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KVH Industries released its TACNAV 3D inertial navigation system, which includes an embedded GNSS and optional chip-scale atomic clock.

According to the company, the TACNAV 3D’s modular tactical design and flexible architecture allow it to function as either a standalone navigation solution or as the core of a multi-functional Battlefield Management System.

TACNAV 3D can integrate with a number of military GNSS systems and features one pulse per second timing assurance during GNSS signal loss, the company added. It also includes an iridium transceiver option that transmits and receives vehicle position, waypoint, and target location to and from a command center or other vehicles. It can receive and transmit data over ethernet, CANbus or RS-422 serial data bus.

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“It incorporates a chip-scale atomic clock,” said Bill Houtz, business development — military and government for KVH Industries’ Inertial Navigation Group. “It has an embedded GPS, or we can work with other GPS external systems. It’s extremely flexible. It is an excellent SWAP-C alternative to the ring-laser gyros or other solutions on the market right now.”

KVH Industries’ Bill Houtz offers an overview of the KVH TACNAV 3D, a fiber optic 3D inertial navigation systems with embedded GNSS, at the Institute of Navigation’s 2019 Joint Navigation Conference in Long Beach, California. According to the company, TACNAV 3D’s modular tactical design and flexible architecture allow it to function as either a standalone navigation solution or as the core of a multi-functional Battlefield Management System.

Esri is partnering with the Jane Goodall Institute to develop a set of tools that will help communities map and manage the ecosystems around them through a collaborative design and planning approach, aided by GIS software.

According to the partners, these tools will help communities map, monitor, and better manage their natural resources from community forests and wildlife reserves, to water catchment and flood control areas, as well as human settlement, agriculture and agroforestry spaces.

The Jane Goodall Institute’s community-centered conservation approach — Tacare — partners local communities and governments to create sustainable livelihoods while planning for and advancing environmental protection. The Tacare approach also achieves conservation results and addresses environmental threats — including incompatible expansion of agriculture, human settlements, harvesting forest products, disease, wildlife trafficking and illegal bushmeat trade — by consulting communities about their needs and priorities, and working together to collaboratively plan for and implement land use practices that enable their own development.

“A key component of our success is that we work to help villagers find ways to make livelihoods that do not destroy the environment, and help them understand that protecting the environment not only conserves wildlife, but their own future,” said Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and United Nations Messenger of Peace.

The Jane Goodall Institute uses Esri’s ArcGIS platform and Survey123 mobile app to help communities and governments in western Tanzania, Uganda and other countries in Africa to plan, monitor and protect chimpanzee populations in local protected forests outside designated national parks.

“Conservation at the community level is essential to sustaining our natural world,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Protecting global ecosystems cannot work on a global scale unless it starts locally, which is why we are honored to work with our friend and partner, the Jane Goodall Institute, on this collaboration, leveraging their years of experience working at the local scale in pursuit of conservation, balanced with the needs of human communities.”

A German research team successfully demonstrated a completely autonomous airplane landing in May, without assistance from any ground-based systems, fulfilling a key step towards autonomous air traffic and the much-bruited Urban Air Mobility (UAM). An optical reference system, encompassing a camera in the normal visible range and an infrared camera for conditions with poor visibility, combined with GPS to bring the modified Diamond DA42 in for a safe, unpiloted landing at the Diamond Aircraft airfield in Wiener-Neustadt, Austria.

The team, from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Technische Universität Braunschweig, formed the project they call C2Land with funding from the German federal government. Two 2019 conference papers by the researchers, cited at the end of this article, give the technical underpinnings of the C2Land system.

What’s New.

Automatic landings by both commercial aircraft and small planes can and do take place at major airports with the Instrument Landing System (ILS) infrastructure to guide aircraft in with sufficient precision. Ground antennas send radio signals to the autopilot to make sure it navigates to the runway safely. Procedures in development to use GNSS alone to make autonomous landings also require a ground-based augmentation system.

But systems such as these are too expensive for small airports that will conceivably carry the major share of UAM: automated air freight transport and autonomous flying taxis.

What needs to happen before George Jetson air taxis become a reality?  UAM will take place in the zone 500 to 5,000 feet above ground, transporting one to five passengers or cargo over distances of five to 50 miles. The vision shared by most UAM stakeholders, a group that includes NASA and the FAA, involves vertical take-off and landing rather than conventional “glide” takeoff and landing, but precise navigation to the landing spot is critical in both cases.

“Automatic landing is essential, especially in the context of the future role of aviation,” said Martin Kügler, research associate at the TUM Chair of Flight System Dynamics.

Fly-by-wire systems, semiautomatic and typically computer-regulated systems for aircraft navigation, use GPS signals for positioning. But since GPS is susceptible to errors, interference, and obstruction, it is not solely sufficient for landing procedures. Current GPS approach procedures require that human pilots resume control over the aircraft at 60 meters altitude, and land the aircraft manually.

To enable completely automated landings possible, the TU Braunschweig team designed an optical reference system: two cameras, one in normal visible range and one infrared camera for poor visibility conditions. Custom image processing software lets the system determine where the aircraft is relative to the runway based on the camera data it receives. Additional functions were integrated in the software, such as comparison of data from the cameras with GPS signals, calculation of a virtual glide path for the landing approach and flight control for various phases of the approach.

Test pilot Thomas Wimmer, who sat through the procedure with his hands folded, said “The cameras already recognize the runway at a great distance from the airport. The system then guides the aircraft through the landing approach on a completely automatic basis and lands it precisely on the runway’s centerline.”

The researchers presented their system in two papers at the Institute of Navigation’s 2019 Pacific PNT Meeting in April:

“Model-based Threshold and Centerline Detection for Aircraft Positioning during Landing Approach,” by S. Wolkow, M. Angermann, A. Dekiert, and Ulf Bestmann; and

“Linear Blend: Data Fusion in the Image Domain for Image-based Aircraft Positioning during Landing Approach,” by M. Angermann, S. Wolkow, A. Dekiert, U. Bestmann, and P. Hecker.

The papers are available at www.ion.org/publications/browse.cfm.

Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp., has begun taking orders for its latest-generation Miniature PLGR Engine – M-Code (MPE-M) GPS receiver set for 2020 production deliveries.

According to independent testing, the MPE-M is the lowest size, weight and power (SWaP) small Type II form factor ground receiver available and incorporates the company’s recently certified Common GPS Module (CGM).

As a drop in replacement for the thousands of customers using Collins’ Miniature PLGR Engine-SAASM (MPE-S) GPS receiver, the new MPE-M technology provides ten-times stronger anti-jamming capabilities for the direct acquisition of GPS signals than its predecessor.

The MPE-M is capable of receiving the current military Y-Code GPS signal along with the newer Military Code (M-Code) signal. For all GPS signals, the MPE-M provides warfighters improved security, assured positioning and it satisfies the U.S. government’s requirement for all military GPS equipment to be M-code capable.

“The MPE-M is ideal for lightweight, ground-based applications such as radios, blue force trackers, targeting devices, vehicle LRU’s and small unmanned aircraft,” said Troy Brunk, vice president and general manager, Communication, Navigation and Electronic Warfare Systems for Collins Aerospace. “The implementation of M-code will provide our warfighters with increased mission effectiveness and safety due to the improved reliability of the signal.”

Collins Aerospace is currently the only military GPS receiver provider that manufactures its products in house, assuring control over quality and delivery schedules. The MPE-M’s security certification also makes the receiver eligible for export to U.S. allies through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

See also The promises of M-code and quantum.

Is 5G simply another generation of mobile communications technologies? Or is it something revolutionary?

To help with answers, test and measurement specialist Rohde & Schwarz has compiled an in-depth book describing the main aspects of 5G New Radio (NR) technology. The contents of the book can be read online for free.

Rohde & Schwarz has been an active participant in the 3GPP standardization process involving cellular technologies, including the upcoming 5G NR. Five technology experts at Rohde & Schwarz wrote the book to provide in-depth information for professionals working with 5G NR technology.

The 400-page 5G New Radio: Fundamentals, Procedures, Testing Aspects provides insights into fundamentals and procedures on the architecture and transmission of 5G NR technology. The chapters provide answers to how

and why the 5G technology was specified a certain way by 3GPP. The book also discusses the new challenges to test and measurement, brought about the arrival of 5G technology, and presents modern, innovative test solutions to solve these challenges.

The 5G NR book can be read online via the Rohde & Schwarz GLORIS customer portal.

The Federal Aviation Administration has added new airspace restrictions — effective July 11 — on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) attempting to fly over national-security-sensitive locations.

The FAA has been cooperating with federal partners to address concerns about malicious drone operations by using the agency’s existing authority under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 99.7 (14 CFR § 99.7), Special Security Instructions, to establish UAS specific flight restrictions over select, national security sensitive locations.

The FAA’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), FDC 8/3277, defines these special security instructions. The FAA published a NOTAM, FDC 9/3332, which alerts UAS operators and others in the aviation community of this change and points to FDC 8/3277.

The additional 12 restricted locations requested by the U.S. Department of Defense are identified below.

• Raven Rock Mountain Complex in Adams, PA
• Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, MO
• Pine Bluff Arsenal in White Hall, AR
• Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, UT
• Hawthorne Army Depot in Hawthorne, NV
• Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, CO
• Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown, IA
• Watervliet Arsenal in Watervliet, NY
• Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, KY
• Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, PA
• Rivanna Station in Charlottesville, VA
• Maui Space Surveillance Site in Maui, HI

UAS operators, in particular, are urged to review the special security instructions prescribed by FDC 8/3277 and the important supporting information provided by the FAA’s UAS Data Delivery System (UDDS) website.

The UDDS website provides easy access to the text of FDC 8/3277 and other UAS-specific security NOTAMs; a current list of the airspace to which these special security instructions have been applied, supported by an interactive map and downloadable geospatial data; and other crucial details. A link to these restrictions is also included in the FAA’s B4UFLY mobile app.

The new UAS flight restrictions highlighted above and by FDC 9/3332 are pending until they become effective on 07/11/2019. UAS operators should keep in mind that access to the airspace identified by FDC 8/3277 and UDDS is strictly controlled.

Operators who violate these flight restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges.

The FAA is continuing to consider additional requests by eligible Federal security agencies for UAS-specific flight restrictions using the agency’s 14 CFR § 99.7 authority as they are received. The FAA will announce any future changes, including additional locations, as appropriate.

For further, broader information regarding flying drones in the National Airspace System, including frequently asked questions, please refer to the FAA’s UAS website.

A report filed with NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System and published in June outlines how a passenger aircraft flew off course during a period of GPS jamming and nearly crashed into a mountain. Fortunately, an alert radar controller intervened, and the accident was averted.

Friedman Memorial Airport serves the ski resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho. Mountain peaks in the area are in excess of 12,000 feet. Airport arrival and departure procedures are carefully structured to ensure aircraft maintain safe distances from terrain.

According to the report, when “Aircraft X” arrived there was “…an abundance of smoke in the area” of the safe arrival route. Also “During this time there was widespread GPS jamming… Almost every aircraft was reporting…GPS outages.” Two previous flights had advised that their GPS signals were interrupted, but came back on line in time to make a safe approach to landing.

Aircraft X also reported problems with GPS, and then advised air traffic control that GPS had come back on line and was working well. The controller then cleared the aircraft for a GPS-based approach, including descending to 9,000 feet. Communications with and control of the aircraft was switched from Salt Lake Center (250+ miles away) to the tower at the local airport.

Shortly thereafter, the controller in Salt Lake City noticed Aircraft X straying off course. Also, it was at 10,700 feet altitude and nearing a 10,900 feet mountain. He quickly contacted the local control tower and the aircraft was directed back onto a safe flight path.

The report concludes that “Had [the Radar Controller] not noticed, that flight crew and the passengers would be dead, I have no doubt.”

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

Quectel Wireless Solutions has launched a compact dual-band GNSS module, the LC79D, that supports the L1 and L5 bands from navigation satellites to improve positioning accuracy.

Featuring concurrent multi-constellation GNSS receivers on dual GNSS bands, LC79D uses L1 and L5 bands for GPS, Galileo and QZSS satellites, L1 band for GLONASS and BeiDou satellites, and L5 band for IRNSS satellites.

Compared to GNSS modules that use the L1 band only, LC79D can generally increase the number of visible satellites, significantly improve positioning drifting when driving in rough urban canyons and enhance positioning accuracy.

Embedded with a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and multi-tone active interference, the module provides higher sensitivity and reliable anti-jamming capability, ensuring exceptional acquisition and tracking performance even in weak signal areas. Multiple communication interfaces including UART and SPI simplify customer designs and accelerate time-to-market for customers’ products at reduced costs.

With dimensions of 10.1 × 9.7 ×2.4 millimeters, the tiny LC79D meets the requirements of size-sensitive applications. Compact design, low power consumption and high performance make it suitable for vehicle, people and asset tracking as well as sharing economy applications.

“The launch of LC79D shows Quectel’s global leading position to provide positioning modules for applications requiring higher accuracy and reliability, especially in rough environments with weak signals,” said Wang Min, automotive and GNSS product director at Quectel. “LC79D gives customers high-level integration and flexibility to realize precise positioning in real time.”

The LC79D module was showcased at MWC Shanghai 2019 during June 26-28.

“Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GPS/GNSS industry.

Galileo guides madrid metro buses

Galileo and EGNOS are helping EMT Madrid to improve its services, reports the European GNSS Agency. Madrid is one of the first cities using Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) with enhanced positioning services. Positioning units in 2,050 public buses mean customers know exactly where their ride is, and when it will arrive. Receivers in the buses use signals from EGNOS and Galileo.

Drought fighters

About 3,000 villages in the Karnataka state of India face serious water shortage. More than 2,000 tankers and 1,800 private bore wells have been hired to meet the need. To ensure the water gets to the right place, all tankers supplying water to drought-hit villages and towns are being equipped with GPS to prevent misuse. The trackers will show the movement of the tankers from the water source to the residential areas.

Getaway car stopped in its tracks

In March, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper darted a GPS tracker onto the back of a fleeing minivan during a 60 mph chase. As the pursuit carried over county lines, a trooper used his StarChase system to tag the minivan. The FHP used the tracking information to roll out a spike mat to stop the suspected felon. Only a few police agencies in the state have the technology, which is still being tested.

Help for refugees

Between 2013 and 2018, almost 70,000 children in Kenya died of diseases that could have been prevented with vaccines. Two Nairobi teenagers, Kunjal Bharatkumar and Supraja Sayee Srinivasan, paired a health website they created with small GPS devices, tested at Dadaab Refugee Complex. A mother gets a GPS bracelet and her baby a GPS necklace. The trackers turn on when it’s time to alert the mother that her child is due for its next vaccine. Then, mom can take her child to get the shots. If they miss their vaccine appointment, the GPS sends a signal to healthcare workers to provide vaccines. The website can create maps of active diseases.