New 7.10.00 firmware for OEM7 receivers is designed to improve tracking, PPP and RTK performance under scintillation, foliage and urban-canyon conditions.
Hexagon | NovAtel has released version 7.10.00 firmware for its OEM7 GNSS receiver family, a software update focused on keeping position solutions available and stable in environments where signals are weak, blocked or distorted.
According to the company, the new “high availability” tracking mode targets scenarios such as mixed urban corridors, operation under tree canopy and regions affected by ionospheric scintillation, where visibility to the full constellation is intermittent and multipath is severe. Test data comparing 7.10.00 with previous OEM7 firmware shows up to a 20% increase in availability of a position solution in the BESTPOS log under challenging conditions.
The update brings several quantified performance gains across OEM7-based receivers:
- Tracking improvement of 5–7 dB and acquisition improvement of 4–5 dB for most GNSS signals, allowing the receivers to hold lock on weaker signals.
- PPP RMS error reductions of up to 26% and RTK RMS error reductions of up to 15% in difficult environments.
- Up to a 4% increase in availability of a PPP or RTK position, and up to 15% increased availability when using a pseudorange-smoothed (PDP) position.
- PDP position RMS error improvements of up to 40% and, when SPAN GNSS+INS is enabled, up to 48% improvement in 3D position error in severely GNSS-challenged environments, depending on IMU quality and the specific scenario.
The firmware applies across the OEM7 line, which includes receiver modules such as the OEM7500, OEM7600, OEM7700, OEM7720, OEM719 and OEM729, as well as enclosure products like the PwrPak7 series. These boards support multi-constellation, multi-frequency tracking and can be paired with TerraStar PPP services, RTK networks and NovAtel’s SPAN tightly coupled GNSS/INS technology.
NovAtel positions the release as taking techniques validated in its defense and high-end autonomy customer base and making them available across OEM7 applications, from survey and construction to unmanned systems and automotive platforms. By reinforcing tracking and solution availability at the firmware level, the company is effectively trying to extend PPP/RTK and SPAN performance deeper into partially obstructed or interference-prone areas, rather than limiting high-precision modes to open-sky conditions.
Firmware 7.10.00 is available now through NovAtel’s support portal; a “What’s New” document in the download package lists platform-specific changes and upgrade notes.
