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Raytheon Intelligence and Space has been awarded a contract from the United States Navy’s Naval Air Traffic Management Systems Program Office to deliver the Joint Precision Approach and Landing Systems (JPALS) to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). The GPS navigation and precision landing system will be deployed on the JMSDF JS Izumo carrier.  

 The JPALS system guides aircraft onto carriers and assault ships in all weather and surface conditions and is integrated on all F-35 aircraft. JPALS is also being deployed on all U.S. Navy aircraft and assault ships. 

 In addition, JPALS will be deployed on two international platforms, including the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth, and an Italian aircraft carrier, the ITS Cavour, to support its F-35 squadron. 

 The primary work locations for JPALS are in Largo, Florida and Fullerton, California.   

The European Space Agency (ESA) is in search of European companies interested in taking part in the in-orbit demonstration of a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite navigation constellation utilizing novel frequencies and capabilities.

Those interested in participating are encouraged to attend ESA’s LEO-PNT Industry Day on March 7 at the ESTEC technical center in the Netherlands. The LEO-PNT Industry Day will give an overview of the project to companies, research institutions and ESA delegates from Member States.

A detailed invitation will be issued soon, covering all aspects of the LEO-PNT Orbit Demonstrator, including the space and ground segments, operations, launchers, the test user segment, experimentation, and segment demonstration.

Registration by Feb. 27 is required. To learn more, visit atpi.eventsair.com.

Two Walmart locations in Utah, one in Lindon and one in Herriman, are now providing UAV delivery for customers nearby. Walmart has UAV deliveries operated by DroneUp, Flytrex and Zipline at 36 stores in the United States.   

For a $3.99 fee, customers within a mile of the stores can receive their groceries via UAVs. The two Walmart locations in Utah can deliver more than 120 times per day and each UAV can carry up to 10 pounds. The hubs for deliveries are in the parking lots of each Walmart location and are operated by Federal Aviation Administration-certified pilots. 

Walmart is using UAV delivery in seven states, including Florida, Arizona, Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas. The most common products delivered include ice cream, lemons, rotisserie chicken, Red Bull and paper towels, according to Walmart.   

Walmart drone deliveries launched in October 2019 in Arkansas. In 2022, Walmart completed more than 6,000 deliveries across all 36 participating locations. 

One Galileo satellite has been reconfigured to emit a new signal component optimized to serve low-end receiver devices and internet of things (IoT) applications. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), GSAT0202, in elliptical orbit, was reconfigured in January to transmit the new signal, also known as the G1 E5 Quasi Pilot.

The G1 E5 Quasi Pilot in the E5 band lies along a narrow part of the overall Galileo signal, intended to enable streamlined positioning fixes requiring less calculation — without affecting the E1 and E6 signal bands, on which Galileo also transmits. The initial receiver test showed that the signal component has the potential to reduce the signal acquisition time by a factor of three compared to the current GPS L5 or Galileo E5a signals.

Once GSAT0202 was reconfigured, signal measurements were collected using the high-gain antenna installations from the Galileo in-orbit test facility, which confirmed the stability of the augmented signal. After G1 E5 Quasi Pilot was broadcast, it was successfully acquired and tracked by a set of receivers.

Airbus Defense and Space, Thales Alenia Space Italy, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), the European Commission, and Spaceopal supported this test.

The other elliptical Galileo satellite, GSAT0201, will also be reconfigured after further testing. Selected chipset manufacturers will be involved in the testing under supervision of EUSPA. The test results will be evaluated at the Galileo Programme level, to eventually introduce G1 E5 Quasi Pilot into the constellation.

Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division has released for Android defense applications. The platform is designed for the development of mobile applications for dismounted soldiers in the field. 

With LuciadCPillar, developers can build applications with 2D and 3D views. It features military symbology and supports many geospatial data types including vector data, raster data, elevation data, point clouds and 3D meshes. It has the same capabilities found in desktops, in-vehicle and browser applications built with LuciadLightspeed, LuciadCPillar and LuciadRIA. 

The platform offers capabilities to match high-resolution screens, graphic processing units and multi-core processors including the ability to display 3D data in mobile applications. LuciadCPillar supports ARM processors and an application programming interface, which aligns with the Android developer experience. 

Impact, a French system integrator, partnered with Hexagon to test LuciadCPillar and will integrate it into its Delta Suite product, which is used by the French Special Operations Command.  

LuciadCPillar is part of Luciad 2022.1, which is available now globally.  

This will increase coverage and accuracy achieved in a single flight for surveyors.

Both cameras have an ISO of 32,000, which is expandable to 102,400, and camera sensors with high megapixel count — 42,4 MP for the a7R III and 61 MP for the a7R IV. When combined with Zeiss’ 35 mm and 21 mm lenses, it enables UAV surveyors to achieve ground sample distance levels below one 1 cm.

The integration of the two cameras enables Marlyn Cobalt users to map an area of 210 hectares with centimeter-level accuracy in a single flight.

Viavi Solutions has unveiled the PNT-6200 Series Assured Reference for resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Viavi acquired Jackson Labs Technologies in November 2022.

The PNT-6200 Series Assured Reference provides resiliency and robust cybersecurity for critical infrastructure.

The compact system can supplement or replace GPS signals based on connectivity to the broadcast range of timing sources in the market including other GNSS satellites, and commercial satellite, terrestrial, wireline, and atomic clock services. The PNT-6200 Series will draw the timing signal from the most reliable source and use it as a replacement for the GPS input, enabling continuous operation.

The PNT-6200 Series will be showcased at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Feb. 27-March 2.

Golden Software’s Surfer package, designed for 3D surface mapping, now provides robust subsurface visualization and modeling functionality by incorporating many true 3D gridding and visualization tools.

With the enhanced functionality, users can now model an additional variable, a C variable, such as a contaminant or chemical concentration, along with the traditional X, Y, Z values. Surfer also includes the ability to create a 2D map of a slice-through 3D grid, which users can move up and down through the grid, illustrating how the C value changes with depth.

Part of Surfer’s enhancements is isosurface creation, enabling visualization of the 3D grid in the 3D view as an isosurface, providing another way to see how C data varies with depth or elevation. The new 3D-rendered volume functionality also allows users to visualize the 3D grid in the 3D view as a solid body by assigning colors to different C values, highlighting variations in the data.

Golden Software has released a beta version of Surfer simultaneously with the new version to give users a trial of the new features while they are still in development.

The company states that the software is suitable for geologists, geophysicists, hydrologists and environmental engineers.

TRX Systems has added a jammer finder capability to its NEON PT-MIL. The new function and expanded threat-mapping features enable dismounted soldiers to proactively respond to navigational warfare attacks (NAVWAR).

NEON PT-MIL helps warfighters carry out their missions even when operating in environments where GPS/GNSS signals are unreliable or intentionally denied. The device can detect and eliminate compromised GNSS data while providing an alternative source of positioning information by fusing inputs from inertial sensors, GNSS signals, ultra-wideband and more.

NEON PT-MIL can also be equipped to detect and map jamming and spoofing attacks. This feature was developed through a United States Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office program designed to extend NAVWAR functionality. The device accepts assured GNSS data from external devices — such as the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver, or DAGR, and the Orolia Defense and Security Broadsense Nano — to deliver a fused position and a NAVWAR threat indication when detected.

The device can also derive a line of bearing to an enemy jammer and display it within the warfighter’s Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) user interface, by using the GPS jamming indications available from a connected GNSS source.

NEON PT-MIL with the jammer finding function is available in beta versions for field testing now and will be generally available in mid-2023.

The Linux Foundation has launched the Overture Maps Foundation, interoperable open map data for developers who build map services or use geospatial data and to strengthen mapping services globally. Overture expects to release its first datasets in the first half of this year.

Overture aims to deliver services including collaborative map building by incorporating data from Overture members, civic organizations, and open data sources, creating a global entity reference system, quality assurance processes to detect map errors and ensure map data can be used in production systems, and a structured data schema to create an ecosystem of map data. Additionally, map data is open and extensible to users under an open data license.

Founded by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom to help developers source and curate up to date map data, Overture will integrate with existing open map data from projects such as OpenStreetMap and city planning departments, as well as with new map data contributed by members, to create a living digital record of the physical world using artificial intelligence and machine leaning techniques.

The initial release of datasets will include basic layers including buildings, roads and administrative information with plans to improve coverage, resolution and accuracy of existing data over time. It also will introduce new layers including places, routing and 3D building data.