The Leica media event at HXGN Live Conference in Las Vegas.

At a media event held during the HXGN Live Conference in Las Vegas today, Leica Geosystems introduced several new products. The highlight of the event was presentation of Leica Nova and the Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation.

The Leica Nova measurement solution is designed to provide users with a complete and seamless workflow, Leica Geosystems said. It integrates advanced measurement technology, modern and intuitive field software, intelligent office software, and Leica’s services to give users the ability to make faster, smarter decisions, across a range of applications. The flagship of the new solution is the Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation, which combines scanning, total station, imaging and GNSS positioning in one instrument to deliver fast and reliable results. 

Leica Nova uses advanced measuring technology that provides accuracy and quality, yet is easy to use for an unprecedented range of applications, Leica said. The Leica Nova solution covers the complete process from capturing and visualizing data, to creating intelligent deliverables that shape the world. Whether users measure objects on a construction site, quickly calculate volumes, monitor a dam or a bridge, capture an accident scene with digital imaging or scan a façade, Leica Nova integrates all these capabilities in one compact, flexible solution.

The Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation.

The Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation combines every significant measuring technology in one device for the first time, Leica said. Precision 3D scanning, extensive and precise total station capabilities, digital imagery and GNSS connectivity are brought together in the multistation. The new mergeTEC technology fuses hardware capabilities with comprehensive data-management solutions. Images are synchronized with scans, and scans are tied into total station measurements, making it easy to manage complex 3D data, Leica said.

The Leica Nova MS50 integrates 3D point cloud measurements into regular survey workflows. Users can collect and visualize their topographic survey data with detailed high-precision scans. They save time by computing results and verifying the integrity and completeness of data immediately in the field, avoiding costly reworking or returns. Ultimately, users benefit from better decisions with richer and more detailed data.

Also part of the innovative new Leica Nova solution are the Leica Nova TS50 high-precision total station and Nova TM50 monitoring station.

The Leica Nova TS50 high-precision total station has 0.5-inch angular accuracy and an optimum combination of angle and distance measuring. Integrated overview and telescope cameras with fatigue-reducing autofocus document the scene with high-quality photogrammetric images using the latest SmartWorx on-board software.

The Leica Nova MS50.

The user sees on the remote control display exactly what the Leica Nova TS50 sees, allowing for easy one-person data capture. The Leica Nova TS50 allows full control through “tap and turn” without the need to go to the instrument and back again. The 20-Hz live video stream can be combined with a graphical overlay for cost-effective recording with immediate clarification of ambiguous situations. Together with the benefits of GNSS connectivity, the Leica Nova TS50 offers complete versatility by delivering reliable results, Leica said.

For critical monitoring tasks, the new Leica Nova TM50 monitoring station provides the highest angle accuracy and offers short measurement cycles through high speed Piezo drives and a fast, highly accurate EDM. The Leica Nova TM50 includes 0.5″ angular accuracy and can measure up to 3’000 meters, which makes it the ideal sensor for monitoring tasks in mines, landslides, etc. For additional documentation, the monitoring sensor includes an overview camera and a telescope camera with 30x magnification and autofocus. The Leica Nova TM50 meets the challenge of 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week monitoring applications. The Leica Nova TS50/TM50 instruments are IP65 rated and designed to withstand the roughest use in the most severe environments.

Leica GeoMoS 6.0 enhances conventional monitoring methods with automatic scanning of surfaces with the Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation.

The Leica software portfolio includes the following:

• With the new Leica Infinity software, users can seamlessly manage, visualize, process and georeference combined total station, imaging and scanning data from the Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation and other Leica Geosystems sensors.
• For AutoCAD users who have never before worked with rich point clouds or 3D datasets, the new Leica MultiWorx for AutoCAD plug-in software offers a simple way to integrate point cloud processing into existing workflows.
• Leica Cyclone and Leica GeoMoS as well as numerous other software packages from partners such as MicroSurvey and Listech can also be integrated into the workflow to meet specific needs.

Here is a video of the Leica Nova MS50.

The C-Tides suite combines the vertical accuracy of C-Nav’s GNSS Precise Point Positioning service with the latest advanced ocean and coastal tides models, the company said.

C-Tides Online features real-time filters and vessel dynamics, a choice of worldwide Mean Sea Surface or regional reference frame models, and tidal prediction for mission planning.

C-Tides Offline utilities include data smoothing and outlier rejection, harmonic analysis, Doodson X0 filter, and a LAT option.

“It’s been a privilege working with our academic partners to develop what is probably the worlds’ most advanced real-time GNSS tide solution,” said Russell Morton, C-Nav head of development.

C-Tides is a fully supported C-Nav utility. The results are suitable for combining with other suitably calibrated vertical components to achieve IHO SP44 Order 1 or better.

The new version features photogrammetry enhancements, including the ability to process images from the Gatewing X100 unmanned aerial system (UAS). These enhancements provide surveyors with increased visualization and processing capabilities, allowing them to further maximize productivity and create aerial survey deliverables.

“Powerful and intuitive, Trimble Business Center and its integration with UAS data introduces new capabilities to surveyors and represents a significant leap in efficiency. Surveyors, engineers and geospatial data managers can increase their productivity, efficiency and quality of deliverables through the software’s aerial data processing capabilities,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president of Trimble’s Survey Division. “Traditional sites, such as large mines, that in the past have taken days to map using conventional methods can now be accurately modeled in just hours.”

Version 3.00 introduces a new photogrammetry module for importing and working with flight data and images collected from the Gatewing X100 UAS and optical instruments, such as the Trimble S8 with Trimble VISION technology, which integrates calibrated digital cameras to collect survey data, stream video from the perspective of the instrument and capture panoramic still images. Based on software from Inpho, the Trimble Business Center photogrammetry module also provides office surveyors with the capability to process complete mapping projects containing aerial data, GNSS and total station observations. Surveyors can produce deliverables, including georeferenced orthophotos, 3D point clouds and digital surface models directly from Trimble Business Center.

With the ability to integrate photogrammetry with data collected from GNSS receivers, total stations, and digital levels, surveyors can combine aerial images with GNSS measurements on ground control points and 3D laser scans of buildings to precisely, comprehensively and efficiently map large and complex sites.

The new version also introduces 64-bit processing. As a 64-bit application, Trimble Business Center allows surveyors in the office to utilize their computer’s RAM, maximizing the productivity of the surveyor’s workstation, to display large images and point clouds for increased visualization functionality. Users can also display large images seamlessly; images “tile” automatically on import and the displayed resolution adjusts seamlessly as users zoom in and out for superior image viewing.

“Inpho is a proven leader in digital aerial photogrammetry,” said Arvesen. “Trimble has taken that expertise and applied it to the survey market, as we pioneer the development of UAS data integration for surveyors.”

The agencies want to know how users use NDGPS, and are seeking ideas for future uses or alternative uses.

According to the notice in the Federal Register,”The NDGPS was designed to broadcast signals to improve the accuracy and integrity of the Global Positioning System (GPS) derived positions for surface transportation, as well as other civil, commercial, scientific, and homeland security applications. This analysis will be used to support future NDGPS investment decisions by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation beyond fiscal year 2016. This notice seeks comments from federal, state, and local agencies, as well as other interested members of the public regarding current and future usage of the NDGPS, the need to retain the NDGPS, the impact if NDGPS signals were not available, alternatives to the NDGPS, and alternative uses for the existing NDGPS infrastructure.”

NDGPS is a ground-based augmentation system that provides increased accuracy and integrity of GPS information to users on U.S. land and waterways. The system consists of the Maritime Differential GPS System operated by the U.S. Coast Guard and an inland component funded by the Department of Transportation. NDGPS is built to international standards, and similar systems have been implemented by 50 countries around the world. Modernization efforts include the High Accuracy NDGPS (HA-NDGPS) system, currently under development, to enhance the performance and provide 10-15 centimeter accuracy with integrity throughout the coverage area. For more information about NDGPS, visit the following webpages:

Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management Facility on or before July 15, 2013.

Comments can be submitted identified by docket number USCG-2013-0054 or RITA-2013-0001 using any one of the following methods:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
2. Fax: 202-493-2251.
3. Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, D.C.   20590-0001
4. Hand delivery: Same as mail address above, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.

All comments received will be posted, without change, to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information provided.

For more details on submitting comments, see the Federal Register notice.

More information on the status of the NDGPS can be found on the RITA site and the U.S. Coast Guard site. More information on the HA-NDGPS is at the U.S. Department of Transportation site.

“Time and Navigation is an ambitious exhibit because it traces the development of very complicated technologies and makes us think about a subject we now take for granted,” said Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum. “Today, the technology needed to accurately navigate is integrated into mobile computers and phones: hundreds of years of technological heritage tell your handheld device where you are in a seamless manner. This opens up new possibilities and challenging questions for the next generation of scientists and explorers who visit this exhibit to start thinking about.”

Don Jewell discussed the exhibit in depth in his March Defense PNT column.

The gallery is organized into five sections and spans three centuries of efforts to travel on Earth and through the solar system. In each section the visitor will learn about pioneer navigators facing myriad issues, but one challenge always stands out: the need to know accurate time.

Sections

This timekeeper was the first American-made marine timekeeper taken to sea. William Cranch Bond, a 23-year-old Boston clockmaker, crafted it during the War of 1812.

Navigating at Sea is an immersive environment that suggests a walk through a 19th-century sailing vessel. Visitors will learn how centuries ago navigators at sea relied on chronometers and measurements of celestial objects to determine location. This section includes a mariner’s astrolabe, dating from 1602; a Ramsden sextant and dividing engine; several chronometers; a model of Galileo’s pendulum clock; and the earliest sea-going marine chronometer made in the United States, produced by Bostonian William Cranch Bond during the War of 1812. It also features an interactive display that allows visitors to use a sextant to navigate with the stars.

Navigating in the Air relates how air navigators struggled with greater speeds, worse weather and more cramped conditions than their sea-going predecessors. It tells the story of the innovations that overcame these challenges, as represented the gallery’s largest artifact, the Lockheed Vega “Winnie Mae,” flown by Wiley Post and Harold Gatty, shattering the around-the-world record in 1931. Visitors will learn that Charles Lindbergh required navigational tutoring after he flew to Paris and how he paved the way for a new system of navigation in the process. A personal account by a WWII navigator highlights wartime innovations. This section ends with an explanation of how clocks with tiny quartz crystals opened an entirely new era of navigation in the form of LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation).

Wiley Post’s Winnie Mae circled the globe two times, shattering previous records. The first time was in 1931 with Weems associate Harold Gatty as lead navigator. The second was a solo flight in 1933 assisted by “Mechanical Mike,” one of the world’s first practical autopilots.

Navigating in Space traces how teams of talented engineers invented the new science of space navigation using star sightings, precise timing and radio communications. This section includes an Apollo sextant, a space shuttle star tracker, timing equipment used at a ground tracking station and a flight spare (duplicate spacecraft) of Mariner 10, the first spacecraft to reach Mercury.

Inventing Satellite Navigation describes how traveling in space inspired plans to navigate from space. Innovators found that time from precise clocks on satellites, transmitted by radio signals, could be used to determine location. The U.S. military combined several breakthroughs to create the Global Positioning System. Some of the artifacts in this section are the NIST-7 atomic clock that served as the U.S. time standard in the 1990s, the navigation system from the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Alabama, a satellite from the Transit system used for global navigation before GPS and a test satellite global navigation built at the Naval Research Laboratory.

An official DARPA photograph of Stanley at the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Stanley, created by the Stanford University Racing Team, won the race.

Navigation for Everyone tells the stories of real people — a fireman, a farmer and a student — who use modern navigation technology in their everyday lives. It also addresses what might come next: the story is not over yet and many new technologies are being developed. This section includes a disassembled mobile phone with a diagram showing all its parts and depicts how hundreds of years of navigation technology are now in the palm of a user’s hand. It also features “Stanley,” the robot car that won the 2005 Grand Challenge, a robot race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The exhibition is made possible through the support of Northrop Grumman Corporation; Exelis Inc.; Honeywell; National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; U.S. Department of Transportation; Magellan GPS; National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing; Rockwell Collins; and the Institute of Navigation.

The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport. The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history.

Trimble Slate Controller.

Trimble has introduced an all-in-one device for mobile communications and surveying data collection — the Trimble Slate Controller. The Trimble Slate Controller combines the convenience and ease-of-use of a smartphone with rugged durability. Optimized for Trimble Access field software and the Trimble R4 GNSS receiver, the Trimble Slate Controller supports a surveyor’s everyday workflows.

“Surveyors require mobile, rugged solutions that can readily withstand and perform in the toughest of conditions,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president of Trimble’s Survey Division. “With the introduction of the Trimble Slate Controller, we are providing a rugged handheld device designed to run survey workflows while also delivering the capabilities and convenience of a smartphone.”

Offering voice, SMS text, and 3.75G cellular data transfer capabilities on GSM cellular networks worldwide, the rugged Trimble Slate Controller enables enhanced connectivity in the field. Its wireless communication capabilities keep surveyors connected to the office. An integrated 8-megapixel camera offers enhanced job documentation and point attribution by providing geotagged, high-quality digital photos. 

The Trimble Slate Controller’s slim, ergonomic design is easy to hold while its screen provides superior sunlight readability enabling all-day use by survey professionals. Designed to withstand even tough conditions, a 4.3-inch capacitive touch Gorilla glass display covers the entire front surface, increasing readability without sacrificing durability.

Trimble Access field software available on the Trimble Slate Controller offers a variety of features and capabilities to streamline topographic, stakeout, control and other surveying applications. Partnered with Trimble Access and the Trimble R4 GNSS receiver, the Trimble Slate Controller provides a dedicated GNSS solution that is effective for both real time and post-processed GNSS surveys, Trimble said.

“Handheld is proud to have achieved an industry-leading position for dependable, ruggedized mobile computers that can be trusted to work in the most hostile environments” said Jerker Hellström, CEO Handheld Group, “To achieve this extremely high-level of performance, we only select components with the highest reliability on the  market. GPS positioning is one of the most important functionalities of our products. For this mission-critical feature, we chose u-blox.”

Handheld’s lineup of rugged PDAs and mobile computers is specifically developed for use in tough environments in industries such as geomatics, logistics, forestry, public transportation, construction, mining, field service, utilities, maintenance, public safety, military and security.

“Surveyors require mobile, rugged solutions that can readily withstand and perform in the toughest of conditions,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president of Trimble’s Survey Division. “With the introduction of the Trimble Slate Controller, we are providing a rugged handheld device designed to run survey workflows while also delivering the capabilities and convenience of a smartphone.”

Offering voice, SMS text, and 3.75G cellular data transfer capabilities on GSM cellular networks worldwide, the Trimble Slate Controller is a rugged device that enables enhanced connectivity in the field. Its wireless communication capabilities keep surveyors in the field connected to the office. An integrated 8-megapixel camera offers enhanced job documentation and point attribution by providing geotagged, high-quality digital photos.

The Trimble Slate Controller’s slim, ergonomic design is easy to hold while its screen provides superior sunlight readability enabling all-day use by survey professionals, Trimble said. Designed to withstand the toughest conditions, a 4.3-inch capacitive touch, Gorilla glass display covers the entire front surface, increasing readability without sacrificing durability.

Trimble Access field software available on the Trimble Slate Controller offers a variety of features and capabilities to streamline topographic, stakeout, control and other surveying applications. Partnered with Trimble Access and the Trimble R4 GNSS receiver, the Trimble Slate Controller provides a dedicated GNSS solution that is effective for both real time and post-processed GNSS surveys.