u-blox and Focal Point Positioning will integrate their respective technologies, particular supercorrelation from the latter, to improve the accuracy and reliability of GNSS devices, enhancing positioning performance and security for growing applications such as smart cities, location-secure IoT and health and fitness wearables.
Supercorrelation technology from the Cambridge, UK-based Focal Point solves a critical weakness in GNSS caused by multipath interference, according to the company. Supercorrelation also helps with the detection and rejection of GNSS spoofing signals, an increasing concern for autonomous vehicles, ships, and aviation.
[Image: Map plot from live tests in London that show the route of a vehicle driven through Canary Wharf, the difference between performance of the position provided by a standard smartphone GNSS chip (red line), and the same data run through Focal Point Positioning’s Supercorrelation software (blue line).]
Some aspects of the Focal Point innovations are covered in this March 2020 Inside GNSS article, “When the Truth Matters, Absolutely.” Further technical details about supercorrelation will be explored in a full technical feature in the January/February 2021 issue.
Focal Point Positioning CEO Ramsey Faragher commented: “Our mission is to improve every positioning system on the planet and this deal has afforded us a giant step towards our goal.”
u-blox CEO Thomas Seiler added: “The addition of Supercorrelation technology into our latest GNSS platforms is part of our continuing focus on low power consumption, higher accuracy and security for automotive, industrial, and wearable GNSS applications.”
FocalPoint, founded in 2015 by Faragher, includes alumni of the UK aerospace industry, The European Space Agency, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and Imperial College. In January 2020 at the ION International Technical Meeting, Faragher received the organization’s Per Enge Early Achievement Award for “outstanding innovations in mobile positioning and navigation, and in particular for pioneering the revolutionary SuperCorrelation technology.”
u-blox, based in Thalwil, Switzerland, is a global technology provider of positioning and wireless communication in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. Its solutions, services and products enable people, vehicles, and machines to determine their precise position and communicate wirelessly over cellular and short range networks.
