Precise satellite for robotics, automotive and other critical applications
Mobile communications company Ligado Networks and Point One Navigation, a provider of precise location technology, announced that Ligado will provide pervasive, high-performance satellite capacity to support Point One’s Polaris GNSS correction service.
The partnership will initially provide L-Band service to electric vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and will expand to additional sectors in the coming years.
Point One's Polaris unlocks better than 10cm absolute accuracy for a broad range of mobile assets with a coast-to-coast footprint in the USA and coverage across Europe. It offers a variety of connectivity options including delivery over cellular and now ubiquitous L-Band. The service meets the stringent security and reliability demands for automotive customers. Point One’s proprietary design includes advanced anti-jam, interference mitigation, end to end security and automatic integrity monitoring unmatched by any other provider.
“Ligado’s SkyTerra satellite network is the perfect complement to our existing cellular based service,” said Aaron Nathan CEO of Point One Navigation. “We now deliver true coast-to-coast availability and provide a safe and redundant signal for critical positioning applications. Ligado’s unique beamforming capabilities have enabled us to offer a cost-effective mass-market solution.”
“We are excited to partner with Point One to deliver highly available and accurate precision location information to commercial vehicles,” said Ligado Chief Executive Officer Doug Smith. “Point One’s innovative positioning network and Fusion Engine software advance operational capabilities in the same critical industrial segments that Ligado will support with our 5G mobile private network solutions. Commercial transportation, agriculture and industrial operations increasingly constitute critical infrastructure and require assured coverage, availability and security from the mobile networks and technology platforms on which they rely.”
Point One expects to deploy the mobile satellite-enabled service to commercial electric vehicles to start, beginning in early 2022 and in additional automotive, transportation, agricultural, and other mobile robotic platforms over the course of the multi-year agreement between Point One and Ligado. The companies will also collaborate to further advance and optimize GNSS augmentation delivery using the unique beamforming capabilities of Ligado’s SkyTerra satellite network.