“Though our name and look are changing, our people, our operations, and our leadership team remain the same. The name Safran Federal Systems signifies being part of the Safran Group, a world leader in aerospace and defense, while reflecting what we do best, serving our U.S. Government & Military customers with cutting-edge positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems,” said Hironori Sasaki, President of Safran Federal Systems. “We remain fully committed to ensuring the success of our customers and the success of our warfighters. By joining the Safran Group, we are excited to be able to offer an even larger portfolio of industry-leading technology tailored for the U.S. military.”

In addition to its Resilient PNT solutions, M-Code/GNSS testing and simulation tools, precision time synchronization systems and navigation warfare (NAVWAR) equipment, Safran Federal Systems is now one of the only companies with a full complement of PNT technologies with proven inertial navigation solutions.

“The Safran Federal Systems inertial navigation portfolio now includes the Hemispherical Resonator Gyro (HRG) Crystal™ technology, which leverages state-of-the-art manufacturing and offers revolutionary performance and reliability over existing technologies, for tactical to strategic applications across all military domains,” said Jon Leombrone, Executive Vice President of Navigation Systems at Safran Federal Systems. “With more than 30,000 HRGs produced and over 15 million operational hours, the technology is proven and tested in military applications worldwide.”

Safran Federal Systems continues to be the trusted Resilient PNT solution provider for military end users and industry partners, from the lab to the field. Safran Federal Systems continues to operate as a proxy-regulated company, Free of Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI), approved to work on the full spectrum of U.S. Government classified and unclassified projects.

Visit Safran Federal Systems at JNC in booth #500 from Tuesday, June 13–Wednesday, June 14.
Safran Federal Systems provides Resilient PNT solutions and custom engineering services to U.S. Government agencies, defense organizations and their contractors. Safran Federal Systems is authorized to work on the full spectrum of U.S. Government classified and unclassified projects, in addition to supporting strategic partnerships for key defense PNT technologies.

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The PULSAR service will advance capabilities in global PNT security, resilience and accuracy by augmenting existing GNSS while also operating as an independent PNT constellation, according to a news release. Xona’s high-power signals use modern signal structures and security techniques, adding resilience in challenging RF environments.

Skydel powers Safran’s portfolio of advanced GNSS simulators like the GSG-8. The GNSS simulation engine will provide support for PULSAR signals and satellite constellation, giving OEMs, developers and integrators a tool that enables early testing and validation of Xona’s LEO PNT signal performance.

“Offering a new generation of satellite navigation and timing services allows receiver manufacturers to develop entirely new capabilities for end users,” Xona Space Systems CEO Brian Manning said, according to the release. “Xona’s mission is to enable modern technologies to operate safely in any environment, anywhere on Earth. Having market-proven simulation solutions are critical to support the development of these new applications and technologies, which is why we are excited to be working with Safran to provide next-generation GNSS simulation tools to our partners and customers.”

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“With these key certifications for the Ultima-S, Orolia brings a long-awaited solution to the industry,” said Jérôme Ramé, Orolia’s Aviation & Military Product Line Director. “We have developed strong partnerships with several of the leading aircraft manufacturers that will enable operators worldwide to benefit from the Ultima-S for both their linefit and retrofit needs, allowing fleet standardization.”

The Ultima-S provides free and global coverage service through the dedicated Cospas-Sarsat infrastructure while meeting the highest aviation safety standards. Orolia offers non-rechargeable lithium batteries that are compliant with the latest FAA and EASA special conditions standards, also known under TSO-C142b/DO227A. The Ultima-S also meets the most recent ELT performance and environmental standards through TSO-C126c.

“What makes the Ultima-S unique is a new feature called the Return Link Service (RLS),” said Ramé. “Through this capability, the user is automatically notified when the distress signal is detected and located by the Cospas-Sarsat ground infrastructure. The Ultima-S links directly to the European Galileo GNSS satellite constellation, providing the most reliable and timely information for reaching aircraft crew members in distress.”

Once activated, a 406MHz distress signal is transmitted and includes the ELT location thanks to the Ultima-S internal GNSS receiver. This built-in GNSS capability increases both probability and speed of detection of the distress signal.

In addition to being available on a linefit basis on major aircraft programs, Orolia recently launched an exchange program to make retrofit activities easier for airlines, especially those upgrading to safer battery technology.

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The approval verifies Orolia’s continuous advancements in global beacon technology, including securing a single source, multi-year program contract to supply ELT-DTs for all Airbus aircraft programs.

Cospas-Sarsat is an international, humanitarian search and rescue system that uses space-based technology to detect and locate 406 emergency beacons carried by ships, aircraft, or individuals venturing into remote areas, often inaccessible by GNSS signals. The system consists of a network of satellites, ground stations, mission control centers (MCCs), and rescue coordination centers (RCCs) that work together when a 406 beacon is activated.

“Being the first company to certify a distress tracking ELT shows again Orolia’s unique ability to provide the industry with the most innovative safety solutions,” said Jérôme Ramé, Orolia’s Aviation & Military Product Line Director. “With Ultima-DT, we address the EASA-mandated requirement for the location of aircraft in distress but also the market need for an ELT meeting the most recent safety standards.”

Orolia developed the Ultima-DT in response to recent aviation safety mandates to improve global aircraft tracking. As per the ICAO Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety Systems (GADSS) recommendation and European Union mandate, all new aircraft delivered from January 2024 shall be able to autonomously report their location anywhere in the world and determine the end of flight location to help rescue teams rapidly locate the aircraft and recover flight recorders.

Unlike traditional automatic fixed ELTs and stand-alone units, the Ultima-DT is tightly connected to the avionics system. It activates upon detecting a potential distress condition and starts transmitting automatically while the aircraft is still in flight. This next-generation ELT autonomously acquires the aircraft’s location and sends a 406 MHz message in real-time, including the accurate location, to the Cospas-Sarsat distress alert organization.

The Ultima-DT is also the world’s first ELT to fully comply with the latest EASA/FAA safety requirements for non-rechargeable lithium battery-powered equipment through (E)TSO-C142b. As part of its efforts to support airlines in their regulatory compliance projects, Orolia is also offering its portable Ultima-S ELT, which aims to meet these special conditions.

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The new GNSS signal testing solution has a small form factor and features an internal RF combiner, a 1000 Hz simulation iteration rate, real-time synchronization, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) integration, automation, and multi-constellation and multi-frequency simulations, according to a news release.

The GSG-7 is powered by the company’s Skydel simulation engine and can be programed to simulate operations with all current GNSS signals, as well as future ones. Skydel’s architecture allows new, incoming signals to be implemented through software updates.

The simulator is well suited for development and integration projects that require high performance, all-in-view satellite signals, and an increased number of GNSS constellations. It can accommodate almost any configuration, and the use of SDRs makes maintenance and customization easy and cost effective.

“Capable of handling complex simulation scenarios, the GSG-7 has a simple, yet powerful application program interface (API) ensuring easy automation and integration into your test environment,” Simulation Product Line Director Lisa Perdue said, according to the release. “Users can also benefit from advanced HIL capabilities that include an industry-leading zero-effective latency, and built-in performance monitoring tools.”

Orolia plans to host a product webinar on October 6 to discuss the new GSG-7. Anyone interested can register here.

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Orolia has released Skydel 22.5, a significant software upgrade to its Skydel simulation product line that features advanced Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing solutions providing very low to zero-effective-latency. The enhanced visualization tools can monitor internal latency through real-time curves showing when the data is generated and sent to the RF signal. Users can also review the transmission of HIL packets for optimizing the entire network’s latency, checking its stability (jitter), and that data is available and used at the right time in Skydel.

HIL testing is an essential step in the verification process of the Model-Based Design (MBD) approach because it involves all the hardware and software that will be used operationally. HIL verification can test a standalone Device-Under-Test (DUT) or, more generally, an entire complex system consisting of multiple DUTs in both open and closed loop architectures.

“The vast majority of problems encountered by engineers on HIL systems are related to poor control of the latency of the entire simulation chain, as they are insufficiently accessible, transparent and controlled on the competing systems,” said Pierre-Marie Le Veel, Principal System Architect and Product Manager for GNSS Simulation. “Thanks to these tools, our high-end performance, and well-known intuitive automation, Skydel dramatically reduces the implementation time of a HIL system (which can be very significant) and, therefore, the project’s overall cost.”

In addition to these tools, Skydel implements modern extrapolation algorithms that achieve zero-effective-latency. These algorithms make it possible to keep position errors negligible, even for equipment with very high dynamics used in national defense applications such as missiles, rockets, and guided shells.

“These advanced HIL algorithms and tools are available – and with the same performance – on our Wavefront simulation systems to test Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) systems,” Le Veel added.

Additional constellations, signal types, and options such as Real Time Kinematic (RTK) and Multi-Instance are available along with dedicated bundled simulation starter packages for automotive.

The upgrade is available at no additional cost for existing users operating Skydel 22.5. Application notes, support documents, and tutorials are available online.

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Orolia, the world leader in resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), has successfully supported the integration of its White Rabbit High Accuracy Timing IP (HATI) core within the Arista 7130 network devices. This collaboration between Orolia and Arista sets the new standard in time synchronization for FPGA-based network devices with the support of native White Rabbit capabilities to achieve sub-nanosecond time synchronization using optical fibers across multiple points in the network.

This integration is factory supported in combination with the MetaWatch application in the Arista 7130LB platform, enabling distributed traffic capture with high-resolution timestamping, buffering and de-duplication, to provide advanced network monitoring and detailed network analytics. Deep buffering, time-ordered aggregation and de-duplication reduce the load on downstream packet capture and analysis devices.

“One key feature of this important collaboration is the simplification of the overall network architecture by eliminating coaxial cabling and PPS distribution equipment,” said Francisco Girela, White Rabbit Application Engineer with Orolia. “This integrated solution eases the adoption of White Rabbit, leading to cost savings, reduced footprint, and better scalability.”

White Rabbit is an ultra-accurate IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) implementation that achieves sub-nanosecond accuracy over optical fiber links. Designed for use in avionics, telecommunications, space, defense and scientific applications, White Rabbit has become the gold standard for time distribution within electronic trading networks.

Arista’s MetaWatch is a powerful FPGA-based network application designed for Arista’s 7130 platform and combines several components of a traditional network monitoring solution into one device, which simplifies network data capture, monitoring and analytics.

“Moving from analog time synchronization to fiber-based White Rabbit will allow our customers to improve their network analytics while improving the overall synchronization accuracy across a large estate,” says David Snowdon, Engineering Director with Arista. “The combination of MetaWatch and White Rabbit allows for less than a nanosecond of error on any timestamp taken in a wide-area network – a crucial feature for trading firms optimizing their latency, or for exchanges guaranteeing fairness.”

This joint effort shows the flexibility of the HATI core to be integrated with third-party FPGA-based network devices and positions Orolia as the reference integrator of High Accuracy time synchronization solutions for multiple applications in segments as diverse as finance, telecom or defense. Together with the extensive portfolio of resilient PNT solutions, Orolia is leading the development of customer-based solutions to ease the adoption of the next generation of timing in the industry.

Supported Products

Orolia’s WR Z16, a reliable and precise time fan-out solution for White Rabbit distribution on 1G ethernet-based networks, is a standalone device with 16 SFP connectors that provide sub-nanosecond accuracy over the plug-and-play optical fiber links. The HATI core requires an activation license generated by Orolia to be loaded in the reference WR-Z16 device paired with it in order to be functional.

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Orolia ART card architecture is powered by the company’s industry-leading mRO-50 mini rubidium atomic clock technology, a breakthrough low-SWaP-C miniaturized rubidium oscillator designed to meet the latest commercial, military and aerospace requirements where time stability and power consumption are critical. It is the first PCIe card to include an atomic time reference from Orolia, the mRO-50 and a multi-frequency, multi-constellation GNSS receiver.

Orolia is a world leader in resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies. The company’s solutions are known to improve the reliability, performance and safety of critical, remote or high-risk operations, including in GNSS-denied environments. Orolia’s ART Card couples with Open Compute Project’s PTP-OCP driver, which its Precision Time Protocol hardware clock (PHC) interface for time synchronization.

Meta is implementing high-precision timing protocols within its distributed timing infrastructure. It has been collaborating with Orolia to develop a unique open-source solution with mRO-50 technology to ensure enduring timing accuracy and resilience. Meta’s goal has been to fulfill a new specification it published for the Time Appliances Project Initiative of the Open Compute Project. Initiated in 2011, The Open Compute Project aims to apply the benefits of open source and open collaboration to hardware and thus rapidly increase the pace of innovation. This collaborative community works to design from scratch new hardware and software to efficiently support the critical timing accuracy and resiliency demands of computer network infrastructure.

Meta began converting its data center servers to a new time distribution service in 2020, based on network time protocol and precision time protocol. The new service, developed in-house and later open-sourced, improves the accuracy of timekeeping within the Meta infrastructure from ten milliseconds to 100 microseconds, and, importantly, it is more scalable than previous services. With the integration of Orolia’s ART Cards, Meta’s new timing platform will become even more accurate and resilient, opening new opportunities in a range of challenging application areas.

The card

Developed with long term support in mind, Orolia’s ART Card delivers management, disciplining, and monitoring functions that can be integrated into any computer with a PCIe port. It provides highly accurate and resilient timing for the most demanding applications such as NTP/PTP time reference, time stamping and latency calculation.

It features sub-1µs/24h holdover performance and its open-source software suite includes a driver, monitoring daemon and disciplining algorithm supported by the timing, PNT, data center community. Orolia’s ART Cards is compatible with existing NTP and PTP implementations, with open architecture that can easily be customized and can be configured to support Galileo’s open service navigation message authentication (OS-NMA).

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Orolia has a broad portfolio of technologies across the Resilient PNT value-chain with full system capabilities and is a provider of PNT equipment, simulation and test solutions. Orolia is also providing emergency locator beacons for commercial aviation and military applications.

The acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Safran and Orolia to extend their Resilient PNT solutions globally. With this addition, Safran will be able to build a world-leading position in all aspects of PNT, inertial navigation, time and GNSS receivers and simulators, covering aerospace, governmental and high integrity applications.

“I am delighted by this announcement,” said Olivier Andriès, Safran Chief Executive Officer. “The acquisition of Orolia will strongly complement our navigation product line and expand its international footprint. Combining Safran and Orolia’s capabilities will create a world leader in Resilient Positioning, Navigation and timing systems for all applications. This is fully in line with the strategy outlined at our recent Capital Markets Day to strengthen our position in key technologies for our sovereignty activities.”

Safran intends to accelerate the development of Orolia under the leadership of its current CEO, Jean-Yves Courtois, and in full collaboration with its teams. The mutual customer base will benefit from the leveraging of respective strengths and route-to-market capabilities.

“The combination of Orolia and Safran will create a PNT world leader with capabilities that will be unsurpassed in depth and breadth,” said Jean-Yves Courtois, Orolia Chief Executive Officer. “Our perfect complementarity in terms of technology expertise, market presence and geographic footprint will allow us to push further Resilient PNT to the next level and to offer our government, aerospace and commercial customers the most advanced solutions they need for their critical operations. Orolia will contribute especially through its world-leading positions in timing, GNSS simulation and emergency location technologies, and through its strong presence in the US market. We are looking forward to working with our new Safran colleagues to advance our common vision.”

Orolia is expected to generate revenues of more than EUR 100 million in 2021 and has approximately 435 employees with facilities in France, United States, Switzerland, Spain and Canada.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to the usual regulatory approvals. Orolia will be consolidated within Safran’s Equipment & Defense division upon closing, expected around mid-2022.

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Orolia, the world leader in Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seven Solutions, a global innovator in White Rabbit sub-nanosecond time transfer and synchronization technology. This transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals required by the Spanish government and is expected to close before the end of the year.

The merger with the tech company based in Granada, Spain will enhance Orolia’s portfolio for defense, aerospace, data centers, telecom, financial services, smart grids, and other critical infrastructure industries and will enable the next generation applications dependent on ultra-precise, resilient timing and frequency technology.

“Orolia and Seven Solutions under one umbrella will combine our world-leading technologies to draw a new frontier in network timing to sub-nanosecond levels, delivering the most robust and accurate Resilient PNT solutions for our customers,” said Orolia CEO Jean-Yves Courtois. “Seven Solutions’ long history of delivering cutting-edge time distribution solutions to sectors like telecommunications, smart-grid, aerospace, defense and scientific facilities aligns perfectly with Orolia’s DNA.   It will add to the list of industry-first capabilities that Orolia regularly brings to market to unlock new possibilities for our customers, including to further protect their critical applications against threats, disruption, manipulation of PNT services, such as GPS/GNSS jamming, spoofing and outages.”

Orolia and Seven Solutions will integrate global sales, marketing, product development and operations.  Orolia presents an unparalleled full-scale and modular approach to Resilient PNT, which includes atomic clocks with a combination of GNSS signals protected with Interference Detection and Mitigation (IDM) technology, together with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) secure alternative signals. The addition of Seven Solutions products will deliver terrestrial sub-nanosecond time distribution from distant and potentially redundant locations.

“We believe the union of our companies will produce the future of time transfer and frequency distribution solutions in terms of accuracy, reliability and interoperability,” said Rafael Rodriguez, chief technology officer and co-founder of Seven Solutions. “Finance, 5G telecommunications, datacenters and hyperscalers have new and upgraded functionalities requiring ultra-accurate time distribution accuracy. To maximize interoperability, our solution for time transfer is based on the White Rabbit concept that has been pushed over the last decade to become the basis of the standard High Accuracy time transfer profile (within the recent release of IEEE 1588 of precision time protocol).”

Orolia and Seven Solutions are members of the Open PNT Industry Alliance. The international organization focuses on market concepts that strengthen economic and national security by supporting government efforts to implement Resilient PNT capabilities for critical infrastructure.

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