Vodafone and Topcon Positioning Group are developing a new precision positioning system for the consumer market that will locate Internet of Things (IoT) devices, machinery and vehicles with a higher degree of accuracy than using individual systems alone of global navigation satellites (GNSS). find a car

Vehicles, scooters or even robotic lawnmowers will be able to locate themselves safely and in real time to an accuracy of a few centimeters when connected to Vodafone’s global IoT network and using Topcon’s technology, which corrects for inaccuracies in signals from navigation satellites. Location accuracy is improved from a few meters to just a few centimeters, thanks to Topcon’s extensive European network that includes thousands of GNSS reference stations, especially when vehicles and devices are equipped with suitable antennas and receiving equipment.

Vodafone and Topcon will start the first tests, for which Vodafone is selecting customers in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom who want to join this pilot this month. The companies want to test the service, called Vodafone GNSS Corrections, using a wide variety of devices connected to Vodafone’s global IoT network – one of the largest with more than 150 million connections – and its pan-European network, which covers 12 countries.

Pinpoint accuracy is critical for mass adoption of Vehicle to Anything (V2X) technology-the ability of vehicles to talk to other vehicles, road users and infrastructure-, of driverless vehicles, as well as for autonomous machinery and robots. For example, e-bike drivers could use Vodafone’s GNSS corrections to provide details of their exact location and alert other road users of their presence. find a car

Justin Shields, Director of Platforms and Solutions at Vodafone Business, explains: “As new technologies such as self-driving cars and connected machinery evolve, Vodafone is providing the critical connections to bring greater precision to these services, as well as more security and at scale. Our customers want to be able to better locate their devices and the partnership with Topcon complements our asset tracking and fleet telematics solutions.” find a car

Ian Stilgoe, Vice President of Topcon Global Emerging Business, said: “At Topcon we are proud to partner with Vodafone to provide high-precision correction services that enable V2X applications to perform with the precision needed to help improve road safety, especially for vulnerable road users.

“Topcon’s long history of providing precision positioning solutions makes us an ideal partner for Vodafone, which uses the comprehensive Topnet Live GNSS network. Vodafone’s high-precision services can also be used to improve the positioning performance of many other autonomous applications, such as drones, delivery robots, and wearables with security systems.”

Vodafone GNSS Corrections complements Vodafone’s commitment to improve V2X location accuracy, especially when trusted data is shared to help prevent accidents and unnecessary deaths on European roads. Thus, Vodafone offers precise positioning as a complement to the company’s new Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP), which allows entities to communicate with each other when there is no line of sight. Unveiled in March 2022, STEP has been successfully trialled in Germany and the UK and will be available via Vodafone Automotive and third-party apps later this year.

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Vodafone and Topcon jointly offer a high level GNSS correction service thanks to their respective implementation throughout Europe. Vodafone will offer a unique module configuration that can be extended across national borders.

The Topcon Positioning System offers cloud-based corrections that are then pushed to vehicles and devices. In turn, these enable location accuracies to be considerably improved in open sky conditions, a scenario in which receivers on the ground are located far from objects such as trees to avoid obstructions or reflections of the GNSS signal. To provide these positioning accuracies, a GNSS module also needs to compensate for inaccuracies caused by satellite constellations, receiver hardware, and atmospheric conditions. These inaccuracies can be calculated by Topcon’s dense network of fixed reference stations that constantly receive GNSS data.

The Precise Positioning Service also complements the existing asset tracking and fleet telematics solutions already offered by Vodafone Business for business customers in 54 countries.