Can Russia Nuke GPS?
Uproar this week over Russia's space-based nuclear satellite attack capability...
While Russia is developing a space-based nuclear capability to attack satellites, including GPS, industry experts say the country can do a lot of damage right now to the constellation’s signals without resorting to such a catastrophic move.
This week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner of Ohio released a statement calling on President Joe Biden to declassify information regarding Russia’s ability to use nukes in space as a national security threat. However, the White House said there is no “no immediate threat” from Russian nuclear weapons in space.
Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told Spectrum News that GPS could specifically be targeted. “Essentially, what it would do is take out our entire space infrastructure, all of our satellites,” Waltz said. “And if folks don’t realize how much of our economy depends on GPS, everything from global shipping to trucking to agriculture, and obviously how we get around, but our ability to communicate financial transactions, I mean, it would literally send us back into the dark ages.”
Overall, GPS and other satnav signals are fairly fragile—making it less realistic to nuke the entire system, said Dana Goward, Resilient Navigation & Timing Foundation president. “Any kind of interference, accidental or intentional could result in tragedy,” he said.
This isn’t the first time that Russia has threatened destruction of the GPS satellite constellation. In November 2021, Russia, on state TV, warned it could blow up the GPS constellation to render missiles useless. At the time, state TV claimed Moscow's anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles could destroy all of the GPS satellites to “blind all their missiles, planes and ships, not to mention the ground forces.”
The Russians tested ASAT technology in 2021 on a defunct Soviet satellite to send a warning shot to the West, its state TV claimed at the time.
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MWC 2024 Preview: Mapping Companies Return, Automakers Don’t
The annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, set to kick off early next week, used to see a ton of automakers—even if it was known as the world’s largest mobile phone trade show. However, uncertainties in the world of car connectivity and European Commission regulations have kept the bigger automakers away for the past two years, according to car industry experts.
This year, however, sees the return of digital map companies, including Mapbox and TomTom [Tom2], which did not exhibit last year. For its part, Mapbox is partnering with Snowflake and Maxar to present Digital Twin capability to telecom companies.
Maxar will provide high definition terrain and imagery, while Snowflake will offer its geospatial Telecom Data Layers and Mapbox integrate and process cellular coverage, the company said.
Telit Cinterion is exhibiting its 5G low-power wide area (LPWA) modules for indoor and outdoor IoT applications at MWC. The modules feature the new ALT1350 chipset from Sony Semiconductor Israel, which is designed for smart meters, wearables, asset trackers, telematics trackers, connected health and more.
Telit Cinterion is integrating its 5G RedCap M.2 card, the FN920C04, into Digi International's Digi IX20 industrial router and Digi EX15 enterprise router. The integration, in collaboration with Nokia NOK 0.00%↑, enhances power efficiency for battery-operated devices like telematics units, the company said.
Another company, Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] is exhibiting at MWC and has launched its NORA-W4 series multi-radio modules. NORA-W4 features Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE 5.3, Thread, and Zigbee. It is tailored for such IoT applications as smart home, asset tracking, healthcare, and industrial automation.
Quectel Wireless Solutions is also exhibiting at MWC and rolled out its RG255G, a 5G RedCap MediaTek-based module. The module features MediaTek’s 5G RedCap UltraSave capability which results in 60 percent lower power consumption, the company said. It is tailored for use in power monitoring, point of sale, industrial automation, smart energy and smart grid, mid-speed mobile broadband and wearable devices, the company said.
In other MWC news:
This year’s Mobile World Congress, which again is now called just MWC by its organizers, the GSMA, will focus on 5G acceleration, immersive technology and radio access networks. Organizers expect a similar amount of attendees and exhibitors as last year’s show (88,000 attendees from 202 countries and 2,400 exhibitors). While these numbers are way up from 2022, when it managed to get about 60,000 attendees, it is still down from the 109,000 people who attended in pre-pandemic 2019 (Editor’s note: in 2019, it was getting crowded—too much like CES).
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HERE Publishes Results of Transportation and Logistics Survey
HERE Technologies released results of its 'On the Move' survey of transportation and logistics (T&L) professionals in the Germany, the United Kingdom and United States. The survey, authored with Amazon Web Services (AWS), shows a gap in the adoption of data analytics and AI, along with a lack of sustainability goals and progress toward achieving real-time supply chain visibility, the company said.
While sustainability is a hot industry topic, the survey indicated it consistently ranks the least important consideration to companies—even across the three countries surveyed, HERE said. “German logistics professionals’ number one priority was the need for better route planning and real-time tracking, while U.S. and U.K. professionals emphasized increasing customer satisfaction the most,” the survey said.
In terms of AI adoption, only 50 percent of T&L professionals use basic analytics in their operations, the survey said. “At the same time, 25 percent of all respondents state their organization leverages AI capabilities. This underscores the untapped potential of AI – from data analytics supported by machine learning to optimizing fleet routing, predictive maintenance and streamlining processes for strategic decision-making,” HERE said.
HERE said that 31 percent of professionals surveyed in Germany cited cost barriers alongside 23 percent of respondents in the U.K. and U.S. Potential disruption to existing services (12 percent) and lack of internal expertise (11 percent) were the second and third highest cited barriers to technology implementation, the survey said.
Respondents in each country placed real-time tracking and route optimization as their number one and two most valued capabilities to improve their supply chain visibility. “On one hand, this study shows the progress being made by companies towards increasing their supply chain visibility. On the other hand, it’s clear the industry currently lacks the contextual data, AI capabilities and tools needed to optimize fleet deployments, routing, and appropriate mode switching,” said Remco Timmer, vice president of product management at HERE Technologies.
Other Location News
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Top News:
💲 Washington State Awards Comtech $48 Million Multi-Year Contract Extension for Next Generation 911 Services. “Comtech CMTL 0.00%↑ announced today that the state of Washington recently awarded the company a $48 million contract extension to continue providing Next Generation 911 (NG911) services over the next five years, with the option to extend through 2034.”
😮 Firefly Files Mishap Report With FAA. “Firefly has completed the flight data review for Alpha FLTA004 and submitted the Mishap Investigation Report to the Federal Aviation Administration determining root cause and corrective actions after Alpha’s second stage did not achieve the target orbit for payload deployment on Dec. 22, 2023.”
👏 The Race to Back Up Vulnerable GPS. “The U.S. Space Force wants to harness commercial tech for alternative navigation and timing.”
🛰 Blues Partners with Skylo Technologies. “Blues is partnering with service operator Skylo Technologies to launch Starnote—an add-on extension to its flagship product Notecard.”
🤷♂️ Inventory Items Worth More Than $32 Million Missing From Texas State Agencies. “As a state agency with more than 13,000 employees and 53,000 assets, it is important for TxDOT to maintain a robust tracking system that is updated as items are located, taken out of service or lost. We continuously strive to improve our system and judiciously track any missing items,” Adam Hammons, the TxDOT media relations director, wrote.
👍 Deutsche Telekom's Precise Positioning Solution With Swift Navigation Has Proven Itself in a Live Test. “During a test drive from Hanover to Barcelona, the solution showed an accuracy better than 34 centimeters 95 percent of the time, including tunnels and valleys.”
🙁 Faraday Future in Danger of Losing L.A. Headquarters for Failing To Pay Rent. “Struggling EV startup Faraday Future owes the landlord of its Los Angeles headquarters nearly $1 million after missing the last two months' rent.”
🚚 INRIX Rolls Out Smart Delivery Suite.
🌍 EU to Launch Emergency Alert Service on Galileo.
Maps:
👌 Next iPhone Update Will Make a Good Case for Choosing Apple Maps Over Google Maps. “Apple uses CarPlay to make Apple Maps the go-to navigation solution for drivers, with iOS 17.4 bringing a new feature that'll make it more difficult to choose Google Maps over the company's iOS navigation software.”
📱 Tesla Update Will Offer Waze-like Features, Displaying Accidents, Road Closures and Toll-Free Option. “Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ is not only expanding its map coverage and introducing a new dialect in select regions but also adding accident, and road closure information, as well as a new routing option.”
🗺 Esri: Access Over 181,000 USGS Historical Topographic Maps. “These maps are part of the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection which includes all the historical topographic quadrangle maps (quads) that had been printed since the USGS topographic mapping program was initiated in 1879.”
🙂 Amazon Location Service Maps SDK Now Supports Metal-based Rendering for iOS Applications.
📷 Kartacam 2: Grab's Next-Generation Map-Making Camera. “These are used to collect high quality street-level imagery for mapmaking and are captured by driver-partners while they’re ferrying passengers or delivering goods.”
🌎 Over 80 Global Cities With 3D Landmarks in Mapbox Standard. “The style currently has custom-designed models in over 80 cities with 45-50 landmarks in each city.”
👍 Microsoft Joins the MapLibre Sponsorship Program. “The Silver tier donation of $80,000 will be used to 20 percent for development of new features and to 80 percent for general maintenance of the MapLibre codebases and project coordination.”
📌 Overture 2024-02-15-alpha.0 is Now Available. “This release includes several incremental improvements, addition of geopolitical boundary information in the Admins Theme and expansion of GERS IDs across several themes.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
😐 Waymo's Robotaxi Expansion Plans in California Put On Hold by Regulators. “Waymo’s plan to expand its robotaxi service in Los Angeles and communities south of San Francisco has been put on hold by state regulators.”
🤨 George Hotz Offers a Different Perspective on FSD and Autonomous Vehicle Progress. “Contrary to beliefs held firmly by Tesla and, of course, Elon Musk, Hotz suggests that full autonomy remains a distant goal, potentially over a decade away.”
🚘 Stellantis Quietly Launched its Hands-Free Driver-Assist System. “Without fanfare, Stellantis entered the Level 2 hands-free driver-assist system game late in 2023. Stellantis’ system is named Hands-Free Active Driving Assist, and it launched with the 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee.”
😕 Michigan-Based AV Startup May Mobility Reduces Workforce by 13%.
🏛 The Backup Driver in the 1st Death by a Fully Autonomous Car Pleads Guilty to Endangerment. “The backup Uber driver for a self-driving vehicle that killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 pleaded guilty to endangerment in the first fatal collision involving a fully autonomous car.”
🚗 Avanci Welcomes the Volkswagen Group to its 5G Vehicle Licensing Program.
Drones:
🛩 US Giants Complete Drone Safety API Trials. “AT&T T 0.00%↑, T-Mobile TMUS 0.00%↑ and Verizon VZ 0.00%↑ conducted independent cross-carrier interoperable API tests in North America focused on drone public safety connectivity, as part of the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative.”
🛳 Navy To Establish Second Surface Drone Unit This Spring. ““This is not a contractor-owned, contractor-operated capability, but this is a uniformed capability that we’ll be able to own [and] operate unmanned capabilities that can be employed within particular spaces,” [Pacific Fleet commander] Adm. Samuel Paparo said.”
Financial:
✔ Renesas Extends Tender Offer for Proposed Acquisition of Sequans.
✔ Visteon Announces 2023 Financial Results and 2024 Outlook.
💰 Self-Driving Startup Recogni Nabs $102 Million to Design AI Chip.
😦 Airbus Takes Charges on Satellite Programs.
💲 Ford CEO Advises Wall Street to Prioritize Business over Tesla. “It is expected that Ford Pro’s revenue from telematics and other nontraditional subscription services will increase to $2,000 per vehicle per year by 2026, a 20 percent increase from the current revenue.”
ION Offers Complimentary Drone Presentation
The Institute of Navigation is offering a complimentary webinar featuring Aman Sharma on Feb. 28 at 12 p.m. EDT.
To register, go to: ion.org/publications/webinars.cfm.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Geotab Reaches 1 Million Public Sector Subscriptions
Geotab has announced that it has reached more than 1 million public sector subscriptions. The company, which made the announcement at its Geotab Connect event in Las Vegas last week, said that it has more than 2,900 public sector customers, including GSA Fleet, U.S. Air Force, Natural Resources Canada, the state of California, Ministry of Transportation (Ontario), New York City and the city of Toronto.
In other company news, Geotab has launched its Geotab GO Anywhere asset tracker that is tailored for such industries as transportation, shipping & supply chain, mining, construction, and government. GO Anywhere, integrated with MyGeotab, allows fleet managers to track all assets and vehicles on a single platform, the company said.
Contact: Geotab, www.geotab.com/fleet-management-solutions/asset-tracking.
Yarooms and Mappedin Announce Partnership
Yarooms and Mappedin have partnered to offer wayfinding and navigation in a workspace management environment. Mappedin's digital indoor mapping technology will be integrated with Yarooms’ solution to provide real-time navigation within the office space, the company said.
Romania-based Yarooms has been offering its Workplace Experience Platform since 2010. Clients include financial institutions, government authorities, or educational institutions such as Columbia University, Dedalus, National Health Service, AAA, Dr. Martens, and Cerved, the company said.
Contact: Mappedin, www.mappedin.com.
WirelessCar Celebrates 25 Years
Gothenburg, Sweden-based WirelessCar has marked a quarter century in the connected car industry. WirelessCar, founded as a joint venture by Ericsson, Volvo and Telia, originally was founded as a telematics service provider and now has transitioned into connected vehicle services. The company, which began in 1999, has grown to 750 people from more than 34 countries.
Contact: Noemi Kubiak, WirelessCar, 46 765 200727, noemi.kubiak@wirelesscar.com.
Trimble Rolls Out MX90 Mobile Mapping System
Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ has launched the MX90 mobile mapping system that combines GNSS and inertial technology. The Trimble MX90 provides a complete field-to-finish mobile mapping solution for data capture, processing and analysis, the company said.
MX90 features 360-degree panoramic and targeted cameras, high-density colorized point clouds, high-end IMU and reliable office software solutions.
Contact: Trimble, www.geospatial.trimble.com.
PSA Partners With HERE Technologies
HERE Technologies has partnered with PSA Singapore to integrate HERE Tour Planning and Location Services with PSA’s OptETruck cloud-based transport management solution. PSA is linked to more than 600 ports worldwide and handled 38.8 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) last year, the company said.
OptETruck allocates jobs to drivers based on their location, offering real-time optimization of routes and truck assignments, the company said. “Companies that adopted OptETruck have been able to demonstrate about 50 percent reduction in empty runs,” the company said.
Contact: Camy Cheng, HERE Technologies, 65 9088 4127, camy.cheng@here.com.
Spire Global Awarded €8.4M by the European Maritime Safety Agency
Spire Global SPIR 0.00%↑ has been awarded contracts by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) worth a maximum €8.4 million. Under the contracts, Spire will provide space-based automatic identification system (SAT-AIS) data services for ship tracking over a four-year period, the company said. The data will be integrated into EMSA’s SAT-AIS services to improve global vessel traffic monitoring with a focus on areas like polar regions where terrestrial AIS network coverage is limited, the company said.
Contact: Sarah Freeman, Spire, sarah.freeman@spire.com, www.spire.com.
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Persistent Systems Awarded $3.6 Million U.S. Navy Contract
Persistent Systems has been awarded a $3.6 million contract to supply Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific with MPU5 MANET radios, integrated with various sensors. The networked sensors will be used for a variety of target acquisition CONOPS as part of an ongoing R&D effort, the company said. The resulting MANET will enable peer-to-peer sharing of voice, video, text, GPS, and sensor data, the company said.
Contact: Persistent Systems, www.persistent.com.
Actall Receives Patent for Atlas Dual Band Real Time Location System
Actall has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent No. 11,785,491 for the company’s zonal RTLS system, ATLAS. The 491 patent, titled, “Dual Band Real Time Location” describes the ATLAS real time locating system for tracking the location of tags associated with people and assets.
Contact: Robert Hampe, Actall Corp., (303) 226-4799.
Digi International Launches Digi IX40
Digi International $DGII has launched Digi IX40, a 5G edge computing industrial IoT cellular router solution. Digi IX40 is purpose-built for Industry 4.0 use cases such as advanced robotics, predictive maintenance, asset monitoring, industrial automation and smart manufacturing.
A key used case for the product includes precision and real-timemonitoring and control, smart cities, advanced robotics and others. The unit features a GNSS receiver.
Contact: Peter Ramsay, for Digi, (949) 307-5908, digi@globalresultspr.com, www.digi.com.
Inductive Positioning System Delivers Rapid Measuring and Condition Monitoring Data
Balluff's new Inductive Rapid Positioning System provides fast measuring with the added bonus of condition monitoring capabilities, the company said. This continuous linear position sensor measures changes in the position of a guided target, the company said. As the target moves across the measurement path, it resonates with the signals transmitted through the conductor loops and creates a magnetic field, the company said.
Contact: Juli Hale, Balluff, (800) 543-8390, press@balluff.com.
VEON Launches Geolocation Gateway
VEON VEON 0.00%↑ has launched Geolocation Gateway with the first implementation in Uzbekistan. Geolocation Gateway enables such use cases as proximity-based commercial services, reducing fraud in financial services and location-based emergency response. Geolocation Gateway, developed by VEON in partnership with Nokia $NOK and Infobip, allows applications to determine the location of devices, the company said.
Contact: Hande Asik, VEON, pr@veon.com, www.veon.com.
Scientific Systems Develops Non-GPS Navigation
Scientific Systems has announced the continuing development of ImageNav, the company's non-GPS, image-based, precision navigation software. The company said it has recently extended and demonstrated its image-based solution during flight operations ranging from 25,000 feet down to 200 feet. ImageNav has been developed for more than a decade with funding totaling more than $45 million.
Contact: Scientific Systems Co., www.ssci.com.
The ION GNSS+ 2024 Abstract Deadline is March 1, 2024. Submit your abstract today for the Institute of Navigation’s (ION) GNSS+ 2024: GNSS + Other Sensors in Today’s Marketplace, the 37th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division.
People
The Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation has announced that retired U.S. Air Force Gen. William Shelton has joined its board of directors.
Carl Jenkins, Cruise senior vice president of Autonomous Vehicle Platforms, has resigned from the GM-owned self-driving company, he announced in a LinkedIn post.
Trimble Transportation TRMB 0.00%↑has announced that Brian Mulshine has joined the company as senior director of TMT Product Management.
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