Point One Navigation Grabs $10 Million Series A Funding
Launching out of stealth mode, the company forges into automotive OEM, drone, trucking, heavy equipment and other location markets.
JAVAD offers Triumph-LS Plus and Triumph 3 Latest-Generation Receiver. JAVAD GNSS is looking for new talent to join their team!
San Francisco-based Point One Navigation announced this week that it has closed a $10 million Series A round of funding. The funding, led by UP.Partners, included existing investors BOLT, IA Ventures and Ludlow Ventures.
The round of funding will be used to grow Point One’s team, currently at 20 employees, and bring the company’s location service online in Europe early next year, said Aaron Nathan, Point One Navigation CEO and co-founder.
Point One, founded by Cornell engineering grads in 2016 who participated in the DARPA Grand Challenge a decade earlier, specializes in precise location as a service through its Polaris GNSS correction network that combines GPS with computer-vision localization, the company said. The company says Polaris can unlock more than 10 centimeters of global accuracy with delivery over cellular and L-band.
According to published reports, Point One has shipped its products to two unnamed automotive customers. "We're thrilled to be working with multiple car companies in enhancing today's existing level 2 ADAS features and playing a key role in the race to higher degrees of autonomy,” Nathan said. “Getting to production cars early was a goal we set from the very beginning and now that we've achieved this, we're expanding into micromobility, smart agriculture equipment, delivery robots, drones and more.”
In addition to Polaris, the company offers FusionEngine, a multi-frequency GNSS/INS engine with dead reckoning; V-MAP, an advanced computer vision solution, which the company says turns ordinary vehicles into a mapping fleet; and its Atlas development kit that includes an automotive-grade multi-frequency GNSS receiver, a 64-bit ARM quad core processor, and built-in cellular modem with SIM card.
Contact: Aaron Nathan, Point One Navigation, press@pointonenav.com, www.pointonenav.com.
PHY Wireless Rolls Out Device-based Cellular Positioning for IoT Tracking and Location Services
San Diego-based PHY Wireless said that its hellaPHY device-based cellular positioning technology can reduce the size, cost and power requirements for tracked devices, while providing both indoor and outdoor high accuracy positioning.
The company has announced a new whitepaper, published by ABI Research, titled “Delivering on the Promise of Massive IoT Tracking and Location Services.” The research firm believes that device-based 4G and 5G show a growing trend “to increased edge intelligence on the device” to allow it to be more autonomous.
The company is testing hellaPHY in demanding urban environments—and believes that the technology’s low cost eliminates the need for such other location technologies as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GNSS, said Steven Caliguri, PHY Wireless vice president, strategy and business development.
The company’s device-based location technology, tailored for existing 4G LTE and 5G networks, allows service providers overcome both economic and deployment challenges of location tracking, the company said. In addition, while hellaPHY features cloud-based location, it carries out all computation using on-device software, shifting positioning determination from being User Equipment (UE)-assisted to being UE-based, the company said.
PHY Wireless, formed in 2019 as a part of Acorn Technologies, has been testing and deploying IoT and location technology for many years, said CEO Tom Horgan. It lists retired software entrepreneur Peter Norton as chairman of its board of directors.
Contact: Jeremy Hyatt, for PHY Wireless, pr@glfashmedia.com, www.phywireless.com. Click here to download the whitepaper.
Congressman to Introduce Webinar on Protecting GPS
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., will provide opening remarks for a Nov. 17 webinar cosponsored by Domestic Preparedness Journal and the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. Garamendi, chair of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, has been concerned about GPS’ vulnerability.
The webinar will focus on ways to deter attacks on and interference with GPS satellites and signals, the association said. “America’s over-reliance on GPS makes it a high priority target for a wide range of bad actors,” said Dana Goward, RNT Foundation president. “And, since other nations, such as China, Russia, and Iran, have terrestrial systems they can use when space is not available, the U.S. is at a strategic disadvantage.”
Other panel members include George Beebe, Center for the National Interest; Greg Winfree, Texas Transportation Institute; and Scott Pace, George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. The free webinar will be held on Nov. 17 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m, EST.
Contact: Domestic Prepardness Journal, DomesticPreparedness.com, (800) 522-6948, inquiries@RNTFnd.org
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
🙁 MWC Los Angeles 2021 Delivers Another Dud. “Not a single CEO from a major wireless carrier, radio access network (RAN) equipment vendor, or cloud provider joined the stage. Worse yet, much of the programming was pre-recorded or heavily scripted.”
✔ Trimble Announces Earnings Results. Company exec sells shares worth millions.
🛩 Drone With No GPS Generates Fastest Path and Avoids Obstacles, Uses Google Maps Algorithm. “Fully autonomous drones that can generate the fastest route, avoid obstacles and figure out where they are without using GPS can be very useful. Such an aircraft can be deployed indoors, in narrow places with unknown obstacles that the drone can’t simply fly over, or in areas where there is no GPS signal and the drone has to plan its path.”
👌 A Chat with Sammy Loitto, CEO at Intelligent Locating System: Quuppa. “In 2020, we raised €20 million of funding and our focus has been to use this for product development; ease of use of the system, lowering the infrastructure cost in the set up phase and offering the whole range of use cases from high accurate positioning to room/zone level accuracy.”
👏 Lamborghini Huracan To Feature What3Words Navigation System From Mid-2022. “Unlike traditional navigation systems that determine locations based on GPS coordinates, what3words has a simple three-word designation that correlates to any location on earth.”
🚗 Waymo Self-driving Vehicles Will Begin Mapping NYC’s Streets. “The company is a long way from testing or launching its autonomous vehicles commercially in the city. Instead, Waymo announced plans to manually drive its vehicles to map areas of the densely populated city and then use all of that data to advance its technology.”
😒 China Abruptly Restricts Use of BeiDou Along Borders With India. “Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abruptly restricted the use of its navigation system, BeiDou, along borders with India fearing their movement might be tracked.”
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Location Industry Briefs
Send your news to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Spirent Offers First Commercially Available Test Capability for Galileo HAS
Spirent Communications [SPT] has launched the industry’s first commercially available simulation test solution for the Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS), via a beta interface implementation based on HAS ICD version 1.2, the company said. Spirent, which collaborated with GMV, says Galileo HAS will provide free-of-charge high-accuracy Precise Point Positioning corrections through the Galileo E6-B signal.
In February, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) awarded GMV with the contract for the implementation of the Galileo High Accuracy Data Generator (HADG).
Contact: Janet Peng, Spirent Communications, 86 (10) 823 30055 (x160),
janet.peng@spirent.com, www.spirent.com/products/pnt-simulation-systems.
Hexagon-NovAtel’s PwrPak7-E1 Supported on NVDIA DRIVE
Hexagon-NovAtel has announced that its PwrPak7-E1 is now supported on the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle (AV) development platform. DRIVE Hyperion is an open AV platform that reduces amount of time and cost required to outfit vehicles, the company said.
The PwrPak7-E1 features NovAtel’s SPAN (GNSS +INS) technology. This includes the NovAtel OEM7 GNSS engine. The PwrPak7-E1 will be offered with NVIDIA's autonomous driving test fleets worldwide, the company said.
Contact: Jessica Fielding, Hexagon, (403) 919-3388, jessica.fielding@hexagon.com.
Taoglas and Westbase.io Enter European Distribution Agreement
Taoglas and IoT distributor Westbase.io have entered into a new European distribution agreement. This new partnership will expand Westbase.io’s portfolio to providing European customers access to Taoglas’ 4G/5G and IoT products, the company said. As part of the new collaboration, Taoglas and Westbase.io will offer a series of webinars on integrating and optimizing RF and antenna performance for 4G/5G IoT solutions, the companies say.
Contact: Emma Walsh, 353 (0)87 317 0897, mediarelations@taoglas.com.
Trimble Announces Improvements to CenterPoint RTX Corrections Service
Trimble [TRMB] has announced improvements to its CenterPoint RTX correction service, allowing farmers to have improved convergence of up to 75 percent using the NAV-900 controller. The company says farmers can now work in the field with 2.5-centimeter accuracy in less than five minutes—as compared to 20 minutes in the past.
The company says faster convergence is made possible by the inclusion of the Beidou-III (BDS-III) constellation. In addition, the additional satellites, combined with Trimble's ProPoint technology on the NAV-900 GNSS guidance controller and the CenterPoint RTX service, deliver up to 40 percent greater positioning, the company said.
Contact: Trimble, positioningservices.trimble.com.
Geotab Offers Verizon Mobile Broadband Priority Services in the United States
Geotab has been certified by Verizon Mobile Broadband Priority (MBP) Services to give priority wireless network access to Geotab’s eligible customers, such as first responders, government agencies and utility providers, during emergency situations, the company said. The Geotab GO9 is the first fleet telematics device to earn Verizon Open Development Certification including Mobile Broadband Priority Services, the company said.
Contact: Taylor Barker, Geotab, pr@geotab.com, www.geotab.com.
IDC Profiles Four Location Companies
International Data Corporation (IDC) has published its Innovators report, profiling four location companies: NextNav [NN], RS Metrics, SafeGraph, and StreetLight Data. "It used to be that 'location, location, location' was the central consideration for real estate. It is now increasingly core to applications and analytics," said Lynne Schneider, IDC research director, location and geospatial intelligence. "This is not an entirely new market, but as the use of location-enabled data moves more mainstream, we are seeing a rapid increase in the need for location and geospatial data.
Contact: Jen Melker, IDC, (508) 935-4200, jmelker@idc.com.
u-blox Rolls Out IoT Service
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has introduced a service that combines cellular connectivity with MQTT communication for IoT sensor network developers. The u-blox MQTT Flex service lets any SIM-based connectivity leverage MQTT-SN communication with on-demand scalability, the company said.
A key benefit of the u-blox MQTT Flex service is that it offers a “bring your own SIM” strategy that enables users to take advantage of MQTT communication without a mobile network operator’s operational, logistical, or cost impact, the company said. The company contends that in such places as Turkey, Brazil, and Australia, network operators do not allow permanent roaming, which precludes the use of the MQTT Anywhere. The MQTT Flex service, via the Thingstream IoT, also enables MQTT-SN communications over NB-IoT, the company said.
Contact : Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
Mix Telematics Signs Deal With Brazilian Transport Company
MiX Telematics [MIXT] has announced a partnership with “a leading public transport company” operating in Brazil. The Mix Telematics said it will install units in 352 connected and protected vehicles in the organization's fleet, with a proof of concept for a further 1000 vehicles.
Contact: Melanie Esterhuizen, Mix Telematics, Melanie.esterhuizen@mixtelematics.com, www.mixtelematics.com.
3Dtracking Expands Asset Tracking Solutions for Container Security
3Dtracking said it has expanded its portfolio of intelligent asset tracking solutions for container security. The company said it recently integrated a number of third party locks into its telematics service platform, including the JT709A GPS tracker lock from Jointech.
The JT709A locks are configured to send their location and open or close status to the 3Dtracking platform over a cellular connection. As part of the integration between the JT709A locks and the 3Dtracking platform, the company said that fleet managers can send commands to open or close specific locks remotely.
Contact: Tony Miller, 3Dtracking, (617) 418-3024, tony@3dtracking.com, www.3dtracking.com.
RadioWaves Rolls Out GPS/GNSS Timing Antennas
RadioWaves has released a new series of GPS/GNSS timing antennas that cover L1 and L5 GPS bands. RadioWaves' new series of GPS/GNSS timing antennas provide axial ratio and higher accuracy for the reception of satellite timing signals and reference frequencies for enhanced phase synchronization in precision network deployments, the company said.
The ruggedized, weather-sealed antennas are IP67 compliant for use in outdoor and marine environments, the company said. The antennas support a wide range of GNSS including GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo and Iridium.
Contact: Peter McNeil, RadioWaves, (978) 682-6936.
PowerFleet Signs Deal With Atlas Van Lines, Reports Third Quarter Results
PowerFleet [PWFL] has signed a national deal with Atlas Van Lines to upgrade its trailer tracking solution. Atlas will leverage PowerFleet’s LV-500 along with its cloud-based reporting tool, which brings greater intelligence to transport management, the company said.
PowerFleet reported $29.9 million in total revenue for the third quarter and $91.8 million for nine months this year. During the quarter, the company was selected by Hyundai Translead to provide telematics for its HT LinkSense platform. Net loss during the quarter was $4.5 million.
Contact: PowerFleet, www.powerfleet.com.
GTX To Integrate IoT Sensors Into GPS SmartSole
GTX Corp. [GTXO)] said it recently signed an agreement with LifeConnect to explore integrating IoT wearable sensors into its GPS SmartSole platform. This will be used as a communications gateway sending vital biometric data along with GPS coordinates to the cloud, leveraging the LifeConnect and Life365 Health backend platforms and GTX’s GPS 4G SmartSole platform, the company said.
Contact: Nelson Skip Riddle, NSRiddle@GTXCorp.com, 44 7785 364100.
People
Javad GNSS has named Andrew Scott as Head of Marketing. Scott worked in Europe for Oracle and in the United States and China for McCann Worldgroup and Ogilvy & Mather. He has more than 20 years’ experience in B2C and B2B marketing for global brands and startup companies.
Andrew Scott The company also named Ruby deBruyn as Sales Representative. For the past 20 years, deBruyn has worked on sales teams at AT&T, Sprint, Qwest and other companies.
Velodyne Lidar said that Theodore Tewksbury will be the new CEO. Tewksbury, who was CEO of Eta Compute, takes over a well-known lidar company that has had its share of drama.
GPS Insight named Geoffrey Garrett to its executive team as Chief Revenue Officer. Garrett has more than 20 years of leadership experience – most recently as CEO at SYSPRO USA.
Jobs
Javad GNSS is looking for new talent to join their team! JAVAD GNSS.
Product Manager Positioning Products. u-blox.
Senior Product Manager, Navigation. Mapbox.
Vice President of People. Swift Navigation.
Sr. Product Marketing Manager. TomTom.
Consultant. ESRI.
