnetometers, smartphones, machine learning, edge computing, and some incredibly complex math to convert raw magnetic data into a source of ultra-precise location data. These relatively recent tech developments allow us to bring things together for a major update to a centuries-old way of navigation and positioning.” 

Describing AstraNav as a software tech company, Neill said that the company’s system is “hardware agnostic.” It can work on “just about anything that has a magnetometer. No additional hardware or external connectivity is required, and we can run on any existing operating system.”  

The company has partners in retail, automotive and telecom validating the technology. They have also been working with a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) combatant commander to demonstrate the product, as well as Virginia Tech and its National Security Institute (VTNSI.)  “This is not a case of ‘here’s an idea that we hope will materialize,” said Neill. Describing two real-world trials and use cases to the board, he said, “This technology is a reality, and we’re doing it.”  

Most previous magnetic navigation efforts relied upon relatively low-resolution maps. An airplane could find its way safely across the ocean using the maps that were available and likely end up within a mile or two of an airport. Much higher resolution maps built through surveys and artificial intelligence are critical to AstraNav’s centimeter-level accuracy with systems that continue to learn on their own. 

Intellectual property is AstraNav’s biggest asset. “We have multiple patents filed and pending,” said Neill. “Our IP is what allows us to sense and analyze magnetic fields so finely, develop maps, and make use of very low-cost magnetometers, such as the ones in cell phones.” 

Several people at the advisory board presentation expressed surprise that they had not heard of the company and this capability before. “We have been busy getting established as a company, supporting our first commercial clients, and doing demonstrations for various folks within DOD,” Neill explained.  “This presentation is by way of our coming out party. We are very eager to become better known and are looking forward to explaining our capabilities one-on-one with potential users.” 

Citing an abundance of proprietary material, Neill was unwilling to discuss a lot of technical detail at the public meeting. His short presentation, he said, was to raise awareness and stimulate interest.  

The number of those in attendance who after the presentation said they were eager to learn more showed that he was successful. 

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 Dana A. Goward is President of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation 

Featuring the full gamut of u-blox technologies and services, the XPLR-IOT-1 enables end-to-end proofs of concepts for IoT products and applications

U-blox has announced the u-blox XPLR-IOT-1 IoT explorer kit, an all-in-one package to test, evaluate and validate applications for the internet of things (IoT).

The board hosts an ultra-low-power MAX-M10S positioning module capable of concurrently tracking four GNSS constellations, delivering highly reliable location data wherever GNSS coverage is available.

Integrating all relevant u-blox technologies and services into a capable prototyping platform with a vast selection of sensors and interfaces as well as cloud connectivity, XPLR-IOT-1 makes it easier to explore the potential of IoT applications.

The increasing complexity of IoT devices, which often require satellite-based positioning, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi, and cellular connectivity via, for example, LTE-M is raising the importance of prototyping and validating ideas before bringing them to production. This trend is driving demand for multifunctional application boards like the u-blox XPLR-IOT-1 over evaluation kits (EVKs), intended to comprehensively test a product’s entire feature set.

Prototyping platform

The XPLR-IOT-1 gives users everything they need to prototype low-power IoT use cases such as logistics container trackers, industrial automation, sensor-to-cloud applications, and fleet management solutions. Besides the MAX-M10S positioning module, the board has a u-blox NORA-B106 Bluetooth LE 5.2 radio module that doubles as its main MCU, hosting the application software and controlling the other modules.

Other modules include a u-blox SARA-R510S for LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular connectivity with built-in cloud security, as well as a u-blox NINA-W156 for 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.

The hardware is complemented by a broad selection of sensors commonly used in IoT applications, including accelerometers and gyroscopes, a magnetometer, and temperature, humidity, pressure and ambient light sensors. A power-on switch, LEDs and user buttons make it easy for users to interact with the device.

The NORA-B106’s powerful Arm Cortex M33 MCU is solely dedicated to running the application software. Clocked at 128 MHz, with 1 MB of embedded flash and 512 kB of RAM, and 8 MB of external flash memory, it offers a solid foundation for development of highly capable solutions.

Integrated antennas for featured technologies, a USB interface and USB charging, a Sparkfun Qwiic I2C connector, and a debug interface contribute to a smooth product development experience, u-blox said.

Native support for u-blox services

The XPLR-IOT-1 offers engineers an easy way to start working with u-blox’s services offering. Included with the kit is a trial of MQTT Anywhere, which delivers ultra-low power by communicating data between the device and the enterprise using the MQTT-SN (MQTT for sensor networks) protocol.

Tracking applications with the most stringent power requirements such as freight container trackers can realize four times longer battery life with u-blox’s positioning in cloud service, CloudLocate, while the CellLocate mobile-network-based location service extends tracking beyond the reach of GNSS signals.

A starting point for commercial end-products

Developers working with XPLR-IOT-1 can use code from u-blox’s ubxlib GitHub repository, a library of software examples for key use cases, to speed up the prototyping of solutions, which can range from wireless sensor networks to indoor and outdoor tracking solutions to industrial or smart building gateways.

Because all hardware design files, software, smartphone app, and online dashboard source code are shared, the XPLR-IOT-1 can also serve as a starting point for commercial end-product design.

“The XPLR-IOT-1 is fully geared towards rapid development, testing, and validation of IoT solutions,” said Pelle Svensson, senior principal, Product Strategy Short Range Radio, u-blox. “Offering a single platform to develop a variety of IoT use cases, the versatile explorer kit reduces the expertise required for hardware, software, and service integration and code development.”

Once launched in June 2022, the XPLR-IOT-1 will initially be sold via Digi-Key.

The NAVCEN website upgrade and redesign is now live.

“This is an exciting moment for our team,” said Stephanie Southwick, NAVCEN web team. “Thank you again for your patience as we move forth with this transition to improve user experience and to provide the public with timely and reliable maritime safety information.”

As a reminder, while the primary URL will stay the same, all sub-URLs have changed with the transition. Use of any bookmarked legacy URLs will result in broken links, including PDFs  and URLs used in automatic downloading of data and products. “We appreciate your patience in re-bookmarking your favorite pages when we update the site,” Southwick said.

The NAVCEN outreach team will work with users to ensure transition to using the redesigned site is as seamless as possible. Communicate with the team at NAVCENWebTeam@uscg.mil with questions or to request additional information.

For more information on the changes, visit this page.

Collaboration powers GPS and Galileo navigation experiment

By Danny Baird
​NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

As the Artemis missions journey to the Moon and NASA plans for the long voyage to Mars, new navigation capabilities will be key to science, discovery and human exploration.

Through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, will deliver an experimental payload to the Moon’s Mare Crisium basin. NASA’s Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) payload will test a powerful new lunar navigation capability using Earth’s GNSS signals at the Moon for the first time.

“In this case, we are pushing the envelope of what GNSS was intended to do — that is, expanding the reach of systems built to provide services to terrestrial, aviation, and maritime users to also include the fast growing space sector,” said J.J. Miller, deputy director of Policy and Strategic Communications for NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. “This will vastly improve the precision and resilience of what was available during the Apollo missions, and allow for more flexible equipage and operational scenarios.”

LuGRE — developed in partnership with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) – will receive signals from both GPS and Galileo, and use them to calculate the first-ever GNSS location fixes in transit to the Moon and on the lunar surface.

“Space missions close to Earth have long relied on GNSS for their navigation and timekeeping,” said Joel Parker, LuGRE principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “In recent years, NASA and the international community have pushed the boundaries of what was considered possible by using these techniques in the Space Service Volume and beyond.”

Missions in the GNSS Space Service Volume — from about 1,800 miles to 22,000 miles in altitude — receive signals that spill past Earth’s edge from GNSS satellites on the opposite side of the planet. The first Space Service Volume experiments occurred around the dawn of the new millennium. Since then, numerous missions in the Space Service Volume have reliably used GNSS to navigate.

In 2016, the NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) employed GPS operationally at a record-breaking 43,500 miles from Earth. Then, in 2019, MMS broke its own record by fixing its location with GPS at 116,300 miles from Earth — nearly halfway to the Moon.

At these extreme altitudes, missions need extremely sensitive GNSS receivers. The LuGRE mission will use a specialized weak-signal receiver developed by Qascom, an Italian company specializing in space cybersecurity and satellite navigation security solutions, and funded by ASI.

LuGRE teams are now testing the payload in preparation to deliver it for integration onto the Firefly “Blue Ghost” lander in November of this year. Launch is slated for no earlier than 2024 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

During the multi-week flight to the Moon, LuGRE will collect GNSS signals and perform navigation experiments at different altitudes and in lunar orbit. After landing, LuGRE will deploy its antenna and begin 12 days of data collection, with the potential for extended mission operations. NASA and ASI will process and analyze data downlinked to Earth, and then share results publicly.

“LuGRE is the latest effort in a long line of missions designed to expand high-altitude GNSS capabilities,” said Fabio Dovis, LuGRE co-principal investigator, ASI. “We’ve developed a cutting-edge experiment that will serve as the foundation for operational GNSS systems at the Moon.”

The LuGRE mission seeks to spark further development of GNSS-based navigation capabilities near and on the Moon, even as NASA plans to begin using high-altitude GNSS operationally for future lunar missions. NASA and ASI will bring the results of this work forward to the space community through the International Committee on GNSS, a United Nations forum focused on ensuring the interoperability of GNSS signals. These capabilities are also a key stepping stone towards building LunaNet, an architecture that will unify cooperative networks into seamless lunar communications and navigation services.

“The lunar deliveries we’re sourcing from commercial vendors are providing a number of innovative new technologies and opportunities to conduct experiments with affordable access to the lunar surface,” said Jay Jenkins, Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program executive. “LuGRE is one example of the progress that government and industry can make when united in their exploration objectives.”

Developing new uses of GNSS for emerging space operations is a priority for the SCaN program at NASA headquarters, as the lead organization responsible for implementing guidance from Space Policy Directive-7, which directs NASA to develop requirements for GPS support of space operations and science in higher orbits and beyond into cislunar space.

New M-code GPS receiver enables precision strike capabilities in contested environments

BAE Systems unveiled its newest advanced M-Code GPS receiver for guided weapons and other small applications at the ION Joint Navigation Conference, taking place this week in San Diego.

The Strategic Anti-jam Beamforming Receiver – M-Code (SABR-M) enables precise geolocation and strike capabilities in highly contested battlespaces. It delivers accurate position, velocity, altitude and timing data, as well as strong protection against GPS signal jamming and spoofing – critical capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision-guided munitions (PGMs), and missiles in threat environments.

SABR-M integrates receiver technology with advanced antenna electronics in a small, hardened package designed to meet challenging performance requirements, such as weapons applications. It is the most capable integrated anti-jam GPS receiver and the first integrated M-Code receiver available for weapon systems, according to BAE Systems.

“We’re making our full portfolio of military GPS solutions M-code-compatible to meet warfighters’ need for reliable positioning, navigation, and timing data to achieve their missions,” said Doug Lloyd, director of weapon systems GPS at BAE Systems. “SABR-M enables small platforms with challenging environmental conditions to get where they’re going despite interference.”

The compact (4.5 x 6 x 1 inch) SABR-M meets size, weight, power, cost (SWaP-C) and thermal requirements for space-constrained military applications. It uses advanced beamforming technology to improve GPS signal reception and counter threat signals. SABR-M is form-compatible with previous generations of the field-proven SABR receiver, which are integrated on low-cost precision weapon systems and long-range cruise strike missiles.

SABR-M will be fully qualified for production by the end of 2022. Production will take place at BAE Systems’ modern facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is in the final stages of construction. The purpose-built 278,000-square-foot factory and research center will be home to 700 military GPS experts in BAE Systems’ Navigation and Sensor Systems business.