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Coordinates November 2010 | 3 COLOPHON AND CONTENTS

In this issue Coordinates Volume 6, Issue 11, November 2010

Articles

SAT-SURF: An innovative and ﬂ exible HW+SW platform to assist research GIANLUCA FALCO, FABRIZIO DOMINICI, GIANLUCA MARUCCO AND ANTONIO DEFINA 12 The Implementation of a simulation platform for INS/ GNSS integrated systems CHIH-YU HU, MENG-LUNG TSAI AND KAI-WEI CHIANG 16 Numerical simulations of the optimal geodetic conditions with radioastron ERHU WEI, SÁNDOR FREY, PEILAI ZHOU AND JINGNAN LIU 27 Until next time… SHUBHRA KINGDANG 32

Columns My Coordinates EDITORIAL 6 His Coordinates PAUL VERHOEF 7 News GPS 34 GALILEO UPDATE 36 LBS 36 REMOTE SENSING 38 GIS 38 INDUSTRY 40-41 Mark your calendar NOVEMBER 2010 TO AUGUST 2011 42

This issue has been made possible by the support and good wishes of the following individuals and companies Antonio Deﬁ na, Chih-Yu Hu, Erhu WEI, Fabrizio Dominici, Gianluca Falco, Gianluca Marucco, Jingnan LIU, Kai-Wei Chiang, Meng-Lung Tsai, Paul Verhoef, Peilai ZHOU, Sándor FREY Shubhra Kingdang, and Aimil, Ashtech, Foif, Hemisphere GPS, Geneq, Javad, NovAtel, NRSC, Sanding, South, Trimble and many others

Mailing Address Coordinates is an initiative of cGIT that aims to broaden the Editor Bal Krishna 11C Pocket A scope of positioning, navigation and related technologies. SFS Mayur Vihar Phase III cGIT does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed Owner Centre for Geoinformation Technologies Delhi 110 096, India. by the authors and advertisers in this magazine and may not Phones +91 11 22632607, 98102 33422, 98107 24567 be held liable for any losses caused directly or indirectly due Designed at Thomson Press India Ltd. Fax +91 11 22632607 to the information provided herein. © cGIT, 2009. Reprinting with permission is encouraged; contact the editor for details. Printer Thomson Press India Ltd., B 315, Okhla Phase I, Email New Delhi-110020, India [information][email protected] Annual subscription (12 issues) [India] Rs.1,200 [editorial][email protected] [Overseas] US$80 This issue of Coordinates is of 44 pages, including [advertising][email protected] cover [subscriptions][email protected] Printed and published by Sanjay Malaviya on behalf of Centre for Geoinformation Technologies at A221 Mangal 4 Coordinates November 2010 Web | www.mycoordinates.org Apartments, Vasundhara Enclave, Delhi 110096, India. Coordinates November 2010 | 5 MYCOORDINATES

Living together

Compass and Galileo.

Apparently heading for a ëhead oní,

On frequency and signal issues.

In a world of multi GNSS systems,

With different priorities and agendas,

Such differences are inevitable.

But we do need a compatible and interoperable environment.

At the same time, we do live with conflicts.

Yet coexist.

Donít we?

Bal Krishna, Editor [email protected]

ADVISORS Naser El-Sheimy PEng, CRC Professor, Department of Geomatics Engineering, The University of Calgary Canada, George Cho Professor in GIS and the Law, University of Canberra, Australia, Associate Professor Abbas Rajabifard Director, Centre for SDI and Land Administration, University of Melbourne, Australia, Luiz Paulo Souto Fortes PhD Associate Director of Geosciences, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics -IBGE, Brazil, John Hannah Professor, School of Surveying, University of Otago, New Zealand

6 | Coordinates November 2010 HIS COORDINATES “Galileo is the only system which is driven by civil interests”

says Paul Verhoef Programme Manager, EU satellite navigation programme, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium while emphasising on the difference between Galileo and other GNSS systems.

hat is the status update on since that service is particularly infrastructure together have to WGalileo and in what stages complicated and we would like to deliver a stable service. So a stable will it become operational? have some test results first. Also, the IOC will not be achieved before 2014. CS (Commercial Service) will need We are currently defining our initial the entire constellation and therefore What is the significance of the success operational capability (IOC) in detail. will only be tested at IOC stage. of EGNOS on the Galileo program?

Initially some services will be available What would be a realistic In systems like this there is always an which will not be the full services. timeline for the start of initial element of credibility. The political For example if the availability is 95 operations of Galileo? discussions in Europe have proven percent it will mean that for three to be particularly difficult and for weeks in the year one would not be There can be no illusions. If we a long time there was uncertainty able to receive anything. However, look at the GPS and GLONASS about whether we are going to be some services can be combined with history, we see that between the able to do this. EGNOS has been GPS and as soon as the first satellite launching of the first satellite and important to prove that it is feasible is up one will be able to use the the declaration of full operations to do GNSS developments in Europe. ranging capabilities of both the GPS there was a period of about eighteen Now that we have major portions and the Galileo satellites in sight, in years. We have respect for what of Galileo under contract, we hope particular for the OS (Open Service). the US has achieved with GPS to raise our credibility quickly. There will be ramping up of all the and the experience they have. services with time. We will have an What kind of market do you see for initial PRS (Public Regulated Service) I hope we will be able to do it in EGNOS in the non-aviation segment? available for testing purposes. The a much shorter time. If we start SAR (Search and Rescue) Service launching next year the ramping up Today in Europe the biggest market will be available relatively quickly. should happen in the years 2012- with an enormous growth rate is 13-14. These systems are very agriculture. The farmers are keen But the Safety-of-Life Service will complex and it is not just a matter on precision agriculture as it saves not be available initially. We may of sending up the satellites. At the them both time and money. We have some elements of it for testing system level the satellites and ground are working with a number of

Coordinates November 2010 | 7 tractor manufacturers to promote agreements with countries like US the system sitting there. One has to EGNOS and the take off is just and Canada, though I do not recall promote it and engage the various phenomenal. Other interests are whether India is in the Governmental segments on how it is going to be used. in the LBS market, the mobile Procurement Agreement (GPA). phone market, the road transport Since it is new technology the uptake market and the maritime market. Also, over the years it has been is not always obvious. One has to realized that this is a critical piece talk to the technology leaders in the Is there going to be any overlap of infrastructure with a number of market who have the influence to of Galileo and EGNOS? security measures on it and therefore promote the technology. We have a needs to be properly protected. number of teams working with the EGNOS is there for the long-term and This has made it difficult for us to various segments. For example the use will continue to exist after Galileo has cooperate with other countries of this technology at the airports - if become operational. EGNOS could on the infrastructure element. the procedures are not implemented potentially be integrated into Galileo, at the airports, nobody is willing to depending on the final definition of However, we are working very equip their receivers; but the airports the Galileo Safety-of-Life Service. constructively and cooperatively with are not willing to put the procedures So it is too early to tell. Also it will India on frequencies, coordination, in place if there are no receivers. take a while to set the full Galileo signals and are in contact with ISRO One needs to break through this. system up and to ensure that it is on a number of things. We would technically stable and functioning. like to revitalize the relationship with Every market has its own dynamics India, only now the focus would be and one needs to understand that. Over the last few years there have on downstream work like applications India is a very diverse and large been technological developments and services. We share a good market with a lot of potential and on Safety-of-Life which we now need relationship which has evolved taking it will require a lot of effort. to take into account. Earlier we had into account the realities that have defined our Safety-of-Life service happened both here and in India. Do you think GAGAN is going to based on the PPP (Public Private be different from EGNOS? Partnership) approach which we have now changed. We are also talking to There are no We are all jointly following the same the US to jointly provide interoperable ICAO (International Civil Aviation Safety-of-Life Services in the future. doubts about Organization) standards. There are some challenges though since we What do you think is the scope of co- China’s funding have realized that the standards are operation with India on this program? not always precisely followed. Last abilities and year we had an incident with EGNOS In principle the cooperation with India where some receivers did not react should be very broad on all avenues ambitions in accordance with the standards. of these systems - applications, standards and frequencies - to make but technical If everyone faithfully implements these sure that Indian efforts on GAGAN performance standards then basically the systems are coordinated properly with us. all achieve the same thing though remains a they may achieve it in different ways. In the past when we were considering the PPP mode the question was challenge for In an ideal world it would mean for whether India would participate example that an aircraft that flies from on the system itself. Since 2007 we them India via Europe to the US would use have decided the PPP would not GAGAN, EGNOS and WAAS. We all have work and it would be the Public What are the lessons that India can a joint interest to see that this works, Sector which would take over the learn from the EGNOS experience? and therefore as these systems go into direct responsibility for the system. the rest of the world it becomes critical We have come to realize that an that everybody follows the standards. Our industry can procure elements enormous effort is put into such of the system, components or sub- a system. Also, these systems are If GAGAN, EGNOS, and WAAS systems from outside Europe and expensive. I do not know what India follow uniform standards would there we strictly follow the WTO has spent on GAGAN, we have spent interoperability follow automatically? agreements and our commitment around 600-700 million euros on therein. We have joint procurement EGNOS, so one cannot just have The uniform standards of ICAO in

8 | Coordinates November 2010 theory mean that any equipment because we have had similar quickly. However if we look at it from which is made for WAAS should be discussions with the US, Russia, India the quality perspective there are able to work with EGNOS and GAGAN. and Japan and have found solutions. serious doubts that they are going to The reality is that one needs to verify have a reliable system with a given that this is indeed the case and that What efforts do you think need to be number of operational satellites in a the implementation of the standards in put in to resolve the frequency issue? reasonable time frame. Quality has the systems and equipment is precise. been a problem for the industry in The resolution of frequency matters China and we have seen that some of We have discovered that we have is an issue that you see with all the their recently launched satellites have taken a particular interpretation of satellite and terrestrial systems that had troubles. There are no doubts the standard in the implementation use them, also in satellite navigation. about China’s funding abilities and of the system while WAAS has done All the providers have an interest in ambitions but technical performance it differently. Then the question is providing new frequencies, signals, remains a challenge for them. whether both these interpretations designs, plans and constellations. were possible or was the standard Therefore it has to be a continuous This is a small but high profile badly written. This is an important discussion between us to make industry therefore we all have an issue because finally this will be crucial sure that all of this works. We all interest in maintaining good quality in the functioning of the equipment have a joint interest in facilitating of the systems. If one or more with the three or four systems which each other and ensuring that systems fail it will bring uncertainty are eventually going to be there. each has a robust service. to the entire industry. Therefore we all need to help each other and What are the some of the What we would like to do with deliver what we say we can. problems Galileo has faced with China is come to a point where they respect to the frequencies and understand that it is in our joint Do you think eventually the focus signals vis-à-vis other systems? interest to find a solution to this will shift from having more systems compatibility issue. And, if possible, and satellites to improving the There have been two issues move further to a certain level of ones that are already there? related to the frequencies and interoperability because that is what signals with all the systems. One will benefit the users. If there is There are a number of elements is whether there is interference interoperability between the systems involved here. In the US, Russia and between the systems and a pure ITU the users can use all the systems and China these systems are primary (International Telecommunications draw the maximum benefit from them. driven by military interests. Galileo Union) frequency interference is the only system which is driven analysis can determine that. We Towards this we have an agreement by civil interests. Therefore for most have not had a problem with that. with the US in case of our open service nations some autonomy is for strategic with the GPS civil signal - both are now applications and thus the pressure to The second issue is more complicated coordinated and made interoperable. have independent systems will remain. and is related to the security As a result in the future there will be requirements which go with the single chipsets which will be able to If there are five systems and signals. The national security agencies receive both the constellations. The consequently a hundred fifty satellites would like to have the means to stop availability of positioning services around the world it might give the the signals if they are potentially for the user will increase with more illusion that we are over supplied. used for terrorist or related activities interoperable satellites in sight. However for military purposes each without causing problems to their own nation would use only its own system. governmental services. In case of the COMPASS started after Galileo For civil use it would be different but US this would be their military service. but its pace is much faster, what the question is how much we can We have got a detailed agreement impact does this have on Galileo? de-correlate civil and military use. with the US whereby we jointly protect the PRS signals and the encoded China does seem to have been It is still early to say what we can military signals on GPS. On this aspect quicker probably because their all do together on the civil side. We we have a problem with China. system has been developed within have made some headway with the their military structure. This is US and are trying to see whether we There are certain requirements that possibly somewhat easier than the can make our interoperability steps need to be fulfilled which China has political environment we have. with the others as well. Therefore chosen not to adhere to and this has it is not only a matter of looking shown to be a very complex discussion. China also seems to have the ambition at the civil side of things there The situation with China is unfortunate and the political interest to do it is a layer of politics involved.

Coordinates November 2010 | 9 Trimble® Nomad® G Series Handhelds

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Coordinates November 2010 | 11 LBS SAT-SURF: An innovative & flexible HW+SW platform to assist research The integration of navigation and communication functionalities is one of the key elements exploited in new location-based systems and services

Gianluca Falco NSS technologies are progressively market GPS and GSM/GPRS modules. PhD program, Gbecoming one of the key elements in The innovation of this platform Electronics and most of innovative wireless applications. resides in its flexibility, since it has Communication Most location-based services and systems been designed not for a GPS module Engineering, Politecnico are in fact employing standalone GPS, made by a single manufacturer, but it di Torino, Italy GPS+EGNOS (or WAAS), Assisted- is has been conceived with a multiple GPS and Differential GPS as core footprint (i.e. pinout of a GPS module) technologies. In order to support the of different GPS receivers. In detail, fast diffusion of such technologies, the current version of SAT-SURF can Fabrizio Dominici and in order to be ready for the Galileo mount the following five GPS modules: Project manager, innovations, companies and academy ISMB Navigation need to invest at the R&D level as • uBlox ANTARIS 4 GPS lab, Istituto Superio well as to train engineers, technicians module (DGPS compliant); Mario Boella, Italy and students on these subjects. For this purpose a novel platform has • uBlox 5 GPS module (OMA- been designed and developed by SUPL Assisted GPS compliant); the Navigation Signal Analysis and Simulation (NavSAS) group (research • Falcom JP13-LP GPS module lab in cooperation with Politecnico based on SiRFstarIII (low Gianluca Marucco di Torino and Istituto Superiore power consumption); Researcher, Istituto Mario Boella), focused on navigation Superio Mario Boella & localization research topics. • Falcom JP15 GPS module based on (ISMB), Italy SiRFstarIIx (DGPS compliant).

SAT-SURF/ER: A brief • SkyTraq Venus634LPx-T, a description of the system high-performance, low-power, precision timing GPS module. The new device is composed by SAT- Antonio Deﬁ na SURF, a hardware box integrating NAV/ SAT-SURF also allows to get the data Researcher, Istituto COM capabilities, and SAT-SURFER, from a remote receiver via TCP/IP Superio Mario Boella a software suite able to control and connection. In particular SAT-SURF (ISMB), Italy communicate with the hardware [1]. is capable of getting and logging data from all receivers supporting the A graphical image of the hardware/ Septentrio proprietary protocol called software device is depicted in Fig.1. Septentrio Binary Format (SBF).

The SAT-SURF hardware includes At time of writing, there is no components of the shelf, i.e. mass Evaluation Kit (EVK) in the market allowing the same degree of freedom.

SAT-SURFER is the software suite running on standard PC that gets and processes data from SAT-SURF (Fig.2).

SAT-SURFER uses the proprietary Fig. 1: SAT-SURF : view of the case (a) and of protocols (not only NMEA) of GPS the hardware board (b)

12 | Coordinates November 2010 modules to get all the available receiver to measure accelerations and angular SAT-SURF for research and parameters and raw measurements, in rates of the system that is monitoring. educational purposes addition to conventional positioning information. Such data are displayed in The supported IMUs implement The SAT-SURF and SAT-SURFER real time on a graphical user interface in three axes accelerometers, three axes features discussed in previous Section order to easily monitor satellites, signals, gyroscopes and, only on the Microstrain offer a wide range of potential type receiver and user’s position. The same models three axes magnetometers. of analysis and applications both for data are also logged with the related GPS Collected data are tagged using the education and research purposes. time stamp and stored in different file IMU internal clock, synchronized with formats (ASCII text files, MATLAB®, GPS (when it is required) and stored On an educational point of view some Microsoft Office Excel®, binary, RINEX in MS Excel, Matlab or text files. possible uses can be the following ones: 2/3, KML and NMEA) for easy post- processing and analysis purposes. The core of the SAT-SURFER is • practical training in the field of GNSS realized in managed C++ based on and communication technologies: in Such tool provides the possibility to .NET 2.0 and is able to control all the fact SAT-SURF and SAT-SURFER have a common interface towards other software modules, including the can be used in order to complement different GNSS receivers in order to data logging functionalities and several the necessary theoretical knowledge perform measurements and detailed drivers for each GPS receiver, for the giving to the students a practical analysis on a common set of data. GSM modem and for other advanced experience with real receivers; In particular considering the DGPS functionalities (e.g. AGPS, NTRIP technique, it is possible to get the DGPS, SISNeT, etc.). Each driver is • analysis of the evolution of different differential corrections as computed written in native C++ (unmanaged) signal and receiver parameters and by the base receiver through different allowing to a low level control of observables (including number of ways of connection (via COM, GPRS the connected hardware modules. satellite in view and used for the PVT or TCP). Furthermore in case of computation, C/N0, Doppler frequency TCP connection SAT-SURF is able An example of different SAT- shift, carrier phase, GDOP, ephemeris to connect to a Networked Transport SURFER configurations and parameters, ionospheric parameters, of RTCM via Internet Protocol settings is reported in Fig.3. satellite positions) versus GPS time and (NTRIP) caster to obtain the required corrections and store all the parameters according to the RTCM standard.

SAT-SURF is equipped with a GSM module in order to provide AGPS functionalities as well. The connection to the Assistance Server can be set via TCP or via GPRS by using the GPRS modem integrated within SAT-SURF. All the communication sessions between the two terminals (Assistance Server of the Base Station and SAT-SURF) are based on OMA-SUPL protocol.

Recently SAT-SURFER allows the user to collect data from three different external Inertial Measurement Units (Microstrain 3DM-GX2, Microstrain 3DM-GX3, and Crossbow IMU.). An Inertial Unit is able Fig. 2: Screenshot of SAT-SURFER Graphical Unit Interface (b) (a) (c)

Fig.3: An overview of different settings and conﬁ gurations of SAT-SURFER: Local Area Differential GPS (a), Assisted-GPS (b), Integration with external sensors: IMU (c).

Coordinates November 2010 | 13 in different environmental conditions [4]. By the combined use of SAT- are that the INS estimates be corrected (e.g. outdoor vs light-indoor); SURF and a signal generator we have by the GPS estimates and that the INS tested two mass-market GPS receivers can provide position and angle updates • implementation and performance and a professional one [5]. The final at a quicker rate than GPS. For high validation of PVT computation acquisition sensitivity values are then dynamic vehicles such as missiles and strategies using raw pseudorange compared with respect to the parameters aircraft, INS estimates can interpolate measurements and reliable comparison reported on their data sheets (Fig.6) between GPS estimates. The two of positioning performances. systems are complementary and are • The benefits of a GPS/INS integration often employed together. Numerous At the same time, SAT-SURF represents a valid and effective instrument to be used by researchers which can give the possibility to store a huge amount of raw data and satellite parameters as well as to simplify the analysis in post- processing. At the time of writing SAT- SURF has been successfully exploited in several research experiments. The most remarkable ones are cited in the following part of the section: Fig.4:SAT_SURF as a tool aimed at GNSS education: sky plot of satellite in visibility (a), number of • Since there is not a clear-cut answer satellite in ﬁ x and in view respectively with the related value of GDOP (b) on the corrections update rate effect, the aforementioned device has been used to investigate how the time interval between a correction set and the following affects the positioning. Several tests both in static and dynamic mode have been run 2-4 hours long in different times of the day order to have exhaustive results [3]. For each of these trials four SAT-SURFs Fig.5: 3D-Error evaluation for different DGPS correction rate in Stationary Condition (a) and in a dynamic Open Sky scenario (b). running in parallel were used and set to receive DGPS corrections with rates of 1, 15, 30 and 59 seconds. Results are plotted in Fig.5.

• One parameter that characterizes the performance of a GPS receiver is represented by the Acquisition Sensitivity that corresponds to the minimum power level a receiver is able to correctly identify a satellite signal Fig.6: Acquisition sensitivity (b) evaluated in cold start condition for different GPS modules (a).

(a) (b) (c)

Fig.7: Loosely Coupled performance: position (a), velocity( b) and Euler Angles (c).

14 | Coordinates November 2010 approaches are possible for the the interchange of GPS assistance Reference integration of GPS and INS estimates data is the so called OMA-SUPL to provide a combined navigation [8] (Open Mobile Alliance – Secure • Sat-Surf website: www. solution. Differences between the User Plane Location). Specific tests navsas.ismb.it/sat-surf. various approaches are based on the in the field of Assisted-GPS proved type of information that is shared the capabilities and flexibility of the • 3GPP Technical Specification between the individual systems. tool highlighting interesting features TS 44.031. There are two main categories of in the use of aiding over embedded integration approaches: loosely systems. For example we have run • G.Falco, F. Dominici, G.Marucco, coupled (LC) and tightly coupled trials based on the architecture as F.Dovis, “A study of DGPS (TC). The first method uses GPS depicted in Fig.8a where the SET is performance in case of limited position and velocity measurements in an embedded system (SAT-SURF) bandwidth availability”, a Kalman filter that models INS error controlled by a SW tool (SAT- Proceedings, ION GNSS 2008, dynamics. The second (?) approach SURFER) that acts as SUPL agent and Savannah International Convention uses GPS estimates of Pseudoranges data logger[9]. The experiments have Center, Savannah, Georgia, and Doppler (determined by using shown the benefits of the assistance September 22-25, 2009. satellite ephemeris data) and inertial in terms of TTFF (Time to First Fix) estimates within a Kalman filter. By as well as of accuracy and sensitivity • A.Mitelman, M. Reidevall, the use of SAT-SURF that collects for an indoor scenario (Fig.8b) S.Strickland “Apples to Apples- raw IMU data synchronized with the Standardized Testing for High- GPS a loosely and tightly performance Sensitivity Receivers”, GPS World has been investigated. In Fig.7 an Conclusions (pp 26 - 33), January 2008. example of loosely coupled GPS/ INS integration is shown [6]. In this paper a novel NAV/COM platform • G.Falco, G.Marucco, A.Defina, for research and educational purposes F.Dovis, “A Comparative • The integration of navigation and has been introduced, presenting in Sensitivity Analysis of GPS communication functionalities is detail the hardware (SAT-SURF) and Receivers, ENC GNSS 2009, one of the key elements exploited the software (SAT-SURFER) feature Napoli, Italy, May 3-6, 2009. in new location-based systems and and also showing some examples of services. The Assisted-GNSS is a applications. The examples described • G.Falco, G.Einecke, J.T.Malos, strategy based on such integration in the paper have stressed once again F.Dovis, “Performance analysis delivering through the COM how the new device offers a high range of Constrained Loosely channel assistance parameters[7]. of flexibility and how it can be a strong Coupled GPS/INS Integration The most recent architecture for support for different research topics. Solution”, International Global Navigation Satellite System s Society Ignss Symposium 2009, Surfers Paradise (QLD), Australia, December 1-3, 2009.

• F.van Diggelen, “A-GPS: Assisted GPS”, GNSS, and SBAS, Artech House Publishers, March 2009.

• UserPlane Location Protocol, OMA-TS-ULP-V1_0- (a) 20070122-C, V1.0, 22/01/2007.

• P. Mulassano, F. Dominici, A. Defina, “Assisted-GNSS performances on embedded systems solutions”, International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Society IGNSS Symposium 2009, Surfers Paradise (QLD), Australia, (b) (c) December 1-3, 09. Fig.8: AGPS setup (a), Accuracy performance in case of an Open Sky and Indoor Scenario with and without Assistance (b), (c).

Coordinates November 2010 | 15 NAVIGATION The implementation of a simulation platform for INS/GNSS integrated systems

Readers may recall that in last issue we published the components of INS/GNSS simulation platform and principle of the simulator. Here we present the results and discussion

Chih-Yu Hu Results and discussions Filter tuning Department of Geomatics, National Some numerical examples are given in this Some initial knowledge are required Cheng Kung section to illustrate the applicability and to start a Kalman filter, such as state University, Taiwan capability of proposed simulation platform. transition matrix (Fk,k-1), design matrix

All the simulation scenarios are conducted (Hk), noise coefficient matrix (Gk-1), with the specification of a tactical system noise covariance matrix (Q) and grade IMU with 0.0001g accelerometer measurement noise covariance matrix Meng-Lung Tsai bias and 0.75 deg/hr gyro drift. (R). Among them, the Q and R matrices Department of are the most important factors for the Geomatics, National Assume that DGPS measurements is quality of the Kalman filter estimation Cheng Kung undertaking so that the standard deviation for an INS/GPS integrated system. University, Taiwan of position solutions from GNSS are considered 0.5m. Besides, 4 periods of Theoretically, the optimal Q and R GNSS outage (no visible satellite) which matrices can guarantee the optimal last 60 seconds are designed to verify the estimation; however, it is not easy Kai-Wei Chiang performance of the optimal estimation to obtain such information. In fact, Department of engine. The RTS smoother is implemented tuning optimal Q and R matrices can be Geomatics, National in both Loosely-Coupled and Tightly- time consuming and it requires strong Cheng Kung coupled architectures, respectively. The experience and background in both University, Taiwan trajectory is generated by the trajectory systems. Consequently, the requirement generator. The maximum speed in straight of human interference for Q/R tuning line is about 60 km/hr. Simulation time last is very high. In other words, the tuning 24.7 minutes. All the navigation solutions process can be regarded as a special form are compared to “true” data to verify the of learning process as it is usually done by performance of the estimation algorithms experienced people and it needs a period

Fig 15: Well-tuning KF Fig 17: Result of Loosely-coupled with good GNSS

Fig 16: Improper Q matrix Fig 18: 300s GNSS outage

16 | Coordinates November 2010 of time to obtain the optimal solution that to use the sets of parameters that are GNSS outages. Table 2 illustrates the might not even exist. The requirement designated for navigation grade IMU RMS values of positional errors during of prior knowledge is not a burden; for the estimation utilizing tactical grade simulated GNSS outages for EKF however, how to obtain correct and IMUs. By using the proposed simulation and RTS smoother, respectively. useful knowledge is, for example, tuning platform, user can appreciate the filter optimal Q and R matrices for Kalman tuning process using various “pseudo” Table 2 RMS in GNSS outage filter processing is time consuming and IMUs with different accuracies. In this (Loosely-Coupled only) frustrating unless it is done by experts. case, it can be used as a tool to train people how to tune the Q matrix theoretically Outage 1 2 3 4 EKF-RMS 1.51m 0.66m 0.67m 1.37m This simulator provides an easy way according to the grade of IMU selected RTS_RMS 0.28m 0.13m 0.08m 0.15m to understanding the behavior while without actually getting a pricy IMU and tuning the matrix. Figures 15 and 16 conducting time consuming filed tests. illustrate the results with well-tuned and The comparison between improper Q matrices, respectively. tightly coupled EKF and RTS The comparison between It clearly sees that when GNSS outage loosely coupled EKF and RTS The number of satellite in view is an occurs the INS performance with interesting problem when the tightly impropriety Q will cause position Figure 17 illustrates the results of the coupled integration architecture is error growing faster than a fitter one. commonest INS/GNSS integrated implemented. Figure 20 illustrates the There are four GNSS outage assign to architecture. The RMS of positional performance of the tightly coupled the simulation. Each of them lasts 60 errors is 0.4013m. No GNSS architecture when no GNSS outages occur. seconds. The maximum position error outage is simulated in this case. The RMS of positional error is 0.4754m, in GNSS outage can reach about 26m which is similar to the result of the loosely and its RMS is 11.4987m as shown in Figure 18 compares the results of EKF and couple architecture, as shown in Figure 17. Figure 16. Comparing to well-tuning Q, RTS smoother with a segment of simulated the maximum of position error is only GNSS outage with 5 minutes in length. When degraded GNSS coverage occurs, about 2.6m and its RMS is 1.508m. .The RMS of positional error arises to the advantage of tightly-coupled appears. 8.78m. On the contrary, The RTS smoother Figure 21 illustrates the situation of The need to re-design algorithms based on did a great job compensating the state degrading GNSS coverage. When the the Kalman filter (i.e., states) to operate vector during GNSS outage. Therefore, number of satellites becomes less than adequately and efficiently on every the position RMS after using RTS 4, the tightly coupled architecture can new platform (application) or different smoother can be reduced to 0.83m. The still provide reasonable position solution. systems (i.e., switch from navigation improvement in term of positional error Figure 22 illustrates the performance grade IMU to tactical grade IMUs) can after applying RTS smoother reaches 90%. of tightly coupled architecture during be very costly. In addition, the Q and frequent GNSS outages. The above figure R matrices tuning is heavily system Figure 19 illustrates the performance of indicates the performance when there is dependent. For example, it is impossible EKF and RTS smoother during frequent no GNSS signal available and lower one illustrates the variation of the satellite in view. Table 3 illustrates the RMS values of the positional error during each GNSS outage. With no satellite in view during those GNSS outages, the performances of loosely coupled and tightly coupled architectures are quite the similar, see Tables 2 and 3 for comparison.

Fig 19: Four 60s GNSS outage Fig 21: Tightly-Coupled with GNSS Degradation Table 3 RMS in GNSS outage (Tightly-Coupled only)

Outage 1 2 3 4 RMS-EKF 1.42m 0.42m 0.81m 0.99m RMS-RTS 0.18m 0.08m 0.09m 0.10m

Figure 23 compares the performance using EKF and RTS smoother, respectively. The RMS values of positional error after applying RTS smoother is given in Table 3. Fig 20: Tightly-Coupled with well-condition GNSS Fig 22: Tightly-Coupled in GNSS outage

Coordinates November 2010 | 17 The comparison between by loosely coupled and tightly Acknowledments loosely coupled and coupled integration architecture. tightly coupled EKF The authors would like to acknowledge It will become easier in studying INS/ the financial support by the National After discussing the performance GNSS integration algorithm and Kalman Science Council of the Executive of loosely coupled/tightly coupled Filter arguments tuning through the Yuan, ROC (Taiwan) (NSC 95- EKF and RTS smoothers, Figure 24 simulator. Without expensive hardware, 2221-E-006 -335 -MY2). illustrates the performance between the it totally composes of software thus loosely coupled and tightly coupled the system becomes more fixable. Not EKF when degraded GNSS coverage only in study but also the result of References occurs. While received GNSS signal simulation also can be the principle of become less than 4 satellites, the IMU purchase. User can easy create • Bennour, Z., Landry, R. Jr., loosely coupled EKF can’t provide a varied environment where desired Giroux, R. Constantinescu, A., integrated navigation solution but the IMU is expected to work. Then through and Gavidia, G. (2005). Web- tightly coupled EKF still work properly simulation, the adaptive IMU can be Based MEMS Inertial Navigation till there is no satellite available. selected. In the future, not only in the Simulator, ION 61st Annual high demand of accuracy in mapping Meeting 2005, Cambridge, MA Figure 25 illustrates a conceptual plot or low-cost navigation for personal concerning the impact of the RTS use, this simulator can provide precise • Brown R.G. and Hwang smoother on the positioning error in simulation as possible. To reach all P.Y.C. (1992): Introduction to case of a GPS outage. As illustrated in kind of demands, the estimation random signals, John Wiley Figure 25, the use of RTS smoother is process engine is implemented to and Sons, New York, 1992. able to remove the residual errors of KF process real measurement as well. significantly; however, some residual • Chiang, K.W.(2004). INS/GPS errors still remain. It can be seen that the Integration Using Neural Networks proposed INS/GNSS simulation platform for Land Vehicular Navigation can not only emulate measurements Applications, Department of for advanced algorithms research but Geomatics Engineering, The provide optimal estimation engine for University of Calgary, Calgary, investigating some practical issues Canada, UCGE Report 20209. concerning the development of INS/ GNSS integration algorithm. Therefore, • El-Sheimy, N. (2004) Inertial it is a cost effective tool not only for Fig 23: Tightly-Coupled and RTS Techniques and INS/DGPS research but for education as well. It Integration, ENGO 623 becomes easier in studying INS/GNSS lecture notes, Department of integration algorithm and Kalman Geomatics Engineering, The Filter arguments tuning through the University of Calgary. simulator. Without experience hardware, it totally composes of software thus • Gelb A (1974) Applied Optimal the system becomes more fixable. Estimation. MIT Press, Cambridge, England.

Conculsions • Schwarz, K.P. and M. Wei. Fig 24: Loosely-Coupled and Tightly-Coupled in (2001). INS/GPS integration for This study exploits a complete INS/ GNSS degradation Geomatics. Lecture Notes for GNSS simulation platform. Its ENGO623, Department of Geomatics architecture includes trajectory generator Engineering, the University of which can generate all kind of trajectory Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. by user defined. Measurement generator created IMU and GNSS measurements • Titterton, D. H. and Weston, J. L. according to the user designed path (1997): Strapdown Inertial Navigation data and senor error model. Estimator Technology, Peter Peregrinus Ltd. has two different data process strategy, feedforward which suit for high grade • Yang, Y., El-Sheimy, N., Goodall, IMU and feedback for tactical grade C., and Niu, X. (2007) IMU or MEMS IMU. Besides, The EKF Signal Software Simulator, ION and RTS smoother are implemented Fig 25: The impact of RTS smoother on positional NTM 2007, San Diego, CA error during outage

18 | Coordinates November 2010 Coordinates November 2010 | 19 20 | Coordinates November 2010 Coordinates November 2010 | 21 22 | Coordinates November 2010 Coordinates November 2010 | 23 24 | Coordinates November 2010 Coordinates November 2010 | 25 26 | Coordinates November 2010 GEODESY Numerical simulations of the optimal geodetic conditions with radioastron The feasibility for the estimation of EOPs has been investigated, then appropriate number of stations and epochs for the estimation of parameters have been analyzed

Erhu WEI pace Very Long Baseline axis and its rotation speed, and the Earth’s PhD, Professor, School of SInterferometry (SVLBI) is the gravity field and its time variations), well- Geodesy and Geomatics, unique space technology that can directly defined, highly accurate and stable global the Key Laboratory of interconnect the three reference systems, Earth-fixed and celestial reference frames Geospace Environment which include the Conventional Inertial are of primary importance. Over the last and Geodesy, Ministry System (CIS) fixed in space and defined decade considerable changes took place of Education, Wuhan by radio sources, the Conventional in space geodesy: the accuracy of the University, China Terrestrial System (CTS) fixed to space geodetic techniques has improved the Earth and defined by a series of dramatically up to 10-9 for geometric Sándor FREY observing stations on the ground, and geodesy, Earth rotation and gravity field astronomer the dynamic reference system defined measurement. Many new missions are PhD Institute of Geodesy, by the movement of a satellite. In this being prepared, planned, or on-going. Cartography and Remote paper, the Space VLBI mathematical All these developments pose new and Sensing (FOMI), Satellite model with notation parameters, and its demanding challenges concerning the Geodetic Observatory feasibility for estimation of EOPs are consistency and accuracy of the three Budapest, Hungary discussed. Simulations have been done pillars and thus better-defined, more for the SVLBI observations and related accurate and stable global Earth-fixed parameters for RADIOASTRON. With and celestial reference frames are crucial Peilai ZHOU the results of the simulation, the feasibility to meet these challenges. As a new and engineer, Xiuzhou for the estimation of EOPs has been rapidly developing technique, SVLBI District Branch, The investigated, then appropriate number has tremendous potentials in geodetic Bureau of Land and of stations and epochs for the estimation research. SVLBI can not only directly Resources Jiaxing, of parameters have been analyzed. interconnect the above two reference Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China frames by determining the 5 Earth orientation parameters (EOPs) which Introduction include 3 Earth rotation parameters Jingnan LIU (xp,yp,θk ) and 2 nutation parameters (ΔΨ, professor, Academician For all the three pillars of space geodesy Δε), but also it can be used to avoid or of CAE (P.R. China), (the geometry of the Earth surface and its examine the systematic errors made by GNSS Center,Wuhan displacements, the orientation of the Earth the other co-located multi-techniques. University, China Following the VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) of Japan, another Space VLBI mission, called RADIOASTRON, is being planned by Russia with international collaboration for a launch as early as 2010. The two VLBI observatories in Urumqi and Shanghai of China may participate in the observations.

However the present and foreseeable practical realizations of SVLBI are driven by astrophysical goals. Also, with VSOP observations, the geodetic test result by Frey et al. (2002) showed that it was difficult for VSOP to improve

Fig 1 Geometric Figure of Ground-Space Baseline Coordinates November 2010 | 27 the precision of the determination of to connect the terrestrial coordinate source are transformed to the real celestial EOPs with the astrophysical observation system and the celestial coordinate coordinate system at the moment tk by conditions. So, it is necessary to determine system. In order to improve this model, Eq.(3), which solves the transformation the optimal observing conditions,so that Erhu Wei et al. (2008a) has derived a between the conventional celestial system RADIOASTRON can be used to improve new SVLBI observation model, which and the real celestial coordinate system the precision of the determination of EOPs. contained the nutation parameters in the observation. So, all coordinates and can be expressed as Eq. (3). in the model are united in the same In this paper, the modified SVLBI reference frame for the next derivation. mathematical model with the EOPs is introduced. The possibility of the model Estimable parameters for estimating EOPs has been theoretically studied by Erhu Wei (2008a), and the (3) In the mathematical model, there are estimable parameter sequence has been three coordinates of a station on the extracted too. Based on these results, the ground, three coordinates of the satellite, SVLBI observations and the values of Where two coordinates of a radio source, three related parameters for RADIOASTRON parameters of the Earth rotation, two are simulated in this paper. According Xj , Yj and Zj are the CTS coordinates of nutation parameters, and the clock I I I to the simulated parameters, a matrix the observing station, X K ,Y K and Z K parameters. So the estimated parameters A of observation equation will be are the true-of-date celestial coordinates in the model can be listed in Eq.(6) I designed to discuss the validity of the of satellite S at moment tK , αl and δl modified model for estimating different are the mean right ascension and mean (6) EOPs. Finally, the effect of the number declination of radio source l at the of stations, the number of observation moment tK with precession corrections; In order to investigate the estimability epochs and the observation interval on of the parameters above, Erhu the precision of the EOPs is studied, xp , yp and θk are Earth rotation parameters; Wei et al. (2008b) has derived the and the conclusions are presented. analytic expression of Eq.(3), and φ) Ri( is the rotation matrix around its differential equation Eq.(7), axis i (Φ is the rotation angle); Mathematical Model (7) c is the speed of light;

Geometric Model Where Cx is the partial derivative with

t0 is the beginning observing moment; respect to the parameter. In this paper, the I In the network of SVLBI, B j (tk) is the coefficient matrix A is formed according baseline between the space-based radio ΔCI and ΔCI are the clock error to Eq.(3) and Eq.(7) and the simulation 0rj lrj telescope SI and ground-based radio and clock drift between the reference I I telescope Pj at the time tk , τ jkl and τ˙ jkl are clock at the monitor station and respectively the delay and delay rate clock Pj at the observing station. observations of the radio signal between SI and P (Figure 1). So, the ground-space N is the nutation matrix , which can j baseline observation with clock parameters be expressed as Eq.(4) and Eq.(5) can be expressed by Eq.(1) and Eq.(2). (4)

(1) (5)

Fig. 2 Effect of Number of Stations on xp,yp and (2) dUT

Where ε is the mean obliquity of the

Where el is the unit vector of the orientation ecliptic, Δψ and Δε are respectively the of the radio source l, ΔCI and ΔCI are nutation in longitude and the nutation 0rj lrj clock parameters, c is the speed of light, in obliquity. In Eq.(3), the systematic t0 is the beginning observing moment. effect of clock is naturalized in the geometric time delay observation by Adam (1990) has derived the mathematical modeling with 1st-order polynomial. model of ground-space VLBI time delay observation, in which there are On the other hand, the coordinates of no nutation parameters that are used the ground station, satellite and radio

Fig. 3 Effect of Number of Stations on Nutation 28 | Coordinates November 2010 Parameters GNSS antenna

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Coordinates November 2010 | 29 of the conditions of RADIOASTRON epoch contains only one radio source. In (12) observations. Then, the effect of the experiment, 9 radio sources are used in each parameter in Eq.(3) is analyzed order to improve the space distribution of by designing different matrix A. the observation and enhance the visibility In this paper, only the sensitivity of of the ground stations and the satellite Model for Sensitivity Analysis EOPs will be investigated, and all the antenna to the same radio source at the other parameters are assumed known or same epoch. The configuration range of The adjustment is necessary for the time fixed. The precision of EOPs is studied other parameters is shown in Table 3. delay observation because the number by designing different matrix A. of the SVLBI observations is very large. Effect of the Number of Stations The least squares adjustment is adopted here, and the observation equation Numerical Tests In order to analyze the effect of the is derived from Eq.(3) and Eq.(7), increase of observing ground stations which can be expressed as Eq.(8). Data for the Numerical Tests on the estimated EOPs, the number of observation epochs will be fixed as 10000, (8) From the analysis above, only the value the observation interval will be fixed as of matrix A needs to be calculated. 1 min and the number of stations will Where A is the coefficient matrix formed So only the approximation of the be increased from 3 to 42 by the step of by partial derivation Cx, v is the error parameters mentioned in Eq.(12) needs 3. The results are shown in Fig. 2 and vector, x is the vector of unknown to be simulated. The coordinates of Fig. 3. It can be seen that the precision parameters. According to the variance- radio source, approximation of EOPs of each parameter is improved. covariance propagation law, the variance- were found from the IERS Website in covariance matrix can be written as Eq.(9). Oct.2008. And the Orbit parameters The RMS of xp decreases from 0.0363 mas

for RADIOASTRON were found from to 0.0098 mas, the RMS of yp decreases (9) Website RADIASTRON in Oct.2008. from 0.0365 mas to 0.0092 mas, and With the prior value of these parameters, for nutation parameters, the RMS of Δψ So, it is possible to estimate variance the partial derivative coefficient can be decreases from 0.0423 mas to 0.0317 mas, D by designing different matrix A and calculated and matrix A can be formed. In the RMS of Δε decreases from 0.0277 mas assigning a priori weight matrix P to the simulation, some necessary parameters the observation or a priori value to the are listed in Table 1 and Table 2. variance of unit weight σ0. In this paper,

P is the unit matrix, and the value of σ0 is During the simulation, the number of radio obtained from the precision of time delay sources is not changed. Each observation observation, which is assumed to be 1 ns. Satellite orbital elements In the paper, the estimates of variance initial epoch (MJD) 54748.0 of EOPs are considered. So A is a (km) 189000.0 divided into two parts as Eq.(10). Eccentricity 0.8 T (d) 9.50 (10) i (º) 51.6 Table 1 Orbit parameters for RADIOASTRON

In Eq.(10), the matrix A1 contains the Fig 4. Effect of Observation Epochs on x ,y and partial derivative of EOPs, while A RADIO Right ascension Declination p p 2 SOURCE (h m s) (°) dUT contains the partial derivative of other 1753+183 17 55 59.717551 18 20 21.77756 parameters, and the prior weight matrix 0212+735 2 17 30.813363 73 49 32.62176 P is assigned according to the precision 2 2007+777 20 05 30.998519 77 52 43.24761 of these parameters, such as station 1807+698 18 06 50.680650 69 49 28.10852 coordinates, radio source coordinates 0003+380 0 05 57.175409 38 20 15.14857 and so on. So the normal equation 0923+392 9 27 03.013916 39 02 20.85195 matrix is expressed as Eq.(11). 1404+286 14 07 0.394410 28 27 14.68998 0552+398 5 55 30.805608 39 48 49.16500 (11) 1641+399 16 42 58.809951 39 48 36.99395 Table 2 Coordinates of radio sources According to the inverse of matrix N and variance- covariance Parameter value propagation law, the variance matrix Number of observation epochs 300-9000 Sampling interval (min) 0.5-9 of EOPs is derived as Eq.(12) Fig 5. Effect of Observation Epochs on Nutation Number of stations 3-42 Parameters Table 3 Parameter conﬁ guration 30 | Coordinates November 2010 to 0.0138 mas. On the other hand, the RMS 0.027 1mas to 0.0103 mas. On the other a large angle in the sky. However, the of dUT doesn’t change quickly. It is about hand, the RMS of dUT doesn’t change above simulation results will have great 0.033 ms. According to the figure, it can quickly. It is about 0.11 ms. As shown reference to the use of RADIOASTRON be seen that the change of the estimated in the figure, there is no substantial gain satellite for geodetic research. parameters’ precision is sharp in the in the precision of estimated parameters beginning, but then tends to ease with the after about 3000 observation epochs. increase of the number of stations. Hence it Acknowledgements can be concluded that the optimum number Effect of Observation Interval of observing ground stations is about 27. This research is funded by the In this experiment, the number of stations national ‘863 Project’ of China (No. Effect of Observation Epochs is 24, the number of radio sources is 9 and 2008AA12Z308), the National Natural the number of observation epochs is 1000. Science Foundation of China (No. The results of the effect of the number The observation interval is changed from 40974003), the national ‘973 Project’ of observation epochs on the estimated 0.5 min to 9 min. The results are shown in of China (No. 2006CB701301), and parameters are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. According to the figure, the project of education and research of 5. During the experiment, the number of the effect of observation interval is similar Wuhan University (No. 20053039). stations is fixed as 24, the observation to the effect of the number of stations interval is fixed as 1 min, the number of and the number of observation epochs. radio sources is 9 and the observation The RMS of xp falls from 0.0343 mas References epochs are increased from 300 to 9000. It to 0.0277 mas, the RMS of yp falls from is clear from the figure that the precision 0.0299 mas to 0.0202 mas; for nutation • Ádám J. (1990): Estimability of Geodetic of the estimated parameters is improved parameters, the RMS of Δψ falls from Parameters from Space VLBI Observables, with the increase of observation epochs. 0.0388 mas to 0.0360 mas, the RMS of Ph. D. thesis, Ohio: The Ohio State University The RMS of xp decreases from 0.0424 mas Δε falls from 0.0232 mas to 0.0181 mas, to 0.093 mas, the RMS of yp decreases and the precision of dUT doesn’t have an • Kulkarni M.N. (1992): A Feasibility Study of from 0.0379 mas to 0.081 mas, the RMS of obvious change. The effect of observation Space VLBI for Geodesy & Geodynamics, Ph. Δψ decreases from 0.0434 mas to 0.0259 interval on the precision of estimated D. thesis, Ohio: The Ohio State University mas and the RMS of Δεdecreases from parameters is not obvious until observation intervals are greater than 1 min. • Erhu Wei, Jingnan Liu, Wei Yan (2008a): On the Space VLBI Mathematical Model with Nutation Parameters[J]. The 5th IVS Disscussions General Meeting Proceedings, 455–460.

According to the results above, it can be • WEI Erhu, LIU Jingnan, et al. (2008b): concluded that the optimum number of On the Estimability of Geodetic system parameters could be 27 observing Parameters with Space-ground and Space- stations, 3000 observation epochs and space VLBI Observations. Proceedings 1 min observation interval, which are of SPIE 2008.12:72851Q-1-9 propitious to improve the precision of EOPs estimated with the SVLBI • WEI Erhu (2006): Research on the observation from RADIOASTRON. Designment of Chinese Space VLBI Fig 6. Effect of Observation Interval on xp, yp and dUT System and Computation Simulation, We must stress, however, that these are Ph. D. thesis, Wuhan University simulated results. In fact the present and foreseeable practical realizations • Frey S., Meyer U., Fejes I., Paragi Z., Charlot of SVLBI are driven by astrophysical P., Biancale R. (2002): Geodetic space goals. The realistic observing setups VLBI: the first test observations. Advances for RADIOASTRON will be far from in Space Research, Vol 30., 357-361 making possible to reach the optimum parameters as determined above. For • Cui Xizhang, Tao Benzao (2001): example, the satellite will most likely General Surveying Adjustment[M]. observe together with a small network of Wuhan University Press (Wuhan) ground radio telescopes (3-5 stations). Due to technical limitations, the pointing • http://hpiers.obspm.fr/icrs-pc/ of the space-based radio antenna (i.e. the attitude of the massive satellite) cannot • http://www.asc.rssi.ru/ra dioastron/index.htm Fig 7. Effect of Observation Interval on Nutation be changed quickly enough and over Parameters

Coordinates November 2010 | 31 IN FOCUS Until next time…

After the euphoria over the successful Chile mine rescue it is time to analyse the incident and ponder on the lessons learned

ines and accidents have been It was only with the help of a 3D In the weeks that the rescue operation took Mintertwined since time immemorial. representation of the labyrinth of shape the trapped miners were put on a But the Chile mining accident has underground shafts, generated by a team strict regime to keep them fit physically become a watershed. Not because of the from Maptek, that possible ‘refuge’ and mentally. Three grapefruit sized accident itself - this was no different from locations of the missing miners were boreholes became their points of contact the many that have taken place across zeroed on. The Maptek team also helped with the outside world and their means the world over the years. It is a pivotal to design the direction and orientation of survival. All material was exchanged point for the response it invoked and of the exploratory boreholes that were with them through a borehole in five for focussing the attention of the world drilled to try and locate the miners. foot long capsules nicknamed ‘palomas’ on issues related to mining safety. meaning doves. Here again technology On the 22nd of August 2010 the drill bit enabled the rescuers to design in miniature The miners are safe now and the of the eighth borehole came back up with form or redesign everything that was Chilean President Sebastián Piñera a message from below - “We’re alright needed by the men trapped below. said they were rescued with “unity, in the shelter, the 33 of us”. After an faith and hope”. Another important agonising 17 days it was finally confirmed ingredient of the whole rescue drama that all the 33 mines were alive. The euphoria was technology - without which all other factors would have been helpless. Operación San Lorenzo or Operation Fast forward scenario St. Lawrence (named after the patron saint of miners) to retrieve the miners Modelling the labyrinth In the future technology using advanced began on the 12th of October 2010. The sensors and beacons could help pinpoint mine’s shift supervisor at the time of Every obstacle, every challenge in the location of trapped miners almost the accident, Luis Urzúa was the last of the 69 day ordeal was overcome with immediately after an accident. Sensors the 33 miners to come out. President the help of technology. Equipment, could also help the drills to navigate Piñera personally covered the rescue shaft expertise and experts from around directly to the refuge locations and would to signal the close of the operation. the world worked together round not have to depend on outdated maps. the clock on the rescue mission. Robots and escape vehicles fitted with sensors would be able to negotiate through Until next time When the main shaft of the Copiapó smoke and gas to reach survivors. mine in San José collapsed on the 5th of Kelvin Brown from Perth based Reflex August 2010 it was uncertain how many Instruments who was part of the rescue men were trapped inside the mine. Next The hard reality team has been quoted saying - “Only day the count of missing men was pegged a matter of time before another mine at 33, though their fate was unknown. In the present it took weeks to drill an disaster”. It is not just our mines, all around escape tunnel. Three teams worked with us there are disasters ‘waiting’ to happen. different drilling equipment on three It is our preparedness and response to plans - A, B and C. It was the Schramm each disaster that will determine the final T130XD used by the Plan B team that outcome - happy or fatal. The keyword first reached the trapped miners with therefore seems to be ‘preparedness’ - its widened shaft on the 9th of October plan for the worst and hope for the best. 2010. It took another two days to put in place the winch and pulley system that This article has been written with the help would operate the rescue pod Fénix 2. of information available on the internet. The NASA engineers and Chilean Navy The author would especially like to had custom built three pods for the acknowledge - Wikipedia, TechNewsDaily, rescue, eventually only one was used. Maptek and WA News. – Shubhra Kingdang

A Vulcan 3D model was the basis for accurately targeting32 | Coo rdtheina tlocationes November of the 2010 miners trapped underground. (courtesy - www.maptek.com) Coordinates November 2010 | 33 NEWS GPS

Air Force rebuts auditor’s GPS concerns signal (*1) from the L1-SAIF antenna (*2) point positioning accuracy of 5 meters of the MICHIBIKI started after turning on and DGPS accuracy of 1 to 3 meters A report from the Government the onboard positioning mission devices. using SBAS signals.www.sokkia.com Accountability Office, the investigative During the verification Non Standard arm of Congress, said the latest GPS Code (NSC) is being used. www.jaxa.jp satellite was launched almost 3½ years Compass/Beidou-2 Signal products behind schedule, and further delays could leave the system with fewer Broadcom supports QZSS OlinkStar Co. Ltd. has moved than the 24 orbiting satellites it needs into the marketplace with a line of as older models wear out and stop Broadcom’s single-chip GPS solution GNSS products that can use signals working. Col. David Buckman of the for mobile devices supports the new currently being transmitted by some Air Force Space Command at Peterson Quasi-Zenith Satellite System by Japan. of the five Beidou-2 satellites already Air Force Base said the report’s facts The BCM4751 solution has built-in on orbit. www.olinkstar.com were correct, but “we think it draws support for QZSS and also supports overly pessimistic conclusions based additional satellite constellations on those facts.” Buckman said satellites including the SBAS making as many as 51% control of GLONASS by Sistema currently in the design or construction nine additional satellites available for phase are on schedule, and the Air Force use in navigation. www.broadcom.com Sistema plans to acquire 51% of has 31 healthy, operational satellites Navigation Information Systems, in orbit. http://durangoherald.com operator of Glonass, for as much as $16 Rockwell Collins completes Formal million from its units OAO Sitronics Qualiﬁ cation Testing and OAO Concern RTI Systems by the CellGuide introduces HiMap end of the year, the company said. “The Rockwell Collins has completed two development of the Glonass project and CellGuide HiMap technology for precision milestones in the Modernized User the commercialization of its services urban positioning now commercially Equipment (MUE) receiver development are among the top state priorities,” the available for CellGuide’s ACLYS chip, program. It completed Ground-Based company said. www.bloomberg.com ACLYS IP Core, and GPSense engine. It GPS Receiver Application Module- is also available for licensing as an add-on Military-code (GB-GRAM-M) receiver to GNSS receiver manufacturers. HiMap formal qualification testing and delivered Raytheon completes GPS OCX improves GNSS navigation performance receiver cards to support Air Force Integrated Baseline Review in urban canyons. www.cell-guide.com GPS Wing developmental testing. It has also acquired and maintained track Raytheon team, developing the next- of the M-code signal being broadcast generation GPS Advanced Control GPS chips in rhino horns from the first GPS Block IIF series Segment (OCX) successfully completed on satellite in orbit using the GB-GRAM-M schedule an integrated baseline review with South African rangers plan to implant receiver. www.rockwellcollins.com the U.S. Air Force. The contract represents GPS devices in the horns of rhinos in a the first two development blocks of the new effort to combat rampant poaching. advanced control segment, which will have The GPS chips link up to a computer N Korea jamming GPS signals: S Korea a significant impact on GPS capabilities. monitoring station where park rangers The OCX system will include anti- track the rhinos. An alarm signal North Korea’s ability to jam GPS signals jam capabilities and improved security, activates if the rhino lies inert for longer presents a new threat, one that Seoul is accuracy and reliability and will be based than is deemed normal, or becomes working to deal with, according to Kim on a modern service-oriented architecture unusually active. news.yahoo.com Tae-young, Defense Minister, South Korea. to integrate government and industry open- “We have an intelligence report that says system standards. www.raytheon.com North Korea can jam GPS signals within MICHIBIKI transmits L1-SAIF signal 50- 100kilometer radius,” the minister said. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr SPACEBEL will help Europe navigate JAXA has been conducting the initial functional verification of “MICHIBIKI,” Spacebel has been selected by OHB- including its attitude control and Sokkia releases the new data collectors System AG in Germany, the prime communications systems, and satellite contractor for the first 14 satellites of the bus. The functions of the attitude control Sokkia has added two new models - Galileo constellation, to develop the on and communications systems have been the SHC25 and SHC25A - to its data board standard services that support the confirmed. Transmission of one of the collector lineup. Each model integrates the ground operations. www.spacebel.be positioning signals, namely the L1-SAIF 20-channel L1 GPS receiver that provides

34 | Coordinates November 2010 A Breakthrough in Handheld Accuracy

MobileMapper™ 100 Powerful GPS+GLONASS handheld for high-precision mobile mapping

Whether or not you’re a coffee fan, you will enjoy starting your day working with the MobileMapper 100. MobileMapper 100 is the ultimate GNSS handheld designed for high-precision GIS data collection and mapping. Combined with MobileMapper Field software or third-party application, the MobileMapper 100 quickly maps and positions assets in real-time with sub-meter down to centimeter level accuracy. Powered by the Ashtech’s BLADE technology, the receiver also maintains high accuracy in urban canyons and under dense canopies. Features

Handheld sub-meter, decimeter MobileMapper 100 is a rugged, compact handheld with built-in GSM/GPRS and or centimeter accuracy modes Bluetooth communications. Compatible with RTK networks it‘s the perfect answer for Very lightweight and compact demanding mobile GIS jobs. Very lightweight for maximum comfort, the MobileMapper Extended built-in communications 100 is a true handheld solution for the ﬁeld workforce. It provides maximum ﬂexibility Flexible Windows Mobile® 6.5 and GNSS reliability for optimal data collection, virtually anytime and everywhere. platform Ruggedized for professional use MobileMapper 100 will develop your taste for precision GIS. Discover it’s full features, performance and specs at www.ashtech.com.

For more information: France (HQ) +33 2 28 09 38 00 China +86 10 5802 5174 APAC +65 983 842 29 [email protected] Coordinates November 2010 35 ©2010 Ashtech LLC. All rights reserved. The Ashtech logo and MobileMapper are trademarks of Ashtech, LLC. | All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective holders. NEWS LBS All-in-one Vehicle Telematics System Galileo update Masternaut has launched a new type of vehicle tracking system based around a single intelligent mobile communication unit. It comprises a Norway signs Galileo organisations who conclude the appropriate Mobile Communication Centre combining agreement with Commission agreements with the European Union”. vehicle tracking, GPS satellite navigation, hands-free mobile communications and Norway and the European Commission „The safety and security of each and every real-time job scheduling and messaging have signed a cooperation agreement on European citizen lies at the heart of this in a single unit. The all-in-one unit satellite navigation. Norway is an important proposal,” industry and entrepreneurship eliminates the need for separate Sat- participant in the Galileo programme: commissioner Antonio Tajani said in a Nav, mobile phones and hands-free Norwegian industry is involved since the statement. „Given our increasing reliance on equipment. www.masternaut.co.uk beginning of the programme, two important satellite navigation infrastructures, there is ground stations are hosted in Norwegian an urgent need to ensure that key services, territory: one on the island of Svalbard such as our police forces and rescue and Navmii introduces free iPhone Nav App and one in Antarctica. A third is planned emergency services, continue to function in for on the Jan Mayen island. www.esa.int moments of crisis, terrorist threat or disaster. Navmii introduced NavFree, an onboard, turn-by-turn GPS navigation solution for „Furthermore, the market for PRS iPhone & iPad as a free download from Galileo ground station applications offers an important opportunity iTune. The UK is a test market before an takes shape in Paciﬁ c for Europe’s entrepreneurs,” he added. international roll out. www.navmii.com The latest addition to the worldwide network According to the Commission, PRS will of stations serving the Galileo satellite be resistant to so-called spoofing, where NAVTEQ expands coverage in LatAm navigation system has been inaugurated in satellite signals are distorted or jammed. New Caledonia. This French-administered „PRS could be used in crisis situations NAVTEQ has expanded its coverage group of islands is in the southwest Pacific. where it is important that emergency and in Latin America and Caribbean The new ground station is located near security services continue to function even Islands. The company has unveiled its the capital Nouméa on New Caledonia’s when other services have been cut as part of navigable map of Colombia as well main island of Grand Terre. www.esa.int security measures,” the Commission said. as “Intermediate Map sets” for Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, The proposals are intended to control who Jamaica, and Panama. www.navteq.com Emergency EU Galileo sat- accesses PRS, the production of service’s nav service plans develop receivers and the potential export of the service’s receivers. Member states who Dubai gets real-time trafﬁ c on Mio Secure satellite navigation for emergency wish to use the system will gave to set up Devices and security services moved closer a PRS authority to manage and control to reality under proposals published end-users and the production of PRS The Roads and Transport Authority in by the European Commission. receivers. The European Parliament and Dubai introduced the Dalili Navigation Council will have to approve the new System, a Mio-made PND that is first The proposals cover access rules for the rules if they are to come into force. to offer real-time traffic information Public Regulated Service (PRS), which in the Emirate. www.mio.com will be set up on the back of Galileo PRS is one of five services that will satellite system and will use highly be offered over the Galileo satellite encrypted signals to protect against threats constellation. The other services are an open GeoSpatial Experts releases GPS- to infrastructure in the case of disasters service for public sat-nav, a search-and- Photo Link 5.0 or terrorist threats. PRS will only be rescue service, a ‚safety-of-life’ service and accessible to authorised governmental a commercial service. www.zdnet.co.uk GeoSpatial Experts has introduced GPS- bodies and, according to the Commission, Photo Link 5.0 bundled with the latest „third [party] countries and international GPS-enabled cameras from Sony, Ricoh, and Nikon. The software is offered in two editions. GPS-Photo Link Express, for avid photographers and business users and GIS Pro for geospatial professionals. www.geospatialexperts.com

36 | Coordinates November 2010 Always keep moving forward, upgrading version STS-750R series will come soon

STS-750RC series

SD card date storage(maximum 2G) Mini USB port for communication Built-in laser plummet (optional) Dual axis compensation Onboard programs upgraded 300m reflectorless

USB cable transfer SD card Function and USB interface Larser Plummet

SUPERTECH SALES AND SERVICES Add: T 9, 3rd Floor Shree Krishna Complex Sharma Market Sector 5 NOIDA 201301 (U.CoPor)dinates November 2010 | 37 Phone: 0120 2425491 Mob: 9810788846, 9810703308 Email: [email protected] NEWS REMOTE SENSING NEWS GIS

New Survey Aircraft of 2011 - Lapan – A2 and Lapan - Global Earthquake Model Orari. Lapan-A2 will be used for data RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems collection of weather, ships navigation, Global Earthquake Model Foundation and Diamond Aircraft Industries transportation, education, healthcare and (GEM) has selected OpenGeo to support introduced their next generation survey defense. Lapan - Orari will support the its development of open source earthquake aircraft. RIEGL airborne laser scanner Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization modeling tools. OpenGeo will be LMS-Q680i fully integrated into the and in disaster mitigation efforts for Earth developing enhancements for GeoServer “Universal Nose” of the Diamond DA42 observation by remote sensing, land use, and GeoTools to expand the capabilities Multi Purpose Platform, an efficient natural resources and environmental for collaboration on hazard, risk and overall system for surveying missions monitoring. www.jakartaupdates.com socio-economic impact models within is available now. www.riegl.com the global earthquake risk assessment community. http://opengeo.org Euromap and ESA Commence DigitalGlobe and TERI University Interface to GMES initiative National Geographic Atlas Euromap GmbH and the European DigitalGlobe announced a joint research Space Agency (ESA) have commenced National Geographic has recently initiative with India’s TERI University. The operations with the interfaces between completed the Ninth Edition of the Atlas company will contribute ideas, expertise Euromap and ESA’s Coordinated of the World. It adds new maps of conflict and high-resolution 8-Band multi-spectral Data Access System infrastructure. areas such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, satellite imagery from its WorldView-2 and Iraq. There are also spreads dealing satellite to TERI University’s current Euromap has now become the first with trends such as water scarcity, global research projects. www.digitalglobe.com GMES Contributing Mission Entity warming and energy resources. GIS of an optical mission to operationally was first used for the seventh edition in provide data and services through the 1999. www.nationalgeographic.com Optech and DiMAC next-gen camera version 1 interfaces developed as part controller of the GMES Space Component Data Access project. www.euromap.de China to draw “risk map” Optech announced a tighter technical integration with the DiMAC Chinese authorities are drawing up a ULTRALiGHT+ product line. New Earth science data for Africa national natural disaster “risk map” packaging, specifically conceived for in a bid to improve planning of urban lidar mapping solutions, takes advantage A partnership between NASA and construction projects in western China of recent technology advances for a more agencies in Africa and Europe has sent to avoid potential catastrophes. China’s robust and flexible design. www.optech.ca more than 30 terabytes of free Earth vast western regions have experienced science satellite data to South African three major natural disasters in recent researchers to support sustainable three years. http://news.xinhuanet.com Japan develops unmanned aircraft development and environmental applications in Africa. The data from Researchers from the University of one of the instruments on NASA’s Malaysia launches E-Cadastre project Tokyo and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Terra satellite provide observations have developed an unmanned aircraft to of Africa’s surface and atmosphere, The newly launched Malaysian E-Cadastre provide detailed aerial images of wetlands, including vegetation structure, Project is integrated with various systems mountains and other natural areas that airborne pollution particles, cloud such as eTanah, eLJT, JUPEM Geoportal are difficult for humans to reach. The heights and winds. www.nasa.gov and MaCGDI, which allow sharing of camera onboard can take up to 400 color facilities and information for the benefit images during a single flight, capturing of Land and Mine Office, Land Office, objects on the ground as small as 2 square Taiwan, Nicaragua satellite imaging Land Surveyors Board and Land and centimeters in size. http://mdn.mainichi.jp pact Mine Office director-general. The main objective of the project is to expedite the Taiwan and Nicaragua have signed preparation of title plans and issuance Indonesia to launch two satellites in a satellite information cooperative of final title plans from two years to 2011 agreement under which Taiwan will less than two months. The web-enabled provide aerial view photographs programme would allow faster and more Indonesian Institute of Aviation and to Nicaragua to help with disaster accurate work process with less human Space Agency (LAPAN) will launch prevention and land utilization intervention.www.mmail.com.my two satellites in the second quarter efforts there. www.taiwantoday.tw

38 | Coordinates November 2010 Privacy code for online mapping Geotagged Photos of Gulf oil spill to the smooth running of the games. www.intelligent-addressing.co.uk The government of Germany has called Thousands of GPS-stamped photos on Google Inc. and other providers of showing the locations of sensitive online navigation services to create a set habitats and wildlife impacted by the oil Bangladesh digital maps by 2016 of voluntary data protection guidelines spill in the Gulf have helped decision for services such as Google’s “Street makers determine where to deploy clean- According to Survey of Bangladesh View” by the end of the year. Failure up crews. These ‘geotagged’ photos (SOB), Bangladesh is going to set up six to do so would result in the imposition are served out via the web to multiple permanent GPS stations in six districts of new market regulations to protect Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) next year. All maps in the country would consumers. www.redorbit.com using photo-mapping software from be converted into a digital format with GeoSpatial Experts LLC, as well as GIS creation of a geo-database by 2016 technology. www.geospatialexperts.com under a project in collaboration with Kenyan slum dwellers mapped Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA have initiated a project titled Residents of one of Africa’s biggest Open roads for London Olympics Bangladesh Digital Mapping Assistance slums designed a digital map of Kibera. Project (BDMAP). www.thedailystar.net Kibera, on the outskirts of the Kenyan The National Street Gazetteer (NSG) capital, Nairobi, is home to thousands is being used as part of the planning of people but still appears as a forest for the Olympic Route Network (ORN) SERVIR program on government maps. Thirty of its and Paralympic Route Network (PRN) inhabitants used the GPS technology to in order to minimize any disruption to NASA and the USAID to launch a web- establish the location of such landmarks the network in the lead up to, during based environmental management system as roads and health clinics and uploaded and after the London 2012 Olympic for the Himalayan region called SERVIR- the resulting map onto the Open Street and Paralympic Games in London. Himalaya, at the International Centre for Map website which anyone can update The ORN/PRN is the definitive list of Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) with new data. www.alertnet.org designated transport routes essential in Kathmandu, Nepal. www.nasa.gov

Coordinates November 2010 | 39 NEWS INDUSTRY

Winners of 2010 Be Inspired Awards and qualification of its patented the fast fixs. It works with Contour’s GNSS board by the China Instrument Storyteller software. www.contour.com Bentley Systems announced the winners and Control Society encompassing of the 2010 Be Inspired Awards and Be fourteen different Chinese authorities Inspired Special Recognition Awards. and independent experts in the field Topcon HiPer II The awards honor the extraordinary GNSS technology. www.chcnav.com work of Bentley users improving and Topcon Europe Positioning B.V. sustaining the world’s infrastructure. A introduced the HiPer II an integrated total of 24 award winners, representing Contour hands-free GPS video camera RTK and static receiver that receives project work in 16 different countries, GPS and GLONASS signals. The were recognized. www.bentley.com. Contour has selected u-blox’ GPS 72-channel receiver will also pick up technology for its ContourGPS all available signals from additional video camera. It integrates u-blox 6 satellite constellations that come on Wipro, Leica Geosystems bag Coal GPS module and AssistNow Offline line in the future. www.topcon.eu India deal accelerated GPS technology to achieve

Wipro and Leica Geosystems have bagged New Nikon-Trimble TS Leica News a Rs 120-crore project that involves setting up operator-independent truck dispatch Leica XPro V5.0 DSM extraction Nikon-Trimble introduced the Nikon® systems (OITDS) at Coal India’s (CIL) 11 module provides advanced ground Nivo™ 1.C one - second angle large mines. The project will save idle time processing from data download to image accuracy, reflectorless mechanical for both trucks and equipment operating in generation. Users can now generate total station and the Nikon DTM- these mines leading to savings. Trucks will stereo-viewable frame images from 322 prism-based 3” dual-faced total be installed with a mobile data transmitter line sensor data acquired with the station. www.nikonpositioning.com (MDT) which will send crucial data and Leica ADS Airborne Digital Sensor. the co-ordinates to four satellites hovering over the mine at that time. Shovels and Leica Geosystems new robotic Carlson Software new GNSS receivers other excavation equipment will also be Imaging Total Station, Viva TS15 has installed with these transmitters. These an advanced imaging functionality Carlson Software has released a new line satellites will, in turn, beam the data on combined with dynamic tracking of GNSS receivers. It has chosen Ashtech a real-time basis to a control room near capabilities for one-person surveying. GNSS Technology as the engine to power each mine. In the first phase, 11 mines the new receivers. These receivers will Leica Viva NetRover uses the Viva GS08 under various CIL subsidiaries will be address various applications: Carlson MC GNSS receiver and has been designed included in the project. While Wipro will Pro 500, MC Pro Lite, MC Pro Lite Duo, to create an ideal RTK network rover. be responsible for installing the system at and MC Pro GS. www.carlsonsw.com four mines under SECL and ECL, Leica New Leica Zeno 10 3.5G and Zeno 15 will install the system at seven mines. 3.5G has new dual-constellation, network- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com enabled handheld GNSS receivers and Ashtech News the newest Zeno Field v1.2 software. Ashtech® has selected the NavX®-NCS u-blox launches LISA Leica Geosystems announced the Professional, a multi-constellation and latest version 3.00 of the Leica multifrequency GNSS RF navigation u-blox announced LISA, a new family SmartWorx Viva onboard software. constellation simulator from IFEN GmbH, of small, ultra-fast wireless modems. as the new GPS, Galileo and GLONASS LISA enables a wide range of high- New Leica Cyclone v7.1 speeds reference simulator for its professional bandwidth applications such as mobile these key office steps: (1) accurately receiver development and testing. computing, car infotainment, telematics registering multiple scans together systems and hand-held terminals where and (2) navigating to and clearly Ashtech® announced the availability wireless high-speed Internet connection visualizing specific areas of interest. of Web Mission Planning, a self- is essential. www.u-blox.com contained, completely automatic web- Leica Geosystems announced the accessible GNSS survey planning tool. successful flight testing of its new Point Density Multiplier technology CHC GNSS board passes evaluation The Ashtech ProFlex 500 receiver has for airborne LIDAR. It allows the and qualiﬁ cation been selected to provide GNSS position use of a single laser and scanning data to the recently introduced FieldSens mechanism to provide over double the CHC Navigation announced the underwater utility mapping system from data collection productivity of previous successful completion of the evaluation Optimal Ranging Inc. www.ashtech.com systems. www.leica-geosystems.com

40 | Coordinates November 2010 NovAtel News India may launch lightweight US receiver dedicated to ionosphere satellites monitoring and space weather applications. NovAtel announced that the recent It offers 136 channels capable of tracking 1.011 Firmware release for its OEMStar simultaneously GPS, GLONASS, Galileo Lockheed Martin’s India Chief L1 GNSS receiver has significantly and SBAS signals in L1, L2, L5 and E5ab/ Executive Roger Rose suggested that reduced the card’s power consumption. AltBOC bands. www.septentrio.com one area of cooperation that could It now consumes only 450mW for be explored between India and US is GPS+GLONASS operation and using Indian capabilities in low-cost 360mW for GPS-only operation. MapQuest opens in India launch. This would of course be subject to an overall policy and agreement NovAtel OEM6 GNSS receiver offers Mapquest has opened a new site framework acceptable to both the Indian support for all current and upcoming focused on maps in India. It provides and United States governments and GNSS constellations and satellite signals mapping of streets in India, based on the compatible with U.S. export control including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and OpenStreetMap project. It is in English regulations. www.indiastrategic.in Compass. The OEM628™ board expands and allows users to edit any of the data positioning capabilities with the inclusion on the map. www.techrockies.com of such features as RAIM (Receiver Norway and Japan Space agreement Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) for safety critical applications, integrated Google ordered to brand Street View Norway and Japan will increase LAN Ethernet port with NTRIP Client and cars in Italy cooperation in space. The Norwegian Server capabilities for seamless integration Space Centre (NSC) and the Japanese into reference network applications, In Italy, Google has been asked to clearly Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and 100 Hertz measurements for high mark its “Street View” cars, publicly have now signed a new and broader dynamic positioning. www.novatel.com state the specific routes its cars would agreement. www.norwaypost.no take and publish publicly information in local newspapers and on radio in Trimble News Hemisphere GPS News each individual district where its cars would operate. http://thenextweb.com Trimble introduced two new features Hemisphere GPS announced the for its Trimble® 4D Control™ release of miniEclipse – a compact software solution for monitoring dual frequency GPS OEM board that China claims Arunachal as its part systems. The new features incorporates the same digital and include support for geotechnical analog ASIC design as the recently China’s recently launched mapping sensors and a Web Module. released EclipseTM II OEM board. service Map World shows Arunachal Pradesh as part of China. Beijing claims Trimble introduced additions to its R320 is the first GNSS receiver built this part as ‘Southern Tibet’, however portfolio of Connected Site™ survey on Hemisphere GPS’ new Eclipse II though the map makes no specific solutions for the field and office. It OEM board. It offers extremely quick mention of southern Tibet its borders allows surveyors to collect, share startup and reacquisition times, tracks cover up to Arunachal Pradesh. Also the and deliver data faster to improve GPS L1/L2, GLONASS L1/L2, SBAS Aksai Chin, which India asserts as part accuracy, efficiency and productivity. augmentation signals, and OmniSTAR of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, has HP/XP/VBS. www.hemispheregps.com been included in the map as part of the Trimble GPS Pathfinder® ProXRT Chinese Xinjiang province. The map receiver is a decimeter receiver is being used in I-phone and by other combining dual-frequency GPS Spectra Precision introduces additions mobile users. www.indianexpress.com with Trimble H-Star™ technology, along with optional OmniSTAR and Spectra Precision introduced FOCUS® GLONASS support. It is also capable 30 line of optical survey solutions Episode 1 of “The Geospatial of tracking Galileo test satellites for and new features for the Spectra Revolution Project” is now online signal evaluation and test purposes. Precision Survey Pro™ field software. www.spectraprecision.com Episode 1 of the Penn State Public Trimble® DSS WideAngle is the latest Broadcasting’s (PSPB) four-part online option for its medium-format, directly video series, “The Geospatial Revolution georeferenced aerial imaging system. Its Septentrio PolaRxS Project,” is now available in its entirety WideAngle option is designed as a high- or in shorter chapters at Penn State productivity, mapping-grade solution for Septentrio PolaRxS is an ultra low noise Public Broadcasting’s website, http:// color-orthophoto and vertical mapping multi-frequency multi-constellation geospatialrevolution.psu.edu. applications. www.trimble.com

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