SwiftNav launches Piksi GPS receiver for autonomous, survey

Swift Navigation has released its first GPS receiver, named Piksi.

Piksi is a low-cost, high-performance GPS receiver with real-time kinematic (RTK) functionality for centimeter-level relative positioning accuracy.

Its small form factor, fast position-solution update rate, and low-power consumption make Piksi ideal for integration into autonomous vehicles and portable surveying equipment. An open-source architecture with a high-performance DSP on-board and our flexible correlation accelerator make it the perfect platform for GNSS research.

Piksi is designed for autonomous vehicle guidance, such as formation flight and autonomous landing; GPS/GNSS research; and surveying systems.

Features include:

• Centimeter-accurate relative positioning (carrier phase RTK)
• 50-Hz position/velocity/time solutions
• Open-source software and board design
• Low power consumption (-500 mW typical)
• Small form factor (-53 x 53 mm)
• USB and dual UART connectivity
• Integrated patch antenna and external antenna input
• Full-rate raw sample pass-through over USB
• 3-bit, 16.368 MS/s L1 front-end supports
GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and SBAS signals

Swift Navigation is a San Francisco-based startup building centimeter-accurate GPS technology for automotive, surveying, robotics, agriculture and drones.

The company says its products are 100 times more accurate than the GPS in a cell phone, at a tenth of the price of the competition.

In November, the company raised $11 million in a series-A investment round led by Pierre Lamond and Lior Susan at Eclipse Ventures. Swift Navigation plans to use the funds for taking current customers to scale and growing their team, with a focus on core engineering. Another focus continues to be research and development, with a second new product due out this year.