Rod MacLeod
Regional Manager – SE Asia & Australia
Novatel Inc.,
Email: [email protected]
The next five years promise to be some of the most exciting since the advent of the first GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites in the 1980’s. By 2012, some 78 GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellites should be orbiting the earth, including at least 24 satellites of the US GPS system, up to 24 satellites of the Russian GLONASS system, and up to 30 satellites of the European Galileo system. The prevalence of this many satellites will lead to highly available, highly accurate navigation anywhere.
The US government has announced its GPS Modernization initiative to add civilian signals to the L2 signal (known as L2C), and a third L5 signal with the launch of new satellites. As of this writing, a second satellite broadcasting L2C is expected to be operational by December 2006. A new geostationary satellite broadcasting L5 over North America is expected to significantly improve the reception of the WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) correction signal for civilian applications.
The Russian government has revitalized their GLONASS satellite constellation. These signals are being used now by NovAtel’s GPS + GLONASS receivers, which allow for significant improvement in position availability by being able to use signals from both constellations, where previously the signals from one or the other constellation may have been obstructed on the ground.
Finally, the European Union, through the European Space Agency (ESA), is developing its own satellite navigation system, Galileo. This multi-billion Euro system is expected to become operational over the 2008-2011 timeframe. NovAtel views Galileo as a highly complementary system to GPS. We have already developed our first dual-frequency GPS + Galileo receiver for the Canadian Space Agency, a partner of ESA.
Since the US government turned off Selective Availability (S/A) on GPS satellites, an explosion of applications has occurred as even inexpensive GPS was considered “good enough” for a position accurate to 10 meters, rather than 300 meters as was previously the case. However, precision navigation and guidance applications will continue to rely on the use of two or more frequencies of GPS in order to eliminate the effects of the ionosphere. As we move towards the next solar maximum in 2012, the errors associated with using only one GNSS frequency for guidance will become more pronounced. This presentation will show how the options available to users of precision navigation technology will expand greatly by 2012, with multiple satellite constellations and multiple broadcast frequencies resulting in virtually instantaneous resolution of one’s position on earth to centimetres. Just as importantly, the probability of obtaining such an accurate position will be greatly enhanced, as sufficient numbers of satellites will be visible in even a restricted view of the sky .
NovAtel is focused on the high precision GNSS market, where accuracy and reliability are paramount. NovAtel is a recognized world leader in high-precision positioning technologies. We are recognized as a GPS pioneer for a number of key technology advancements. NovAtel’s strategy to achieving its goal of being the leading provider of global positioning components and subsystems into its target markets is similar to the “Intel Inside” model. Our aim is to become what we call “NovAtel OnBoard” – meaning that our customers integrate our products into their solutions in diverse commercial applications.
Our business is based on a true OEM partnership model: we partner with our customers, we do not compete with them.
NovAtel is a publicly listed company on the Global NASDAQ exchange under the symbol NGPS, and reported 2005 revenues of C$ 63.3 million, generating C$16.7 million in net income. In the first nine months of 2006, NovAtel reported C$58.4 million in revenue and $14.3 in net income.
For additional information , please visit www.novatel.com
