Spirent Announces Industry-First BVLOS Mission Enabler

September 21, 2021

News

Spirent Communications plc announced the launch of Spirent GNSS Foresight, a cloud-based solution designed to let operators know in advance where and when GPS or GNSS positioning is reliable for unmanned and autonomous journeys.

GNSS Foresight is designed to accurately predict where and when unmanned vehicles, air taxis, and drones can operate safely and dependably beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), especially in urban areas where buildings frequently obstruct GNSS signals.

The service addresses one of the key issues facing developers and operators of unmanned aerial (UAS) and autonomous vehicles. Because GNSS performance can be unpredictable in urban and suburban areas due to signals being obscured or blocked by buildings, autonomous systems have not been able to rely on GNSS for accurate positioning.

Spirent GNSS Foresight’s ability to accurately predict where and when their autonomous systems will perform enables users to scale their operations or services by expanding operational areas, reducing the number of system disengagements, and providing a greater level of safety and reliability assurance when reducing - or ultimately removing - human involvement in the driving or piloting task. 

GNSS Foresight can produce forecasts using data from any of the world’s satellite constellations, and is of particular interest to the aviation and UAS sector, as well as the automotive industry. It will be shown publicly for the first time at ION GNSS+ in St Louis (September 22 – 24). 

For more information about Spirent GNSS Foresight, visit www.spirent.com/products/gnss-foresight-forecasting.