ION GNSS+ 2013 is the 26^th International Technical Meeting of the ION Satellite Division and the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products and services.

ION GNSS+ brings together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, update current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas. The addition of “+” to the conference name reflects the growing emphasis on GNSS and the rapidly evolving field of alternative navigation methods.

This year’s conference will feature pre-conference tutorials September 16-17, policy and panel discussions, commercial and applications oriented sessions, and more than 250 technical papers on a diverse array of topics including:

• Advanced Inertial Sensing and Applications
• Advances in Military GNSS Systems and Applications
• Algorithms and Methods
• Alternatives and Backups to GNSS
• Aviation Applications
• Clock/Timing and Scientific Applications
• Emerging GNSS (Galileo, COMPASS, QZSS, IRNSS) (both a Panel Discussion and a technical session)
• Future PNT and Its Applications
• Geodesy, Surveying and RTK for Civil Applications
• GNSS Algorithms and Methods
• GNSS and the Atmosphere
• GNSS Compatibility, Interoperability, and Interchangeability
• GNSS Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS)
• GNSS Simulation and Testing
• GNSS Space Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)
• GNSS-MEMS Integration
• GNSS Program Updates (Panel Discussion)
• GPS and GLONASS Modernization
• High Integrity Systems (Panel Discussion)
• Indoor Navigation and Timing
• Interference and Spectrum Issues
• IP Policies Related to GNSS (Panel Discussion)
• Land Based Applications
• Marine Navigation and Applications
• Multi-Constellation/Portable Navigation Devices
• Multi-Sensor and Integrated Navigation in GNSS-Challenged Environments
• New Products and Commercial Services (both a Panel Discussion and a commercial applications oriented session)
• Next Generation GNSS Integrity
• Non Traditional PNT Applications
• Portable Navigation Devices
• Precise Point Positioning
• Receiver/Antenna Technology
• Remote Sensing with GNSS and Integrated Systems
• Safety Critical Applications
• Software Receivers
• Space Applications
• Standalone GNSS Services in Challenging Environments
• Timing and Scientific Applications
• Unmanned GNSS (Panel Discussion)
• Urban Navigation Technology

New this year will be two For Official Use Only (FOUO) U.S. only sessions: Multi-Sensor Integrated Navigation and Networked-Related Navigation. These sessions are sponsored by the ION’s Military Division and The MITRE Corporation.

“Game Golf not only gives everyone access to crucial data to dramatically improve your golf game and handicap, but it also makes playing more motivating, rewarding, social and fun,” said Graeme McDowell, 2010 U.S. Open Champion and Game Golf investor. “The product is extremely intuitive, doesn’t disrupt your game and is essential for any golfer looking to understand their game better, knock down their handicap, give themselves a competitive edge and compete with their friends and family across the globe.”

Game Golf is designed by fuseproject and Yves Béhar, CEO of fuseproject and Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone, the maker of the wireless Jambox speaker. The Game Golf elegant and discreet wearable device tracks the data around the course, and uploads the data automatically to an intuitive app which allows you to track, analyze and share the data collected.  It tracks the most important statistics from your golf game, including club-by-club performance, fairway accuracy, greens in regulation and putting.

“The design of the Game Golf app and product has been closely integrated: a beautiful and dynamic presentation of play data, easy and fun ways to share, non-disruptive hardware and experience,” said Yves Béhar, CEO of fuseproject. “The design and user interface is crafted to deliver a 21st-century experience of the game.”

The product uses a combination of positional technology, motion sensors and near field communication to capture the golfer’s data from the course. The device is engineered to be power efficient and extend battery life beyond that of the average smartphone and provides two full rounds of tracking on one charge. Data from the device is synced to the cloud via Bluetooth to a smartphone or via USB to a PC.

“The golf community has been calling out for a product that tracks their game effortlessly, shares results with friends and provides intuitive data with which they can analyze to constantly improve their game — and Game Golf is here to provide that,” said John McGuire, CEO and Co-Founder, Game. “A new era of quantification and gamification is rapidly and radically changing the way we live, work and play. Existing golf technologies only provide technology that helps on the course, but we provide the complete package, giving you everything you need to improve your game and compete before, during and after you take to the course.”

Instructions on submitting your abstract can be found at www.ion.org/ptti

PTTI is an annual conference sponsored by ION with a technical program designed to disseminate and coordinate PTTI information at the user level, review present and future PTTI requirements, inform government and industry engineers, technicians, and managers of precise time and frequency technology and its problems, and provide an opportunity for an active exchange of new technology associated with PTTI.

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Xplorer V8 is available as a white label application or as client-side libraries depending on the degree of customization required. deCarta’s L2 advanced local search technology is fully integrated into the platform to help users find destination addresses or local points of interest (POI).

deCarta navigation technology powers products such as GM OnStar, Ford Sync, INRIX, Appello, TCS and MotionX GPS Drive. With Xplorer V8, deCarta lets developers tightly integrate that functionality into their own applications or to build custom navigation applications. Examples of the use of Xplorer V8 include:

• Local search applications that offer route guidance to the search destination from a mobile phone or tablet.
• Branded navigation applications for global automotive companies.
• Mobile applications that display places of interest in a vector map display with smooth panning, rotation and zooming.
• Fleet management solutions that offer route guidance and tracking to ensure that drivers are directed efficiently to their destinations.

deCarta has already engaged with customers in each of these areas and expects to be announcing new partners for Xplorer V8 in the coming months.

The Xplorer V8 platform consists of a cloud-based service and a set of core client-side libraries that work together to provide a high-quality navigation experience.

The Xplorer V8 Navigation Cloud Services provide local search and navigation response based on deCarta’s geospatial technologies. deCarta hosts these services in global data centers in Santa Clara, London, Seoul, Beijing and Sydney.

The Xplorer V8 Core Libraries are integrated into client side applications.  They support three critical functions that can be used together as a group or individually as needed by the customer.

• Local Search:  Single line search and geocoding based on deCarta’s L2 technology.
• Guidance and Routing: Voice guided navigation, displayable as an overview, a list of directions or in turn-by-turn sequence.
• Map Display:  Vector-based maps that support turn-by-turn navigation, voice guidance, 3D display, immediate off route determination and rerouting.

Xplorer V8 libraries are compatible with all Android-based platforms for mobile devices, tablets and automotive embedded systems.  Apple iOS versions will be available at the end of June.

For companies interested in a turn-key navigation solution, Xplorer V8 is also available as a white-label navigation application that can be branded to match the customer’s needs.

“Industrial-grade navigation engines are extremely hard to develop. To meet the demanding consumer expectations, they have to perform well, with speed and accuracy across a wide range of circumstances,” said J. Kim Fennell, CEO of deCarta. “Xplorer V8 packages all of deCarta’s navigation experience and makes it available for application developers to integrate directly into their apps.”

Xplorer V8 is available immediately for deployment in North America and Australia, with Western Europe coverage coming in June.  Other countries will be included in the following months.

The CE910-DUAL packs high value features in its ultra-compact 28.2 x 28.2 x 2.04 mm Land Grid Array (LGA) package. USB 2.0 full-speed support and a rich set of drivers make it ideal for embedded applications requiring easy integration to platforms based on the latest desktop and mobile operating systems such as Windows and Linux. Full-duplex data rate of 153.6 Kpbs and extended operating temperature range of -30°C to +85°C make it a suitable platform for mobile and fixed applications such as vending, point-of-sale (POS), tracking,  smart metering, and telematics devices.

“Sprint plans to maintain our CDMA 1xRTT network capability for the long term as part of our overall Network Vision strategy,” said Wayne Ward, vice president, M2M Group, Sprint. “We have been working with Telit for several years as a Sprint preferred provider and one of the leading module suppliers to the M2M industry and believe their xE910 form factor makes it easy for customers to deploy on either the EV-DO or 1xRTT CDMA Sprint networks.”

“With this approval, the cost-effectiveness, reliability and functionality of the CE910-DUAL module are accessible to Sprint M2M and Telit customers along with outstanding support and network connectivity from one of the nation’s top-rated cellular networks,” said Mike Ueland, senior vice president and general manager of Telit Wireless Solutions North America.

Part of the xE910 form factor family, the CE910-DUAL protects investments by offering complete compatibility with the DE910-DUAL, a Sprint-approved companion product for EV-DO Rev. A applications.

The certification allows global customers to design LISA-U2 modems into M2M devices operating over Vodafone’s extensive 3G network in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. Main applications include vehicle and asset tracking, industrial automation, metering, and security devices.

The LISA-U2 series is a multi-band 3G module series in LCC package delivering high data-rates (5.76 Mb/s uplink and up to 21.1 Mb/s downlink) with voice and data capabilities. They are compatible with consumer, automotive and industrial applications. For telematics applications such as fleet and asset management, the module provides easy integration with u-blox GPS, GLONASS and QZSS receivers. The modules are compatible with all UMTS bands used worldwide.

“Industry Ventures seeks to invest in market leading growth companies and we believe Polaris Wireless is a clear leader in the wireless location market,” said Hwang. “We are very excited about Polaris Wireless’ strong growth trajectory and global presence, and look forward to working with Manlio Allegra and the senior team at Polaris Wireless in their next chapter of growth.”

The investment by Industry Ventures also returned capital to Series A investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and will also be used to fund Polaris Wireless’ future international growth.

“We look forward to an exciting new growth chapter for our company with Industry Ventures by our side,” said Manlio Allegra, Polaris Wireless CEO and Co-founder.

Polaris Wireles experienced a record increase in revenue and profitability in 2011 and 2012, driven by aggressive growth for its location solutions across the globe. Twenty-four U.S. wireless carriers, six managed services partners, and 15 international deployments now rely on Polaris Wireless location solutions to enable emergency call applications, lawful and mass location surveillance, and other location-based services.

“We know that most GPS watches on the market are too bulky and complicated to use while training,” said Corinne Vigreux, managing director, TomTom Consumer. “Just as we developed easy-to-use navigation products that changed the way that people move from A to B, we have developed a range of ultra-slim GPS sport watches that are far more comfortable to wear and far easier to use. Runners and multi-sport athletes can now view their performance information at-a-glance, making it easier to achieve their fitness goals.”

The new TomTom watches feature an extra-large, high-resolution and high-contrast display that makes it easy for runners and multi-sport enthusiasts to quickly see their distance, time and pace while they workout even in bright sunshine, TomTom said.

The new watches feature TomTom’s Graphical Training Partner. Easy-to-read full-screen graphics help users get the most out of their workouts. They can view their real-time performance at-a-glance with three graphical training modes:

Race: Race against a personal best or most recent run. Quickly track performance with real-time graphics, to continue to improve run-after-run.
Goal: Set a distance, time or calorie goal and see progress toward that goal with simple, full-screen graphics and alerts.
Zone: Set a target for pace or heart-rate (with optional heart-rate monitor) and track progress in a simple full-screen graph throughout a workout.

The new TomTom range includes an intuitive one-button control that enables users to easily navigate up-down-left-right through menus to access key stats and watch features, the company said. Unlike the majority of existing GPS watches on the market that feature multiple small and hard-to-operate buttons, the one-button control is easy to operate while moving and can be easily controlled in all weather conditions and while wearing gloves.

In addition to their ability to deliver at-a-glance performance information, the TomTom Runner and TomTom Multi-Sport include advanced features designed to address the needs of runners and multi-sport enthusiasts alike:

Ultra-slim design: At just 11.5mm, the slim design of the watch module comfortably fits men and women, and all wrist sizes.
Indoor tracker: Accurately track indoor runs using built-in sensors to count strides, so that users can monitor pace and distance even while running on a treadmill.
QuickGPSFix: Get started faster by using the latest in GPS and GLONASS satellite technology to quickly find their precise location.
Multi-platform compatibility: Sync, analyze and share stats on popular running sites and community platforms, including the TomTom MySports website, MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, TrainingPeaks and MyFitnessPal.
Super-tough display: Scratch- and impact-resistant glass stays easy-to-read, workout after workout.
Weather- and waterproof: Waterproof up to 50 meters/5ATM.
Long-lasting battery: Up to 10-hour battery life (GPS mode).
Bluetooth smart: Connect to sensors using the latest wireless technology.
Heart rate monitor: Use the Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Monitor to track training zone for weight control, performance or speed.

TomTom Multi-Sport includes all the features included in TomTom Runner, and also allows multi-sport athletes to track their distance, time, speed and other key metrics when they cycle or swim. The TomTom Multi-Sport is also enhanced with the following features and options:

Dedicated bike mount: Easily see key stats at-a-glance with the specially designed bike mount.
Cadence sensor: Track cadence, speed and distance, indoors and out.
Built-in altimeter: Accurately track elevation, ascent, descent and grade with the built-in barometric altimeter.
Swimming motion sensor: Check detailed swim metrics such as laps, strokes, time and speed, and calculate a SWOLF score to show swim efficiency.

The TomTom Runner and TomTom Multi-Sport will be available in Summer 2013.