Location Industry Not Keen on Terrestrial-based GPS Backup
Industry organizations, companies make FCC comments...paid subscriber analysis below, plus Apple Maps may introduce ads.
Geo Week Wrap Up: Companies Display GNSS Survey Products
DENVER—The annual Geo Week conference here showed the growing reliance on GNSS technology not just for drone guidance and positioning, but mapping and survey for a host of applications.
One company, Spexi, a decentralized drone imagery network that recently raised $11.5 million in a Series A, exhibited to tell customers about the scalability, cost, and environmental challenges of traditional Earth imagery, delivering high-resolution, standardized images with near-zero emissions.
“We’re using the funding to grow our network, team and get deeper in the computer vision models we are building. We are scaling the business,” said Bill Lakeland, founder of Spexi. “We are now in 200 cities in the United States and going into the UK, Mexico and Canada next.”
Lakeland said that his drones have now flown more than 70,000 survey and aerial mapping missions in the U.S. “What we’ve seen is the miniaturization of the technology as we used to think bigger was better. Now we are able to fly at a moment’s notice and have less risk to airplanes.”
Javad GNSS exhibited at the conference, saying 80 percent of their total sales come from OEM transactions. The company, which is working with two “major drone companies” that are using their GNSS boards, displayed their flagship LS Plus and T3 base station
“Whether you have a [Javad] $3,000 receiver or one that costs $25,000, they are built with an IMU,” said Michael Woodel, Javad GNSS regional sales manager, USA West, during a presentation.
“There is more and more jamming and spoofing overseas. Our software allows you to see what signals are actually jammed and then allows you to take that signal out of the solution. For drones overseas, this is a must.”
German drone maker Wingcopter displayed their beyond cargo drones, including long-range BVLOS lidar surveying solutions. The Wingcopter 198 will be equipped with laser scanning and camera systems to enable it to survey up to 37 miles of linear infrastructure in one mission, the company said.
Potential use cases include the inspection of power lines, pipelines, railways and roads, as well as the mapping of terrain and vegetation that is difficult to access, the company said. Using a Wingcopter with lidar, customers can scan up to 2,560 acres in a single 42-minute BVLOS mission.
“We come from the delivery segment. While we applied for FAA approval, we also reached out to customers for additional use cases for VTOL, long-range drones that can carry a lot of things,” said Ansgar Kadura, Wingcopter co-founder and chief strategy officer.
In other Geo Week news:
GEODNET attended GEO WEEK and connected with customers at the Septentrio booth.
Ambient IoT Coalition Formed
A number of heavy IoT hitters including Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ and Wiliot have formed the Ambient IoT Alliance. The membership will include not only users and customers, but ambient IoT manufacturers, suppliers, integrators and operators.
Ambient IoT refers to IoT devices powered by harvesting ambient energy from radio waves, light, motion, heat, or any other viable ambient energy source, the alliance said. “Ambient IoT is an evolution of legacy IoT and RFID technologies that promises lower costs and high scalability through support by global telecommunications standards, including Bluetooth, 5G Advanced, and 802.11bp,” the alliance said.
Ambient IoT-enabled devices can detect location, temperature, humidity, and more, and communicate with the wireless infrastructure, the alliance said. For instance, a nearby mobile device can receive data provided by ambient IoT-enabled devices. This includes leveraging IoT with smart appliances and wireless access points to open up supply and retail chains, healthcare delivery services and other industries.
Other members include Atmosic, Infineon Technologies AG, Intel, PepsiCo and VusionGroup.
“It allows us to rearchitect wireless tracking solutions to either use very little power or harvested energy, so everything can remain connected continuously and companies can operate at maximum efficiency,” said Atmosic co-founder David Su.
Weekly Location Industry News
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Top News:
😐 Israel Set to Procure $6.75 Billion Worth of GPS-Guided Bombs from the US.
🌏 ESA Advances Optical Technology for Next-Generation Navigation. “The European Space Agency (ESA) is taking a significant step towards integrating optical technology into PNT systems. To advance this effort, ESA has entered into a contract with a European industry consortium to conduct a definition study (Phase A/B1) and initiate critical technology predevelopment.”
👍 Zephr.xyz Awarded $1.7 Million Air Force Contract to Enhance Battlefield Situational Awareness. “Zephr.xyz has been awarded a $1.74 million Small Business Innovation Research Direct-to-Phase II contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to provide real-time detection of GPS/GNSS jamming and spoofing in contested domains while geolocating the sources of these attacks.”
👉 Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need GPS. “MIT's MiFly uses mmWave signals and a small tag to help drones navigate precisely in GPS-denied locations, like tunnels and urban canyons.”
🛰 SSTL's DoT-1 Mission Completed. “One of the mission’s major technological achievements was the deployment of GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R), an advanced technique that repurposes GPS and Galileo signals to measure Earth’s surface properties. DoT-1’s GPS antennas captured reflected signals, allowing scientists to derive ocean wind speeds and other geophysical data.”
Drones:
🛩 Top 10 Drone Startups in USA.
👍 MIT Develops Indoor Navigation for Drones. “Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Michigan have developed an indoor navigation system for drones that works without computer vision or lidar. Instead, the scientists based their MiFly system on the evaluation of reflected radio waves.”
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Maps:
😕 This Google Maps 'Safety' Feature Could Actually Make Roads More Dangerous. “Google Maps now prompts drivers to confirm traffic incidents, but experts warn the urgent requests could lead to dangerous distractions on the road.”
🚗 Elitek Vehicle Services Announces Launch of ADAS Map.
🤞 Google Maps Tests New Weather-Related Incident Reports on App and Android Auto. “Google Maps is testing several new incident reports through its Android app and, by extension, on Android Auto. The new options are weather-related and include flooded road, low visibility and unplowed road.”
📲 Google Maps Updated With Even More Waze Features, Users Afraid a Merger Is Underway. ““Google Maps started importing police reports from Waze, which made people wonder if a merger of the two apps was again on the table.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
😮 Tesla Executives Confirm Robotaxi on Track for June. “At the Tesla Q4 2024 Earnings Call, we found out that Tesla TSLA 0.00%↑ now has a firm date and set location for the first deployment of its robotaxi fleet. Now, several of Tesla's executives have re-iterated that deployment date and location in several different places.”
⚡ Smartcar Partners with BMW Group Europe to Deliver Enhanced Connected Mobility. “BMW vehicles in Europe will be available through the Smartcar platform, allowing developers and businesses across industries to connect their apps effortlessly.”
🤔 A Waymo Subscriber Program Could Be in the Works. “The Rideshare Guy’s Harry Campbell got ahold of a survey asking about a potential Waymo membership program, with potential perks such as cash back and discounts for future robotaxi rides. The monthly plans could cost between $9.99 to $29.99.”
📌 Intel's Mobileye Plans a Third Path to Robotaxi, Unlike Tesla, Waymo. “Mobileye’s business is selling chips and software to automakers, and while it briefly flirted with a plan to run its own robotaxi business, it currently hopes to do that, under the name Mobileye Drive in partnership with automakers, such as VW commercial vehicles, Rimac’s Verne, and some Chinese vendors.”
👉 Bosch Acquires Roadside Protect to Support Mobility Service Business. “Bosch Service Solutions plans to further expand its mobility service business in the U.S. by acquiring Roadside Protect. Roadside Protect is a provider of towing and roadside administration services along with motor club products in North America to fleets, automotive manufacturers, aftermarket and insurance clients.”
Fleet Telematics: (Editor’s note: a lot of news from the Geotab Orlando Conference).
🚍 Webfleet Collaborates with Krone to Offer Seamless Trailer Telematics. “Webfleet, Bridgestone’s fleet management solution, is collaborating with Krone, a trailer manufacturer in Europe to offer an integrated telematics solution via its OEM.connect partner program.
🙂 Geotab: AI Will Expand Across Mexico and Chile. “In 2025, fleet management trends in two of the largest countries in Latin America, Mexico and Chile, will align on several key areas, including sustainability, AI adoption, and driver well-being initiatives. Both countries are expected to see a rise in the use of AI models designed to address customer challenges, along with significant strides towards electric fleets, particularly for last-mile deliveries. These priorities, as outlined in the Geotab Predictions for 2025 report, will shape fleet management strategies in both nations.
👌 REE Automotive Collaborates with Geotab to Provide Advanced Data Analytics to Fleets. “REE Automotive REE 0.00%↑ has announced a strategic collaboration with Geotab to integrate REEai Cloud with Geotab's network, allowing fleet operators to monitor REE's software-defined vehicles alongside other vehicles through Geotab's GO platform.”
🚛 Jungo Launches VuDrive on the Geotab Marketplace. “Jungo has announced that VuDrive AI video telematics camera is now available on the Geotab Marketplace.”
🚚 CANGO Mobility and Systech Announce Partnership for Integrated Telematics and CANbus Data Solutions.
🌍 Targa Telematics Tops European Fleet Management Rankings. “According to the 19th edition of Berg Insight’s Fleet Management in Europe, Targa Telematics manages over 801,000 vehicles across the continent, widening the gap between its closest competitors — by more than 66,000 units from second place and 300,000 from third.”
🏅 Samsara Earns Frost & Sullivan’s North American Company of the Year Award. “Frost & Sullivan researched the commercial vehicle telematics industry and, based on its findings, recognizes Samsara IOT 0.00%↑ with the 2024 North American Company of the Year Award.”
Financial:
✔ Trimble Outlines $3 Billion ARR Target by 2027 With Strong Q4 2024 Performance. Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ released a profit for its fourth quarter that increased from last year and beat the Street estimates. CEO Rob Painter highlighted that Trimble ended 2024 with strong performance, citing Q4 revenue of $983 million, ARR at $2.26 billion, and EPS at $0.89, all above midpoint guidance. The company's earnings totaled $90.20 million, or 36 cents per share. This compares with $63 million, or 25 cents per share, last year.
✔ Garmin Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Results.
💲 AiDEN Auto Closes Oversubscribed Seed Round, Bringing Total Funding to $6.1 Million.
✔ Inseego Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results.
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Weekly Product News
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GPSIA Endorses Roth as NTIA Administrator
The GPS Innovation Alliance has endorsed the nomination of Arielle Roth as assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information. Roth will serve concurrently as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “Ms. Roth brings years of experience serving the public interest, and we look forward to working with her to continue NTIA’s vital efforts to ensure the integrity, continuity, availability, and resiliency of satellite-based services like GPS and other space-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems,” said Lisa Dyer, GPS Innovation Alliance executive director, in a statement.
HERE Extends Partnership with project44
HERE Technologies has announced its partnership extension with supply chain company project44. Project44 will leverage HERE Location Services, including HERE Truck Routing and Search, to deliver location intelligence, the company said.
HERE Truck Routing offers traffic-aware routing that considers all physical and legal restrictions including hazardous goods, truck speed profiles, U-Turn avoidance, adjusted road hierarchy to avoid smaller roads, the company said. For its part, project44 delivers real-time visibility into more than 1 billion shipments annually for more than 1,000 companies, the company said.
Contact: Reed Findlay, HERE Technologies, (703) 966-6284, reed.findlay@here.com, www.here.com.
Geotab, Samsara, Verizon Connect, PowerFleet Top in ABI's Telematics Ranking
A new Competitive Assessment by ABI Research provides an in-depth and unbiased examination of the top ten leading commercial telematics solution providers for fleets. The market leaders include Geotab, Samsara, PowerFleet and Verizon Connect. Mainstream players include Platform Science, Motive, Zonar and Solera. In a category they call “followers” the company lists Gurtam and Ford Pro.
Contact: Deborah Petrara, ABI Research, (516) 624-2558, pr@abiresearch.com.
Kontakt.io Launches Hospital Bed Location Solution
Kontakt.io has launched a new solution that improves patient flow by automating room turnover to free up beds faster, the company said. Kontakt.io's Rapid Room Turnover, part of its Patient Flow solution, uses real-time location solutions (RTLS) and IoT to detect discharges in real-time, the company said. Kontakt.io's Rapid Room Turnover solution uses BLE tags to provide real-time visibility into patient movement, detecting with confidence when a patient has been physically discharged, the company said.
Contact: Olivia Wang, Kontakt.io, x.wang@kontakt.io, www.kontakt.io.
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Suntech Offers SCUTI and SyncTrak Devices
In addition to asset tracking, Suntech said it offers SCUTI and SyncTrak device management and configuration tools to enable customers to manage, configure, update, and track their devices remotely. The company says that both tools are available at no additional cost with purchase of Suntech tracking devices.
SCUTI is Suntech’s web-based tool that enables users to remotely manage devices, update profiles, and schedule firmware updates over the air (OTA), the company said. During updates, devices continue to communicate with tracking servers without any disruption to their functionality and the system streamlines maintenance processes ensuring devices stay up-to-date and optimized, the company said.
Contact: Tim Newberg, Suntech US, tnewberg@suntechus.com, www.suntechus.com.
Smartphone Tracker Seeks Funding
A new smartphone tracker is raising funding on Kickstarter that includes an E Ink screen to display contact details and photos in color. In a market with such tag tracking giants as Apple and Tile, PhotoTag features a cell battery that can operate for 10 months.
The unit also has a built-in alarm that can be triggered from a phone if a user misplaces a tagged item in a house or hotel room, the company said.
Contact: PhotoTag, www.phototag.shop.
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Location Industry Not Keen on Terrestrial-based GPS Backup
Both industry organizations and companies have made comments to the Federal Communications Commission about NextNav’s NN 0.00%↑ FCC proposal to reconfigure the lower 900 MHz band. NextNav said its proposal offers “the U.S. economy a $10.8 billion insurance policy to protect against GPS outages without taxpayer funding.”
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