Comtech and Outerbridge Battle Before Annual Shareholder’s Meeting
Companies Want Their Own Executives on Comtech's Board
The war of words between location company Comtech Telecommunications Corp. [CMTL] and investor Outerbridge Capital Management recently reached a boiling point with battling press releases accusing each other of false and misleading claims.
Outerbridge, which owns 4.9 percent of Comtech’s stock, said the company needs to bring in more experienced board members--and believes there are conflicts of interest among the current directors. Comtech fired back, saying that Outerbridge has made misleading statements and nominated unqualified directors.
“Outerbridge is a hedge fund that is in the process of fundraising for a dedicated activist fund, and a significant portion of its holdings consist of very short-term call options. Both of these factors create incentives for it to pursue strategies that are not in the best interests of all Comtech shareholders,” Comtech said in a statement.
Outerbridge contends that its director candidates, Wendi Carpenter and Sidney “Sid” Fuchs, should be named at the 2021 Comtech annual stockholders meeting on Dec. 17.
“[Comtech’s] sham CEO succession process appears to be focused on keeping Chairman and CEO Fred Kornberg and incoming CEO Michael Porcelain, a long-time underperforming Comtech executive, in control. This speaks to the Board’s lack of independence and oversight, especially considering issues surrounding Mr. Kornberg such as the loss of his security clearance, excessive compensation, and related party transactions, and Comtech’s long-time underperformance under the leadership of Messrs. Porcelain and Kornberg,” Outerbridge said in a press release.
For its part, Comtech, one of the major location technology players, has entered into a few contracts in November, namely a $3.5 million deal for providing Joint Cyber Analysis Course Training solutions. The company also received a $1.2 million follow-on order for Ka-band Solid-State Power Amplifiers and a $2.2 million 911 emergency systems order from the U.S. military.
In other Comtech News:
Lowey Dannenberg P.C. is investigating claims of violations of federal securities laws on behalf of investors of Comtech, the law firm said.
Comtech will report first quarter of fiscal 2022 results on Thursday, Dec. 9.
Connected and Autonomous Technologies Featured at ITS America Annual Meeting
This week’s ITS America’s Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C., featured a number of private companies exhibiting connected and autonomous vehicle solutions that were predominately tailored to city and state governments.
Fleet telematics giant Geotab, with access to one of the world’s largest organically grown transportation datasets, was at ITS America to tout the benefits of its Altitude platform. The Altitude platform unlocks the “why” behind a city or state’s traffic, said Geotab’s Nathaniel Veeh, Shared Mobility business development manager.
“We’ve built our Altitude platform to unify trip context and volume to produce industry-leading transportation insights without the need for costly ITS infrastructure deployments,” he said. “State or local DOTs, MPOs, and cities can understand contextualized patterns of people and goods movement within their respective jurisdictions and create safer, more efficient road infrastructure.”
Veeh contends that the government market has always been an important focus for Geotab, with ITS as a natural extension. “We are particularly focused on streamlining the movement of goods and services in these geographies, and unlocking value for our government customers,” he said. “We truly believe that we can make the cities and towns that we all live in better, which is a focus across all our lines of business.”
In addition to transportation infrastructure products, a number of companies were tailoring Lidar systems to government programs and applications. Continental [CTTAY] displayed its HRL131 long-range LiDAR, for passenger cars, that it developed with AEye [LIDR].
For its part, AEye is offering the 4Sight M adaptive LiDAR that enables government customers to amplify the pulse energy when they need it—whether in adverse weather or to get more range, said Akram Benmbarek, AEye vice president of business development and strategic initiatives.
Benmbarek said AEye 4Sight’s ability to detect both vehicles and pedestrians at relatively long ranges, and adverse weather conditions, set it apart from first generation LiDAR sensors.
Government applications for AEye’s LiDAR, which is commercially available with an automotive-grade product due in 2024, include missile defense and drone detection; autonomous vehicles; ITS and smart mobility infrastructure; and security.
AEye was founded eight years ago by technology expert Luis Dussan, who wanted to provide a military-grade LiDAR system for less than $500. The company, now publicly traded on Nasdaq, has doubled in size this year and has hired executives from Velodyne, Cepton, Sense Photonics, and Valeo.
Another company at ITS America, Seoul Robotics, launched Endeavor, a LiDAR perception system. Endeavor can connect as many as eight 32-beam rotating sensors at one time, capturing a surface area of more than 50,000 square meters, the company said.
BAE Systems Awarded a $316 Million Contract for Military GPS Modules
In a $316 million contract option, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is acquiring additional BAE Systems’ advanced M-Code GPS modules. This raises total contract funding to $641 million.
The modules provide positioning, navigation, and timing for ground troops, vehicles, aircraft, and precision munitions. The Common GPS Modules (CGM) offer anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities that enable operation in contested environments, the company said.
The award is on top of a May 2021 $325 million contract for Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment 1 M-Code modules in GPS receivers through the end of the decade. BAE Systems is delivering two M-Code GPS receivers – the Miniature Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver Engine - M-Code (MPE-M) and NavStrike-M GPS receiver. Deliveries of the MicroGRAM-M are expected in 2022 and deliveries of the Strategic Anti-jam Beamforming Receiver - M-Code (SABR-M) are expected in 2024, the company said.
Contact: Mark Daly, BAE Systems, (603) 233-7636, mark.g.daly@baesystems.com, www.baesystems.com/US.
Hexagon and Mineral Resources Partner on the First Automated Road-Train Solution
Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning and Mining divisions have announced the development of an automated road-train solution with Australia’s Mineral Resources Limited (MRL), a mining services company.
The Hexagon product, to be deployed on MRL’s long-range haulage fleet, will integrate drive by-wire technology with an autonomous management system to guide vehicle movement in road-train haulage. The company said that the automated road-train solution, which focuses on safety, productivity and sustainability for MRL operations, will be phased in over the next two years.
The companies believe that automation will change the safety and economics of mining. These challenges include commodity prices and labor shortages, the companies say. These efficiencies will go beyond mining and benefit other bulk haulage in off-road industries, the companies say.
The announcement follows a successful proof-of-concept completed with the specific economic constraints of iron ore and other bulk commodities, the companies said.
Contact: Jessica Fielding, Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning, (403) 919-3388, Jessica.fielding@hexagon.com.
Other Location News:
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(Video: Arianespace)
🚀 Two new Galileo satellites were launched from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, Dec. 4, 2021, bringing the number of Galileo satellites launched to 28.
🚘 Intel to Launch IPO of its Mobileye Self-driving-car unit in 2022. “Move could value Mobileye at more than $50 billion.”
👌 Garmin Announces Transfer of Listing to the New York Stock Exchange. Garmin [GRMN] will transfer the listing of its shares from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange.
😬 Russia and China Sign Roadmap on Satellite Navigation. It’s getting real…
✔ First UK-generated National Satnav Signal to be Delivered in Test Project by Inmarsat, Goonhilly and GMVNSL. “Inmarsat is working on a UK Space Agency-funded test project with the European Space Agency, alongside British partners Goonhilly Earth Station Limited and GMVNSL Limited, to deliver the first UK-generated satellite navigation (satnav) signal.”
😒 Tile Owner ‘Life360’ Reportedly Sells Location Data of Its Users to ‘Virtually Anyone.’ “The report claims that the company made $16 million in 2020 just from selling users’ location data.”
🛰 United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches Critical National Security Mission Direct to GEO. “This mission debuted several unique capabilities including the first Out of Autoclave (OOA) Payload Fairing, In-Flight power system and GPS Enhanced Navigation.
😕 Samsung Restructures Mobile, Consumer Units. “Samsung Electronics unveiled a massive shake-up of its leadership team and the merger of its mobile division with the wider consumer business.”
🚗 Nuro, 7-Eleven Launch California Autonomous Delivery Service With Safety Drivers. The service will be available to customers in Mountain View where Nuro is headquartered. It is already delivering Domino's Pizza products in Houston, Texas, using its Prius and R2 vehicles, Nuro said.
😮 Elon Musk Now Controls More Than a Third of All Active Satellites as SpaceX Breaks Rocket Launch Record. What the…
👏 You're Not Imagining It: There Are More Driverless Cars in SF Now. “More than 1,400 are registered in California, up from 900 last November, according to the DMV.”
🙁 Another Navigation App Struggling on Android Auto, No Solid Alternative. “After Google Maps, which has encountered several errors on Android Auto lately, it’s the turn of TomTom GO Navigation to misbehave in the car when the Android mobile device is connected to the head unit.”
✌ DENSO Announces Organizational Changes in Pursuit of Green, Peace of Mind Causes. “DENSO will create the New Business Development Dept. to generate growth scenarios in non-mobility businesses and study the organization of the new business groups”
✔ Luokung Reports Record Revenue of $74.9 Million.
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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.
Safran to Acquire Orolia
Safran has announced that it has entered into discussions to acquire PNT company Orolia from Eurazeo. In addition to PNT solutions that operate in denied environments, Orolia is also providing emergency locator beacons for commercial aviation and military applications. Terms of the deal, which is expected close in mid-2022, were not disclosed.
Safran said it planned to leverage Orolia’s PNT expertise under the leadership of current CEO Jean-Yves Courtois. Orolia, with 435 employees in France, United States, Switzerland, Spain and Canada, expects to earn more than 100 million euros in revenue this year.
In other company news, Orolia has partnered with Hoptroff to combine the company’s GNSS products with Hoptroff’s timing synchronization software. The collaboration will offer Hoptroff’s Traceable Time as a Service (TTaaS) as an add-on to Orolia’s suite of products, the companies said. The targeted markets are in the enterprise, financial, telecom, utilities, public safety, and other markets where traceable time is critical, the company said.
Contact: Charles Jones, Orolia, (585) 450-2889, charles.jones@orolia.com.
Inertial Labs Has Acquired MEMSENSE
Inertial Labs has acquired MEMSENSE, a developer of inertial measurement units that will help the company with new autonomous vehicles, GPS-denied navigation, industrial machines, and aerospace & defense.
Financial details were not disclosed. The combined company will have more than 100 employees and 500 customers, the company said.
Contact: Anton Barabashov, Inertial Labs, (703) 880-4222, ab@inertiallabs.com.
Companies Conclude GPS-Challenged Testing on UAVs
Israel-based infiniDome, Honeywell [HON] and Easy Aerial, recently demonstrated the first UAV-tailored , Robust Navigation System which integrates GPS anti-jamming technology (GPSdome), Radar Velocity System and Inertial Navigation System. The integrated system allows UAVs to operate in GPS-challenged or denied environments, the company said.
The GNSS-based UAV-tailored Honeywell’s Compact Inertial Navigation System (HCINS) with infiniDome’s GNSS anti-jamming technology (GPSdome)—and integrated with Honeywell’s Radar-based Velocity System (HRVS) Robust Navigation System--could be installed on almost any UAV providing it with continuous, accurate navigation data, the company said.
Contact: Noa Zilkha, infiniDome, 972-54-7799569, noa@infinidome.com, www.infinidome.com.
Amazon Web Services and u-blox Working With SparkFun Electronics
In partnership with u-blox and Amazon Web Services (AWS), SparkFun Electronics has created the AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 Starter Kit.
The u-blox SARA-R5 module, mounted on a SparkFun MicroMod Asset Tracker Carrier Board, supports the AWS IoT ExpressLink AT command set, which aims to make the app developer’s life easy, the company said.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www-blox.com.
Trimble Rolls Out GNSS Connected Base Station
Trimble [TRMB] has introduced the Trimble R750 GNSS Modular Receiver, a connected base station for use in civil construction, geospatial and agricultural applications. The R750 provides improved base station performance, giving contractors, surveyors and farmers positioning in the field, the company said.
The R750 can be used to broadcast Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections for a wide range of applications, including seismic surveying, monitoring, civil construction, precision agriculture and more, the company said.
Contact: Trimble, www.trimble.com.
Geotab and Enterprise Fleet Management Study Quantifies Fleet Electrification
Geotab and Enterprise Fleet Management, a fleet management provider with more than 649,000 vehicles in North America, announced results from Geotab’s largest fleet Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessments. Using Geotab’s Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA), the study included more than 91,000 of Enterprise Fleet Management’s leased vehicles. EVSA uses telematics data to assess a fleet’s needs and makes EV adoption recommendations, the company said.
Of the 91,252 vehicles analyzed, 13 percent (approximately 12,000) were good candidates to be economically replaced by range-capable EVs today, the company said. Electrifying almost half of Enterprise Fleet Management’s vehicles would result in a potential cost savings of $167 million or $4,056.20 per vehicle.
Contact: Taylor Barker, Geotab, pr@geotab.com.
NextNav and Bosch Sensortec Partner to Elevate Barometric Sensor Performance
NextNav [NN] has announced a partnership with Bosch Sensortec to enable vertical location in barometric pressure sensors. Bosch Sensortec’s barometric pressure sensors will be tested in the NextNav Certified program, the company said. Bosch Sensortec will validate the accuracy of measurements and provide performance assurance for OEMs using its sensors in mass-market products including mobile phones, tablets, and wearables, the company said.
Contact: Mahmood Abu-Rubieh, for NextNav, nextnav@launchsquad.com.
Spire Awarded ESA’s NAVISP Element 2 Program Contract
Spire Global [SPIR] has been awarded a contract under the European Space Agency's (ESA) Navigation Innovation and Support Programme (NAVISP) Element 2 Program funded by UK Space Agency. Spire will work with NAVISP to build on the capabilities of the Spire constellation and develop tools needed for geolocation signal processing, which will be applied toward geolocating GNSS interferences coming from Earth’s surface, the company said.
Contact: Janine Kromhout, Spire, Janine.kromhout@spire.com.
CoreKinect and ADESA Launch Vehicle Tracking Product
ADESA, a business unit of KAR Global [KAR], and CoreKinect have announced the deployment of ADESA's automated vehicle tracking solution. The new service combines a mobile app with a GPS-enabled IoT Device to help customers locate vehicles at ADESA's more than 70 North America locations, the company said. Affixed to each vehicle, the IoT devices can be accessed through the Vehicle Locator functionality of the ADESA marketplace app.
Contact: Kareem Hraish, CoreKinect, (480) 677-9686, kareem@corekinect.com, www.corekinect.com.
CalAmp’s Spanish Subsidiary Partners With Car Rental Company
CalAmp [CAMP] said its LoJack España subsidiary has partnered with Bipi, a car subscription service operating in Spain, Italy and France. Bipi's car fleet is now equipped with LoJack España's connected car solutions, enabling preventative fleet maintenance and stolen vehicle tracking.
LoJack España's Stolen Vehicle Tracking (SVT) technology will assist with tracking and recovery in collaboration with local law enforcement, the company said. As part of their subscription, customers are provided with Bipi's services that now include LoJack España's connected car solutions.
Contact: LoJack España, www.lojackiberia.com.
ORBCOMM Rolls Out Telematics Device
ORBCOMM has launched the GT 1030 global LTE telematics device targeted for tracking and monitoring in the transportation, container and heavy equipment markets. ORBCOMM’s new product supports mixed equipment fleets, delivering global cellular connectivity, the company said.
It also includes integrated GPS and cellular antennas for discrete and easy installation, the company said. The discrete installation precludes theft and tampering.
Contact: Lina Perez, Orbcomm, (613) 875-1485, paerez.lina@orbcomm.com.
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