Aktualités

Complex Multi-Object -Scenario demonstration at AEB Praxis Conference together with 4a Systems  

iMAR has shown that complex testing of highly automated driving vehicles with several synchronized participants is possible in a highly accurate and repeatable manner.

In cooperation with 4active Systems, a future EuroNCAP Jjunction Scenario, comprising of two 4a Soft Crash Targets and iMAR’s self-driving iTSV-KIA-NIRO has been performed with highest reliability during the AEB praxis conference in Schlüsselfeld / Germany at September 20/21, 2018 in front of many professional visitors from automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

All moveable objects had been equipped with iMAR’s high accurate INS/GNSS systems of type iTraceRT-MVT-xxx, providing position, velocity, acceleration, orientation and timing for synchronisation and control of the whole scenario.

For October 1, 2018 iMAR is invited  to present the iTSV-KIA-NIRO at the opening ceremony of CERMcity, an advanced urban test field on the proving ground in Aldenhoven / Germany (RWTH Aachen).

Further information:

Datasheet iSWACO-ARGUS: Proving Ground Instrumentation for vehicle tests up to SAE level 5

Datasheet iKIA-NIRO: Self driving traffic simulation vehicle

Precise INS/GNSS Solution for Radar Antenna Azimuth and Elevation  Reference  

iMAR wins the contract to deliver more than a dozen of iPRENA-III systems for the precise radar antenna pointing application for the mobile radar system of a well-known European manufacturer. 

The system consists of the mature iPRENA RLG based  INS/GNSS system with gyro compassing capability, including an additional independant heading solution, which allows a cost efficient comparision of two dissimilar heading results to fulfill also  demanding SIL requirements.     

Further information:

Datasheet iPRENA-II/III/IV Precision INS/GNSS Navigation and Piointing Reference for Defence Applications 

Most reliable navigation solutions from iMAR Navigation now for ABD robot systems certified  

Anthony Best Dynamics (ABD) has launched an Approval Certificate which certifies the compatibility of the system families of iNAT and iTraceRT-MVT by iMAR Navigation with ABD robot systems. Successful Ethernet communication and path following was demonstrated in August 2018. 

This allows users of ABD equipment worldwide to use iMAR's most reliable and accurate INS/GNSS systems within their ABD setup.

Approval Certificate

Testing of highly automated driving vehicles for verification and validation  

AUDI AG has decided within the context of the wellknown PEGASUS project to enter into a deep cooperation with iMAR Navigation to develop and implement advanced testing facilities for highly and fully automated driving vehicles. 

Link: Demonstration of proving ground instrumentation with generalized PEGASUS setup (Video, 6/2018)

Award for the "Most Advanced Real-Life Testing & Simulation Techniques in Autonomous Driving"  

The Automotive Tech.AD is the No. 1 European event on technical challenges for vehicle automation L4+. It is Europe’s leading knowledge exchange platform bringing together every year in Berlin / Germany 350+ stakeholders who are playing an active role in the vehicle automation scene. Topics are Testing & Validation, Sensor Fusion, Deep Driving, Operational Safe Systems, Cognitive Vehicles, Software Architectures &  much more.

Link to Tech.AD

iMAR is very proud to announce, that we have won the Tech.AD Award 2018 on March 6, 2018 during an official ceremony with our system solution iSWACO-ARGUS, our advanced proving ground automation equipment to perform fully automated economical testing of highly autmated vehicles up to SAE level 5 on arbitrary proving grounds.
iSWACO-ARGUS, which stays for "Swarm Control & Continuous Surveillance", is the unique toolchain for vehicle testing purposes specially designed to cover today's challenging requirements - including INS/GNSS based localization and control of all vehicles on sub-decimeter level (iTraceRT-MVT), RF mesh based communication between all vehicles (iDMN) and the central mobile control center, data analysis as well as trajectory and scenario planning software to plan, simulate and execute complex perfectly emulated traffic scenarios on the proving ground, including operation of traffic lights, traffic signs or rain simulators etc. (iARGUS-CMD)

All together, iSWACO-ARGUS enables the OEMS as well as the testing organizations to carry out the type approval or homologation for automated and autonomous vehicles, to test the VUT under probably all environmental conditions in real Traffic Scenarios now and in the future, up to SAE Level 5.       

Further information:

Ceremony of Tech.AD 2018 Award: Video  (3:59)

iSWACO-ARGUS: Video of operation with testing scenarios of traffic jam and a lane change (driverless driven TSV by iMAR technology without any need of any steering robot) on proving ground Pferdsfeld / Germany with TÜV-Süd Auto-Service GmbH and Volkswagen AG in 10/2017 (6:45)

iSWACO-ARGUS: Product Flyer (4 pages)

Precise, Economic Navigation and LocalizationSolution for Heavy and Lite On-road and Off-road Vehicles  

In early 2018 iMAR delivered the first batches of iSULONA-V against an order of 60 systems. A fleet of HTRVs (Heavy Tactical Revovery Vehicles) will be equipped with these systems, which allow a precise localization, using GNSS aiding or (in case of GNSS unavailability) also waypoint aided navigation. The iXCOM-CMD software provides a powerful but simple to use HMI for daily operation as well as for route planning or maintenance. Furthermore, the open command and data exgange interface allows the user to implement his own HMI, using the also provided SDK. 

The Site Acceptance Test (SAT) had been successfully performed in February 2018.

The iSULONA-V is compatible to iMAR's other systems of the iSULONA, iCOMBANA and iPRENA family, providing navigation and localization performance from MEMS class over FOG and HRG performance up to RLG performance. 

Further information:

iSULONA Datasheets (INS/GNSS with included odometer interface and sophisticated data fusion)

iXCOM-CMD Operator Software

Download links to the operator's software iXCOM-CMD and also to the  iXCOM-CMD-MVT ("MVT = Multi Vehicle Tracking), which also allows to localize and guide a swarm of vehicles simultaneously:

Precise INS/GNSS Solution for Radar Antenna Alignment   

iMAR just delivered the 12^th iPRENA-M-H system, a high performance INS/GNSS/ODO inertial navigation, localization and surveying system. This system is a replacement of the "historical" DRU / MAPS modular azimuth position system, which is out of production by several vendors since a longer time now. 

iMAR's replacement allows the user to keep all traditional cabling and communication inside the trucks or tanks alive without any need for changes while replacing the INS.   

Further iPRENA-M-H systems are under contract and in production.

Further information:

Datasheet iPRENA-M-H Precision Navigation for Defense Applications (DRU / MAPS replacement) 

iNAT-FSLG-01 selected by AIRBUS as INS/GNSS Reference for Aircraft Flight Testing

Airbus Industries has selected iMAR's iNAT-FSLG-01 INS/GNSS measurement system to be the future motion reference and trajectory analysis system to be used at Airbus for all major flight testing activities. 

The first two systems of the contract for the "SkyTrack" called programme have been delivered to Airbus Toulouse (France) early December 2017 for fixed wing aircraft testing, the next systems are scheduled for 2018 and 2019.

The iNAT series (iNAT-RQT-4003) is already in use successfully since mid 2016 at Airbus Helicopters (Germany) for rotary wing aircraft testing.

The systems are qualified according to DO160G, MIL-STD-810G, MIL-STD-461G and MIL-STD-704F.

All iNAT systems support Airbus' IENA Flight Test Installation (FTI) communication protocol.

iMAR shows iNAT-M200 on Racing Vehicle

Softing AG, a well-known manufacturer of testing systems, invited iMAR to show their iNAT-M200 within Softing's racing car together with the SMT system.

Recently both companies have demonstrated on the Nürburgring, how trajectories and dynamic behavior of racing cars can be measured and visualized using iMAR's most reliable iNAT-M200 INS/GNSS based surveying technology and Softing's SMT data acquisition system.

Further information:

Link to Softing SMT

iMAR presents proving ground equipment for up to SAE level 5 testing

In June 2017 iMAR exhibited at Automotive Testing Expo in Stuttgart / Germany and presented its proving ground equipment for testing & verification of vehicles up to SAE level 5. We also presented, besides our traditional systems of type  iTraceRT, our system family iTraceRT-MVT, iNAT-FSSG, iNAT-FSLG and iNAT-M200, our latest generation of inertial measurement systems, which are designed for both, for the high accurate surveying and motion analysis as well as for the advanced automated and autonomous steering and control of vehicles with lowest latency and jitter.

The large number of visitors on our booth and the very detailed discussions with the highly skilled experts showed us the high relevance of our products for present and future testing of vehicles on the proofing ground and in the real world. 

iMAR presents Advanced Proving Ground Technology for up to SAE Level 5  

For more than 25 years iMAR is a leading company providing strapdown inertial reference systems for testing automotive driver-assistance systems and for driver comfort testing on highest and most durable performance level.

The introduction of highly and fully automated vehicles (i.e. from "hands off" up to SAE level 5 "optional wheel") requires extended testing, verification and homologation methods for the vehicles.

iMAR provides the required solution with iSWACO-ARGUS, enabling the user to perform fail-safe repeatable scenarios with up to 100+ moving objects (1 or more Vehicles under Test / VUT, several Traffic Simulation Vehicles / TSV and several Soft Crash Targets / SCT) on his proving ground.

Hence, iSWACO-ARGUS, which stays for "Swarm Control & Continuous Surveillance", is the unique toolchain for vehicle testing purposes specially designed to cover today's challenging requirements - including INS/GNSS based localization and control of all vehicles on sub-decimeter level, RF communication between all vehicles and the central mobile control center, data analysis as well as trajectory and scenario planning software to plan, simulate and execute complex perfectly emulated traffic scenarios on the proving ground, including operation of traffic lights, traffic signs or rain simulators etc.

All together, iSWACO-ARGUS enables the OEMS as well as the testing organizations to carry out the type approval or homologation for automated and autonomous vehicles, to test the VUT under probably all environmental conditions in real Traffic Scenarios now and in the future, up to SAE Level 5.       

Further information:

iSWACO-ARGUS: Product Flyer (4 pages)

iARGUS-CMD: Product Flyer - software to plan and execute complex traffic scenarios on the proving ground 

iSWACO-ARGUS: Video with complex conditional lane change traffic scenario (driverless driven iTSV-KIA-NIRO by iMAR technology without any need of any steering robot) on proving ground Zweibrücken / Germany 6/2018 according to the PEGASUS requirements (7:10)

iSWACO-ARGUS: iMAR wins the Tech.AD 2018 Award for iSWACO-ARGUS during an international ceremony

Video of SoftCrashTarget with iMAR's Navigation&Control Unit iNAT-M200 inside (in collaboration with 4a-Systems)

iSWACO-ARGUS: Video of operation with testing scenarios of traffic jam and a lane change (driverless driven TSV by iMAR technology without any need of any steering robot) on proving ground Pferdsfeld / Germany with TÜV-Süd Auto-Service GmbH and Volkswagen AG in 10/2017 (6:45)

iXCOM-CMD: Video of monitoring a lane change (driverless driven by iMAR's iSWACO-ARGUS setup without any steering robot) on proving ground Pferdsfeld / Germany with TÜV-Süd Auto-Service GmbH and Volkswagen AG in 10/2017 (1:47)

iSWACO-ARGUS: User Manual

iSWACO-ARGUS: Poster (PEGASUS contribution)

Note: The above mentioned development activities are partially based upon governmental funding within the project PEGASUS by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, where iMAR Navigation had been invited to participate and to contribute it's deep know-how and knowledge in automotive testing with inertial, GNSS and stereo vision based sensor technologies. See the following link for details: 

PEGASUS: SECURING AUTOMATED DRIVING EFFECTIVELY

Social/technology education for kids to help people in need   

The local integrated school of Rohrbach / St. Ingbert has started a new project: Together with the local volunteer fire brigade they founded a project group for about 20 pupils to stimulate their interest in technology in combination with reinforcing their social engagement to be a helper for people in need and to protect lifes and goods.

We, iMAR Navigation, found this idea very interesing and sponsored these activities significantly with basic equipment like clothes and firefighter's helmets for kids. 

Press Release from the local volunteer fire brigade Rohrbach / St. Ingbert:

iMAR unterstützt Projekt Feuerwehr-AG in Rohrbach / St. Ingbert (in German language)

iMAR's iNAT-M200/SLN used in Team M. Dolderer for Flight Path Optimization

Since 2 years Matthias Dolderer, the German aerobatic pilot of the Red Bull AirRace Master Class World Championship, uses sucessfully iMAR Navigation equipment for flight path optimization and demonstrated the advantages of using our INS/GNSS measurement data by becoming the 2016 World Champion at the penultimate race in Indianapolis / USA in October 2016. Congratulations to Matthias Dolderer from all iMAR Navigation team!

The MD21 team uses the iNAT-M200/SLN, which provides high accuracy, data rate up to 500 Hz, sub meter accuracy, up to 30 g range and all that within a very low weight and small enclosure.

Other Applications: iNAT-M200 for Trainer Aircrafts and UAVs

The RedBull application has powerful demonstrated, that the iNAT-M200/SLN is the best choice to monitor the flight motion of trainers during pilot's education as well as to navigate and control even most dynamic UAVs.  

Link to Red Bull Air Race

Further information:

Datasheet iNAT-M200/SLN Miniaturized INS/GNSS Solution(0.03 deg roll/pitch, 0.05 deg heading, < 0.1 m/s speed error)

iNAT-M200: INS/GNSS for Trainer Aircrafts and Aerobatic Flight Surveying (2016)

Report iNAT-M200/SLN on Edge 540 during Red Bull AirRace in Ascot 2016

Measuring and Recording Trajectories and Flight Dynamics 

The iNAT-RQT-4003 is now also used by Airbus Helicopters to acquire the full flight motion dynamics in the test field to assist the qualification and certification of their helicopters.

The iNAT-RQT-4003 is an advanced INS/GNSS system with ring laser gyro performance, which allows the online output of all inertial measurements (position, velocity, RPY, rates, acceleration, all standard deviations, BIT etc.) via Ethernet, CAN and UART / NMEA0183 as well as the simultanous storage of all data with up to 400 Hz on an internal 32 GByte memory. 

The iNAT-RQT-4003 is free of any ITAR regulations and can be exported under simplified "dual-use" regulations worldwide. 

Further information:

Datasheet iNAT-RQT-400x

Exploration of iNAT-M200 Performance for Train Location and Driver Assistance 

iMAR performed successfully a several days test campaign on a regional train of type DESIRO to demonstrate the high peformance and reliability of the iNAT-M200 system with its integrated INS/GNSS/ODO based data fusion. The iNAT-M200 is used for train localizatin as well as for attitude & heading reference, also to aid other sensors which might observe the train's surroundings and to assist the train driver (ADAS).

Further information:

iNAT-M200 Datasheet (INS/GNSS with included odometer interface and sophisticated data fusion)

Paper: iNAT: INS/GNSS/Odometer Data Fusion in Railway Applications (2016)

iMAR errichtet Kreisel-Denkmal in St. Ingbert zum Andenken an H. Anschütz-Kaempfe

1908 the first time ever a gyro compass had been used as a true heading reference - it had been on the German cruise ship SMS Deutschland.

1908 wurde erstmals ein Kreiselkompaß auf einem Schiff als Nordreferenz eingesetzt - es war auf dem deutschen Linienschiff SMS Deutschland.

The inventor of the gyro compass was Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872 - 1931), who had been born in Zweibrücken, a town located only 15 km south-east of St. Ingbert, where iMAR has its headquarters. The gyro compass increased the navigation accuracy, seafety and had been the basis for the modern maritime traffic.

Erfinder des Kreiselkompasses war Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872 - 1931), der in Zweibrücken, nur 15 km südöstlich des Unternehmensstandortes von iMAR in St. Ingbert, geboren wurde. Ohne ein solches "Gyro Compassing" zur präzisen Navigation wäre der folgende Ausbau der Schiffahrt kaum denkbar gewesen.

INS/GNSS solution with included LTE / GSM / WLAN and integrated vehicle control

Swarm Control is a most important application for highly autonomous operating vehicles. All vehicles have to operate within a shared space, a joined task has to be fulfilled and therefore the trajectory control of each swarm member (e.g. autonomous marine vessels, unmanned airborne vehicles, highly automated road vehicles etc.) is as mandatory as communication is between every member and - if desired - also with a control center.

With iSWACO (Swarm Control Navigation & Communications & Vehicle Control) iMAR has launched a family of systems to serve the needs of highly autonomous operating vehicles. Beside of the localization task (INS/GNSS etc.) it contains a powerful multi-band RF communication and also an integrated, but for safety reasons separated microcontroller which is used to inject set values to the vehicles actuators (engine torque, steering, brake...) in real-time for automated or autonomous vehicle control purposes.   

Hence iSWACO-M200 is a device with an integrated navigation solution based on inertial sensors and a highly sophisticated data fusion by incorporating information from GNSS, wheel sensors, RADAR or stereo camera for precise positioning as well as environmental survey.
Additionally iSWACO contains a powerful communication module for LTE, GSM and WLAN, to be able to interact with all other swarm members in the neighborhood as well as with an upper level control center.

Further information:

iSWACO-M200 Datasheet (INS/GNSS with included RF Communication and integrated Vehicle Control)

Motion Simulator for Real World Testing @ iMAR

Rate tables or turn tables are used to measure and calibrate inertial sensors and systems regarding angular rates or orientation in space, but they are not suitable to perform tests regarding linear motion or acceleration, as they are required for translational motion testing or tumbling motion testing under marine motion excitation.

To be able to test inertial sensors and systems or gimbals or gyro stabilized platforms regarding 6 DOF motion (roll, pitch, yaw as well as angular rates, acceleration, velocity and translational motion on all axes) during a FAT or within the development phase of new products, iMAR installed a powerfull hexapod. This hexapod can carry up to 1'000 kg payload and provides up to 1 g acceleration, up to +/- 450 mm displacement, up to 1 m/s speed, +/- 30 deg in roll / pitch / yaw and 50 deg/s angular rate. The hexapod is mounted in the new iMAR building C with access to the installed 5-to crane system for easy handling of the payloads.

The new hexapod completes the already available in-house testing equipment at iMAR, i.e. 40 kN vibration and shock test system, several multi-axes turntables and temperature chambers, centrifuge, 3D coordinate measuring machine, automatised (driverless) controlled automotive platform etc.       

Video of iIPSC-MSG-60 installed on iMAR's hexapod test facilities (70 MByte)   (c) iMAR Navigation GmbH

New Service for our Clients from the Surveying Business

For precise surveying applications using inertial or optical sensors, beside of a highly accurate time stamping and synchronization of all measurement data an most accurate mechanical reference of the systems is required for a seamless integration of the navigation Systems into the user's application.

iMAR now provides the Service to deliver the manufactred Systems with a measuring protocol containing the precise position off all mechanical reference locations of the system's  housing. A highly accurate coordinate measureing machine of type ZEISS CONTURA has been installed in February 2015 to provide this service to our customers.