The document discusses several topics related to GPS and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). It includes: 1) An article about how atomic clocks keep time for data centers and how the atom has gone from being data's worst enemy to its best friend. 2) A cover story highlighting five case studies of sensor integration for transportation, including an autonomous shuttle, aviation safety, package deliveries, corridor mapping, and roadway assessment. 3) Brief highlights of GPS World magazine's content, including an interview with YellowScan and opinions on topics like autonomous systems, OEM, machine control, and more.

1. DECEMBER 2022 | Vol 33 | No 12
GPSWORLD.COM
ATOMIC
CLOCKS
Keep Time for
Data Centers
+
PNT RESILIENCE
DEFINED
THE INDUSTRY’S MOST TRUSTED TECHNICAL RESOURCE SINCE 1990
SENSORS
KEEP CARGO
ON TRACK

3. Trimble
Microchip
Technology
TIMING
27 TheRoleofAtomicClocksinDataCenters
HowtheAtomWentfromData’sWorstEnemytoItsBestFriend
by David Chandler
ON THE COVER
In a collaborative project with the National Advanced Driving Simulator at the University of Iowa, Hexagon | AutonomouStuff worked with the
AutomatedDrivingSystemsforRuralAmericaprojecttooutfitaFordTransit350HDshuttleforautonomousoperation.Seecoverstory,page18.
COVER STORY
2019
2022
DECEMBER
VOL. 33 NO. 12 GPSWORLD.COM
18 TRANSPORTATIONRELIESON
MANYSENSORS
Fromruralroadstotransatlanticflights,theintegrationof
GNSSandothersensorsimprovessafetyandconvenience
andlowersemissions
This month’s cover story highlights five case studies of this integration:
one from Hexagon on an autonomous shuttle; one from Orolia on an
emergency locator transmitter for aviation; one from Trimble on tracking
package deliveries; one from CHC Navigation on the use of UAS for corridor
mapping; and one from XenomatiX on the use of solid-state lidar to assess
roadways.
by Matteo Luccio & Gavin Schrock
19 Hexagon|
AutonomouStuff
Open-SourceSoftwarePowers
AutonomousShuttle
20 Orolia
DistressLocatorEnhances
AviationSafety
21 Trimble
EuropeanCompanyReduces
EmissionsandImprovesDeliveries
22 CHC Navigation
UASuseontheRiseforCorridorMapping
24 XenomatiX
RoadwayAssessmentwith
Solid-StateLidar
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 3

4. DECEMBER 2022
YellowScan Discusses
Market, Use Cases
at Intergeo 2022
VIDEO SPOTLIGHT
Editor-in-Chief Matteo Luccio met with two
representatives from YellowScan to discuss its
global market and a recent end-user success story out
of Antarctica. See the video at https://www.gpsworld.
com/exclusive-yellowscan-discusses-market-use-cases-
at-intergeo-2022/, and visit our YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/user/GPSWorldTV for more videos.
OPINIONS AND DEPARTMENTS LAUNCHPAD
MARKETWATCH
14 AUTONOMOUS
16 OEM
17 MACHINE CONTROL
36 OEM
37 SURVEYING
38 MAPPING
39 MOBILE
41 AUTONOMOUS
SOLUTIONS
41 DEFENSE
6 FIRST FIX
USGeodesistsUrgentlyNeeded
by Matteo Luccio
8 EAB PNT Q&A
Whatworkswellandwhatneeds
improvementintheGPSprogramregarding
technology,policyormanagement?
technology,policyormanagement?
with Jules McNeff, Ellen Hall
& Mitch Narins
10 SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS
ESAPlansforLEONavigationSatellites•
ESAPlansforLEONavigationSatellites•
Galileo’sNextRideUndergoesHot-Fire
Galileo’sNextRideUndergoesHot-Fire
Tests•NewRussianNavigationSatellite
Tests•NewRussianNavigationSatellite
NowinOrbit•Australia’sSouthPANEarly
NowinOrbit•Australia’sSouthPANEarly
OpenServicesGoLive•StarlinkSignalsCan
BeMadetoWorkLikeGPS•ChinaLaunches
BeiDouEnhancementSatellites
25 PNT CORNER
DeliveringSecuritythroughSystems
Engineering:AchievingPNTResiliencefor
CriticalInfrastructureApplications
by Mitch Narins
34 RESEARCH
ROUNDUP
Atmospheric Effects on GNSS
41 AD INDEX
42 SEEN & HEARD
HowBigIsthatBear?•FindingNemo•
SlipSlidingAway•GravityDownUnder
4 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
12
GPS
World
42
17
SingularXYZ
NOAA
Fisheries/Raymond
Boland
SpaceX

6. 6 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
Publishedmonthly
EDITORIAL
Vice President of Content Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Editor-in-Chief Matteo Luccio
mluccio@northcoastmedia.net | 541-543-0525
Senior Editor Tracy Cozzens
tcozzens@northcoastmedia.net | 541-255-3334
Staff Editor Diane Sofranec
dsofranec@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3793
Digital Media Specialist Marie Emerick
memerick@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3747
Art Director Courtney Townsend
ctownsend@northcoastmedia.net | 216-363-7931
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Innovation Richard Langley | lang@unb.ca
Professional OEM & UAV Tony Murfin | tamurfin@verizon.net
Survey Dave Zilkoski | tburch@gpsworld.com & dzilkoski@gpsworld.com
Features Gavin Schrock | schrockg@gmail.com
BUSINESS
Publisher Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Associate Publisher Mike Joyce
mjoyce@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3723
Senior Account Manager Todd Miller
tmiller@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-7921
Vice President of Marketing Michelle Mitchell
mmitchell@northcoastmedia.net | 216-363-7922
Event Manager Allison Blong
ablong@northcoastmedia.net | 216-363-7936
Marketing & Sales Manager, Buyers Guide Emily Adkins
eadkins@northcoastmedia.net | 216-675-6006
PUBLISHING SERVICES
Manager, Production Services Chris Anderson
canderson@northcoastmedia.net | 216-978-5341
Senior Audience Development Manager Antoinette Sanchez-Perkins
asanchez-perkins@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3750
Audience Marketing Manager Hillary Blaser
hblaser@northcoastmedia.net | 216-440-0411
Reprints & Permissions Wright’s Reprints
northcoastmedia@wrightsmedia.com
Circulation/Subscriber Services
gpsworld@omeda.com | USA: 847-513-6030
NORTH COAST MEDIA LLC
1360 East 9th St, Tenth Floor
Cleveland, OH 44114, USA
President & CEO Kevin Stoltman
kstoltman@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3740
Vice President of Finance & Operations Steve Galperin
sgalperin@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3705
Vice President of Content & Publisher Marty Whitford
mwhitford@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3766
Vice President of Graphic Design & Production Pete Seltzer
pseltzer@northcoastmedia.net | 216-706-3737
Vice President of Marketing Michelle Mitchell
mmitchell@northcoastmedia.net | 216-363-7922
FIRST FIX
MANUSCRIPTS: GPS World welcomes unsolicited articles but cannot be held responsible for
their safekeeping or return. Send to: 1360 East 9th St., Tenth Floor, IMG Center, Cleveland, OH 44114,
USA. Every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy, but publishers cannot accept responsibility for
the accuracy of information supplied herein or for any opinion expressed. REPRINTS: Reprints
of all articles are available (500 minimum). Contact northcoastmedia@wrightsmedia.com, Wright’s
Media, 2407 Timberloch Place, The Woodlands, TX 77380. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: To
subscribe, change your address, and all other services, e-mail gpsworld@omeda.com or call 847-
513-6030.LIST RENTAL: Contact 800-529-9020, Brahm Schenkman, bschenkman@inforefinery.
com, The Information Refinery, Inc. PERMISSIONS:Contact northcoastmedia@wrightsmedia.
com, Wright’s Media, 2407 Timberloch Place, The Woodlands, TX 77380. INTERNATIONAL
LICENSING:E-mail gpsworld@gpsworld.com. ACCOUNTING OFFICE AND
OFFICE OF PUBLICATION:1360 East 9th St., Tenth Floor, IMG Center, Cleveland, OH
44114, USA. GPS WORLD does not verify any claims or other information appearing in any
of the advertisements contained in the publication and cannot take any responsibility for any
losses or other damages incurred by readers in reliance on such content. The opinions expressed
by GPS World’s contributors are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of this
magazine or of its publisher, North Coast Media.
W
ith the last generation
of trained geodesists
either retired or
getting ready to retire, we are at a
critical stage of not being able to meet
the geospatial needs of the future,”
wrote David B. Zilkoski in his Nov. 1
Survey Scene column on our website.
Few people, he pointed out, realize
our $1 trillion geospatial economy —
from precision agriculture to smart
cities, from UAVs to location-based
services — depends on geodesy. A
collapse of geodesy would also harm
our efforts to monitor rapid changes in
the Earth’s surface due to sea-level rise,
the deformation of tectonic plates, and
temporal changes in the Earth’s water
reservoirs.
Federal agencies, Zilkoski recalled,
used to send staff to be trained in
geodesy because they needed
geodesists for such significant projects
asthereadjustmentoftheU.S.national
horizontal and vertical geodetic
networks. Now, while U.S. federal
agencies still require this expertise to
develop and refine geodetic models
and tools, so do major U.S. companies
for everything from routing delivery
trucks to controlling earth-moving
equipment to guiding tractors.
AJanuary2022whitepaperbyMike
Bevis and others titled “The Geodesy
Crisis” reported that China has more
geodesists than the rest of the world
combined, and the number of Ph.D.
geodesists in the entire Department
of Defense, including the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
(NGA), is approaching zero.
I discussed the geodesy crisis with
Everett Hinkley, who works for the
federalgovernment,servesasasubject-
matter expert on several high-level
boards, and dubs himself a “concerned
citizen geodesist.”
ML:Howdidwegethere?Wasitduein
part to the success of GPS?
EH: The factors include:
1. In the early 1990s, the U.S.
government largely disinvested in
academic research and academic
sponsorship in geodesy. Without
student sponsorship, the few
university programs that produced
geodesyexpertswitheredonthevine.
2. MathandscienceskillsinU.S.public
schools have declined.
3. More subtly, there was a subliminal
and misguided notion that “Now
that we have GPS, why do we need
to continue to improve our geodetic
models?”
ML:Ifleftunaddressed,inwhatfieldsor
applications will the crisis manifest first?
EH: Inareaswhereprecisepositioningis
critical: cadastral mapping, self-driving
vehicles, sea-level rise (a growing
danger) and others. The effects will be
felt incrementally, at least at first.
ML: Are some geographic regions of
the United States particularly vulnerable
to some effects of the crisis due to
high subsidence, drift or other ground
movements/changes?
EH: Yes. The two areas that will show
the first signs of divergence between
actual and assumed locations are
those that are tectonically active (both
horizontally and vertically) and low-
lying coastal ones.
ML:Besidesfunding,whatcouldentice
college students to enter the field?
EH: Basic marketing is needed by the
geospatial community at large. We
need to reach out to math “stars” in
high school and let them know that
pursuing a career in geodesy will
guarantee them employment after
graduating from college.
Matteo Luccio | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
mluccio@northcoastmedia.net
US Geodesists Urgently Needed

7. SpirentFederal.com
US Gov/Defense
Spirent.com/PNT
Global
Space weather &
atmospheric effects
Vehicle modeling
Constellation & orbit modeling
High-fidelity signal generation
Unparalleled Realism
& Signal Fidelity for Testing
For over 35 years, Spirent’s PNT simulation
platforms have bridged the gap between
the lab and the real world, bringing them
ever closer together.
Spirent solutions offer a comprehensive
feature set for unmatched realism &
signal fidelity with PNT-specific SDR
(software-defined radio) technology and
the flexibility to customize and upgrade
anytime, anywhere.
Field & laboratory testing for spoofing,
jamming, multipath & obscuration
Info on March 2023
PNTTraining Seminars
Create a Realistic Test
Environment eBook

8. 8 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
“What works well? There is
good focus on the areas that
need development: M-Code,
CRPA, resiliency. What needs
improvement? More thorough and timely
sharing of information by the government
with industry.”
“The ‘GPS program’ has
set the standard for all other
GNSS efforts, but there are
always lessons to be learned.
I have full confidence that USSF leadership
is well equipped to deal with both the
technology and management aspects of
the program. As for policy, which supports
military and civil uses worldwide, there is
a clear distinction, based on mission areas
and acceptable risk. However, risks to civil
users have increased as GPS PNT services
permeate all civil critical infrastructure
systems. Therefore, system improvements
directed at civil user PNT resilience should
be given a higher priority and funded
through appropriate civil channels. I
encourage a policy to enable more resilient
PNT services from space — and to consider
that by looking both ‘up’ and ‘down’ for
PNT services, unfortunate ‘situations’ might
be avoided.”
“GPStechnologyand
operationalperformance
continuetosetthestandard
forGNSS,butnecessary
modernizationislatetoneed,and
becominglaterbytheday.Thisreflects
whatIseeaslossoffocuson‘Job1’
(deliveringeffectiveGPSservicetotheJoint
Force)andadiminutioninthesenseof
‘GPSuniquenessandexceptionalism’inits
managementasitwasfragmentedwithin
theoldSMCandisnolongerthe‘shinynew
object’withintheevolvingSpaceForce.
Evenso,itsvaluetoitsglobaluserbase,
andparticularlytoU.S.andalliedmilitaries,
isstrongerthaneveranditremainsthe
cornerstoneamongdiversecomplements
withintheDepartmentofDefensePNT
Enterprise.ItisincumbentontheDODto
ensuretheGPSservicesourwarfighterswill
dependoncansustainthatvitalrole.”
What works well
and what needs
improvement in the
GPS program
regarding
technology, policy, or
management?
Tony Agresta
Nearmap
Miguel Amor
Hexagon Positioning Intelligence
Penina Axelrad
University of Colorado
Thibault Bonnevie
SBG Systems
Alison Brown
NAVSYS Corporation
Ismael Colomina
GeoNumerics
Clem Driscoll
C.J. Driscoll & Associates
John Fischer
Orolia
Bernard Gruber
Northrop Grumman
Ellen Hall
Spirent Federal Systems
Jules McNeff
Overlook Systems Technologies
Terry Moore
University of Nottingham
Mitch Narins
Strategic Synergies
Bradford W. Parkinson
Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time
Stuart Riley
Trimble
Jean-Marie Sleewaegen
Septentrio
Michael Swiek
GPS Alliance
Julian Thomas
Racelogic Ltd.
Greg Turetzky
Consultant

10. SYSTEM
SYSTEMS
OF
Policy and System
Developments
GPS GLONASS BeiDou Galileo
T
heNavigationDirectorate
of the European Space
Agency(ESA)isplanning
anin-orbitdemonstration
with navigation satellites
that will orbit just a few hundred
kilometers in space, supplementing
Europe’s medium-Earth-orbit (MEO)
23,222-km-distant Galileo satellites.
At altitudes of less than 2,000 km, the
low-Earth-orbit (LEO) positioning,
navigation and timing (PNT) satellites
would provide a multi-layer system-
of-systems approach to deliver PNT
services that are more accurate, robust
andavailable.Thestripped-downLEO-
PNT satellites would relay signals from
MEOsatellites.TerrestrialPNTsystems
and user-based sensors would provide
additional inputs.
The LEO-PNT satellites would
provide faster position fixes and enable
rapid two-way authentication checks.
Overall signal availability would be
boosted,especiallyinhigh-latitudeand
polar regions.
Approaching the Limit
According to ESA, in many respects
thestandardGNSSapproachisnearing
the limits of optimum performance.
“Satellite navigation has enabled a vast
rangeofapplicationsinrecentyears,but
this very success is inspiring still more
demanding user needs for the coming
decade,” said Lionel Ries, head of ESA’s
GNSSEvolutionsR&Dteam,overseeing
the agency’s LEO-PNT studies.
Positioning requirements are
growingfromthecurrentmeter-scaleto
centimeterscaleorevenmoreprecision
in industries such as autonomous
vehicles, smart cities and the industrial
internet of things.
An operational version of the LEO-
PNT constellation would represent a
new layer for PNT delivery, combined
withtraditionalGNSSaswellas5G/6G-
based positioning on the ground and
fused with data from sensors in the
user terminals.
With less distance to cover to Earth,
the more powerful LEO-PNT signals
can overcome interference and reach
places today’s satnav signals cannot.
At lower orbits, the satellites move
more rapidly relative to Earth’s surface,
offering an advantage in the time
neededtoreachveryaccuratepositions.
Plus, some bands could offer greater
penetration in difficult environments,
while other bands could offer higher
robustness and precision.
Production Plans
For the in-orbit demonstration, ESA
plans to build and fly an initial mini-
constellation of at least half a dozen
satellites to test capabilities and key
technologies, as well as demonstrate
signals and frequency bands, similar
to how the GIOVE satellites provided
proof-of-concept for Galileo.
“Each individual satellite would be
comparatively small, below 70 kg in
mass, compared to a 700 kg current
Galileo operational satellite,” said
Roberto Prieto-Cerdeira, LEO-PNT
project preparation manager. “They
canbecomparativelymorestreamlined
because they can benefit from other
means to calculate the accurate time
withoutextremelypreciseatomicclocks
on board — including relayed signals
from the Galileo satellites above them.”
Thesatelliteswillbebuiltonarapid-
batch production basis to save time
and cost. ESA is targeting at most three
years from signing the contracts to
the first satellites in orbit. Interest in
the project from European industry
has been high, with many companies
registering in response to a Request for
Information, presenting concepts and
offering contributions to the project.
MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS
of hundreds or even
thousands of low-
orbiting satellites
offer a means of
acquiring continuous
coverage for
telecommunications
services or Earth
observation.
ESA
ESA Plans for LEO Navigation Satellites
10 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022

11. SYSTEM
SYSTEMS
OF
T
he Ariane 6 launch vehicle program has taken a
dramaticsteptowardsfirstflightwiththestarton
Oct. 5 of hot-fire tests of the rocket’s upper stage
and its all-new Vinci engine, according to ESA.
The tests are a significant step forward. They
arebeingconductedusingthespeciallybuiltP5.2testbench
forengineandstagetestingattheGermanAerospaceCenter
(DLR) in Lampoldshausen. The P5.2 test bench subjects the
entire upper stage to operating conditions representative of
a flight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with
the exception of vacuum and microgravity.
New Vinci Engine. Vinci, the upper stage engine of Ari-
ane 6 fed by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, can be stopped
and restarted multiple times. The rocket can place several
satellites into different orbits and de-orbit the upper stage,
leavingaminimumofhazardousdebrisinspace.Vincialso
hasbeendevelopedforreliability,simplicityandlowercosts.
Replacement Heavy Launcher. The test series is a critical
milestoneonadevelopmentpaththatwillsoonseeAriane6
replace Ariane 5 as ESA’s heavy launcher.
For more than a quarter century, Ariane 5 has been a
reliable partner for commercial, institutional and scientific
clients. One of its most notable missions was the Dec. 25,
2021, flight that carried the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb
Space Telescope to its operational outpost in deep space.
Ariane 6 will be an even more versatile vehicle, strength-
ening Europe’s autonomy in accessing space.
AuxiliaryPowerUnit.The tests being run at Lampoldshau-
sen are also evaluating an innovative auxiliary power unit
(APU) that works in tandem with the Vinci engine and is
instrumental to Ariane 6 upper-stage performance.
To restart in space, earlier engines relied on large quan-
tities of tanked helium to generate the necessary pressure
andtemperatureinthepropellanttanksandtoensurethere
are no bubbles in the fuel lines. However, the APU delivers
these conditions using only small amounts of the cryogenic
hydrogen and oxygen already carried in the main tanks.
HeadingtoESTEC.The test series is being run by DLR and
ArianeGroup, the Ariane 6 launcher prime contractor.
When the test series is complete, the upper stage — in-
tegrated by ArianeGroup at its facility in Bremen, Ger-
many — will be shipped to ESA’s ESTEC technical center
in the Netherlands for stage separation and acoustic tests.
Ultimately, the Lampoldshausen tests will investigate
hardware behavior and system function of the complete
stage with its tanks, engines and avionics.
Galileo’s Next Ride Undergoes Hot-Fire Tests
ARIANE 6 VINCI ENGINE is tested at DLR Lampoldshausen.
ESA
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 11
A
Fregat booster successfully
delivered a Glonass-K
navigational satellite into its
designated orbit, Russia’s Defense
MinistryreportedonOct.10.Glonass-K
No. 17L is the fifth K satellite to join the
constellation.
“A Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier
rocket that blasted off at 05:52 a.m.
Moscow time on Oct. 10 from the
Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk
RegionsuccessfullydeliveredaRussian
Glonass-Knavigationalsatelliteintothe
targetorbitatthedesignatedtime,”the
ministry said in a statement.
Liftoff and the delivery into the
designated orbit proceeded in normal
mode, the ministry said, and the
ground-based facilities of Russia’s
Aerospace Forces assumed control.
The Glonass-K is a third-generation
satelliteoftheRussianglobalnavigation
satellitesystem(Glonass).Thesatellite
was engineered and manufactured by
the Reshetnev Information Satellite
Systems Company (part of Russia’s
State Space Corporation Roscosmos).
The satellite will replace the
Glonass-M family of space vehicles.
New Russian Navigation Satellite Now in Orbit
Roscosmos

12. SYSTEM
SYSTEMS
OF
12 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
E
arly Open Services delivered
by the Southern Positioning
Aug ment at ion Net work
(SouthPAN)arenowliveinAustraliaand
NewZealand,improvinglocation-based
capabilities for the Australasia region.
SouthPANprovidesaccurate,reliable
and instant positioning services across
all of Australia and New Zealand’s land
and maritime zones without the need
for mobile phone or internet coverage.
It will improve positioning from 5-10
meters,toaslittleas10centimeters—a
50-fold increase in accuracy.
The SouthPAN satellite-based
augmentation system (SBAS) test-
bed project took place between 2017
and 2019, demonstrating the value
of SouthPAN to Australian and New
Zealand economies and communities.
Economic analysis indicates that it is
morethan$6.2billionforAustraliaalone.
In February 2020, Geoscience
Australia and Toitū Te Whenua
Land Information New Zealand
(LINZ) began a joint collaboration
on SouthPAN under the Australia
New Zealand Science, Research and
Innovation Cooperation Agreement
(ANZSRICA). A comprehensive
procurement process followed,
awarding an AUD$1.18 billion,
19-year contract on Sept. 16 to
Lockheed Martin Australia.
“The SouthPAN project team will
work with Lockheed Martin Australia
to establish a network of Global
Navigation Satellite System reference
stations, a corrections processing
facility and satellite uplink facilities
that will enable accurate and reliable
positioning signals to be transmitted
fromsatellitestousers,”saidMadeleine
King, Minister for Resources and
Northern Australia. “The SouthPAN
services will be fully operational across
the two countries with safety-of-life
certification from 2028.”
Australia’s SouthPAN Early Open Services Go Live
Geosciences
Australia
SOUTHPAN EARLY OPEN SERVICES COVERAGE. OS-L1 covers mainland Australia and New Zealand.
OS-DFMC and OS-PVS cover Exclusive Economic Zones in both countries.
Starlink Signals Can Be
Made to Work Like GPS
A
team of researchers from
the University of Texas
Austin (UTA) have shown
the potential of the SpaceX Starlink
broadband constellation to serve as a
backupforGPS.Theresearchers,ledby
ToddHumphreysandfundedbytheU.S.
Army, examined the downlink signal
structure of the Starlink constellation
of ultrafast broadband satellites in
low-Earth-orbit (LEO), reported MIT
Technology Review. The team showed
that Starlink could serve as a useful
backup to GPS.
For the past two years, Humphreys’
teamatUTAustin’sRadionavigationLab
has been reverse-engineering signals
sentfromthousandsofStarlinkinternet
satellites to ground-based receivers.
HumphreystoldtheReviewthatregular
beacon signals from the constellation,
designedtohelpreceiversconnectwith
the satellites, could form the basis of a
useful navigation system.
SpaceXoptednottoparticipateinthe
research.Readthepaperathttps:/
/arxiv.
org/pdf/2210.11578.pdf.
On Oct. 7, China launched a pair of
satellites designed to enhance
BeiDou navigation signals. The
CentiSpace-1 S5 and S6 satellites
were launched via a Long March 11
solid rocket that lifted off at 9:10 a.m.
EDT from a mobile sea platform in
the Yellow Sea. Launch success was
confirmed by the China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corporation
(CASC) 90 minutes later.
The CentiSpace-1 satellites are
designed to enhance the accuracy
of signals from China’s BeiDou
navigation and positioning satellite
system. The satellites will also
conduct inter-satellite laser-link
experiments.
China Launches BeiDou Enhancement Satellites
SpaceX

13. Don’t worry Santa, we’ve got your back !
Don’t worry Santa, we’ve got your back !
There is still time to get your PNT
present on the Orolia Online Store
There is still time to get your PNT
present on the Orolia Online Store

14. LAUNCHPAD | AUTONOMOUS
1. FLIGHT CONTROLLER
TURNS A UAV INTO A CONNECTED AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM
Skynode reference-design hardware is built with Remote ID in
mind, enabling UAV users to comply with the FCC rule Remote
Identification of Unmanned Aircraft (Part 89). A built-in con-
nectivity stack with 4G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enables automatic
real-time data transmission from the UAV to the cloud. Built on
open standards, Skynode is flexible and extensible, allowing users
to leverage a variety of compatible software and hardware compo-
nents. The connections enable automatic sending of logs, images
and real-time video streams from the field to remote experts.
Auterion, auterion.com
2. HEAVY-LIFT UAV
CAN CARRY 440-POUND PAYLOAD 25 MILES
TheVoloDroneis a fully electric, heavy-liftutilityUAV with a range
ofupto25 mi carrying a carrying a 440-lbs payload. The rotor area
hasadiameter of 30 ft, and the vehicle is 7.5ft high.Itcan be remotely
pilotedor canflyautonomously on preset routes.Loads can becar-
riedbetween the legsof the landing gearon standard rackmounts or
slungbelow, or a tank and sprayercould befittedforagricultural ap-
plications.The18-rotormulticopterplatformusesswappablelithium-
ionbatteries and an in-house flight control system, and benefits from
existingdevelopment and testof the Volocopter air-taxi.
Volocopter, volocopter.com
3. MAPPING UAV
MAPS AREAS GREATER THAN 20,000 HECTARES
With a wingspan of 4.20 m, the BOREAL NRM remotely piloted
aircraft integrates efficient photogrammetry devices for map-
ping large areas, even in areas inaccessible to traditional mapping
aircraft. Its flight-control system is designed for image-capture
management and optimal coverage of areas greater than 20,000
ha. The BOREAL NRM offers an overall and precise view of culti-
vated areas (1 cm to 3 cm per pixel), simplifying crop monitoring
and facilitating human intervention in places that require it (such
as water stress, treatment of pests).
www.boreal-uas.com
4. ISR SYSTEM
DEVELOPED FOR THE SPANISH MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
The IRIS unmanned vehicle command-and-control system pro-
vides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) interop-
erability — essential aspects of any military operation. The IRIS
system integrates unmanned vehicles with other command-and-
control systems for monitoring and gathering information for a
variety of operational scenarios. IRIS uses each unmanned vehicle’s
own communication systems and 5G technology to provide situ-
ational awareness for decision makers before and during operations.
A simplified interface allows integration of sensors and platforms
into a command-and-control network, providing interoperability
with other command, control, communication and computer ISR
(C4ISR) systems. IRIS performed well during NATO’s REPMUS 22
(Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping Augmented by Mari-
time Unmanned Systems) exercise in September.
GMV, gmv.com
5. DOCKING STATION
SENDS UAVS TO COMPLETE MISSIONS
The AtlasNEST UAV system features a docking station to provide
fully autonomous 24/7 readiness for infrastructure inspections,
emergency situations and security missions requiring shared situ-
ational awareness and management. Using the AtlasSTATION
interface, an operator sets a target destination, and the lightweight
UAV deploys in less than three minutes. Sending a drone to collect
visual data and reveal possible problems can help prevent put-
ting personnel in unsafe circumstances. AtlasNEST has built-in
artificial-intelligence technologies, including autonomous battery
swapping. Using the AtlasSDK, AtlasNEST can be incorporated
into current security systems.
Atlas, atlasuas.com
4
5
2
1
3
14 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022

15. AUTONOMOUS | LAUNCHPAD
6. LINE PAINTER
ROBOT BUILT TO PAINT LINES ON ATHLETIC FIELDS
TurfTank is an autonomous, GNSS-guided line-marking robot built
specifically to paintlines on athletic fields. More than550 Turf Tank
robotsare deployed across theUnited States, paintingathletic fieldsat
publicschools, major colleges and universities, amateurand profes-
sionalsoccerclubs, local parksand recreation departments,and at two
NationalFootball League stadiums. TheTurf Tank robots can paint a
fullsoccer field in less than 30minutes, compared to two orthree hours
formanual painting. Similarly, the robot can paint a football field in
twoorthree hours compared to eight to 10 hours to painta football
field.Therobots are eco-friendly — they’re powered by rechargeable
batteriesand use far less paint than most older paint machines.
Turf Tank, turftank.com
7. UAS PACKAGE
TAKES USERS THROUGH PROJECT LIFECYCLE
The Autel EVO II Pro Series combines Carlson’s software and
hardware surveying and mapping solutions with a UAV from
Autel Robotics. The Carlson suite is designed to take profession-
als throughout a project’s lifecycle: setting ground control points
with the Carlson BRx7 GNSS receiver and RT4 data collector with
SurvPC field software, the drone flight, PC photo and data process-
ing, and creating finished plans in CAD.
CarlsonSoftware,carlsonsw.com;AutelRobotics,autelrobotics.com
6
7
15 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
MONTH 2022
H A S S L E - F R E E D A T A C O L L E C T I O N .
junipersys.com | sales@junipersys.com | 435.753.1881
High-accuracy utility asset mapping is simple with Uinta Data Collection Software. Map
general utility asset points like transformers, manholes, valves, electric lines, fiber optic
lines, and gas lines to create, print and share PDF map reports and GIS files of your data.
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 15

16. LAUNCHPAD | OEM
1.GPS ADD-ON BOARD
PROVIDES PNT TO DESIGN ENGINEERS
The GPS 5 Click is a
compact add-on board
that provides users with
positioning, navigation
and timing (PNT)
services. The board
features the M20050-1,
a GPS module using the
MediaTek MT3333 flash
chip and an Antenova
GNSS receiver for
optimum performance.
The receiver tracks three
GNSS constellations concurrently (GPS + Galileo + GLONASS or
GPS + Galileo + BeiDou) and has configurable low-power modes
operating from a 3.3V power supply. In addition to the possibility
of using an external antenna, backup power, and various visual
indicators, the M20050-1 has an accurate 0.5 ppm TXCO ensuring
short time-to-first-fix and multipath algorithms that improve
position accuracy in urban environments.
MikroElektronika,mikroe.com
2.TIMING MODULES
SUPPORT FOR CONCURRENT L1AND L5RECEPTION
Modules GT-100, GT-9001 and GT-90 are time-synchronization
GNSS receiver modules compatible with all GNSS systems.
The three modules deliver nanosecond precision for 5G mobile
systems, radio communications systems, smart power grids and
grandmaster clocks. Each suits different applications based on
supported frequency bands and output signals. GT-100 supports
concurrent L1 and L5 reception and delivers three outputs including
1 pulse per second (1 PPS) synchronized with UTC as well as user-
programmable frequencies. The outputs can be set to 10 MHz,
2.048 MHz and 19.2 MHz, reducing time to market and saving
costs through reduced component needs. GT-9001 supports L1
and delivers high-stability 1PPS and programmable clocks on three
channels. GT-90 supports L1 and provides a 1 PPS high stability
output. All models have time stability of 4.5 ns (1 sigma) and are
equipped with multipath mitigation to minimize degradation of
performance in urban areas.
FurunoElectricCo.,furuno.com
3.FIRMWARE UPDATE
ADDS QZSS CLAS TO ZED-F9R GNSS MODULE
The latest firmware update for the
u-blox ZED-F9R high-precision
GNSS module adds support for
Japan’s QZSS CLAS correction
services (ZED-F9R-03B). The
ZED-F9R also now supports u-blox
SPARTN 2.0 correction data.
u-blox,u-blox.com
4.SMART ANTENNA
HAS L-BAND,IP CAPABILITY
The TW5390 smart antenna has IP network and L-band
augmentation service capability. Along with a Tallymatics antenna,
it has a high-precision u-blox F9R GNSS receiver and DS9
L-band receiver modules. The combination delivers a reliable and
convenient smart antenna yielding <6-cm accuracy, with precise
point positioning/real-time kinematic (PPP/RTK) augmentation
services via the PointPerfect subscription service. The antenna
provides superior multipath rejection with Tallysman Accutenna
technology, a low noise amplifier, Tallysman’s eXtended Filtering
(XF) technology, which mitigates saturation from nearby RF signals
(targeting LTE and Ligado), a tight, measured phase-center offset
and low axial ratio, enabling accurate and precise positioning, direct
decoding of PointPerfect, SPARTN formatted augmentation packets
(u-blox specific)
Tallymatics,tallymatics.com
5.GNSS MODEM
TRACKING ENABLES POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND PROJECTS
The Lembas LTE/GNSS USB modem provides plug-and-play GNSS
tracking as well as LTE and CAT4 network connectivity via a robust
USB interface to a variety of small-board computers utilizing the
ARM chipset. Through a single-command setup process, users can
have GNSS access to a wide variety of projects. The modem has
been tested with Raspberry Pi Model B, Odroid XU4 and N2, ASUS
Tinker Board, and NVIDIA Jetson Nano.
TEConnectivity,te.com
1
16 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
2
3
4
5

17. MACHINE CONTROL | LAUNCHPAD
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 17
2
1. SITE SUPERVISOR SYSTEM
BASE/ROVER SYSTEM PROVIDES
3D GRADE CONTROL
The universal construction site supervisor
system isdesigned to help contractors
manageall their job site activities. It includes
theSiteMetrixGrade and the multi-
frequency, multi-GNSSF631 RTK base and
rover.SiteMetrix is user friendly,easy to
understand and portable. Contractors can
use the Futturasystem to localize sites, check
grade, configure base stations, set stakes and
calculatevolumes of material removed. Users
willseethebenefit ofseamlessly performing
datacollection and layout, all in one easy-to-
use application, the company says. The F631
GNSS receiver is powered bySureFix RTK
technology, which offers a real-time dual-
solutionpointverification. The F631 GNSS
receiveris powered byHemisphere GNSS’
Athena RTKtechnology. With Athena, F631
providesstate-of-the-art RTK performance
whenreceiving corrections from astatic base
station ornetwork RTKcorrection system.
Withmultiple connectivity options, the F631
allowsforRTK corrections tobereceived
overradio, cell modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or
serialconnection. F631 delivers centimeter-
levelaccuracy with virtually instantaneous
initialization timesand robustness in
challenging environments.
Futtura, futturaus.com
2. CAB DISPLAYS
PROVIDE CONNECTIVITY FOR THE FIELD
The Trimble GFX-1060 and GFX-1260
next-generation displays for precision
agriculture applications enable farmers
to complete in-field operations quickly
and efficiently while also mapping and
monitoring field information in real time
with precision. Both displays feature an
Android-based operating system and
enhanced processing power for controlling
and executing in-field work. The new
flagship GFX-1260 is a 12-in (30.5 cm)
display, while the GFX-1060 is a 10-in
(25.6 cm) display, and both are compatible
with the Trimble NAV-500 and NAV-900
GNSS guidance controllers. The displays
are ISOBUS-compatible, which allows
one display or terminal to control ISOBUS
implements, regardless of manufacturer.
The displays enable farmers to set up
and configure their equipment through
Trimble’s Precision-IQ field software,
including manual guidance, assisted and
automated steering, application controls,
mapping and data logging, equipment
profiles and camera feeds from attached
inputs and other internet-based apps.
Trimble, trimble.com
3. RETROFIT KIT
ENABLES AFFORDABLE SMART
CONSTRUCTION UPGRADES FOR FLEETS
The Smart Construction Retrofit kit turns
a conventional Komatsu excavator “smart”
with 3D guidance and payload monitoring.
With a kit installed, an operator is no longer
required to set up a laser or bench every time
the machine moves. The kit’s GNSS receiver
determines where a machine is on the job
site and what the target grade is. The need
for additional labor is reduced because the
technology collects and delivers information
directly to the operator. Designed to
improve grading performance and provide
more time- and cost-management tools,
Smart Construction Retrofit kits can bring
3D to most Komatsu excavators in a fleet.
The kit gives operators the latest design data,
measures payload volumes and load counts,
and allows managers to monitor production
from the office by integrating Smart
Construction applications. The payload
meter helps prevent overloading trucks by
promoting proper loading weights for on-
and off-road vehicles, to reduce the potential
for equipment damage and other risks.
Komatsu, komatsu.com
4. PRECISION GUIDANCE
ENTRY-LEVEL SYSTEM FOR FARMERS
The SAgro10 GNSS is an upgradeable
entry-level guidance system for precision
agriculture, which can be easily upgraded
to the SAgro100 automatic steering
system. Equipped with a high-precision
GNSS module, the SAgro10 tracks all
constellations. For users with network
coverage or a UHF base station, the SAgro10
system provides centimeter-level accuracy
navigation in real-time kinematic mode.
In the absence of base stations, it can still
provide sub-meter navigation accuracy
in single-point smoothing mode. The
system is compatible with most agricultural
tractors and can be installed in 15 minutes.
It supports a 10-in sunlight-readable
touchscreen with a clear graphic interface.
The SAgro10 software can intelligently
manage the work area and simplify user
operations, such as recording the completed
work area and planning the work route.
SingularXYZ, singularxyz.com
1
3
4

18. Trimble
G
NSS receivers are now routinely integrated into every kind of vehicle, vessel and aircraft,
often in conjunction with other technologies that can be used for positioning and navigation,
such as inertial navigation, radar, lidar, sonar and computer vision. This month’s cover story
highlightscase studiesfrom Hexagon,Orolia,Trimble,CHCNavigationandXenomatiXthatincrease
safety, improve service, lower costs and reduce emissions.
TRANSPORTATION RELIES
ON MANY SENSORS
/
COVERSTORY
18 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
by Matteo Luccio, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & Gavin Schrock, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
From rural roads to transatlantic flights, the
integration of GNSS and other sensors improves
safety and convenience and lowers emissions

19. TRANSPORTATION
/
W
henitcomestoground
transpor tation,
most of the R&D
regarding GNSS is
aimed at developing driver-assist
systems and, ultimately, driverless
cars and trucks. For that purpose,
GNSS receivers are integrated with
inertial navigation systems, radar,
lidar,computervisionandultrasonics.
Leveraging decades of robotics
experience and knowledge of control
algorithms, AutonomouStuff, part of
Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning
division, has developed a software
stack for autonomous vehicles based
on the Apollo open-source software
stack. “Think of this software stack
as a brain powering the autonomous
platform,” said Kevin Fay, product
manager for Hexagon’s platforms
and vehicle software business. The
software stack can be customized
across platforms and to meet
equipment needs.
Most recently, in a collaborative
project with the National Advanced
Driving Simulator at the University
of Iowa, AutonomouStuff worked
with the Automated Driving Systems
for Rural America project to outfit
a Ford Transit 350HD shuttle for
autonomousoperation.First,itcreated
a drive-by-wire system that enabled
electronic control of the vehicle, and
thenitinstalledpositioning,navigation
andperceptionsensors.Theresultisa
platform ready to be autonomous as
soonasthesoftwarestackisintegrated.
Rural roads — which have a wider
rangeofspeedsthanurbanones—may
be encumbered by wildlife or heavy
equipment. They also vary in surface
from asphalt to gravel, providing a
particularlychallengingtestenvironment
for the autonomy software.
“The Iowa vehicle has done a
sizable amount of automated driving
on a combination of urban and rural
roads, where traditional sensing falls
flat,” Fay said. “It has excelled in areas
such as gravel roads that have limited
or no lane markings, or are narrower
than normal. We deployed it earlier
this year to do things such as traffic-
light detection with the cameras on
board, so that it navigates traffic-light
intersections appropriately.”
Whileruralroadsaregenerallyfree
of the GNSS multipath challenges
presentedbyurbancanyons,theyalso
provide fewer navigation landmarks.
Another challenge is inclement
weather. During snowstorms, Fay
pointed out, country roads might be
unplowed.“Ifyourunontherightlane
of the road all the time, you might be
outoftherutsthatareontheroad,and
thenyou’restrugglingtogetthrough.”
The vehicle must learn to navigate
appropriately in those conditions.
TheUniversityofIowaFordTransit
shuttle is a limited deployment,
mainly to collect data for research
purposes. Meanwhile, it is giving real
ridestoresidents,thoughwithasafety
driver. “They’re always attentive, but
their hands will be next to the wheel,”
Fay said. “There will be times where
they may have to take over.”
Other universities and companies
are using the platform to further their
autonomy programs. Most of them
are doing urban driving in complex
routes with live traffic, for a total of
a dozen vans nationwide.
Hexagon equips the vehicles
with a variety of sensors, including
a front-mounted adaptive radar, a
roof-mountedVelodynelidar,aroof-
mounted NovAtel GNSS receiver
and cameras mounted inside the
vehicle. “Which ones we provide
depends largely on the customer and
onwhichsoftwarethey’redeploying,”
Fay said. “We provide our customers
a complete package that can be used
with minimal work out of the box. It
has the software, the interface to the
vehicle, and sensors on it. But we can
also provide them with a vehicle that
simply has an interface for control,
andtheyaddtheirowncomputerand
software on top of it.”
Hexagon’s first Ford Transit was
deployed in 2021. The company
released the current version in the
spring of 2022, and the Iowa project
is slated to run through the middle
of 2023. “We’ve not had something
runninginlivetrafficbefore,”Faysaid,
“soitallowsustocontinuetogrowour
skill sets and our overall expertise.”
Open-Source Software Powers Autonomous Shuttle
Hexagon | AutonomouStuff
Hexagon
|
AutonomouStuff
HEXAGON | AUTONOMOUSTUFF’S HARDWARE
rack inside the Ford Transit shuttle.
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 19
Universities and companies use the platform for research and development

20. TRANSPORTATION
/
Distress Locator Enhances Aviation Safety
Orolia
T
his fall, Orolia’s Ultima-DT
wascertifiedasanemergency
locator transmitter with
distress tracking (ELT-DT)
by Cospas-Sarsat, an international
humanitarian search-and-rescue
system.Cospas-Sarsatusesspace-based
technology to detect and locate model
406 emergency beacons carried by
ships, aircraft or individuals venturing
into remote areas — often inaccessible
byGNSSsignals.Thesystemconsistsof
anetworkofsatellites,groundstations,
mission control centers and rescue
coordinationcentersthatworktogether
when a 406 beacon is activated.
I spoke about the certification with
Christian Belleux, director, Aviation
& Defense Beacons for Orolia.
MATTEO LUCCIO (ML): Has Orolia
produced aviation safety products in
the past?
CHRISTIAN BELLEUX (CB): Orolia has
been supplying emergency locator
transmitters for aviation since 1995
on a very large number of platforms
to OEMs and airlines for use on
commercial aircraft — Airbus,
Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier
aircraft. Orolia is also participating
inindustrygroupscreatingstandards
(Eurocae, RTCA, ARINC) or
contributing to the progress of the
Cospas-Sarsat search-and-rescue
satellite system as a member of the
Expert Working Group.
ML: What are the key challenges in
making an aviation ELT?
CB: With new requirements for
lithium batteries and new regulations
introducing distress tracking, recent
times have been rich in innovation.
We were granted the first ETSO
certification ever for an ELT-DT and
the same product, the Ultima-DT,
was also the first ELT to be certified
for its lithium battery.
ML:WhatdidCospas-Sarsatcertification
of the ELT-DT entail?
CB: The ELT-DT is a new type of
beacon with a new communication
protocol. The labs performing the
certification tests must be approved
byCospas-Sarsatbeforewecanapply.
Then the Cospas-Sarsat organization
and infrastructure must be updated
to receive and consider the new
ELT-DT protocol. The Cospas-
Sarsat certification of our ELT-DT
means that it complies with the
performance requirements described
in Cospas-Sarsat standards and can
communicatewiththeinfrastructure.
ML: What is new about an ELT-DT?
CB: The principle of an ELT-DT is
to activate in flight before a crash, as
opposedtoalegacyELTthatisactivated
by the shock of a crash. This means
that the aircraft and the ELT-DT
can analyze the health of the aircraft
and its parameters, and activate if a
catastrophic event is about to occur.
Onceactivated,theELT-DTtransmits
a high-rate distress signal that makes
it possible to track the aircraft until it
crashes.TheELT-DTcontainsitsown
GNSS receiver that is independent the
aircraft’s navigation system.
ML: Did you cooperate closely with
one or more avionics manufacturers to
develop your device?
CB: Orolia was in very close contact
with Airbus, which designed the
avionics components.
ML: Do you already have contracts with
airlinesoraircraftmanufacturersbesides
Airbus for the Ultima-DT?
CB: We have several contacts with
aircraft manufacturers and airlines
interested in the Ultima-DT.
ML: When will the first batch of the
ELT-DT / Ultima-DT be operational?
CB: Westartedflighttestsmonthsago
at Airbus and delivered production
units. Airbus soon will announce its
first delivery of an aircraft equipped
with the Ultima-DT.
20 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
Orolia’s Ultima-DT receives Cospas-Sarsat and EASA certifications
Airbus
AIRBUS WILL INSTALL OROLIA’S ULTIMA-DT emergency locator transmitter on its aircraft.

21. TRANSPORTATION
/
» RTK Centimetric Position
» Quad Constellations
» Post-processing Software
NEW ELLIPSE-D
www.sbg-systems.com
0.05°
ATTITUDE POSITION
1 cm
HEADING
0.02°
The Smallest Dual Frequency
& Dual Antenna INS/GNSS
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 21
Trimble
T
o reduce its emissions, DPD
Deutschland — a franchise
of DPDgroup, one of the
largest international parcel
carriers in Europe — has asked
Trimble Maps to help optimize its
operations.DPDDeutschland’sparcel
supply chain covers 80 franchise
depots, 9,500 employees and more
than 13,000 drivers, delivering about
2 million packages to businesses and
consumers per day via a mixed fleet
of vehicles, including electric ones.
DPDgroup has a vision to
become the international standard
European Company Reduces Emissions and Improves Deliveries
DPD Deutschland uses Trimble Maps to optimize routes and enable tracking
TRIMBLE MAPS ENABLES a shipping company to offer one-hour delivery windows.
Trimble
See TRIMBLE, page 22. >>

22. TRANSPORTATION
/
22 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
W
e often hear the anecdote about an early
lidar scanner that could take a shot every
few seconds, yet it held a value proposition
for certain applications. As the capabilities
ofsuccessivemappingandsurveyingsystemschangerapidly,
so does the conventional wisdom about which are best for
variousapplications.Transportationcorridormapping—beit
forimprovementsdesign,as-builtsurveys,assetmanagement
ordigitaltwinning—hasalwaysbeenabalancingactbetween
precision and efficient large-scale data capture.
“Iremember15yearsago,duringmyuniversitytime,the
scanner was the size of a dining table,” said Andrei Gorb,
segment manager for mobile mapping and unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, CHCNAV. At the top
end of the mapping food chain were terrestrial scanners,
targets, bore sighting, and registering point clouds mostly
manually. As cumbersome and time-consuming as the
legacy tools and methods were, these options still offered
efficiency gains compared to conventional surveying
with total stations. Then a decade ago, mobile-mapping
systems began to change that paradigm. Departments of
transportation found that mobile-mapping systems could
meet their requirements for many design projects, and
certainlyforassetinventoryandmanagement.Unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS) were not quite there yet.
The tech used depended on the application. “First,
there was road maintenance, to understand the road
UAS use on the Rise for Corridor Mapping
CHC Navigation
As UAS mapping rapidly closes the precision gap with terrestrial, increased
productivity seals the deal
in sustainable delivery by 2030.
Per parcel, it has reduced its CO2
emissions by 18.8% since 2013 and is
on track to reach a 30% reduction by
2030, according to Trimble.
OneofDPD’smostpopularservice
offerings,calledPredict, allowsparcel
recipients to track the progress of
their deliveries in real time, with
an estimated one-hour delivery
window and updated notifications
along the way. Since 2014, Trimble
Maps’ portfolio has helped calculate
this one-hour delivery window and
provided turn-by-turn navigation to
DPD drivers, resulting in less overall
traveltime,moresuccessfulfirst-time
deliveries and reduced emissions.
DPD was the first, and still is the
only, parcel carrier in Germany that
provides recipients with an estimated
one-hour delivery window, the
company says, calculating it for
every parcel. The service is made
possible in part by the integration of
Trimble Maps’ route optimization
and mapping web services platform,
known internally as DPD Maps.
Recipients can reschedule deliveries
as needed for future days and times,
or perhaps to a convenient drop-
off location. This reduces emissions
created by multiple return trips.
DPDMapscalculatesanoptimized
route for drivers, who are then able
tomanuallysortthestopsandchange
the route to best fit their preferences.
Once routes are locked in, Trimble’s
commercial navigation application,
CoPilot, provides drivers with real-
time directions. Once a driver’s
route is complete for the day, DPD
can compare the actual route taken
with the optimized route DPD Maps
calculated in an easy-to-understand
view that can be analyzed by the
driver and the depot.
DPD Maps allows the company to
visualize, share and discuss results
with different stakeholders within
the organization. The solution also
allows drivers to plan out their day
as they see fit, while giving the back
office access
TRIMBLE
<< Continued from page 21.
TACTICAL-GRADE IMUs enable
UAVs to achieve the same
locational accuracy as ground-
based systems.
CHCNAV

23. TRANSPORTATION
/
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 23
condition,” Gorb said. “Previously, UAS
did not meet the high requirements:
centimeter in absolute and millimeter in
relative. We now have mobile-mapping
solutions,fromusandothersuppliers,that
can be in the 8-9 mm absolute accuracy
rangeonshortroadsurfaces.”Yetformany
transportation applications, the absolute accuracy may
not be as important as the relative precision. This is where
years of development in UAS has made the difference.
CHCNAV was not alone in recognizing that the gap
wasclosing,andthecompanyplannedahead.“Previously,
UAS would fly for under an hour, and were mostly
carrying cameras or early lidar, which was not suitable
for highways,” Gorb said. “A few years of development,
and we see it is practical to meet requirements with UAS
flying between 50 and 100 meters — in Europe, many
local regulations forbid flying above 120 meters anyhow.”
Gorb attributes the advances to lidar sensors that UAS
can carry. These sensors have become much better and
less expensive. Plus, platforms like vertical-take-off-and-
landing (VTOL) systems can stay in the air much longer.
The UAS boom of the past 10 years saw
the dominance of consumer-prosumer
market UAV platforms becoming quite
commoditized, with certain vendors gaining
majority market share. CHCNAV, instead,
soughttodevelopenterprisesolutions,forboth
mobile and UAS systems — large-platform
rotor, fixed-wing and VTOL platforms. The company
offers an amalgam of hardware and software, from Riegl
scanner heads on some of their mobile-mapping systems
to Honeywell inertial navigation systems (INS) for some
of their UAS solutions.
Gorb echoes what we hear from many mapping
practitioners, saying ground-control points are not as
necessary in the densities required for legacy mobile
and UAS mapping. He explained that everything from
strip adjustments to processing of GNNS/IMU data
has tightened both precision and accuracy. “We have a
tactical-grade IMU in both our mobile mapping and UAS
solutions, for a high-end trajectory,” Gorb said. “So, it
means that we can get the same high-accuracy point cloud
for highways from the ground and the air perspectives.”
Lidar sensors
have become
much better
and cheaper.

24. TRANSPORTATION
/
24 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
Roadway Assessment with Solid-State Lidar
XenomatiX
T
he success of higher levels
of vehicular autonomy will
depend on two types of
roadway corridor digital
twins: pre-mapped and augmented
on the fly. No matter how well the
corridors are pre-mapped, there will
alwaysbetheneedforthevehicletobe
self-aware—notonlyoftheproximity
of other vehicles and pedestrians,
but also of changes to fixed features.
New vehicles are being provisioned
with multi-sensor clusters, including
GNSS, cameras, lidar, sonic and more.
This provides an opportunity to more
preciselyassesstheconditionoftheroad
surface,whichaffectstheperformance
ofvehiclesuspensionsystems,tires,fuel
efficiency and general wear and tear.
“Imagine that your car navigation
map system included roadway
conditions,” said Karsten Bronowski,
sales and business development
manager for XenomatiX, “a global
view where roads are color-coded
based on their surface types and
roughness. And all of this is mapped
by systems like ours or added to the
mobilesystemsmappingalltheroads.
“Our product actually came out of
theautomotiveworld,andwestillhave
customers that use it as a reference
system for active suspensions, for
mass-spring damping systems,”
Bronowskisaid.Fortheseapplications,
the sensors were mounted facing
forward for a preview mode. “We
have worked with the Belgian Road
Research Center and others with
applications to readily provide the
international roughness index.”
XenomatiX was formed in 2013,
focused on developing true solid-state
lidar. “The idea was to get the motor
out of lidar,” said Bronowski. “You
have moving parts, you have wear and
tear, the effects of vibration, problems
with long-term reliability and with
controlling temperature. With true
solid-state lidar, you eliminate these
issues.” Micro-electromechanical
systems(MEMS)lidarsystemsstillhave
moving,opto-mechanicalcomponents.
Bronowski said that the solid-state
systemsfeatureaCMOS-baseddetector
generating high-density point clouds
in all weather conditions, and a multi-
beamlaserprojectorgeneratingahigh-
resolution grid of points.
The dual lidar sensor system gets
its orientation and positioning from
additionalcomponents,includingGNSS
and IMU. The system that Bronowski
showedatIntergeo2022hadSeptentrio
AsteRx-U3GNSS/IMUunitssupporting
dual antennas for heading. However,
they are using other means to improve
both relative and absolute positioning:
“How we do this is one of our secrets.
For one of our customers in Japan
mapping local highways, we proved
to have excellent compensation, even
trackingpreciselythrougha4-kilometer-
long tunnel.”
XenomatiXhasdevelopedsoftware
toanalyzedataformanyapplications,
automate feature recognition, and
evenvalidateotherdata.Forinstance,
one customer in the United States is
a big player in the satellite imaging
sector that wants to match that
data with pavement markings the
XenomatiX system picks up.
While there is a needed calibration
step and the requirement to align
the detector for the dedicated
measurement vehicle, sensor systems
such as this can be put on just about
any type of vehicle — on- or off-
road. The driver does not need to
intervene much, and the processing
is done on a standard PC or laptop.
“The customer does not care about
the systems, just the data that comes
from it,” Bronowski said.
Vehicle autonomy applications and pavement management benefit greatly
from precise roadway-surface mapping
MULTI-SENSOR CLUSTERS enable precise
assessment of road conditions.
XenomatiX

25. Inertial Ranging & eLoran Wi-Fi Bluetooth
corner
G
NSS are magic. They are.
One dictionary defines
magic as “a power that
allows people (such as
witches and wizards) to do impossible
things by saying special words or
performing special actions.” By this
definition, we have all become witches
and wizards, doing what previous
generations would have deemed
impossible.
This magic, however, can be affected
byexternalforcesthatrenderituselessat
best and, at worst, dangerous. Warnings
aboutGNSSpositioning,navigationand
timing(PNT)servicevulnerabilitieshave
been raised for 25+ years. Numerous
organizations have warned of the
potential safety, security and economic
impacts of GNSS interference. Still, like
modern-dayCassandras,theirwarnings
have been ignored, and sole use of PNT
services that rely on space-based signals
continues to expand.
“Magic services” are addictive and
cannot be ignored. Yet, it is well past
the time to merely admire the problem
of GNSS interference — benefitting
from magical GNSS services while
ignoring existing and emerging threats
and challenges. It is time to draw a line
andimplementresilient,complementary
PNT solutions to support all critical
infrastructuresectorsandapplicationsin
theeventofanyGNSSdisruption,dueto
jammingorspoofingorsystemiccauses.
“Magic”ismagicalwhenitworks.When
it does not, first and foremost, it should
“do no harm.”
Threats, Challenges and Needs
Presidential Policy Directive (PPD)
21, Critical Infrastructure Security
and Resilience, issued in 2013, defines
resilience as “the ability to prepare
for and adapt to changing conditions
and withstand and recover rapidly
from disruptions.” It also notes that
“resilience includes the ability to
withstand and recover from deliberate
attacks,accidents,ornaturallyoccurring
threats or incidents.” In 2016, the
UK Department of International
Development noted that “Resilience
covers both ‘physical and societal
systems” through four “R” principles:
robustness,redundancy,resourcefulness
and rapidity (see Figure1). More recently,
Andy Proctor (RethinkPNT) pointed
outthat“AresilientPNTsystemprotects
its critical capabilities (assets) from
harm by using protective resilience
techniquestopassivelyresistoractively
detect threats, respond to them, and
recover from the harm they cause.”
Policies, processes, financial
arrangements, and incentives are
also crucial to achieving resilience —
and that has been, and remains, the
problem. Lacking the emergence of
strong leadership from our institutions,
theabilitytoachieveactualresiliencewill
continue to falter and admiration of the
problem will continue.
DevelopingaresilientPNTsystemis
alwaysabalanceoftechnicalcomplexity
and non-technical aspects, e.g., costs.
Thekeyconsiderationforusersmustbe
the required performance metrics they
need for their use-case(s) to ensure
their resilience — including accuracy,
availability, integrity, continuity and
coverage. The one least understood
and many times omitted is integrity
— the level of trust a user/use-case
needs to safely and securely use the
PNT services. The ability to trust PNT
servicesmustalwaysbeaconsideration
for critical infrastructure applications.
Unfortunately, many users of critical
infrastructure PNT do not know some
of the PNT metrics they need to ensure
safetyandsecurity.Moretroubling,there
is no guidance as to what constitutes
“significant economic impact” (see PPD
21) or acceptable economic loss — and
over what period or range of use cases.
Thisunderstandingwillrequireanalysisof
theirdesign,developmentandoperational
experiences, and working with PNT
systems engineers to first derive these
metrics and then drive the continuous
improvements (see Figure 2) needed to
RESILIENCE
Delivering Security through
Systems Engineering
All
figures
provided
by
author.
by Mitch Narins, Strategic Synergies LLC
Achieving PNT Resilience for Critical
Infrastructure Applications
FIGURE 1. Infrastructure resilience properties.
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 25

26. achieveandretaintrulycomplementary
PNT capabilities. Without clear metrics
andguidance,onecannotclaimthatany
solution will meet any “required level of
resilience.”
Supporting PNT Users
As with all systems engineering (SE)
activities,PNTsystemresiliencebegins
with identifying and documenting
user needs based on their specific
user stories/use cases. Figure 3 depicts
different aspects of resilience that
can be sought, depending on the
unique use-case “demands.” While
the resilience needs of different use
cases will differ, for any specific use
case, a given “PNT solution” will either
achieve the required/threshold level of
resilience (based on the operational
environment) or it will not. Some use
cases may also require fail-safe or fail-
softcapabilityandtheabilitytorecover
to known, trusted and usable states.
Shouldn’t many, if not all critical sector
use cases require this?
Equallyimportantistheidentification
of risks and threats, as they are critical
to understanding the challenges that
the system must face while continuing
to provide the necessary P, N, and/or
T service performance. It is also key to
understand and document the system
architecture and environment in which
it must perform. With knowledge of a
user’s needs, the threats, hazards and
challenges they face, and the system
architecture,theSEprocesscandevelop
anunderstandingofthe“gaps”thatexist
andofthelevelsofrisktheyimposeona
criticalinfrastructuresystem’sfunctional,
physical and operational performance.
Understanding this, essential use-
appropriatemitigationscanbeidentified,
or if need be, developed, and a resilient,
solution-agnostic PNT requirement
document created.
The Way Forward
The Critical Infrastructure Resilience
Institute (CIRI), a U.S. Department of
HomelandSecurityCenterofExcellence,
notesthat“criticalinfrastructuresystems
arefacingamyriadofchallenges.Solutions
must address the cyber, physical and
human dimensions.” They keyed into
four areas where critical infrastructure
resilience activities should be directed:
buildingthebusinesscase,information
policy and regulation, developing new
tools and technologies, fostering and
educating the workforce.
These include the recognition that
“policy and regulation have a powerful
impact on market forces.” While the fact
that “most U.S. infrastructure is owned
and operated by the private sector” is a
challenge, it should not be an excuse.
We must start immediately to re-
establish strong SE practices, policies,
and principles to help critical users
understand their needs and determine
the metrics required to ensure safety
and “preclude significant economic
impact.” Only then can we understand
fromanationalperspective,theneeded
safety and security metrics and what
constitutes significant economic
impact, and then establish categories
of solution-agnostic requirements.
Lacking these clear resilience targets,
detailed planning, and required
resource commitments, the growing
threats of PNT vulnerability will
continueonlytobeadmired,ratherthan
bemitigated.Hopeisnotastrategy,but
thissystemsengineerhopesthatitdoes
not take a truly catastrophic event to
finally prompt much needed and long
overdue actions.
MITCH NARINS is the Principal Consultant/
OwnerofStrategicSynergiesLLC,aconsultancy
he formed following more than 40 years of U.S.
government service. He is a Fellow of the Royal
Institute of Navigation, a Senior Member of the
InstituteofElectricalandElectronicEngineers,a
memberoftheInstituteofNavigationandHead
of its Washington, D.C. section, and a member
of RTCA, RTCM, IEEE, and SAE Standards
Committees.
26 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
FIGURE 2. Resilient PNT lifecycle.
FIGURE 3. Resilience aspects.

27. DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 27
T
iming from atomic clocks is now an integral part of data-center
operations. The atomic clock time transmitted via Global Position
System (GPS) and other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
networks is synchronizing servers across the globe, and atomic
clocks are deployed in individual data centers to preserve synchronization
when the transmitted time is not available.
This high level of synchronization is vital to ensure the zettabytes of data
collected around the globe every year can be meaningfully stored and used in
manyapplications,whetherduetosystemrequirementsortoensureregulatory
compliance. The quantum nature of an atom enables the precision time and
is a critical part of ensuring that more data at faster speeds will be processed
in the future — ironic, as just a few years ago the quantum nature of the atom
All
images
courtesy
of
Microchip
Technology
GNSS CONSTELLATIONS are precise timing systems.
The Role of Atomic Clocks in Data Centers
How the Atom Went from Data’s
Worst Enemy to Its Best Friend
by David Chandler
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER,
FREQUENCY AND TIMING SYSTEMS BUSINESS
UNIT, MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
TIMING

28. 28 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
was seen as the ultimate death of this increase in data
processing and speed.
In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted the transistor count
on an integrated circuit would double every year. This
was eventually revised to doubling every two years.
Along with this increase in transistor density came an
important increase in speed as well as decreases in cost
and power consumption.
It may have been hard in 1965 to imagine there would
be any real-world need to have a semiconductor with 50
billion transistors on it in 2021, but as semiconductor
technologies kept up with the law, so did application
demands. Cell phones, financial trading and DNA
mapping are all applications that rely heavily on the
number of operations per second a microprocessor can
execute, which is closely tied to the transistor count
on a chip.
The Demise of Moore’s Law
Unfortunately, Moore’s Law is rapidly coming to an end
due to a limit imposed by physics. With wafer fabrication
now in the sub-10-nm technology nodes, the transistor
sizes are only about 10 to 50 times that of a silicon atom.
Atthisscale,thesizeandquantumpropertiesofatomsand
free electrons significantly prohibit further size reduction.
In essence, you could think of the atom as the ultimate
court that struck down the law.
But while Moore’s Law will come to an end, the thirst
for increased processing power will continue to grow.
With the advent of the internet of things (IoT), streaming
services, social media posts and autonomous self-driving
cars, the amount of data generated every day continues to
increase exponentially.
In 2021, every day an estimated 2.5 exabytes
(2,882,303,761,517,120,000 bytes) was generated. Exabyte
databases managing more than 100,000 transactions per
second (a transaction consists of multiple operations)
are currently in use, and the size of the databases and
the transactions per second will continue to grow for the
foreseeable future.
Synchronizing the Machines
This explosive growth in the volume of data — coupled
with the speed at which the data must be written, read,
copied, analyzed, manipulated and backed up — re-
quired data-center architects to find a way around the
end of Moore’s Law. The architects employed horizon-
tal scaling in a data center with distributed databases,
where instead of an entire database residing on one
server, the database is distributed over multiple serv-
ers in a cluster.
In this configuration, the cluster essentially functions
as one giant machine, hence the size and speed of the
system now becomes limited by the physical size of a
data center rather than by the size of an atom. (Take
that, atom!)
Software engineers now make careers writing code
that enables horizontal scaling. For all the software to
work, however, all the machines must be synchronized.
Otherwise it violates a concept called causality.
What is causality? It is easiest to explain through
an example. Suppose you have two cameras to record
images for a 100-meter dash, each with its own internal
clock. The first camera is at the starting blocks. The
second camera is at the finish line. Both sensors are
continually firing and timestamping each image with
the time from their respective clocks.
To determine the official time of the winning sprinter
in the race, the first camera’s images are reviewed for
the point in time when the first runner left the block
and this time-stamp is subtracted from the time-stamp
on the last camera’s image for that runner crossing the
finish line.
Forthistowork,bothcamerasmustbesynchronizedto
an acceptable level of uncertainty. If the synchronization
of the clocks is only ±0.05 seconds, you would be
unable to determine if someone who was recorded as
running 9.6 seconds actually broke the world record of
9.58 seconds. What if they were only synchronized to
±5 seconds from the stadium clock?
Imagine this scenario: Observed from the main
stadium clock, a race starts at exactly 12:00:00:00 p.m.
The first runner crosses the finish line at 12:00:09:60 p.m.
From the perspective of the main stadium clock, the
official race time was 9.6 seconds.
But what if the first camera’s clock was exactly
5 seconds fast and the second camera’s clock was
Satirical image of an
engineer trying to keep
up with Moore’s Law.
TIMING

29. DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 29
exactly 5 seconds slow? The race would officially start
at 12:00:05:00 p.m and finish at 12:00:04:60 p.m. The
race would officially finish 0.4 seconds before it started,
the world record would be shattered, the laws of physics
would be broken, and the current record holder would
most likely be wrongfully dropped by all his sponsors.
Applying Causality to a Database
The same principle of causality is important in a data-
base. Transactional record updates must appear in the
database in the sequential order in which they occurred.
If you count on the direct deposit of
your paycheck arriving prior to hav-
ing a direct withdrawal to pay your
monthly mortgage, and the bank’s
database did not record these in the
correct sequence, you will be charged
an overdraft fee. On one machine,
causality errors are easy to prevent,
but on multiple servers, each with its
own internal clock, the servers must
be synchronized and timestamp every transaction.
To achieve this, one server must act as a reference
clock, much like the stadium clock, and it must
distribute time to each server in a way that minimizes
the time error of each server clock. The uncertainty of
each timestamp (±5 seconds in the race) forms a time
envelope that is twice the uncertainty of the clock (10
seconds for the race). For a distributed database, the
number of nonoverlapping time-envelopes that can
fit into a second should be at least on the order of the
number of transactions per second expected for the
system.
Probability, criticality of causality, and cost of
implementation will ultimately all play a role in the final
solution, but this relationship is a good starting point. A
system with time-stamp uncertainties of ±1 millisecond
would have time-envelopes of 2 milliseconds, and a
maximum of 500 non-overlapping time-envelopes
would fit in one second. This system could support
approximately 500 transactions per second.
Where NTP and PTP Fall Short
Time-over-EthernettechnologiesknownasNetworkTime
Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) are
usedtosynchronizealltheserversinadistributeddatabase
in a data center. These protocols can ensure a local area
network can distribute time with sub-millisecond (NTP)
or sub-microsecond (PTP) uncertainties, enabling thou-
sands(NTP)ormillions(PTP)oftransactionspersecond.
Unfortunately, even with these solutions that enabled
a detour around the atom-imposed demise of Moore’s
Law, physics has thrown another roadblock in the path
of distributed databases in the form
of the speed of light.
Imagine a well-synchronized
distributed database operating with
PTP in San Jose, California, happily
executing 100,000 transactions per
second with no causality issues. One of
the database architects is sitting in his
office in New York and his boss asks
him to update a large series of records.
The architect wants to be able to exploit his new
database to its full extent and show off the system
capabilities. He plans on executing 100,000 transactions
per second.
To update records per the request, he creates a
simple transaction that adds the value of one record
to a second record only if the value of the first record
is greater than the second record. To accomplish this,
he must issue a read to both records. His local machine
in New York will then compare the values, then send
a write command to the second record when needed.
After completing this, he then wants to execute the
next transaction that compares a third value to the new
sum. If the new sum is greater than the third record,
then the third record is replaced with the sum. He wants
to repeat this for 6 million records. Because the database
is capable of 100,000 transactions per second, he thinks
it will be done in roughly a minute. He tells his boss
he will have the records updated in five minutes, then
leaves to get a cup of coffee.
Clock uncertainty causes issues with causality. In this case, a race officially finished before it started.
Physics has
thrown another
roadblock in the
path of distributed
databases in the
form of the
speed of light.
TIMING

30. 30 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
While drinking his coffee, he reads a
story about how the new 100-meter
dash record is negative 0.4 seconds
which defies the laws of physics,
and that the previous record
holder is suing the stadium
officials because he has lost all his
endorsement money. The architect
laughs to himself and thinks that
the stadium should have hired him
as the synchronization expert.
Hecomesbacktohisdeskfiveminutes
later and is dismayed to see that his
database update has completed fewer
than 1,500 transactions. He sadly
realizes his mistake and prepares his
résumé to send it over to the stadium,
where he hopes his PTP deployment
won’t have the same problem.
What went wrong? The speed of light limits the
theoretical fastest possible transmission of data between
New York and San Jose to 13.7 milliseconds.
The Distance Problem
Unfortunately, real world transactions are even slower.
Even with a dedicated fiber-optic link between the two
locations, the refractive index of the fiber, the real-world
path of the fiber and other system issues make this transit
time even slower. So just one transmission from New
York will take 40 to 50 milliseconds to arrive in San Jose.
However, in this transaction there are four unique
operations. There are two read operations, which could
happen in parallel, which then have to be sent back to
New York. The round trip takes 80 to 100 milliseconds.
Then, once both values are compared, a write operation
is issued and a write acknowledgement must be sent
back indicating the write operation completed before
the next transaction can start.
Suddenly, it doesn’t matter that the database can
perform 100,000 transaction per second, because the
distance is limiting the system to 5 transactions per
second. To complete the 6 million transactions, this
system would take 13 days, more than enough time
for several more cups of coffee and to update a résumé.
This delay is referred to as communications latency.
Circumventing Latency
But just likewithMoore’sLaw, databasearchitectsfigured
out how to circumvent latency. Database replications are
created near the users, so they can work with the data
without having to send signals across the country.
Periodically, the replications are compared and rec-
onciled to ensure consistency. During the
reconciliation process, the transaction
time-stamps are used to determine the
actual sequence of transactions, and
records are sometimes rolled back
when there is an irreconcilable dif-
ference such as when the transaction
time-envelopes overlap. Reducing
clockuncertaintyreducesthenumber
of irreconcilable differences in repli-
cated instances, as more time-envelopes
reduce the probability of overlaps. This
results in higher efficiencies and lower prob-
abilities of data corruptions.
But now the timestamping has to be
accurate not only within each data cen-
ter, but also between the data centers,
whichcanbeseparatedbythousandsof
miles and connected via the cloud. This is a much more
difficult task, as it requires an external reference with very
low uncertainly that is readily available in both locations.
Down to the Atomic Level
Enter the previous foe of the data base architect, the
atom. While the atom was busy repealing Moore’s
Law, its subatomic particles were busy spinning. The
neutrons and protons in the nucleus were rotating, while
at the same time the electrons were busy orbiting about
the nucleus, while also spinning on their own axes. This
is analogous to Earth orbiting around the sun while
simultaneously spinning on its axis.
The electrons can spin around their axes clockwise
or counterclockwise. Considering there are roughly 7
octillion (7 with 27 zeros after it) atoms in a human,
with all the subatomic particles spinning in our bodies,
it is amazing we aren’t permanently dizzy. (Note: The
subatomic particles aren’t really busy spinning and
orbiting, they are really busy giving us probability wave
functions and magnetic interactions that would give us
resultssimilartowhatwouldhappeniftheywerespinning
and orbiting. But if the thought of all the spinning makes
The speed of light imposes a theoretical
limit to the speed at which data can be
transferred between two points.
Conceptual atoms with nucleus and valence electron with nuclear
spin, electron spin and orbital spin.
TIMING

31. you dizzy, trying to comprehend the reality of quantum
mechanics will make you positively nauseous.)
When microwave radiation at a very specific precise
frequency is absorbed by an electron, the direction of
spin about the electron axis can be changed. If this
happened to Earth, the Sun would suddenly set in the
east and rise in the west!
Atomic clocks are machines designed to detect
the state of the electron spin, and then change that
direction through microwave radiation. The frequency
varies depending on the element, the isotope, and the
excitation state of the electrons.
Once the machine determines the frequency, known
as the hyperfine transition frequency, the period can
be determined as the inverse of the frequency, and the
number of periods can be counted to determine the
elapsed time. The international definition of the second
is 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation required to
induce the hyperfine transition of an electron in the
outer orbital shell of a cesium atom.
Atomic clocks are the most stable commercially
available clocks in the world. An atomic clock the size
of a deck of cards called the chip-scale atomic clock
(CSAC) will drift 1 millionth of a second in 24 hours,
whereas an atomic clock the size of a refrigerator called a
hydrogen maser will only drift 10 trillionths of a second
in 24 hours. (Coincidentally, 10 trillionths is also about
the ratio of the radius of the hydrogen atom to the
height of the sprinters in the 100-meter dash and of the
The unit second is defined
by counting 9,192,631,770
cycles of the cesium
hyperfine transmission
radiation frequency.
Join us at AGU 2022 in Chicago
Booth #1213 tallymatics.com
F9x
F9x
upp
upp
L-B d
L-B d
L-B d
L-B d
+ - K
+ - K
d K ug
d K ug
D d k g (IMU)
D d k g (IMU)
D d k g (IMU)
D d k g (IMU)
Accutenna® technology
Accutenna® technology
Mu - d
Mu - d
u - g upp
u - g upp
M g u - -b d
M g u - -b d
M g u - -b d
M g u - -b d
Ex u p h j
Ex u p h j
Ex u p h j
Ex u p h j
I 69K w p g
I 69K w p g
I 69K w p g
I 69K w p g
wow!
Tallymatics integrates Tallysman antennas, a u-blox F9x GNSS
receiver and the PointPerfect augmentation service into the TW5390
multi-constellation and multi-band smart GNSS antenna.
DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 31
TIMING

32. 32 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
now-unemployed data-center architect in New York.)
With the accuracy provided by these atomic clocks,
approximately 500,000 to ~50 billion nonoverlapping
time-envelopes can be provided for a distributed
database running in data centers in Tokyo, London,
New York, Timbuktu or anywhere else in the world.
Time for Distribution
Howdoestimegettoallthedatacentersfromtheseatomic
clocks?UniversalCoordinatedTime(UTC)isaglobaltime
distributed by satellites, fiber optic networks, and even the
internet. UTC itself is derived from a collection of high
precisionatomicclockslocatedinnationallaboratoriesand
timing stations around the world. Contributors to UTC
receive a report that provides the UTC time from these
clocksandtheirindividualoffsetfromcalculatedUTC.The
labsandotherfacilitiesthentransmitthetimetotheworld.
The UTC report is published monthly and tells the
national labs their miniscule timing offset from UTC
during the previous month. Technically, we don’t know
precisely what time it was up until a month after the
fact. And to make things worse, extra seconds are
periodically added to UTC, called leap seconds, which
are inserted due to variations in the Earth’s rotation
and our relative position to observable stars. While
this aligns Earth to the universe, it causes havoc in data
centers and 100-meter dashes.
Enter GNSS
Two common methods used by data centers to acquire
UTC are via the internet using publicly available NTP
time servers and via satellite using GPS or other GNSS
The evolution of database
transaction rates and the
enabling and disabling
technologies.
The hyperfine
transition frequency
produced in a
hydrogen maser,
1.420405751 GHz,
will cause spin
reversal in an
electron.
TIMING

33. DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 33
networks. While timing through public NTP timeservers
overtheinternetwascommonduringearlydeploymentof
distributed databases, inherent performance, traceability
and security issues have created the push to move away
from this solution.
Even though GPS and other GNSS are typically
thought of as positioning and navigation systems, they
really are precision timing systems. Position and time at
a receiver are determined by the transit time of signals
traveling at the speed of light from multiple satellites to
the receiver. Ironically, this is another case of a physics
principle causing a problem — in this case the speed
of light instead of the atom — but also contributing to
the solution.
The satellites have their own onboard atomic clocks,
which are synchronized to UTC that was transmitted
to the satellites from ground stations. Acquiring UTC
with this method can provide time uncertainties in
the 5-nanosecond range, enabling 100 million time-
envelopes per second.
This method is far more reliable and accurate
than public NTP servers, and while these signals
can be interrupted by such events as solar storms
or intentional signal jamming, backup clocks that
have been synchronized to the satellite signals when
present can be placed in each individual data center
to provide the desired uncertainty levels during these
interruptions.
Next Up: Jumping Electrons
As our quest to acquire, store and transact data in the
future continues to grow, novel atomic-clock technolo-
gies and time transmission systems with lower uncer-
tainties will be needed. Currently, national timing labs
are developing atomic clocks that work on the optical
transitions that occur when an electron jumps orbital
shells. These offer frequency stabilities to a quintillionth
of a Hertz and will eventually be used to redefine the
unit second.
Signal transmission through dedicated fiber-optic links
or airborne lasers are already yielding improved transmis-
sion accuracy. With these continued innovations data,
the atom and light will continue their complex love-hate
relationship to enable ever larger quantities of data pro-
cessed at ever increasing rates without consistency issues
or causality casualties.
TIMING

34. 34 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
RESEARCH Roundup
G
NSS researchers presented hundreds of papers at
the 2022 Institute of Navigation (ION) GNSS+
conference,whichtookplaceSept.19–23inDenver,
Colorado, and virtually. The following five papers focused
on atmospheric effects on GNSS signals. The papers are
available at www.ion.org/publications/browse.cfm.
ADDRESSINGSCINTILLATIONERROR
Mitigating thescintillationeffectatlowlatitudeisacomplex
matter:severalkindsofexperimentaldatamustbecollected,
realistic models must be developed, and, most importantly,
useful real-time indices and alerts must be made available.
Theauthorsintroduceaprototypebasedonapatentowned
bySpacEarthTechnologytoaddressscintillationerrordetection
and mitigation, supporting precision GNSS-based services at
lowlatitudesinanyseasonandspaceweatherconditions.The
patentrelatestoamethodoftotalelectroncontent(TEC)and
scintillation empirical forecasting, in particular short-term
forecasting(secondstominutes).Theoutputofthemethodis
necessary to feed mitigation algorithms aiming at improving
accuracy on GNSS precise positioning techniques (RTK,
NRTK, and PPP) under ionospheric harsh conditions.
The prototype is designed with a Central Elaborating
Facility, which collects the data provided by a network of
GNSSmonitoringstationsdetectingscintillationevents,and
broadcasts foreseen scintillation parameters. Users with a
rover mitigation device can apply the parameters from the
central facility for scintillation error mitigation.
Vincenzo Romano, INGV and SpacEarth Technology;
Claudio Cesaroni, INGV; Luca Spogli, Alessandro Fiorini,
INGVandSpacEarthTechnology;MarcoFermi,Gter;Lorenzo
Benvenuto, Gter and University of Genoa; Tiziano Cosso,
Gter; Marcin Grzesiak, SRC/PAS; Joao Francisco Galera
Monico, Italo Tsuchiya, UNESP; Gabriel Oliveira, Marcos
Guandalini; “Ionospheric Scintillation Mitigation at Low
Latitude to Improve Navigation Quality.”
RINGOFFIREGUARDIAN
Commonly, natural hazards release energy into the Earth’s
atmosphere in the form of acoustic-gravity waves, which
propagate up to the ionosphere. The resulting travelling
ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) can be detected using GNSS
signals,throughthecomputationoftheintegratedtotalelectron
content(TEC)alongthelinesofsightbetweenGNSSreceivers
and satellites. The global distribution of ground-based GNSS
receivers constantly tracking multiple GNSS constellations
(GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, and others) provides
excellentspatio-temporalcoveragearoundtheworld,including
in areas of limited coverage by existing warning systems.
The authors present the operational GNSS-based Upper
Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert
Network (GUARDIAN). Based on dual-frequency GNSS
data from the Global Differential GPS (GDGPS) network of
theJetPropulsionLaboratory,theGUARDIANarchitecture
computes slant TEC time series in near real time.
As part of the GDGPS network, 78 stations around the
Pacific ring of fire monitor the four GNSS constellations:
GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou. Cycle slips are
corrected and the time series are filtered, both in real time.
The resulting data stream is output live to a user-friendly
public website, benefitting the general public and the
scientific community.
buradaki/iStock/Getty
Images
Plus/Getty
Images
ATMOSPHERICEFFECTSONGNSS

35. DECEMBER 2022
|
WWW.GPSWORLD.COM GPS WORLD 35
The current GUARDIAN focuses on the Pacific region.
However, the architecture can readily be extended to a
worldwide coverage.
Léo Martire, S. Krishnamoorthy, L. J. Romans, B. Szilágyi, P.
Vergados, A. W. Moore, A. Komjáthy, Y. E. Bar-Sever, A. B.
Craddock,NASAJetPropulsionLaboratory,CaliforniaInstitute
of Technology; “GUARDIAN: A Near Real-Time Ionospheric
MonitoringSystemforNaturalHazardsEarlyWarnings.”
CIVILAVIATIONINTERFERENCE
TheauthorsprovideasurveyonGNSSreceiverarchitectures
with emphasis on new carrier-tracking techniques for
mitigatingtheadverseeffectofionosphericscintillationwithin
the context of civil aviation. The survey is complemented by
resultsgatheredfromsimulationsontheimpactofionospheric
scintillationinconventionalreceiverarchitectures.Areview
onscintillationmitigationtechniquesiscarriedout,covering
several “technique families,” highlighting their potential for
performance improvement, as well as their shortcomings
and challenges in implementation.
A semi-analytical simulation campaign is carried out for
different modulations: L1, L5 for GPS, and E1, E5a for Galileo.
Here, the performance of a standard receiver tracking a set of
GPSandGalileosatellitesaffectedbyionosphericscintillationis
analyzed to pinpoint existing vulnerabilities to this effect.
The simulation results show that ionospheric scintillations
are responsible for large variations in carrier-to-noise ratio,
which in turn can be responsible for losses of lock and large
phase variations, increasing phase RMSE and in some cases
leadingtocycleslipsofthephaseestimation.Thus,theadopted
solution must be robust to signal power fluctuations and the
occurrence of cycle slips and able to maintain phase lock.
António Negrinho, GMV-PT Pedro Boto, GMV-PT Marta
Cueto, GMV-ES Mikael Mabilleau, EUSPA Claudia Paparini,
EUSPAEttoreCanestri,EUSPA;“SurveyonSignalProcessing
Techniques for GNSS Ionospheric Scintillation Mitigation.”
TONGAERUPTIONDATAANALYZED
Extreme natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, can
create visible pressure waves in the atmosphere and trigger
observableionosphericwaveresponsesthatcantravelhundreds
of kilometers in the ionosphere. The acoustic and gravity
wavesgeneratedcancauseionosphericTECperturbationsand
variations. The TEC determines the GNSS ionospheric delay
andcancausesignificantpositioningerrors,whichmayaffect
the performance of GNSS-based applications.
The researchers processed GNSS data collected from the
HongKongSatellitePositioningReferenceStationNetworkto
analyzetheionosphericactivityandpositioningperformance
responding to the Tonga volcanic eruption on Jan. 15, 2022.
Todetectandrepaircycle-slipjumps,theresearchersapplied
theTECrateandMelbourneWubbenaWideLane(MWWL)
linear combinations. A Savitzky-Golay low-pass filter with a
30s window was used to improve the TEC accuracy.
TheteaminvestigatedthechangesinTEC,RateofTECindex
(ROTI) and positioning errors in the eastward, northward
and upward directions after the anomalous ionospheric
propagation to Hong Kong between 11:30 and 14:30. The
team found the ionospheric anomaly could generate large
changes in the three parameters, with peaks up to three times
thecalmperiod.Theirpromptresearchcontributestoabetter
understandingofthecouplingofextremeionosphericactivities
and dynamics caused by volcanic eruptions.
XiaojiaChang,KaiGuo,ZhipengWang,KunFang,Hongxia
Wang, Beihang University; Hailong Chen, China Academy of
Aerospace Electronics Technology; “Ionospheric Anomaly
andGNSSPositioningResponsestotheJanuary2022Tonga
Volcanic Eruption.”
TOOLBOXFORMONITORNETWORK
The MONITORtoolbox is a set of Python-coded software
tools to perform automatized large-scale processing of
data from the Monitor network of the European Space
Agency (ESA). The Monitor network aims to continuously
monitor ionospheric scintillation events from multiple
ground stations strategically located around the globe. It
accommodates a repository with a large number of GNSS
measurements containing scintillation events for users to
analyze scintillation data or for research purposes.
This paper shows the potential of the MONITORtoolbox
forprovidingaccesstoalargeamountofdatathatotherwise,
without a systematic processing, becomes practically
useless. The software developed implements the means to
collect data and store it in a local database for quick offline
access. It detects the presence of scintillation events based
on certain conditions and criteria defined by the user
and identifies its properties in terms of duration, time of
occurrence, intensity and satellite location. It implements
the tools to compute relevant statistics, providing insights
on ionospheric scintillation phenomena.
Sergi Locubiche-Serra, Alejandro Pérez-Conesa, Diego
Fraile-Parra, Gonzalo Seco-Granados, José A. López-
Salcedo, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, IEEC-CERES;
Juan M. Parro-Jiménez, Raúl Orús-Pérez, ESTEC, European
Space Agency; “MONITORtoolbox — Software Tool for the
Analysis of Ionospheric Scintillation Data from the ESA
Monitor Network.”

36. MARKET
WATCH
Segment Snapshot:
Applications, Trends & News
OEM 2
A
dvanced Navigation has announced
the Boreas D70, a fiber-optic
gyroscope (FOG) inertial
navigation system (INS).
TheD70 isthelatestrelease inthe Boreas
digital FOG (DFOG) series, offering a new
performancegradewithsuperioraccuracy,
exceptional stability and reliability. The
technology is suited to surveying, mapping
and navigation across subsea, marine, land and
air applications.
“We are thrilled to expand the Boreas series with the
D70.It’sasystemthatwillprovideadditionalflexibilityintheBoreasfamily,making
ultra-highaccuracyinertialnavigationfarmoreaffordablethanwithpreviousFOG
INSsystems,”saidXavierOrr,CEOandco-founderofAdvancedNavigation.“This
patented technology opens the possibility for adopting FOG INS systems across a
much broader range of vehicular applications, particularly autonomous vehicles
and aircraft where weight and size are at a premium.”
BoreasD70combinesclosed-loopDFOGandaccelerometertechnologieswith
adual-antennareal-timekinematic(RTK)GNSSreceiver.Thesearecoupledwith
Advanced Navigation’s artificial-intelligence-based fusion algorithm to deliver
accurate and precise navigation.
The system features ultra-fast gyrocompassing, acquiring and maintaining an
accurate heading under demanding conditions. While the D70 does contain a
GNSS receiver, it is not required for gyrocompass operation.
U
-blox has announced a new,
compact dual-band timing
module that offers nanosecond-
level timing accuracy, thereby meeting
the stringent timing requirements for
5G communications.
The new u-blox NEO-F10T is
compliant with the u-blox NEO
form factor (12.2 mm x 16 mm),
allowing space-constrained designs
to be realized without the need to
compromise on size.
The NEO-F10T
is the successor
to the NEO-
M8T module,
providing an
easy upgrade
path to dual-
band timing
technology. This allows NEO-M8T
users to access nanosecond-level
timingaccuracyandenhancedsecurity.
u-blox’s dual-band technology
mitigates ionospheric errors and
greatly reduces timing error, without
theneedofanexternalGNSScorrection
service. Additionally, when within
the operational area of a satellite-
based augmentation system (SBAS),
the NEO-F10T offers the possibility
to improve the timing performance
by using the ionospheric corrections
provided by the SBAS system.
The NEO-F10T supports all four
global satellite constellations and L1/
L5/E5aconfiguration,simplifyingglobal
deployments. It includes advanced
security features such as secure boot,
secure interfaces, configuration lock
and T-RAIM to provide the highest-
level timing integrity and ensure
reliable, uninterrupted service.
u-blox Provides Secure
Dual-Band Timing Module
Advanced
Navigation
Advanced Navigation Launches
Digital Fiber-Optic Gyroscope
36 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM
|
DECEMBER 2022
u-blox
SeptentriohasintroducedtheAsteRx
SB3 ProBase, its latest generation
of GPS/GNSS base station receivers,
designed for the creation of top-quality
measurements for real-time kinematic
(RTK) and differential corrections.
The AsteRx SB3 ProBase is an IP68-
housed GNSS base station receiver,
featuring the latest quad-constellation
GNSS technology for the best quality
measurements. The new ruggedized
receiver complements the SB3 receiver
family: the AsteRx SB3 Pro, rover
receiver,theAsteRxSB3Pro+roverand
basereceiverandtheAsteRxSB3CLAS,
dedicated to the Japanese market.
TheSB3ProBaseiseasytoconfigure.
It comes with Septentrio’s GNSS+
technologies, including anti-jam and
anti-spoofing technology (AIM+) for
robustness and reliability.
AsteRx SB3 products are pin-to-
pin compatible with the AsteRx SB
ProDirect receiver and the recently
released AsteRx SBi3 GNSS/INS
system.
Septentrio Expands AsteRX SB3 Line