Inmarsat Awarded $187.4 Million Contract For SouthPAN Satellite Service
Satellite positioning service to be delivered on Inmarsat satellites in 2027
Inmarsat Australia has won a $187.4 million contract for positioning and navigation service to benefit the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network’s (SouthPAN) satellite service. Inmarsat will provide the capability onboard three new I-8 satellites, which cover the Asia-Pacific region.
SouthPAN, an initiative between Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, will broadcast positioning services across all of the two countries, starting in 2027. The entities say it will improve current positioning accuracy to as little as 10 centimeters. An additional satellite service will also be procured, SouthPAN said.
“SouthPAN represents extraordinary potential for the region. It can save lives by enabling precision safety tracking, help farmers improve productivity through automated device tracking, or even support transport management systems of the future,” said Todd McDonell, Inmarsat Global Government president said, in a statement.
In October, Location Business News reported that the government of Australia had awarded Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00%↑ a $1.18 billion contract to establish SouthPAN. The system, expected to be fully operational by 2028, will be provided as a service for 19 years with an option to extend, the company said.
The program will use the Lockheed Martin-developed, Second-Generation Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), which will broadcast on two frequencies to augment signals from GNSS, GPS and the European Union’s Galileo system.
Inmarsat Australia’s parent company, Inmarsat, has had a busy week as its purchase by Viasat VSAT 0.00%↑ closed. Inmarsat's shareholders received $551 million in cash and approximately 46.36 million shares of common stock, the company said.
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TRX Systems Grabs $402 Million Army Contract
Earlier this month, TRX Systems [TRXI] was awarded a seven-year, $402 million contract by the U.S. Army for the procurement of Dismounted Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing System Generation II systems and services.
The TRX Systems solution, TRX DAPS II, allows dismounted maneuver operations, even where GPS is compromised or denied, the company said. The product provides assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) to dismounted users in GPS-challenged environments.
The size of the contract—and its length—signals that the U.S. military is placing high priority on accurate PNT as GPS and other GNSS can be degraded, or denied, in contested areas. The war in Ukraine has been a proving ground for systems that rely on GNSS, only to have the signal disrupted.
Old timers in the GPS industry remember the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver, or DAGR. TRX DAPS II will replace DAGR as it integrates inputs from M-code GPS, inertial sensors and PNT sources, the company said.
TRX sent DAPS GEN 1.2 solutions to the Army in 2021, with volume shipping in 2022. The company said that after thousands of hours of field testing, the next generation of dismounted navigation tools, called TRX DAPS II, will be in production later this year.
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Xona Broadcasts Demo PNT Signals from LEO
Xona Space Systems said its on-orbit position, navigation, and timing demonstration satellite mission, Huginn, has successfully transmitted precision LEO PNT signals from space to ground. The satellite was launched one year ago as the first-ever, commercially funded LEO PNT mission.
Other accomplishments include a validation of the company’s ability to provide centimeter-level positioning using its satellite hardware and software stack. In addition, the demonstration showed the ability to use commercial-off-the-shelf components, the company said.
Xona also certified Spirent’s SimXona satellite constellation simulator. Xona’s Bryan Chan, co-founder and vice president of business development, said that live-sky testing is only available for a few minutes per day, which makes the simulator vital for developers and integrators. Spirent will officially launch SimXona at the ION Joint Navigation Conference, June 12-15 in San Diego.
Contact: Jaime Jaramillo, Xona Space Systems, jaime@xonaspace.com, www.xonaspace.com.
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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:
🚀 ISRO Launches Next-Gen Satellite. “[The] Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched next-generation navigational satellite with GSLV rocket from Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota with an aim to get real-time positioning and timing services.”
😮 Starlink, Other Leo and Comms Sats Also Jammed. Dana Goward: “Russians are interfering with more than just GPS signals. They are jamming higher power satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) also.”
💰 Applied Intuition To Buy Autonomous Trucking Spac Embark for $71M. “Embark Trucks EMBK 0.00%↑, the autonomous trucking company that recently cut 70% of its workforce, is being acquired by Applied Intuition.”
🚚 Geofencing Opportunities Face Few Boundaries. “Geofencing – the virtual boundaries established by global positioning systems – has been around since the 1990s, and a growing number of Canadian fleets are turning to it to solve fleet management issues as diverse as security and productivity.”
🚙 $10 Million Center Tackles Future Transportation Safety. “The Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced TransportatION Systems at Illinois Institute of Technology was named a new Tier 1 University Transportation Center by the U.S. Transportation Department. CARNATIONS will receive a $10 million grant for improving transportation navigation systems by making them more resilient to cyber attacks such as spoofing and jamming.”
Maps:
👍 Lyft's Secret Plan To Take Control of Its Maps — And Its Future. “And yet, until very recently, Lyft had limited control over that navigation experience, which was built using Google Maps. “
📱 Google Maps Can Put All the Other Navigation Apps To Shame if Google Launches This Feature. “Google GOOG 0.00%↑ has come up with a brilliant idea to improve voice instructions, turning to a smart approach that would make them interactive. In other words, users would be allowed to continue the conversation with Google Maps to obtain more information about their next turns.”
😦 Waze Asked to Stop Providing Drivers With Traffic Shortcuts Because of Obvious Reasons. “One of the biggest drawbacks of traffic navigation apps, including both Google Maps and Waze, is the disruption they cause in residential areas and quiet neighborhoods built to handle only a small number of cars.”
This Innovative Google Maps Alternative Is Now Available on CarPlay. “RoadStr, an application that upgrades the standard navigation concept with a social component, landed on CarPlay with the latest update. If you've never tried RoadStr, its main purpose is to connect motorists and allow them to share pretty much everything from routes to car events.”
🤔 New Uber UBER 0.00%↑ navigation system out…
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
😟 Apple Slashes 56 Drivers From Its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program. “At the beginning of the year, Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ hit a high point with 201 drivers registered for its autonomous vehicle testing. Now data from the California DMV shows that Apple has made a significant staffing change by eliminating 56 drivers from the pilot program.”
😮 Wejo: Connected Car Dumpster Fire. Roger Lanctot: “Wejo’s cynical cesspool of financial chicanery may have met its ignominious but entirely expected conclusion. The U.K.-based company ‘has filed a notice of intention to enter administration,’ according to business-live.co.uk.”
😉 Daimler Truck to Partner With Toyota on Climate and Self-Driving Tech. “The companies said Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., whose top stakeholder is Daimler Truck, and Hino Motors, the truck maker in the Toyota group, will merge.”
📈 Mediatek Taps Nvidia Gpu and AI for Connected Car Chipsets.
☹ Waymo Gets Publicly Flogged at Latest San Francisco Supervisors Meeting. “San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reject a conditional use authorization from the city’s Planning Commission that would convert industrial space into parking spaces for Waymo staff.”
💲 World's Largest Unmanned Car Infrastructure Goal of $10M Grant to University of Michigan. “A $9.85-million federal grant was awarded Thursday to the University of Michigan to help spur connected vehicle research.”
😏 Japan's 1st Level 4 Autonomous Driving Service Starts in Fukui. “A seven-seater electric cart, developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and others, runs on a section of about 2 kilometers of a walking trail.”
🙂 Serve Robotics To Deploy up to 2,000 Sidewalk Delivery Bots on Uber Eats. “Serve Robotics, the Uber UBER 0.00%↑ spinout that builds autonomous sidewalk delivery robots, is expanding its partnership with Uber Eats. The Nvidia-backed startup will now deploy up to 2,000 of its cute little bots via Uber’s platform in multiple markets across the U.S.”
😉 We're Still Waiting for Self-Driving Cars, but Autonomous Boats Are Already Here. “In the canals of the Netherlands, electric and fully autonomous Roboats have been trialed for transportation and waste collection. These self-driving boats developed by MIT and funded by the City of Amsterdam can even be combined to form floating infrastructure like docks and bridges.”
Drones:
🛩 FAA Seeks Public Input on Drone Operations. “The FAA is seeking public input on four requests to conduct beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations at or below 400 feet. If granted, Phoenix Air Unmanned, uAvionix, Zipline, and UPS Flight Forward will continue to expand the envelope of FAA-approved BVLOS drone operations.”
💲 Raytheon Receives $147M Navy Contract to Update Coyote UAS Design.
Geofencing:
🌎 McDonald's and Chick-fil-A Are Tracking Your Location. “McDonald's MCD 0.00%↑ and Chick-fil-A are both introducing app features that track mobile-order customers' locations so staff can start making their meals when they're close to the restaurant.”
GPS Alternatives:
✈ Magnav Project Successfully Demonstrates Real-Time Magnetic Navigation. “The Department of the Air Force-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Accelerator project recently performed real-time magnetic navigation, or MagNav, on the C-17A Globemaster III in flight.
🤞 This Alternative Could Stay on Target if GPS Fails. “Satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit could provide a viable position backup in instances where GPS is blocked or fails.”
Financial:
✔ What3words Narrows Losses to £31.5M.
✔ Ituran Location and Control Ltd Announces Distribution of a $3 Million Dividend.
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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.
BeWhere Launches Asset Trackers
BeWhere [BEWFF] has launched its next generation of asset trackers, the BeSol+ and BeTen+. BeSol+ incorporates solar recharging, Low-Power 5G and 2G communications and GPS/GLONASS/ GNSS/Wi-Fi/BLE indoor and outdoor location technologies.
The BeTen+ is the evolution of the company’s original asset tracker, the BeTen, and is designed for un-powered containers and equipment tracking, the company said. The BeTen+ also incorporates the same capabilities as BeSol+.
Contact: Margaux Berry, BeWhere, (844) 229-4373 ext. 107, info@bewhere.com, www.bewhere.com.
u-blox Rolls Out Bluetooth LE Automotive Module
Saying it has entered the stand-alone automotive module segment, u-blox [UBXN] has rolled out its NINA-B5 series as part of its Bluetooth LE portfolio. NINA-B5 series features a multicore wireless MCU with Arm Cortex-M33 and Bluetooth LE 5.3.
NINA-B5 is suited for such automotive applications as keyless entry, battery management, LED-light control, sensor hub, or tachograph. Other uses home automation (lighting, access control) as well as micro-mobility (e-bikes), power tools, or mobile robotics (lawn mowers), the company said.
Contact: u-blox, www.u-blox.com.
Geotab Selects Sequans’ Chipsets
Sequans Communications SQNS 0.00%↑ has announced that Geotab is using its Calliope 2 Cat 1bis chipsets as a part of its product strategy. The Calliope 2 GC02S1 modules consists of the Calliope 2 platform for a complete modem system, including an LTE-optimized transceiver, RF front end and key interfaces, the company said.
Contact: Kimberly Tassin, Sequans Communications, (425) 736-0569, kimberly@sequans.com, www.sequans.com.
JAVAD GNSS Partners With EPFL Racing Team
JAVAD GNSS is providing EPFL Racing Team a GPS system with centimeter-level accuracy, the company said. The unit features a duo of antennas offering 100 Hz RTK positioning and navigation for the company’s new driverless vehicle.
In other company news, JAVAD GNSS rolled out its TRIUMPH-3NR, a GNSS network rover with integrated MEMS IMU for fieldwork. The unit is capable of 25 hours of run time on a single charge, the company said.
Contact: JAVAD GNSS, www.javadgnss.com.
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Quectel Says 5G RG620T Modules Receive Certification
Quectel Wireless Solutions has announced that its 5G New Radio modules series, the RG620T, has received FCC/IC/CE and RCM certifications. The RG620T series is the first 5G module based on the MediaTek T830 System-on-Chip to receive all these certifications, the company said.
The certifications will allow customers to deploy their 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) devices worldwide, the company said. In addition, the company said that IoT developers can bundle the RG620T 5G modules with Quectel’s antennas and pre-certification services for their 5G IoT devices.
Contact: Quectel, www.quectel.com.
KINEXON Joins SAP Supply Chain Solution Portfolio
KINEXON Industries has announced its partnership with SAP SAP 0.00%↑ to bring the Order Tracking and Process Management solution into the SAP supply chain solution portfolio. Order Tracking and Process Management’s focus, which is a cloud-based software, is real-time tracking of all moving assets and the management of logistics and production orders, the company said. KINEXON OS is now available on the SAP Store.
Contact: Stefan Biermeier, KINEXON Industries, stefan.biermeier@kinexon.com, www.kinexon.com.
Sixents and Fixposition Offer RTK Positioning in China
Sixents Technology and Fixposition AG are partnering in China to offer customers the Vision-RTK 2 for RTK centimeter-level positioning. Sixents Technologies has constructed 3,000 Continuous Operational Reference System stations nationwide in China.
A RTK positioning service is delivered to Fixposition's Vision-RTK 2 users, enabling them to attain centimeter-level positioning initialization in open landscapes. The companies say the positioning enables autonomous lawnmowers, sweeping robots and agricultural robots.
Contact: Fixposition, www.fixposition.com.
MiX Telematics Passes 1 Million Active Subscribers
MiX Telematics MIXT 0.00%↑ said it passed one million subscribers across its combined fleet and consumer customer base. MiX Telematics has customers in more than 120 countries worldwide. The company said total revenue for the year was $145 million, with recurring revenue making up 87 percent of that figure.
Contact: MiX Telematics, www.mixtelematics.com.
Satelles’ STL Wins Award
Satelles has been named a winner in this year’s Small Cell Forum Industry Awards. Satellite Time and Location took the top spot in the Small Cell Forum's "Outstanding Innovation in Chips or Components to Enable Small Cell Networks" category. STL is implemented as a redundant source of time by companies concerned about the vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats related to GPS/GNSS, the company said.
Contact: Satelles, www.satelles.com.
Ridecell Named Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year
Ridecell has been named Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year. Specifically, the award recognizes the Ridecell Fleet Automation and Mobility platform as a tool to power fleet-based businesses, the company said. The Ridecell platform uses fleet insights as triggers for automated workflows, allowing workers to be more efficient, reducing risk and saving costs, the company said.
Contact: Ridecell, www.ridecell.com.
People
Parkopedia has named Benjamin Xuan as managing director for its China operations. He will be based in the company’s Shanghai office.
Pointr has appointed Talha Ahmed as technical project manager.
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