Forsberg Services Ltd

2008 Presentation

The Point of the PresentationTo expand the mind and inform the audience of navigation

techniques, challenges and solutions

All products are indicative but credit is given to NovAtel, Rockwell Collins and QinetiQ

Who Are Forsberg Services?

• Headquartered in Lancaster, U.K.• Second office in Wurzburg, Germany• 19 employees• Privately owned by a retired Royal Navy

hydrographic surveyor (H2 I think?)• Navigation solutions “Design House” for

vehicle manufacturers, maritime industry, defence agencies & contractors, cellular operators, motorsport (including F1), computer games companies, television networks…

• R&D Partner to several “blue chip” companies for navigation systems• Manufacturer of NATO codified navigation systems• A company that utilises survey procedures and principles

• 2007 revenue total €3.6M• ~ €5.8M probable in 2008• Typical Customers –

– Vehicle manufacturers– Cellphone companies– Defence agencies & contractors– Aircraft manufacturers– GNSS manufacturers– Space agencies– Motorsport, computer games & TV– …

• Patents – 115463 – France, G.B., Italy, Netherlands;

99947648.4 Spain; 69904492.8 Germany and US6,612,925B1 for use of actual dynamics in computer games.

• Patents pending for:– Cellular phone RF navigation and GNSS anti-

jamming.

– Innovators and integrators of navigation systems– Development partners in navigation related

technologies since 1996 for some F1 teams, BTCC, vehicle manufacturers and automotive Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers.

– Developers of robotics, machinery control, defence and automotive R&D reference systems.

– Dedicated FSL navigation R&D resource.– Manufacturer of NATO codified navigation systems– Goal: To provide the latest and future technology

solutions for navigation

A Navigation Systems Integration Company

RTK Tracking for F1 at Barcelona 1997From GPS alone you can see from the picture (right) that the trajectory is incomplete. The gaps were caused by the car passing under bridges and losing all satellites for a split second. RTK took 120 seconds to recover so we had to post-process.

The receiver dealt quite well with 300 kph and jerk rates of +/- 6G/sec on some of the corners but satellite obstructions were deadly.

We took about fifteen months of R&D to arrive at this result. This was state of the art in 1997 but augmentation is necessary!

Placeholder for 1997 BTCC car picture we don’t want to pay to use

…and another placeholder for an F1 car picture from the same team in 1997

From GPS alone you can see from the picture (right) that the trajectory is still incomplete some five years on. We still can’t track accurately under bridges. The labels show where tracking failed. RTK still took 8-12 seconds to recover so we still had to use post-processing.

Note the receiver is now computing 20Hz positions. The dynamics are BTCC (Touring Car) level though.

By now we have capitalised on six years of other automotive R&D projects. In 2002 this is basically easy!

Company ExperienceRTK Tracking in a BTCC car at Knockhill in 2002

A friendly team

Example of how the Invention could be used

• The video shows Red Bull air race champion Mike Mangold in two practice sessions replayed simultaneously with his 2006 Abu Dhabi race run (beige tape)

• The dynamic data was recorded 100 times per second.

• Only closely integrated deeply integrated GPS/INS would work in this high, 12G, often inverted environment.

• While RTK wouldn’t work due to the aircraft spending so much time inverted had we used RTK for motorsport the solution would be recovered now in less than five seconds

Graphics Credit: Pi ResearchData by: Forsberg Services

FSL ProductsBackground Knowledge for MSGR Applications

Company Experience

Dec 19th, 2005 – First approach by customer. Some of the comments we heard were “It’s impossible” A commonopinion was “Nothing works.”

Jan 4th, 2006 – First trial

Jan 19th, 2006 – First real success

Feb 8th, 2006 – Total performance success but it’s “too heavy.”

Mar 11th, 2006 – System operational after achieving decimetre accuracy at 12G. Weight was reduced from compact 4.5Kg to 1.7Kg

FSL ProductsAircraft Dynamics Measurement

The 100Hz centimetre and sub-mil precision translated into high speed precision animation for television broadcasting.

TV presenters were able to overlay historical and actual aircraft runs for step-by-step performance comparisons.

FSL ProductsAircraft Dynamics Measurement

The transponder system guides the robotic NAVICAM camera onto the car of choice. (patented.)

This enables the production team to turn typical top right pictures into the quality steady zoomed-in picture below.

Camera Guidance for Television

+

CPUPak-4i provides deeply integrated inertial navigation data necessary for an anti-collision reference system. Vehicle proximity and precise lane position are computed.

Using inertial technology FSL have developed a powerful tool for multi-vehicle anti-collision R&D. 100Hz navigation data is sent by radio and over CAN bus, to stand-in for redundant or emulated devices, on any vehicle’s high-speed data links.

Company ExperienceFSL Products

Relative Vehicle Navigation

•

High Gain GPS in 2006 The data shown was collected from a high gain GPS. The path shape should have been rectangular around the building. We started and finished at the same point.

The start-end mismatch was ~20m. Height should have been more or less constant but varied by ~30m.

Developed in cooperation with a defence customer this trajectory was recorded from a portable 0.23kg unit including GPSand dead-reckoning sensors.

We were contracted to design and manufacture a microcontrollerwith control software integrating both the GPS and dead-reckoning sensorsto compute a position and output data to a command and control system. The results were OK but these were some of the best. Two years on this is subject to a dedicated research program by our sponsored PhD student.

Portable Personnel Navigation

The portable 0.23kg unit utilised QinetiQ’s Q20

GPS with Vectronix dead-reckoning sensors. The

results were good for the equipment used. It is

envisaged that inclusion of MEMS sensors with

localised navigation such as video or RFID tags

will improve performance

FSL have R&D partnerships with the University of London supporting a four year program of PhD studies.

FSL ProductsPortable Personnel Navigation

FSL ProductsBackground Knowledge for Defence Applications

CPUPak-4-LB

• Rockwell PLGR II and NovAtel L1/L2 receivers with DGPS, SBAS, RTK, VBS2/HP2 and CDGPS services.

• High EMC and explosive shock resistance• Action Information System input• CRPA anti-jamming control• Pitch/roll/heading sensors Full 3D lever arm corrections

from antenna to weapon system• NATO Stock No. 5820-99-881-0058• NovAtel used for accurate quality positioning, Rockwell

used for survivability. Both receivers had a surprising amount of capability overlap.

FSL ProductsMaritime Defence Applications

CPUPak-4-LB Users

• Royal Navy mine countermeasures vessels• NAUTIS-M Interface• Lever Arm Corrections• Pitch, roll, heading stabilisation• Precision ROV navigation

• Estonian Navy mine countermeasures vessels• As for Royal Navy MCMVs

• Royal Navy through deck carriers• Tight coupled GPS-INS• Lever Arm corrections• Calibration of Galileo Avionica SPN-720 precision approach

radar

QinetiQ’s Autoland

Developed by QinetiQ, Farnborough

● Stabilised flight and deck landing on HMS Invincible ● Utilised RTK GPS and INS● Complete flight profile controlled● Centimetric positioning accuracy● System reliability● Used on Harrier replacement (JSF22) program

Apologies for the lack of video shown on the night but it’s copyright protected and 86MB in size.

FSL PatentsComputer Games- Emulating Live Competition

The cars in this film clip by a U.S. TV broadcasting company were only fitted with RTK GPS. This works pretty well enabling the tagging to be accurately overlaid in the video. However to cope with more difficult street environments they now run deeply integrated GPS/INS.

The use of real dynamics in computer games to represent the actual cars from this event and it’s further use to modify game players input in a pseudo-real car would utilise our patents.

Engineering Solutions for Intermittent RTKOptoNav in Container Ports

• Used in container canyons where RTK GPS can fail

• RTG cranes are autonomously driven

• 2cm RTK GPS is intermittent• Need <5cm accuracy or

hundreds of tons of crane will collide with trucks and containers

• Use Video to achieve 2cm accuracy in parallel to RTK

• Uses traffic lights for “go” “no go” decisions

• Link to auto-steer PLC for autonomous steering

• Graphics show blue spot and line as current position and immediate path. Amber hatch is a 20cm wide cautionary area while red hatch is “all stop.”

FSL ProductsCommercial and Other Defence Applications

CPUPak-4-LB - Other Users

• Highways Agency – traffic speed and flow monitoring• Volvo Technology – vehicle anti-collision R&D

• Multiple vehicles at 100Hz update• Tightly-coupled INS and centimetre precision

• Selex SAS – Field alignment of HALO• 3D remote alignment• Centimetre precision

• Aerodata – vessel heading for flying ops.• Red Bull - World Series Air Races

• Tightly-coupled INS• 100Hz real-time coverage of 3D aircraft trajectory and

dynamics

• MICROpod-M8, the latest GNSS.– Launched January, 2008– 110 on order for North American

cellular networks – Selected by VAG R&D Group– >25 CAN, USB, RS232/422 and

Ethernet ports. Full pulse package for PPS, Event inputs, pulse train outputs, timing, etc…

– EDGE option packs for:• GNSS Compass• GNSS Attitude• Deep integrated GNSS/INS• CAN communications• NAVPak-4E QA/QC Software• Rockwell Developer’s Kit• NovAtel Developer’s Kit

FSL ProductsMICROpod benefits from Background Knowledge

Forsberg Services Limited

1 Waterview, White CrossLancasterLA1 4XS

UK

Tel: +44 (0)1524 383320 / 848374Fax: +44 (0) 01542 382939

Web: www.forsbergservices.co.uk

FSL Deutschland

Bergstraβe97294

Unterpleichfeld-BurggrumbachGermany

Tel: +49 (0)9367 9878 080Fax: +49 (0)9367 9878 084

Web: www.forsbergservices.co.uk