Navigation requires accuracy, especially for autonomous devices that perform mission-critical functions. Standard GPS technology is not precise enough for an automated future.
Swift Navigation delivers a line of GNSS hardware receivers and a cloud-based GNSS corrections service that provide centimeter-accurate positioning at fleet-friendly prices. Swift’s GNSS solutions have been easily integrated into a variety of applications, and all achieve consistent, accurate results.
Learn how three companies are using Swift solutions for UAV, autonomous driving and robotic machine control applications:
RTK GNSS Receiver — Centimeter-Level Accuracy at an Affordable Price
Customer: Skycatch
Product: Piksi® Multi
Application: UAV, Surveying
Skycatch is an industry-leading data and data-imaging company focused on indexing and extracting critical information from the physical world using a combination of drones, edge computing, software and artificial intelligence. Its customers are primarily in the construction, mining and energy industries and require ongoing assessment to ensure projects and objectives are on-track, on-time and ultimately on-budget.
To meet its customers’ surveying accuracy needs, Skycatch knew that real-time kinematics (RTK) GNSS technology would be required. When Swift Navigation launched its Piksi Multi dual-band, multi-constellation RTK receiver — which delivered the <5cm accuracy Skycatch required at a price point that best fit its budget — Skycatch integrated Swift’s hardware into their solution.
During testing, Piksi Multi delivered an RTK fix in a matter of seconds versus minutes, enabling a flight-to-processing turnaround time of 30 minutes for a 25-acre site. Piksi Multi can be found within Skycatch’s Edge1™ — the market-first combination GNSS base station and field processing unit.
Read the full Skycatch Case Study.
Watch Skycatch’s Edge1 at work. Video provided by Swift Navigation/Skycatch Inc.
Cloud Corrections Service: Eliminating the Need for Base Stations
Customer: Voyage
Product: Skylark™, Piksi Multi, Duro®
Application: Automotive
Voyage creates safer, more comfortable and more affordable self-driving transportation options — powered by autonomous driving technology — for communities all across North America. Using Swift Navigation’s Skylark GNSS Cloud Corrections Service and outfitting its fleet with Piksi Multi RTK GNSS receivers, Voyage has utilized Swift’s centimeter-accurate GPS technology in its navigation sensor suite.
The manpower and overhead that would have been required by the Voyage team to develop precision navigation technology in-house was saved by Swift Navigation’s end-to-end autonomous driving solution. Voyage would have had to buy expensive GNSS receivers, set them up, monitor them and hire engineers to write algorithms to achieve what Swift delivers with its Skylark Cloud Corrections Service and GNSS receivers.
Voyage has been using Swift products for the entire deployment at The Villages in San Jose and is actively providing rides every day, improving quality of life for its residents. The company is expanding community-by-community across the country, and with each deployment is targeting communities with more residents, more roads and its own set of unique challenges.
Read the full Voyage Case Study.
Watch Voyage’s inaugural ride at The Villages in San Jose, CA. Video provided by Swift Navigation/Voyage.
Ruggedized RTK GNSS Receiver: Robust Positioning for Outdoor Deployments
Customer: Yeti Snow Technology
Product: Duro, Piksi Multi
Application: Robotics
Yeti Snow Technology was founded as a joint venture between Øveraasen and Semcon to develop autonomous snow-removal vehicles that keep airport runways clear. Even the most operationally-efficient airports are impacted by extreme weather conditions.
To address this challenge, Yeti required that snow-removal machines stay within their planned autonomous paths with centimeter-level accuracy, otherwise important infrastructure such as airport lighting might be damaged. The vehicles must clear the snow to the correct side, and — depending on given conditions — the two vehicles must have overlap so that there is no snow left behind between the vehicles. Yeti discovered that RTK GNSS delivered the required position requirement with accuracy within the range of 1-2 centimeters.
Two GNSS receivers have been implemented per vehicle; one Duro and one Piksi Multi, which are connected to provide heading. Piksi Multi is also used as a base station. In use at Fagernes Airport Leirin, Norway, the autonomous plows measuring 20 meters long and 5.5 meters wide can clear an area of 357,000 square meters every hour.
Read the full Yeti Snow Technology Case Study.
Watch Yeti Snow Technology’s autonomous plows in action. Video provided by Swift Navigation/Semcon.
This page was produced by North Coast Media’s content marketing staff in collaboration with Swift Navigation. NCM Content Marketing connects marketers to audiences and delivers industry trends, business tips and product information. The GPS World editorial staff did not create this content.
Header image and quote graphics: Swift Navigation
