MobiNav

Here is the article written by Jason Goldberg, founder of Fab.com.

[Source: Google Lat Longs]

Google building footprints, complete with height detail, are algorithmically created by taking aerial imagery and using computer vision techniques to render the building shapes. User can also draw or modify the building footprints with Google Map Maker and assign his favorite local business to an existing building.

Agrandir le plan

[Source: Directions Magazine]

The German radar satellite, TanDEM-X, is in the process of generating a global Digital Elevation Model – WorldDEM – of unprecedented quality, accuracy and coverage. Its accuracy will surpass that of any satellite-based elevation model available today and will have the following unique features:

• Vertical accuracy of 2m (relative) and 10m (absolute)
• 12m x 12m raster
• Global homogeneity
• Highly consistent dataset as a result of an initial global data collection window of 2.5 years and the opportunity to continue to collect locally beyond the initial collection period
• No need for ground control information due to the high geometric precision of German sensors

[Source: Aol defense]

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Google will soon make public information about virtually every ship at sea, giving the current location and identity even of American warships. Meanwhile, the company is consulting with the Navy and others about security issues.

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[Source: Le Figaro]

L’éditeur français de logiciels vient de lancer l’acquisition de l’entreprise canadienne Gemcom Software International, société spécialisée dans la modélisation en 3D pour le secteur minier.
«la complémentarité avec notre métier est totale. Les grands clients de Gemcom, dont les produits vont être rebaptisés Geovia, pourraient être intéressés par nos autres outils de modélisation», se félicite Bernard Charlès, le directeur général de Dassault Systèmes. Enfin, les logiciels de la société de Vancouver vont aider l’éditeur français à modéliser la planète, «avec une précision de 30 cm, ce qui sera beaucoup plus précis qu’avec Google Earth», prévient le directeur général.

[source:webynux]

Google Search :

• DuckDuckGo : duckduckgo.com
• Seeks :  seeks.fr

Google Chrome :

• Firefox :  mozilla.org

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[Source: Inside GNSS]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a search for an atomic inertial sensor to measure orientation in GPS-denied environments. The Chip-Scale Combinatorial Atomic Navigator (C-SCAN) initiative seeks to create a sensor that integrates small size, low power consumption, high resolution of motion detection, and a fast startup time into a single package.

“When GPS is not available, gyroscopes provide orientation, accelerometers provide position, and oscillators provide timing. The new C-SCAN effort focuses on replacing bulky gyroscopes with a new inertial measurement unit (IMU) that is smaller, less expensive due to foundry fabrication and yields better performance.”

[Source: Broadcom]

The BCM47511 SoC solution is Broadcom’s latest generation of standalone receivers, featuring both integrated GPS and GLONASS. By leveraging the United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and the Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS), users have access to 59 satellites currently in orbit — nearly twice the coverage of GPS alone.

We can check here for more information about Broadcom’s BCM47511

[Source: GPS world]

EGNOS signals are potentially vulnerable, however, to the effects of high solar activity on the ionosphere — the electrically active upper layers of our atmosphere — which can cause signal « scintillations » and time delays.

This new effort will increase system robustness and service availability against severe ionospheric severe effects that began last year and are expected to continue until the peak of the solar cycle expected in 2013–14.

This illustration shows a CME blasting off the Sun’s surface in the direction of Earth.
The left portion is composed of an EIT 304 image superimposed on a LASCO C2 coronagraph.
Two to four days later, the CME cloud is shown striking and beginning to be
mostly deflected around the Earth’s magnetosphere. The blue paths emanating
from the Earth’s poles represent some of its magnetic field lines. The magnetic
cloud of plasma can extend to 30 million miles wide by the time it reaches earth.
These storms, which occur frequently, can disrupt communications and navigational
equipment, damage satellites, and even cause blackouts.

[Source: CSR]

Benefits

Breakthrough Power Consumption

• Adaptive micropower controller
• SiRFaware™ maintains hot-start readiness with only 150 to 500μA current for capture/update
• Eliminates the need to turn off GPS receiver
• 8 milliwatts TricklePower consumption

Reliable Choice For Difficult Environments

• Active jammer remover
• Tracks up to 8 CW jammers
• Removes in-band jammers up to 80dB-Hz
• 6 to 8dB of 3GPP design margin

Enhanced Navigation

• Smart sensor interface
• Multi-master I²C bus for smart sensors interrupt

GSD4t Hardware Description

The GSD4t product is designed for wireless handset applications. By minimising the external BOM to a single SAW and 4 to 9 passives, and the chip package to a 42-ball WLCSP, impact to end product size is minimal. Further enhancements to the silicon support simple design-in and low engineering risks:

• Active Jamming Removal: The GSD4t device can track and remove energy from up to 8 separate CW jammers. Since this feature is integrated into the device, no prior knowledge of the jamming signal is required. This feature can be used in the design stage, in production to overcome last-minute issues with unexpected jamming, and during operation to eliminate « in the field » jamming.
• High Performance Measurement Engine: The GSD4t core measurement engine contains more than double the memory of SiRFstarIII and operates at more than double the clock speed. It also supports shared VC-TCXO operation and self contained active transmit blanking.
• Adaptive Micropower Controller: The heart of the device’s ability to retain hot start conditions with minimal background power burn. In this mode, the receiver maintains fine time accuracy from the RTC with periodic satellite calibration, and will decode ephemeris as required. This controller also contains a temperature sensor and can receive interrupts from motion sensors.
• Smart Sensor Interface: The GSD4t contains a second master-only I²C port for external MEMS sensors, and also supports interrupts from smart sensors for motion detection. This capability augments basic heading and navigation enhancements from simple magnetic compasses to long-term inertial navigation system sources.

GSD4t SiRFHost Software

• Tracker software resides on the GSD4t chip and generates pseudorange measurements into the SiRFHost navigation engine to compute PVT.
• SiRFHost and SiRFInstantFix are software packages that reside on the host processor. They provide the navigation solution and ephemeris extension aiding, respectively.
• SiRFLSM is SiRF premium host software that provides A-GPS support for both user-plane (SUPL) and control-plane (CP) interfaces.

Product details