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NovAtel GAJT GPS anti-jam antenna systemNovAtel has announced that Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) has selected the company’s GAJT-700ML antenna, a single-unit GPS anti-jam antenna system, for testing on Canadian Army armored vehicles. The testing is being conducted through PWGSC’s Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP).
NovAtel has announced that Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) has selected the company’s GAJT-700ML antenna, a single-unit GPS anti-jam antenna system, for testing on Canadian Army armored vehicles. The testing is being conducted through PWGSC’s Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP).
Developed by NovAtel, a GNSS manufacturer headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the GAJT-700ML is designed for use on land vehicles. GAJT is a null-forming technology that negates jammers, ensuring the availability of satellite signals needed to compute position and time.
The company was selected to participate under the BCIP’s “safety and security” priority area. Created by the Government of Canada to strengthen Canadian innovation, the BCIP offers procurement and testing of pre-commercialized products and services, at a late stage of development.
PWGSC will procure a number of GAJT-700MLs on behalf of the Department of National Defense (DND). The Directorate of Land Requirements (DLR) with the assistance of the Quality Engineering Test Establishment (QETE) and the Land Force Trials and Evaluation Unit (LFTEU) will oversee all testing on DND’s behalf.
Field testing, centered on battlefield days, is expected to take place in early March of 2014 at 4th Canadian Division Support Garrison Petawawa.
Battlefield days provide a formal method with which to verify the “availability” and “reliability” of a system under test, demonstrating the functions the system is required to perform in the environment in which it will operate. According to Peter Soar, NovAtel’s business development manager for military & defense, systems or sub-systems are normally required to perform a series of tasks over a given period of time. Frequently referred to as missions, for Army vehicles they usually are scheduled over a 24-hour period, with a set number of consecutive battlefield days having to be performed correctly before a system is accepted into service.
Availability, Soar says, represents "the ability of a system to start a mission,” that is, to be in a state to perform as required, under given conditions, at a given instant, or over a given time interval. Reliability is the ability of a system to complete a mission.
The battlefield days will analyze the performance of GAJT on the Artillery Observation Post Variants (OPV) of the Light Armored Vehicle III (LAV III) in operational conditions to confirm the suitability and robustness of GAJT-700ML for this role. The process is expected to be completed by the end of March 2014.
Jason Hamilton, the company’s vice-president for marketing and product management, says, “NovAtel has worked closely with Canadian and Allied defense agencies to test the resilience of the GAJT-700ML in challenging jamming environments. The BCIP program provides an opportunity to expand this testing to incorporate end user soldier feedback on the installation and operational effectiveness of GAJT during battlefield usage of the LAV OPV. This invaluable feedback will be used by NovAtel to further drive product innovation in support of Canada and its Allied partners.”
NovAtel currently builds three categories of GAJT: GAJT-700ML, for use with military land vehicles, networks and timing infrastructure; GAJT-700MS, for marine vessels, from small boats to capital ships; and GAJT-AE, for use with an external antenna in size and weight constrained applications.
The BCIP was created by the Government of Canada to strengthen Canadian innovation. The program bridges the "pre-commercialization gap,” supports Canadian suppliers by connecting innovators and government users and by testing innovations, and provides real-world evaluation of pre-commercial goods and services.
