UNSW Surveying

06/09/2026

3D laser scanning delivers millimetre accuracy for Dubai's metro expansion
Choosing laser scanning over traditional methods cut the fieldwork timeline in half while hitting accuracy under 5mm in Dubai's ambitious 30km expansion of its Metro Blue Line.
As Dubai builds out its ambitious Metro Blue Line, a 30km expansion with 14 stations set to open in 2029, the project's success hinges on data most passengers will never think about: precise 3D scans of existing stations and structures, captured to guide construction and design. To get there, Senior survey manager Murat Pehlivan and a two-person team turned to laser scanning instead of more traditional survey methods – cutting the fieldwork timeline in half while hitting accuracy under 5mm.
The contract for the Blue Line was awarded to the Mapa Limak CRRC Consortium, a partnership between Turkish and Chinese firms. Within it, Pehlivan's team is responsible for capturing high-precision data of new and existing structures, feeding directly into construction, engineering design and BIM coordination. Over a three-month campaign, the team scanned two existing metro stations – Creek and Centrepoint, each around 13,000 to 14,000 square metres – along with the 150,000-square-metre R11 parking structure, capturing everything from entry gates to rooftop parking areas.
Read more in GIM International article.

Choosing laser scanning over traditional methods cut the fieldwork timeline in half while hitting accuracy under 5mm in Dubai's ambitious 30km expansion of its Metro Blue Line. As Dubai builds out its ambitious Metro Blue Line, a 30km expansion...

06/09/2026

JAVAD GNSS has introduced a GNSS+INS product line: a family of tightly integrated GNSS and inertial navigation solutions now available for evaluation and integration by qualified users. The line pairs JAVAD’s multi-constellation GNSS receivers with proven commercial and defence IMU modules through a purpose-built interface board, giving OEMs a prime navigation system that produces PVT solutions with attitude when satellite signals may be jammed, spoofed, or blocked.
Operators in aviation, maritime and unmanned systems encounter jamming and spoofing worldwide, and the platforms most affected (such as small UAS, autonomous ground and marine systems) require small compact integrated systems which would allow them to endure navigation gaps. Integrators addressing this have generally had two options: source a GNSS receiver and an IMU separately and absorb the integration work themselves, or buy a sealed GNSS+INS box built around a pre-selected inertial sensor.
The JAVAD GNSS+INS configuration ships as a pre-assembled stack-up an integrator can deploy as delivered, or separate and mount to suit the mechanical constraints of the host platform. The interface board handles the electrical connection, time synchronisation, and data path between receiver and IMU, removing the cabling, timing alignment, and sensor calibration work previously required by the integrator.
Read more in GPS World article.

JAVAD GNSS has introduced a GNSS+INS product line: a family of tightly integrated GNSS and inertial navigation solutions now available for evaluation and

06/09/2026

Project Manager (PM) Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) has awarded a delivery order worth more than $3 million for Dismounted Assured PNT System (DAPS) Mounted Engineering Change Proposal (DME) B-kits in support of first unit equipped to TRX Systems. The order was issued through the Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground.
The DME systems in the delivery order will be integrated into both medium and heavy tactical vehicles in 2027 via fielding efforts led by PM PNT.
“We’re excited to introduce DME to our soldiers in the field who need it most,” Chris Jais, project manager for PM PNT. “We developed DME to give soldiers on combat support and combat service support vehicles an assured PNT solution that best fit their needs and provides a bridge between mounted and dismounted platforms.”
Read more in GPS World article.

Project Manager (PM) Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) has awarded a delivery order worth more than $3 million for Dismounted Assured PNT System

06/09/2026

Quantum infrastructure software firm Q-CTRL has completed its first open-water field demonstration of a GPS-free, quantum-gravimetric maritime navigation system.
Tested aboard a 29-metre surface vessel in the Coral Sea off Australia’s eastern coast, the company’s Ironstone Opal navigation platform achieved bounded 1-nautical-mile positioning accuracy without satellite signals, outperforming standard navigation-grade inertial backups by more than 10x over an 83-km trajectory.
Read more in GPS World article.

Quantum infrastructure software firm Q-CTRL has completed itsfirst open-water field demonstration of a GPS-free, quantum-gravimetric maritime navigation system.

29/08/2026

Microchip Debuts Radiation-Tolerant Chip-Scale Atomic Clock for Small Satellites
The Space CSAC-SA65 extends radiation tolerance to 30 kRad and cuts power draw below 120 mW, letting CubeSat-class missions carry atomic-clock timing without relying on GNSS. Microchip Technology on Aug. 13 introduced the Space CSAC-SA65, a radiation-tolerant chip-scale atomic clock designed to bring atomic-clock timing accuracy to small, power-constrained satellite missions.
The company said the growing New Space market is driving demand for smaller, less expensive space hardware supporting short-duration missions in applications such as satellite-to-cellular communications, alternative navigation and Earth imaging. Built on the heritage of Microchip’s Space CSAC-SA45, the new device extends radiation tolerance to at least 30 kRad and operates across an extended temperature range of -40 degrees C to +80 degrees C. It consumes less than 120 mW and occupies under 17 cubic centimetres, with built-in 1 PPS input and output for satellite synchronisation. The atomic stability lets systems maintain timing accuracy for extended periods without continuous reliance on GNSS signals.
Read more in Inside GNSS article. https://insidegnss.com/microchip-debuts-radiation-tolerant-chip-scale-atomic-clock-for-small-satellites/

29/08/2026

TrustPoint, a developer of next-generation space-based positioning and navigation solutions, has successfully demonstrated its C-band signals in the presence of GNSS interference under contract with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
In partnership with Hexagon, a global leader in measurement technologies, the company successfully operated an enhanced C-band receiver developed by NovAtel, part of Hexagon, accelerating the path to commercial availability.
The demonstration marks a significant step toward commercialising GNSS-independent PNT, bringing together TrustPoint’s resilient C-band service with NovAtel’s proven receiver technology to deliver positioning in GNSS-denied environments.
By integrating C-band capabilities into a NovAtel GNSS receiver, the partnership advances the path toward C-band-enabled GNSS solutions, marking an important step forward for the navigation industry.
Read more in GPS World article.

Resilient C-band signals demonstrated through GNSS interference on NovAtel's established receiver platform, accelerating the path to commercial resilient PNT.

29/08/2026

No signal left behind: new ways to detect jamming and spoofing
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are an invisible backbone for everyday life. They are essential for transportation, emergency response and public safety. They are also vulnerable to interference, both natural and human made.
As our dependence on GNSS grows, the European Space Agency (ESA) is working hard to ensure satellite navigation systems are resilient and is supporting companies and Member States in finding new ways to detect interference.
With 10% of European GDP enabled by satellite navigation, the economic impact of GNSS interference is significant. In the second quarter of 2025, more than 10 000 ships were reported as being impacted by malicious interference globally, marking an eightfold increase as compared to the first quarter of 2025.
Interference not only disrupts navigation on land, air and sea, but it also poses safety issues and economic losses as many ship systems, including fire safety and emergency beacons, as well as critical infrastructure such as power grids, are linked to GNSS. In 2025, a joint statement issued by several United Nations agencies called for the protection of signals from harmful interference.
Read more in the following article.

Image: Shutterstock What's new: An item from the European Space Agency about GNSS interference monitoring that describes three "new" methods. Why it's

29/08/2026

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), working with the Finnish Border Guard and the Finnish Defence Forces, has successfully completed a new round of operational testing for an innovative system designed to detect interference with satellite navigation signals.
The trials took place July 6-9 in Finland as part GANDALF-4 measurement campaign. Experts from the NCIA Joint Surveillance and Reconnaissance Centre installed and operated GANDALF system aboard the Finnish Border Guard’s offshore patrol vessel Turva and a Finnish Border Guard H215 Super Puma helicopter, testing the technology in realistic maritime and airborne conditions, which provided valuable data for the detection, classification and localisation of GNSS interference.
Read more in GPS World article.

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), working with the Finnish Border Guard and the Finnish Defence Forces, has successfully completed a new

21/08/2026

Charlie Trimble to receive O.M. Miller Cartographic Medal
Few people have shaped modern cartography quite like Charlie Trimble. Now, the founder of Trimble is set to be recognized for that legacy, with the American Geographical Society confirming he will receive its O.M. Miller Cartographic Medal, one of the society's highest distinctions, for contributions that have significantly advanced cartography and the geographic sciences.
"Charlie Trimble helped transform GPS from an emerging technology into one of the defining innovations in modern geography," said Lee Schwartz, CEO of the American Geographical Society. "His early vision for the commercial potential of precise positioning laid the foundation for modern mapping, navigation and countless industries that rely on geographic intelligence. Charlie is an exceptionally deserving recipient of the O.M. Miller Cartographic Medal."
It was the late 1970s, and GPS existed only as an experimental military programme, its commercial potential dismissed by nearly everyone who encountered it. Charlie Trimble was the exception. Convinced that precise positioning could solve real world problems, he founded Trimble in 1978. Six years later, he proved his instincts right, selling the world's first commercially viable GPS receiver.
Read more in GIM International article.

Few people have shaped modern cartography quite like Charlie Trimble. Now, the founder of Trimble is set to be recognized for that legacy, with the Am...

21/08/2026

What’s Next for GPS? – Aerospace Corporation
For decades, GPS has quietly transformed the way the world operates. What began as primarily a military capability has become a cornerstone of modern life, enabling everything from defence operations and emergency response to transportation networks, financial transactions and the smart phones carried by billions of people around the world.
Today, GPS is far more than a navigation system. It is critical infrastructure woven throughout and supporting countless activities across government, industry and society. As reliance on GPS has grown, so too has the importance of ensuring users can trust the position, navigation and timing (PNT) information that underpins those activities.
For John Langer, an Aerospace associate principal director who has worked on GPS for decades, that realisation became personal while working with military personnel who relied on GPS-enabled equipment in combat environments.
Read more in the following article.

Image: Lockheed Martin What's new: A thought piece from the highly respected Aerospace Corporation. Why it's important: The article includes a number of