Septentrio: A European Success Story
November 16, 2011 By: Tony MurfinProfessional OEM Newsletter, November 2011
When Europe decided to pursue first EGNOS and then Galileo, two overriding incentives pushed the decision makers over the edge and into multi-year funding of very significant GNSS projects. The primary motivation was to ensure that satellite navigation capability was under European "sovereign" control — for instance, to paraphrase something a good friend of mine once said, “There is no way we want aircraft landing in the UK using U.S. satellites.”
Now EGNOS doesn’t quite get there, except that for commercial aircraft navigation in European airspace using GPS, it behooves air carriers to use GPS augmented by EGNOS, and to get anywhere close to the ground in an aided approach with GPS, they have to basically rely on EGNOS — whose augmentation signals are European generated and controlled.
And when operational, Galileo could ultimately become the source for aircraft landing signals in UK and across all of Europe, if European agencies work hard to build the regulation infrastructure required and the integrity necessary for this to become a technical reality.
The other "incentive" is that Europe wants part of the GNSS revenue pie that has in the past eluded European industry, at least to the same extent that companies in North America and elsewhere have benefited. So the European funding taps have remained open, and have focused support for established, large, prime contractors to allow them to absorb the new GNSS technology as they built EGNOS and Galileo — these big guys have developed satellites and extensive ground systems for the European Space Agency and the European Commission. Then there are the start-ups who have also appeared over the last 10 to 12 years who are working in niches and with brand-new technology — often appearing out of academic GNSS cells or at least with strong relationships with academic centers of excellence. Last month’s article on Ifen mentioned that company's link with the FAF University of Munich.
Septentrio came out of one such strong relationship with Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) in Leuven, Belgium (15 minutes by train from Brussels). IMEC today is a microelectronics research center with 1900 people, generating €285 million in revenue, with activities related to energy, healthcare and life sciences, wireless communications, imaging, and sensor systems for industrial applications. Around 1999-2000 the European Space Agency and IMEC worked together on qualifying a GPS chipset for space applications, and Septentrio was born as a spin-off to get this chip to the commercial market.
Initially it wasn’t sure if Septentrio would market IMEC GPS chips or build and sell receivers. After the dust settled in 2002, the PolaRx2 emerged as Septentrio’s first commercial receiver product. In parallel, a number of European EGNOS/Galileo projects helped sustain and develop core technology. By 2003/2004 Septentrio was still seen more as an R&D house rather than a commercial product business, with projects such as the Galileo Test Receiver for testing during build and development of the Galileo IOV satellites. But as more Septentrio commercial, high-performance receivers hit the market, its reputation as a "serious company" was taking shape.
In 2005 its relationship began with Altus for survey products, and by 2006 it had a 50/50 mix of projects/commercial business. Today, Septentrio still has a healthy project component to its business, but 75 percent of its revenues come from the sale of commercial products. With a hand in Galileo PRS receiver development, Septentrio stands ready to enter the secure government receiver business when this service is fully defined and available from a completed Galileo constellation.
Septentrio’s investment in Altus Positioning System began in 2010/2011 when revenue was at a level which allowed it to take an ownership position. Altus is based in Los Angeles, California, and has quite an extensive dealer network through the U.S., Europe, and South Africa. Neil Vancans, the Altus CEO, worked for more than 20 years as a very senior member of Leica Geosystems, and headed up Thales Navigation professional products in Santa Clara. Now Vancans has assembled a group of people at Altus who have all worked in key positions with other major surveying equipment manufacturers.
The Altus APS-3 integrated survey product uses the Septentrio AsteRx2e 136 channel dual frequencyGPS/GLONASS/SBAS receiver.
Following the global recession through 2008/2009, Septentrio’s growth slowed, but has now resumed at a 20 percent annual rate. The latest AsteRx-m receiver has benefited from a new RF design, an ASIC die shrink, and clever power management, and as a consequence is now one of the lowest power, high-performance, dual-frequency receivers around.
AsteRx-m GPS/GLONASS/SBAS receiver.
With 70 people at the facility in Leuven, Septentrio is poised to move further into its existing ag, machine control, port-container, Altus survey, and Galileo specialty programs, along with other niches. A new venture with Free-Flight will see an L1 + L5 capable GPS/Galileo airborne certified receiver as the receiver engine in next-generation Free-Flight avionics. And Septentrio sees this as a first step along the road into not only general aviation, but also potentially into civil transport aviation at some point in the future.
And this GNSS spin-off company also looks to be well positioned to capitalize on the European investment which set it on its current path to success in the commercial worldwide GNSS marketplace. As revenues grow each year, the payback to the EC in taxes paid must be encouraging to the policy makers in Brussels. Hopefully it will also encourage the EC to fully adopt the North American GPS business model and offer Galileo services free of user fees.
Tony Murfin
GNSS Aerospace
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