Companies Selected for NASA Smallsat Contract That Could Be Worth $476 Million
Location plays a big part in new smallsat venture...
NASA has selected seven companies to provide Earth observation and other data through a contract that has a five-year potential value of $476 million among the selected contractors. At least two companies are providing the agency with location information.
The following companies were selected as part of an open competition in the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program:
Airbus DS Geo.
Capella Space Corp.
GHGSat.
Maxar Intelligence.
PlanetIQ.
Spire.
Umbra Lab.
For its part of deal, Spire SPIR 0.00%↑ will provide NASA with its GNSS radio occultation (GNSS-RO) soundings, which can be integrated into weather models for forecasting accuracy, the company said. Spire will also offer GNSS Reflectometry data (GNSS-R) to measure sea ice, soil moisture and ocean surface wind speed.
Another company, PlanetIQ, will provide NASA with weather tracking using GPS-radio occultation techniques.
NASA started the the program in 2017, when it awarded contracts to PlanetIQ, Maxar and Spire. The agency requires end user license agreements for dissemination and shareability of the commercial data.
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Quectel Hires Security Firm to Test IoT Modules
Fighting back against claims its modules pose national security risks, China-based Quectel Wireless Solutions said that testing by a cybersecurity consultancy shows that its products exceed industry standards in multiple security areas.
The company hired Finite State, a third-party security firm, to test its IoT modules “to demonstrate Quectel’s commitment to transparent, verifiable product security,” the company said.
As Location Business News reported, Quectel and Fibocom Wireless’ IoT modules pose grave national security risks, said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week in letters seen by Reuters. Last month, Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of a U.S. House of Representatives China Select Committee, and the top Democrat, Raja Krishnamoorthi, wrote a letter to the FCC to consider adding both companies to a “Covered List.”
Quectel said that Finite State focused its initial testing on cellular modules sold in the United States. The company said that platforms verified by Finite State constituted 70 percent of all North American IoT modules shipped in the last 18 months.
In other company news, Quectel rolled out its EM060K-EA LTE-Advanced Cat 6 module, offered for the EMEA, APAC and Brazil markets. The module, embedded with a GNSS receiver, is powered by the Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem. Applications include industrial routers, home gateways, set-top boxes, industrial and consumer laptops and digital signage.
Contact: Quectel, media@quectel.com, www.quectel.com.
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Hexagon Expands TerraStar-X GNSS Correction Service to South Korea
Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) have agreed to bring the TerraStar-X Enterprise Correction Service to South Korea. The GNSS correction service provides convergence and lane-level accuracy in automotive, mobile and autonomous applications, the company said.
MBC, which offers real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning across South Korea, offers atmospheric data that enhances the redundancy of the of Hexagon’s precise point positioning (PPP) network across the country.
The deal calls for the service to be supported in testing through South Korea, China, Japan, Europe and North America. The testing will spur integration into advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), safety-critical applications, micromobility, industrial and smartphone applications, the company said.
MBC touts its RTK network as the a “world’s first service providing nationwide corrections coverage.”
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TomTom Partners With Flow Labs
TomTom [TOM2] has announced a partnership with Flow Labs, a transportation software company specializing in AI and data integration. Flow Labs will integrate TomTom’s traffic data into their AI apps that support transportation agencies.
TomTom plans to use its historic and real-time traffic analytics, based on anonymized speed data, from more than 600 million connected devices, the company said. Flow Labs Digital Twin platform integrates signal data, detection data and connected vehicle information into a traffic management solution that optimizes flow and mobility, the company said.
Overall, the new partnership hopes to empower transportation planners and government entities to make decisions based on the data. ““We intend to jointly develop new products, services and applications that will better service the growing needs of transportation agencies and other traffic providers across the United States and beyond,” said Jatish Patel, Flow Labs’ CEO and founder, in a statement.
Flow Labs’ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions offer high-sampling sources of connected car data, which TomTom will provide, the company said. By using the car data, Flow Labs can estimate road conditions.
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Other Location News:.
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top News:
☹ Someone In the Middle East is Leading Aircraft Astray by Spoofing GPS Signals. “GPS spoofing from an unknown source in the Iraq-Iran area is causing complete aircraft navigational system failures in some overflying airliners and business jets.”
🚐 Infineon Acquires UWB Pioneer 3db Access for Connectivity Portfolio. “Infineon Technologies has announced that it has acquired the Zurich-based startup 3db Access AG. The first set of IoT use cases include secured access and authentication and accurate location tracking.”
😠 Russia Jams GPS of Ships in Our Territorial Waters – Romania's Top General. “After the third incident, when Romania reported the identification of drone wreckage on its territory, NATO said it had no information about a deliberate Russian attack.”
🤔 Cisco Touts 'WI-FI Determinism' and New Location-Based Services. “Cisco’s CSCO 0.00%↑ ‘AnyLocate’ uses raw satellite data from GPS receivers coupled with Fine Timing Measurement data to refine AP locations over time.”
Maps:
👍 Mapbox Introduces EV Charge Finder API. “Designed to provide EV drivers with the knowledge they need to locate, access, and navigate to charging stations effortlessly, the new Charge Finder API from Mapbox provides up-to-date information on over 750,000 charging stations in more than 70 countries.”
Mapbox also launched MapGPT, a conversational AI service that enables automakers to create customized voice assistants capable of natural and actionable conversations on the go, according to a company blog.
🌞 Google Maps Can Now Tell Exactly Where Solar Panels Should Be Installed. “Google Maps can now calculate rooftops’ solar potential, track air quality, and forecast pollen counts.”
🗺 Old School: Adapting Esri Basemaps for Printed Products.
🤞 The Most Controversial Google Maps Update on Android Auto Is Now Available for Everybody. “Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has recently completed the rollout of what is likely the most controversial interface update in Google Maps on Android Auto.”
🤨 The Google Maps Feature That Keeps Me From Using Apple Maps and Waze. “It's the way it offers traffic information, as it helps the route planning task a lot more convenient and straightforward.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚛 Gavin Newsom Under Fire From Teamsters Over Veto of Driverless Truck Bill. “Now the Democratic mainstay is taking a beating from unions who say he’s allowed unsafe 10,000+-pound vehicles onto the road without drivers.”
🤔 Teamsters urge NHTSA to deny Cruise Origin exemption. Hmm, the union says it isn’t against autonomous technology, then they do everything they can to block it…
🚘 Mercedes-Benz’s EQS Will Be the First Car With Level 3 Semi-Autonomous Driving in the U.S. “The German marque’s Drive Pilot conditional driver automation system is the first to receive regulatory approval for operation stateside, beating out similar technology from Tesla and Honda.”
😮 Cruise Defends Safety Record After Woman Pinned Under Self-Driving Taxi in San Francisco. “The woman was hospitalized in critical condition after firefighters were able to free her from beneath the driverless Cruise AV, which struck her shortly after she was hit by a different sedan in a hit-and-run.”
🚗 Waymo's Self Driving Cars on Miami Streets as Company Tests Its Technology.
Drones:
🛩 BAE T-600 Drone Makes History by Dropping a Torpedo in a World-First. “Jointly developed by BAE Systems and Malloy Aeronautics, a T-600 heavy lift drone has been used to carry and deploy an anti-submarine torpedo for the first time.”
👌 DJI Delivery Drone Gets FCC Approval for US Launch. “DJI has filed paperwork with the FCC to bring its first-ever delivery drone, FlyCart 30, to North America. The drone was first unveiled in China in August 2023.”
Financial:
😐 Director Jonathan Chadwick Sells 12,206 Shares of Samsara.
☹ Blackberry Loses $42 Million in Second Quarter.
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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 and Deloitte Partner
Geotab has partnered with Deloitte to offer its fleet management solutions, consultation and integration services to Deloitte’s customers. Deloitte's Fleet Center of Excellence (Fleet COE) supports public sector and private sector clients in what the company says is all aspects of fleet management. The Fleet COE supports more than 120,000 fleet assets including non-tactical vehicles, law enforcement fleets, last mile delivery, and on-road medium and heavy-duty vehicles, the company said.
Contact: Geotab, www.geotab.com.
Radar Announces Availability of Fraud Detection and Geo-Compliance Solution
Radar has unveiled its fraud detection and geo-compliance solution. Radar detects location spoofing, including GPS spoofing, proxy and VPN usage, device tampering, screen sharing and more.
Radar’s customers include DICK's Sporting Goods, T-Mobile, Panera, and Zillow, processing more than 100 billion API calls per year from 100 million devices, the company said. With this release, Radar offers a cost-effective and developer-friendly geolocation solution for the gaming industry, and a much-needed alternative to GeoComply, which gaming companies use for user geofencing, the company said.
Contact: Kristen Hoff, for Radar, (978) 407-9283, 366275@email4pr.com, www.radar.com.
Topcon Joins Septentrio's Agnostic Corrections Partner Program
Septentrio has announced that Topcon Positioning Systems is joining their Agnostic Corrections Partner Program. The program, launched earlier this year, enables the use of Septentrio receivers with high-accuracy services for integrators.
In this case, Topcon’s Topnet Live is a GNSS corrections service that delivers centimeter-level RTK corrections data, the company said. Septentrio’s collaboration with Topcon broadens the range of choices that integrators now have, the company said.
Contact: Septentrio, www.spetentrio.com.
Simac, Sensolus and Quuppa Partner
Simac Professional Services, Sensolus and Quuppa have partnered for indoor and outdoor tracking solutions. Sensolus’ offers its Ground Support Equipment outdoor tracking solution for airlines, ground handlers and airports’
The dual Quuppa and Simac solution is combined with Sensolus trackers to allow seamless indoor and outdoor asset tracking, the companies say.
Contact: Sari Arjamo-Tuominen, Quuppa, sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com, www.quuppa.com.
Airbiquity and Tessolve Partner
Airbiquity has partnered with Tessolve for a integrated software management platform and LOGmatic data logging with Tessolve's TERA family of devices for integration into vehicles. Airbiquity's OTAmatic software management automates software update campaigns, the company said. Tessolve's TERA is an application gateway based on the S32G274A SMARC SoC targeted for vehicle networking and industrial applications.
Contact: Scott Frank, Airbiquity, airbiquity@finnpartners.com.
Topcon Rolls Out LN-50 3D Laser
Topcon Positioning Systems has launched the LN-50 3D laser, part of the LN layout navigator family of instruments. The LN-50 has a 164-foot range as compared to the longer-range, full-featured LN-150 that continues to be a mainstay of the Topcon layout portfolio, the company said.
The LN-50 is designed for homebuilders, mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) trades, concrete contractors and others. The LN-50 is initially available through specialized dealers in the Americas and European sales channels, the company said.
Contact: Staci Fitzgerald, Topcon Positioning Systems, (925) 245-8610, corpcomm@topcon.com, www.topconpositioning.com.
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Trimble Technology Lab Opens at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech and Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ this week opened the Trimble Technology Lab at Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus. The lab includes a range of Trimble's geospatial and construction solutions such as the Trimble XR10 HoloLens hardhat, robotic total stations, 3D scanners and GNSS systems, the company said.
In other company news, Trimble’s path planning technology was a Merit Silver Award winner in Enterprise Technology Innovation. Merit Awards are part of an independent awards program that recognize global industries and markets.
Contact: Trimble, www.trimble.com.
EtherWhere Introduces GNSS Receiver for Precise Timing Applications
EtherWhere Corporation has launched the URSA-1 GNSS receiver for timing applications. The URSA-1 chip offers signal processing implementation and algorithms to achieve low power and low jitter for such applications as 5G bases stations and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for data center networks, the company said. EtherWhere’s silicon supports all four constellations of GPS, Galileo, Glonass and BeiDou. The URSA-1 features an embedded processor running proprietary algorithms and firmware, DSP accelerators for acquisition and tracking engine, low power RF frontend and an LNA, the company said.
Contact: Jimmé Peters, etherWhere, jimme@24-7consulting.com, www.etherwhere.com.
ORBCOMM's Launches Smart Dashcam
ORBCOMM has launched a smart dashcam for service fleets to improve their safety, visibility and efficiency with a road and driver-facing camera that captures high-definition video with night vision. ORBCOMM’s FM 6510 camera solution helps protect drivers, vehicles for a variety of industries such as home services, oil & gas, commercial maintenance, and construction, the company said.
Fleets can also use location data and geofencing to optimize routing and monitor arrival, departure and dwell times to enhance customer service, improve operations and expose unauthorized usage of service vehicles, the company said.
Contact: Lina Paerez, (613) 875-1485, paerez.lina@orbcomm.com.
Advanced Navigation Opens Robotics Facility
Advanced Navigation has unveiled a new high-tech robotics facility for autonomous systems based at UTS Tech Lab in Botany, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The facility will scale up the manufacturing of Advanced Navigation’s AI navigation systems for GPS-denied environments, including its digital fiber-optic gyroscope (DFOG) technology, Boreas.
Advanced Navigation is one of four companies in the world with the capability to manufacture strategic grade fiber-optic gyroscopes, the company said. This technology empowers navigation for marine vessels, space missions, aerospace, defense, autonomous vehicles and flying taxis.
Contact: Advanced Navigation, www.advancednavigation.com.
Firstech Launches DroneMobile XD Dash Cam
Firstech has launched its DroneMobile XC Dash Cam, which integrates with compatible remote start and security systems. DroneMobile XC can be installed as a 2K QHD standalone dash cam with GPS tracking and LTE connectivity
Contact: Steve Smith, for Firstech, (425) 753-1653, ssmith@voxuspr.com, www.dronemobile.com.
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Dietmar Rabel has been named head of HD maps at Mapbox.
Quuppa has appointed René Wermke as director of sales and business development for the DACH region.
Ericsson ERIC 0.00%↑ has appointed Jan Sprafke as Chief Compliance Officer.
HARMAN International has named Suman A Sehra as global vice president, automotive product/platform portfolio.
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