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May 22nd, 2018
Swift ​​Navigation ​​Announces SBAS Support for ​​Piksi Multi

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San Francisco, CA — Swift Navigation, ​​a ​​San ​​Francisco-based ​​tech ​​firm that is building centimeter-accurate ​​GPS ​​technology ​​to ​​power ​​a ​​world ​​of ​​autonomous ​​vehicles, ​​today ​​announced ​​the latest ​​firmware ​​upgrade to ​​its ​​flagship ​​product ​​​Piksi® Multi ​​GNSS ​​Module. This marks the fifth major point release to Piksi Multi and is available free of charge to Swift customers. ​​The firmware release also enhances Duro®, the ruggedized version of the Piksi Multi receiver housed in a military-grade, weatherproof enclosure designed specifically for long-term outdoor deployments.

Firmware Release 1.5 for Piksi Multi and Duro supports four regional Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)—the United States-based Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS), the pan-European Union-based European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Navigation System (EGNOS), the Japanese Multifunctional Transport Satellites (MTSAT) Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) providing coverage for Japan and Australia and the GPS-Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) regional system operated by the Indian government. These four regional satellite systems are used to improve the overall performance of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as GPS and GLONASS, both of which are supported by Swift’s receivers.

SBAS support is particularly relevant for Swift customers located in places where cell phone coverage is sparse or is not available, such as rural areas where precision agriculture operations are taking place or alternatively in marine locations, lakes, in-land waterways and up to approximately 100 miles off shore where cellular or Internet coverage may not be feasible. Applications utilizing SBAS do not require a local reference station, allowing rovers such as drones, combines and other agricultural equipment and marine vessels to benefit from satellite corrections accurate to a sub-meter, when centimeter-accuracy is not required and where Internet or cell coverage is spotty or absent.

Firmware ​​Version ​​1.5 ​​Enhanced Receiver Performance Highlights ​​Include

  • SBAS Support—The ​​new ​​firmware ​​adds support for WAAS + EGNOS + MSAS + GAGAN regional satellite constellations and augments standard positioning performance for ​​GLONASS (G1/G2) + GPS (L1/L2C) for use with Swift Navigation products.
  • Acquisition Improvements—Firmware 1.5 allows Piksi Multi and Duro a faster time to first fix and once a signal has been acquired, improves accuracy and availability. Time to first RTK fix was improved by 21 seconds.
  • Standard Positioning Performance (SPP) Enhancements—Time to first SPP improved by 7 seconds.
  • Increased Satellite Count for RTK—Increased satellite count used in the RTK engine improves RTK performance in all environments, particularly those where skyview is partially obscured and/or rapidly changing.

“The addition of four regional satellite constellations for our devices enhances reliability and improved position accuracy in challenging or remote environments where autonomous vehicles may have limited or no cell coverage. Essentially SBAS provides a free corrections service, allowing our precision agriculture, marine and other customers to receive satellite corrections without a base station,” said Anthony Cole, Ph.D., Director of the Measurement and Positioning team at Swift Navigation.  “Being hardware-ready means that Piksi Multi and Duro users simply download the 1.5 firmware at no additional cost, to get the latest features and performance improvements,” added Dr. Cole.​

For ​​more ​​detailed ​​information ​​about ​​these ​​upgrades, ​​please ​​refer ​​to ​​the Piksi Multi 1.5 Firmware Release Notes. ​​For ​​detailed ​​instructions ​​on ​​how ​​to ​​upgrade ​​your ​​Piksi ​​Multi ​​device, ​​refer ​​to ​​Section ​​7 ​​of ​​the Getting ​​Started ​​Guide entitled ​​​Piksi ​​Multi ​​- ​​Upgrading ​​Firmware​​​. ​​For ​​firmware ​​release ​​binaries ​​and product ​​support ​​documentation ​​visit ​​​support.swiftnav.com​.

ABOUT SWIFT NAVIGATION

Swift Navigation, Inc. was founded in 2012 to make GPS positioning technology more accurate and affordable. Today Swift Navigation has gained a reputation for defining a new category of GNSS systems as the industry’s first low-cost, high accuracy real-time kinematics (RTK) receiver. Its GPS and GNSS positioning products are available at a fraction of the price of the competition and deliver 100 times better accuracy than the GPS in a cell phone. Swift Navigation’s technology benefits a multitude of industries and applications—including autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision agriculture, robotics, surveying and space. With its innovation and technology honored by Inc.’s and Forbes 30 Under 30 lists, Swift Navigation is enabling a world where fields farm themselves, drones fly safely and autonomous transportation can take you home. Swift Navigation provides an end-to-end GNSS solution with a line of Piksi® Multi and Duro® receivers and Skylark™ Cloud Corrections Service. Learn more online at swiftnav.com, follow Swift on Twitter @Swiftnav

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