OEMs take tech to the next level

OEM products are vital to many industries. Companies such as Septentrio and SBG Systems design and produce a variety of OEM devices for many different applications. (Image: sankai/E+/Getty Images)

OEM devices are an integral part of many applications requiring precise positioning technology. As the OEM market grows and performance requirements become more demanding, it is critical for OEM devices to be reliable, accurate, and easy to integrate. From precision agriculture, to surveying and mapping, to UAV missions, there are OEM devices on the market suitable for demanding applications.

Survey and Map Like a Pro

Surveying and mapping is one area in which OEM boards are embedded deep in many products. Septentrio designs and manufactures multi-frequency, multi-constellation, GPS/GNSS positioning technology and offers a variety of OEM products for demanding applications.

Image: Septentrio

The AsteRx-m3 Pro is an ultra-low power GNSS rover receiver. It is compact and high-performance, making it suitable for integration into high-precision industrial applications. It incorporates multi-frequency, multi-constellation GNSS technology as well as anti-jamming algorithms for availability and reliability. The AsteRx-m3 Pro features AIM+ advanced anti-jamming and anti-spoofing technology as a part of Septentrio’s GNSS+ Technology Suite.

This receiver is designed for rover (mobile) applications, making it an easy-to-integrate solution for any kinematic application where reliable high-accuracy positioning is needed. It is available in single or dual antenna mode, for high quality heading and pitch, or heading and roll information.

GNSS heading is available directly from initialization and removes reliance on vehicle dynamics or magnetic sensors. This is an optional feature.

“Septentrio OEM receivers come in a variety of form factors, from compact modules to credit-card boards,” Danilo Sabbatini, OEM product manager at Septentrio, stated. “Our multi-frequency OEM receiver portfolio includes products that fit various user needs from purely rover GNSS high accuracy positioning to heading receivers, as well as GNSS/INS boards for inertial navigation or mapping.”

Image: Septentrio

Aside from surveying and mapping, the AsteRx-m3 Pro is suitable for assured position, navigation and timing (PNT), autonomous vehicles, precision agriculture, logistics and port operations, mining and construction, rail, robotics, space and UAV applications.

Plowing the Way

The increase in demand for food due to population growth challenges farmers to increase production. To help them do this, Septentrio is working with manufacturers of agricultural machinery to enable them to achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy.

Image: Septentrio

The AsteRx-i3 D Pro is a ready-to-use GNSS/INS single-board receiver that delivers reliable centimeter-level positioning combined with 3D orientation (heading, pitch and roll) in demanding environments. Its inertial sensor provides orientation and positional dead-reckoning, making it suitable for systems that require continuous positioning even during short GNSS outages. It provides reliable and accurate positioning by enhancing GNSS with an inertial measurement unit (IMU).

Image: Septentrio

The AsteRx-i3 D Pro is quad-constellation and multi-frequency. It provides all-in-view real-time kinematic positioning and features AIM+ unique interference monitoring and mitigation system and other advanced GNSS+ algorithms.

Like the AsteRx-m3 Pro, the AsteRx-i3 D Pro is also suitable for assured PNT, autonomous vehicles, logistics and port operations, mining and construction, rail, robotics, space, survey and mapping, and UAV applications.

For more information about Septentrio’s OEM boards, click here.

Flying High

SBG Systems has released Ekinox Micro, a compact and rugged high-performance inertial navigation solution designed to deliver accuracy in challenging environments. Ekinox Micro combines a high-performance MEMS tactical inertial sensor with a quad-constellation, dual-antenna GNSS receiver, making it suitable for mission-critical applications.

Image: SBG Systems

GPS World caught up with Yoann Plénet, head of products at SBG Systems, at AUSVI XPONENTIAL in May. He elaborated on Ekinox Micro’s key markets and features.
“This is Quanta Micro in a box with the same performance and the same benefits that you get [with the Quanta Micro]: inertia, enhanced GNSS, and complement[ing] the GNSS,” Yoann said. “At the same time, we are targeting very rough environments, especially larger drones which are most likely military ones. So, [Ekinox Micro] is a very rugged product.”

Ekinox Micro includes pre-configured motion profiles for land, air and marine applications, enabling the sensor and algorithms to be tuned for maximum performance in any condition. The device is designed for ease of use and integration, with simple connectors, a web configuration interface, a datalogger, Ethernet connectivity, a PTP server, a REST API for configuration, and multiple input and output formats.

Image: SBG Systems

Ekinox Micro is compatible with real-time kinematic (RTK) and based on a tactical 0.8°/h class inertial measurement unit calibrated across the entire operating temperature range. It features accuracy roll/pitch of 0.015°, accuracy heading of 0.035°, and accuracy position of 1.2 m without any corrections or 1 cm in RTK.

Yoann also said that with the rise of jamming and spoofing, Ekinox Micro is designed with enhanced technology to mitigate those threats.

“Jamming and spoofing is ongoing and is an issue for more and more of our clients. So, we have worked a lot — and that is something that is beneficial to all of our product ranges — on enhancing our algorithms and our technology so we can better detect jamming and spoofing than we could before,” Yoann said.

Ekinox Micro will be commercially available in September. Click here for more information on Ekinox Micro.

Bonus Device

Image: Septentrio

The Septentrio mosaic-X5 is a multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS receiver in a low power surface mount module with a wide array of interfaces. It is designed for mass market applications such as robotics and autonomous systems — capable of tracking all GNSS constellations, supporting current and future signals.

The mosaic-X5 has an update rate of 100 Hz, is easy to integrate, and is optimized for automated assembly.
Antoon De Proft, Septentrio’s CEO, mentioned in the April 2023 issue of GPS World the company’s innovation in Leuven, Belgium.

“Septentrio’s 20 years of experience in GNSS technology as well as our strategic partnership with the European Space Agency and close collaboration with the IMEC semiconductor technology hub has enabled us to produce the mosaic-X5 receiver,” he said. “This compact module is one of the highest performing and resilient GNSS receivers on the market. It is used in a wide array of applications, especially where the position is mission critical. Examples include a wide variety of autonomous devices, including drones that benefit from mosaic’s lightweight and low-power design.”

Francois Freulon, head of product management, added, “Reliability and resilience to GNSS vulnerabilities is a key pillar on which we base our receiver design. RF interference in the form of jamming and spoofing* is increasingly common, which is why we are investing heavily in securing our receivers at the core with the latest hardware and software techniques. In addition to the AIM+ patented technology, the mosaic module already includes OSNMA functionality, which will offer end-to-end authentication on Galileo’s civilian signals, protecting receivers from GNSS spoofing attacks.”
For more information about Septentrio’s mosaic GPS/GNSS modules, click here.