A ground-based positioning networks provider, Locata has announced that its TimeTenna technology will be unveiled at the 2011 Institute of Navigation GNSS Conference held from 19 to 23 September at the Oregon Convention Center, Portland.
An antenna positioning technology, the TimeTenna provides highly accurate indoor positioning. Based on Locata’s terrestrial positioning system, the new technology will enable highly accurate positioning, robotics and machine automation applications designed for industrial and warehousing settings
LocataNet, the highly accurate terrestrial positioning technology developed by Locata has been deployed by Leica Geosystems and the US Air Force. The indoor solution will empower businesses to locate, automate and direct heavy machinery such as forklifts using radio navigation settings. The miniaturizing of the core antenna has already begun. This will enable indoor positioning for smaller personal devices such as the cellular phones.
The Chairman of Locata, Nunzio Gambale stated that the indoor GPS technology is just as accurate and complete as the outdoor GPS systems. The indoor positioning technology can provide accurate positioning in large areas where GPS signals are blocked or cannot reach. The small TimeTenna uses the Correlator Beam Forming Technology to overcome multipath interference, which is encountered by satellite GPS signals, thus providing precise positioning indoors. The multipath breakthrough was achieved by David Small, the co-founder of Locata. Traditional GPS signals cannot pass through minor obstructions and thus cannot provide positioning indoors. The multipath makes the radio signals bounce repeatedly off the walls or other objects, a problem that the small TimeTenna can easily overcome.