SDA Planning To Procure 72 Satellites for LEO Constellation
216-satellite LEO constellation will have a navigation payload
A U.S. Space Force agency is planning to procure 72 satellites for a low Earth orbit military constellation that will have a navigation payload. The Space Development Agency, in a draft solicitation, seeks input by March 1 on its Draft Tranche 2 Transport Layer – Beta Program.
“T2TL features multiple space vehicle and mission configuration variants procured through a multi-solicitation and multi-vendor acquisition approach,” the solicitation said.
The initial 72 satellites and ground support systems will be part of a 216-satellite Tranche 2 Transport Layer. The constellation will move data to global users, including early missile warning, according to reports.
Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00%↑ and York Space Systems were awarded a contract in July 2020 to build a set of 10 satellites for the Tranche 0 Transport Layer satellites. SDA awarded SpaceX and L3Harris LHX 0.00%↑ contracts to build four satellites for the agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 0 designed to detect ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles.
There will be 128 satellites in Tranche 1—28 birds in the Tracking Layer and 18 experimental satellites. Last year, SDA awarded $1.8 billion in contracts today to York Space Systems, Northrop Grumman NOC 0.00%↑ and Lockheed Martin for development of the Transport Layer satellites. The agency also awarded L3 Harris and Northrop Grumman contracts to build 14 Tracking Layer satellites.
In other satellite news, Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to provide electric propulsion for incorporation on their GEO-KOMPSAT-3 (GK3) satellite. Scheduled for launch in 2027, GEO-KOMPSAT-3 will feature a Data Collection System (DCS) mission and a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) mission for satellite navigation augmentation service.
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Sonim and NextNav Integrate Vertical Location for Verizon Customers
Sonim Technologies SONM 0.00%↑ has announced the integration of NextNav’s NN 0.00%↑ Pinnacle vertical location into the company’s XP3plus smartphone.
The integration of z-axis capabilities for E911 calls is now available on the XP3plus through a software update for Verizon VZ 0.00%↑ customers. Verizon is partnering with both NextNav and Sonim through the agreement.
“We’re thrilled that Verizon has taken this major step towards meeting the emergency services needs identified by the FCC and making this first device available with our Pinnacle floor-level vertical location technology,” said Gillian Smith, NextNav’s vice president of marketing. “This the first device in the marketplace that stems from the agreement between NextNav and Verizon.”
NextNav, which says its technology has demonstrated floor-level accuracy 94 percent of the time in CTIA tests, says Pinnacle 911 allows public safety answering points (PSAPs) to identify the indoor location of wireless E911 callers.
For its part, Sonim sells its phones to some of the largest U.S. wireless carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. In Canada, they offer phones to Bell, Rogers and TELUS Mobility.
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Amazon Announces AWS Space Accelerator
AWS Space Accelerator is looking for global space startups who want to power their space missions using Amazon Web Services (AWS). The application period closes March 6, 2023.
AWS will deliver the 2023 AWS Space Accelerator in collaboration with TechConnect, which connects emerging technologies with funding and partnership opportunities, the company said. TechConnect will lend expertise in venture capital, global market expertise, and startup acceleration to help the selected startups through an intensive, advanced curriculum specially designed to accelerate their growth using AWS, the company said.
The four-week program, scheduled for May 2023, will be held virtually. Startups will receive up to $100,000 in AWS promotional credits, as well as mentoring from space domain and technical subject matter experts with deep experience working on AWS, the company said.
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CalAmp Restructures, Cuts 8 Percent of Employees
Telematics company CalAmp CAMP 0.00%↑ said last week it has begun a restructuring plan that includes an 8 percent cut of employees. The company said it is implementing the restructuring plan to realign its operations to be more consistent with its software-and-subscription-services business model.
CalAmp said the moves are necessary to help accelerate its business-model conversion, address its legacy cost structure and drive higher profitability. “We value our employees highly and considered this initiative carefully, but we believe it was necessary to help accelerate our business model conversion, address our legacy cost structure and drive higher profitability as a Software and Subscription Services business,” said Jeff Gardner, CalAmp’s president and CEO, in a statement.
CalAmp, in December, reported a loss of $4.7 million on revenue of $78.9 million in its third quarter.
In other industry financial news, Navya [NAVYA] has filed “a declaration of cessation of payments” with the CalAmp Restructures, Cuts 8 Percent of Employees
The company said that all attempts to gain funding from investors have failed. Shareholders include the Valeo and Keolis groups. The company reports current liabilities and does not have sufficient available resources to meet them, Navya said in a press release.
Contact: Mark Gaydos, CalAmp, (240) 994-3027, mgaydos@calamp.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:
😮 Satellite Billed as the 'Future GPS' Begins Key Tests. “L3Harris LHX 0.00%↑ announced Jan. 26 it delivered the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) to the U.S. Air Force and the spacecraft is now undergoing final tests in preparation for a planned launch in late 2023.”
☹ Leaders of Self-Driving-Truck Company Face Espionage Concerns Over China Ties. “National-security review sparked concerns over TuSimple’s alleged tech transfer to China”
🤔 AT&T Shifts IoT, Connected Car to New Unit. “AT&T Connected Solutions is part of the operator’s corporate strategy and development organization. AT&T claims to be the US leader in IoT, with 107 million connected devices, while the number of wholesale connected cars on its books increased by 2.6 million during Q4 to almost 60 million.”
😣 More Problems for Buffalo's Snow Plow GPS Tracking System After Recent Snowfall. “Since Wednesday’s snowfall across the City of Buffalo and much of the metro area, the city’s Department of Public Works says two of their plows were not reporting GPS tracking data, therefore leading to some inaccuracies in the city’s online GPS tracking map.”
Maps:
🗺 12 Map Happenings That Rocked Our World: Part 5. “The Tube Map accomplished what so many of today’s ‘maps’ fail to do today — distilling the horrible complexity of the real world into the atomic essence of the information you really need.”
🛰 Top Trends in Satellite Imagery. “Exponentially increasing temporal resolution means that some locations can be viewed multiple times per hour, allowing satellites to track the movements of individual cars and boats.”
🙁 Apple Maps Privacy Bug May Have Allowed Apps To Collect Location Data Without Permission. “An Apple Maps privacy bug fixed in iOS 16.3 may have allowed apps to collect user location data without permission.”
👍 Google Maps Rival Says the Future of Navigation Is All About Car Sensors. “Right now, applications like Waze rely on a crowdsourcing engine to let users know where they might come across a traffic jam. In the future, the software embedded into cars can collect information from vehicle sensors, process the data, and figure out you’ve been sitting in traffic with great accuracy.”
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
😕 Two Companies Race To Deploy Robotaxis in San Francisco. The City Wants Them To Hit the Brakes. “The city’s transportation officials sent letters this week to California regulators asking them to halt or scale back the expansion plans of Cruise and Waymo.”
👏 Mercedes Is the First Certified Level-3-Autonomy Car Company in the US. “At CES earlier this January, Mercedes announced that it would become the first car company to achieve certification from the SAE for a Level 3 driver assist system. That became official on Thursday when the automaker confirmed its Drive Pilot ADAS now complies with the requirements of Nevada Chapter 482A”
💰 U.S.'s Luminar Eyes Building Factory for Lidar Sensors in Asia. “The American technology company eyes building a new factory in Asia and will seek to lower the cost of each sensor to $100.”
🚍 AV Company Aurora Hires President Ahead of Commercial Launch. “Aurora Innovation said Monday it has hired Ossa Fisher as president as the autonomous vehicle company prepares to commercially launch its self-driving trucks business next year.”
🚌 UK Government Backing Helps Launch World First Self-driving Bus. “£81 million in combined government and industry funding is being made available for commercial self-driving passenger and freight services.”
🤷♂️ Bird Poop Was Enough To Disable a Self-driving Truck, Driver Claims. “Apparently, Waymo became aware of this issue years ago, and has since designed a mini ‘windshield wiper’ type device for the lenses for just this scenario, reported Jalopnik.”
Drones:
🚗 Ford Patents Envision Car-Drone Future. “Ford Motor Company F 0.00%↑ has received at least 11 patents recently for pairing drones with vehicles in a sign that the carmaker expects unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to one day become useful tools for motorists.”
Tracking:
👍 LoRaWan-based Remote Patient Monitoring Arrives in US, Targeting Rural and Tribal Areas. “Patient monitoring device maker Telli Health has partnered with U.S. IoT operator and system provider Senet to launch the first remote patient monitoring (RPM) hardware to run on LoRaWAN connectivity.”
Financial:
🚘 Lloyds Invests £4M in Car Management App Caura. “Aimed at drivers but also automotive and fleet firms, Caura brings all driving-related payments together into one place to simplify car admin for UK drivers. It’s available on iOS and Android and manages car insurance, MOT, vehicle tax, tolls and city charges, cutting time and money, according to the firm.”
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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.
MetAlert to Acquire TrakTec for $4.5 Million
MetAlert [MLRT] has agreed to acquire Florida-based TrakTec, a location awareness technology company, for $4.5 million in a cash and stock deal. TrakTec offers iGPS Watches and SafetyNet tracking systems that offer a range of enhanced monitoring services, the company said. The iGPS products include the Wizard GPS Tracking Watch Phone, designed for children, and the Phoenix watch, a GPS-based smart wearable for seniors, the company said.
Contact: MetAlert, (213) 489-3019, info@metalert.com.
Deftpower Partners With TomTom
Deftpower has partnered with TomTom [TOM2] to integrate EMPs into the head units of electric vehicles. The collaboration allows electric vehicle manufacturers who work with TomTom to offer the apps from Deftpower clients to their own customers, the company said.
Deftpower is working with Ladeklubben and Avia, in five European countries, to provide access to providing access to charging networks. Through the TomTom partnership, EV drivers can search for, and navigate to, charging stations directly from their vehicle, the company said.
Contact: Deftpower, 31 085 130 29 96, press@deftpower.com, www.deftpower.com.
MapsPeople Partners With Virdee
MapsPeople has partnered with Virdee to combine its MapsIndoors with Virdee’s mobile reception app, Virtual Reception. The interactive mapping features allow guests to navigate in the hotel to find points of interest via the Virdee app, the company said. This includes giving guests access to view amenities, select services and book locations.
Contact: MapsPeople, www.mapspeople.com.
Trimble Partners With OneRail, Adds Features to Engage Lane
Trimble $TRMB has partnered with OneRail to integrate Trimble Maps technology as part of the Orlando-based transportation technology startup’s delivery platform to enhance last mile logistics. Leveraging integration with Trimble Maps, OneRail now uses PC*MILER commercial routing and mileage, location services, map visualization, and an advanced ETA engine.
The company also announced, at Manifest 2023, that its Engage Lane dynamic contract procurement solution now provides the industry's first availability of average dwell time metrics within a freight bidding workflow, the company said. This integration enables carriers and shippers to make better, more-informed freight procurement decisions, the company said.
Contact: Eddie Kraft, Trimble, (732) 606-6189, maps.trimble.com.
Druid Software Partners With Combain To Integrate Location Technology
Druid Software has partnered with Combain Mobile AB to enable indoor and global location for enterprise 50 or 4C private networks. The companies will package this location capability as a function of the LMF (Location Management Function) on the Druid Raemis core platform to provide location intelligence to enterprises.
Combain will produce the location calculation component of the 3GPP-compliant LMF for 5G, which equips the Druid Raemis core platform with positioning technology, the company said. The companies believe that the collaboration’s positioning engine core will spur the adoption of location applications for 5G private networks.
Contact: Tadhg Kenny, Druid Software, 353 1 201 4752, tkenny@druidsoftware.com; Andreas Ekengren, Combain, 46 722 059 680, andreas.ekengren@combain.com.
Velodyne Says 98 Percent of Shareholders in Favor of Merger
Velodyne Lidar VLDR 0.00%↑ has announced that 98 percent, of the nearly 50 percent of shareholders who have voted in a special meeting, have approved the company’s merger with Ouster OUST 0.00%↑. The special meeting will reconvene on Feb. 3. Company officials say the merger will allow a more robust product suite and commercial reach.
Contact: Jane Maynard, Velodyne Lidar, pr@velodyne.com.
Ground Control Communications With RF Geolocation Microsatellites
Space Flight Laboratory has announced that ground control successfully established communication with three radio frequency (RF) geolocation microsatellites developed by SFL. HawkEye 360 Cluster 6 was launched on Jan. 24 on Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket from Wallops Island, Va. The mission brings the number of HawkEye 360 microsatellites built by SFL and now in orbit to 18.
The HawkEye 360 constellation detects and geolocates RF signals for maritime situational awareness, emergency response, national security and spectrum analysis applications, the company said.
Contact: Robert Zee, SFL, (416) 667-7400, info@utias-sfl.net, www.utias-sfl.net.
Comtech Names Sirqul as EVOKE Technology Partner
Comtech CMTL 0.00%↑ has announced that Sirqul will become the company’s first “publicly announced” EVOKE technology partner. EVOKE is Comtech’s Innovation Foundry, which is led by the company’s chief growth officer. Sirqul also announced Comtech will integrate its communications solutions, precision location-based services, and cloud native technologies with Sirqul’s Engagement-as-a-Service (Eaas) IoT Platform.
Contact: Jamie Clegg, Comtech, (480) 532-2523, jamie.clegg@comtech.com.
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ANELLO Photonics Awarded DIU Contract
ANELLO Photonics has been awarded a Defense Innovation Unit contract for navigation solutions compliant with the C5ISR/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards for the U.S. Army. During the next year, ANELLO will demonstrate the capabilities of its sensor fusion technology for military vehicle navigation, the company said.
Contact: Gerhard Boiciuc, ANELLO Photonics, (312) 505-5356,
352881@email4pr.com, www.anellophotonics.com.
Beaconsmind Adds Indian Coffee House Chain
Switzerland-based beaconsmind AG [MLBMD] has added one the fastest growing coffee house chains as a customer for its location-based marketing solutions in India. The unnamed coffee house chain currently operates cafes in ten cities and aims to increase the number of cafes to around 300 in over 20 cities, the company said. By using the beaconsmind Suite software, in conjunction with the app from the coffee house chain, the company is opening up new marketing and communication channels.
Contact: Max Weiland, beaconsmind, 41 44 380 73-73, maxweiland@beaconsmind.com, www.beaconsmind.com.
JAVAD Rolls Out T3-NR GNSS Network Rover
JAVAD GNSS’ new T3-NR is a small and light GNSS Network Rover, with an integrated MEMS IMU, designed for a full day of field work, the company said. When paired with the JAVAD Mobile Tools for data collection, the T3-NR connects to real-time networks for corrections to achieve GNSS RTK with IMU tilt compensation, the company said.
T3-NR can operate for 25 hours on a single battery charge, ensuring full-day operations, the company said.
Contact: JAVAD GNSS, (408) 770-1770, www.javadgnss.com.
Incognia Identifies Suspicious Locations
Location Identity company Incognia has announced the launch of a new feature, Suspicious Locations, that combines device and location signals to identify, well, suspicious locations. Markets include fraud and risk management teams across industries, including food delivery, ride-hailing, social media, marketplace, financial services and gaming. Incognia defines a suspicious location as a place where a high density of risky devices congregate. Incognia maps signal environments based on a combination of GPS coordinates, WiFi signals, Bluetooth, and cellular network data, the company said.
Contact: Marisa Wong, for Incognia, (415) 994-0900, www.incognia.com.
LocoNav Announces Preferred Partners
LocoNav has announced that Peninsular Malaysia's largest Isuzu dealer, Automotive Corporation Malaysia, is now a preferred partner. The company also said that Africarriers Limited, Tanzania's automobile industry pioneer, is now a LocoNav Preferred Partner in Tanzania.
Contact: LocoNav, https://loconav.com.
U.S. DoT Solicits Members for the ITS Program Advisory Committee
The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) is soliciting individuals who wish to join the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee (ITSPAC). The ITSPAC will provide advice and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation on matters relating to ITS, provide a forum for national discussion and recommendations on ITS activities, and promote the coordination of external ITS activities with federal ITS activities, the agency said. ITSPAC membership requires experience in and familiarity with future innovations in technology, business development, and strategic planning issues.
Contact: U.S. DoT, www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-01769.
Esri Signs Space Act Agreement with NASA
Esri has signed a Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that focuses on extending access to the broader global community of NASA's geospatial content for continued research and exploration. This includes new datasets from nearly 100 spaceborne sensors, measuring atmospheric health, land-based phenomena, and characteristics of the oceans, the company said. Efforts will add to the existing NASA data in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, including maps and apps.
Contact: Jo Ann Pruchniewski, Esri, (301) 693-2643, jpruchniewski@esri.com.
SandboxQQ Wins U.S. Air Force Contract for GPS Compliment System
SandboxAQ has been awarded a Direct-to-Phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the U.S. Air Force to research quantum navigation technologies. SandboxAQ will advance research and development for its quantum navigation system, “which is being designed to complement GPS for accurate navigation in degraded, contested, or denied environments where the loss of precision GPS may negatively impact operations,” the company said.
Contact: SandboxAQ, www.sandboxaq.com.
People
Grab Holdings $GRAB has promoted Philipp Kandal to chief product officer. Kandal, who will continue to lead the company’s Geo organization, helped to develop GrabMaps. Philipp co-founded and was the CTO of Skobbler, which was acquired by Telenav.
Placer.ai has named Dan Hight as vice president, channel partnerships. Hight held executive positions at several companies, most recently at NextNav NN 0.00%↑.
The Institute of Navigation has Logan Scott recipient of the Captain P.V.H. Weems Award given in recognition of continuing contributions to the art and science of navigation.
ION also announced that Frank van Diggelen is the recipient of the ION Distinguished Service Award for his “extraordinary service to the Institute of Navigation.” Van Diggelen has served as the president of ION from January 2021–January 2023. He is a past recipient of the ION’ Kepler Award and Thurlow Award.
Autonomous vehicle veteran Bobby Hambrick has established The Hambrick Foundation. Hambrick was chief autonomous officer at Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning division. He was CEO and founder of AutonomouStuff.
Sheeva.AI has named Daniel Trainor as vice president of business development. Trainor was founder and CEO of SwiftScale.
Pozyx has named Karin Savooy as chief financial officer. Savooy has more than 20 years of experience in finance.
Mobilisights has named industry veteran Mark Penman as account executives. Penman has held positions at HERE Technologies, TomTom, Seeing Machines and other companies.
Jobs
Multiple Openings. TomTom.
Global Navigation Satellite System Designer. Airbus.
Key Account Manager. Bridgestone Mobility Solutions.
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Senior Product Marketing Manager. Trimble.
Marketing & Communications Manager. Reflex Aerospace.
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