Aktualités

PEGASUS Project: Standards for the safeguarding of highly-automated vehicles

In order for functions for the safeguarding of highly-autmated vehicles to be approved, new quality standards and methods had been developed in the recent 3 years – through the close cooperation between the automotive industry and innovative, agile engineering companies. This is what the PEGASUS joint project, funded by the German Government / BMWi) stands for: Project for the Establishment of Generally Accepted quality criteria, tools and methods as well as Scenarios and ("Und") Situations for the release of highly-automated driving functions. The objective ihad been to develop a procedure for the testing of automated driving functions, in order to facilitate the rapid implementation of automated driving into practice.

iMAR Navigation participated in PEGASUS and developed and provided one of the most reliable and easy-to-use metrology for trajectory generation from common simulation formats (OpenScenario / OpenDrive), trajectory stimulation & vehicle control and motion surveying for both, on the proving ground and on the highway. Within PEGASUS, the results had been obtained within a close collaboration between AUDI AG and iMAR Navigation GmbH. Partially also TÜV Süd had been involved to cover also the requirements of future homologation needs within the developed system. 

Safe the Date: The PEGASUS Symposium is held on May, 13th and 14th  2019 at the proving ground in Ehra-Lessien at Volkswagen facilities. An exhibition of the results  incl. life presentations on the proving ground is included. iMAR Navigation will present the full proving ground implementation incl. INS/GNSS localization, stereo-vision based signal processing and a "robot-free" proving ground setup for the testing of highly and fully automated driving vehicles up to SAE level 5, using an Audi RS7 and a KIA-NIRO, both with iMAR's control interface.

The presentation in May 2019 is held in close cooperation between Audi AG and iMAR Navigation.

Further information:

Poster about iMAR / Audi novel Proving Ground Setup (from Simulation to Real World)

PEGASUS Symposium: May 13/14, 2019 (english Invitation)  |  (deutsche Einladung)

Link to PEGASUS project (official web site) 

Automotive Projects:  Additional secured Space for Test Vehicles  

In February 2019 we installed at our headquarters in St. Ingbert an additional, secured garage area, which enables us  to store additional testing vehicles, also  incl. iinstalled test setups.

This further expands our capabilities within our customer driven projects in the wide area of automated driving, vehicle control and motion dynamics. Same capabilities are available also at our proving ground in Zweibrücken, only 25 km away from our headquarters in St. Ingbert. 

Highly Automated Vehicle for Public Transportation  

iMAR is in process to integrate its positioning and vehicle guidance & control technology into the FLAIT Fast Lane Artificial-Intelligence Transportation System. FLAIT is an advanced vehicle design for efficient public transportation of individuals as well as for last-mile cargo transportation, ovecoming many of the well-known disadvantages of current solutions.

FLAIT only uses half of the space of one lane, supports driving to individual destinanations for individual passengers (where the operation of a larger bus with more than 2 passengers for public transportation is uneconomical), comes with a very small turning circle (important for urban areas), supports tilting technology for high passenger comfort and fast motion capability and also supports platooning, where several passengers intend to visit the same destination.

FLAIT is designed by Innovative Dragon Ltd., located in London / UK and based on more than 30 years experience in advanced engineering. Details can be found on www.iDragon.eu

The FLAIT has been presented by Innovative Dragon and iMAR on the CAR Symposium on February 6th, 2019 in Bochum / Germany and had been subject of high interest.     

New GNSS Simulator in Operation in iMAR's Development and Production  Departments  

The SKYDEL GNSS simulation software is known as one of the best solutions for flexible real-time testing of GNSS engines. NOFFZ in Germany now provides a turnkey solution based on the SKYDEL software, a software defined radio, a GPU and the required support electronics. This allows running individual signal simulations in real-time. The integrated Scenario Editor allows free definition of trajectories in up to 6 degrees of freedom. It supports GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and other optional constellations, differential and RTK GNSS and multi-vehicle simulation, GNSS satellite orbit modification, unlimited pseudorange additive ramps and many things more.

Beside of the simulation, the system also allows to acquire GNSS RF data from test tracks and to use them in a replay mode or even to modify the real-world signals before using them for INS/GNSS system testing. The GNSS simulator can be operated synchronized to iMAR's hexapod motion simulator, which can generate 6 DOF motion for payloads up to 1 ton with up to 1 g and 30 deg roll / pitch / yaw.  

The simulator is used for the iMAR R&D department as well as on the production floor.

The new GNSS simulator enables iMAR to test our data fusion algorithms, the used GNSS engines and our entire systems under GNSS conditions, which had been more difficult so far with standard solutions. 

Navigationssysteme für 338 Fahrzeuge der deutschen Katastrophenhilfe (BBK) 

iMAR is contracted in 12/2018 to equip all 338 CBRN vehicles of the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katasprophenhilfe, BBK) with the well-known navigation and localization system iNAT-M200/MLD. CBRN stands for the detection and documentation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear contamination. 

The selection of the iNAT-M200 had been done within a worldwide competition, considering cost, reliability and performance.

Further information:

Product Information iNAT-M200/MLD

Ride Control System installed on Brittany Ferry’s high speed craft „Normandie Express“  

Another catamaran vessel now benefits from the reliable and high performance of our ship motion damping Ride Control.  The system, jointly developed and supplied with our Dutch partner KWANT controls B.V., was installed on-board during an extensive retrofit of the vessel last week.

The Ride Control System adaptively damps undesired roll and pitch motion of the ferry. An INS/GNSS based inertial measurement system from our iATTHEMO product series is provided to monitor the motion of the ship. Based on this information iMAR’s ride control algorithm commands the vessel’s trim tabs and foils for optimal motion damping. The algorithm automatically adapts to changing sea states and effectively increases passenger comfort under all conditions.

We were confirmed by the crew of the ship: The new system is a big step forward for this ferry, compared to what we knew from before, both in performance and operability.

Further information:

Product Information iATTHEMO-M

Datasheet iATTHEMO-M

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

Accurate Calibration of 3D Magnetometers at iMAR Facilities  

iMAR manufactures precise 3D magnetometers with integrated IMU already since a longer time. Now a new, iron-free, fully magnetic clean calibration facilities has been installed at the iMAR headquarters in St. Ingbert which allows an even more automated calibration of magnetometers, unaffected by any other magnetic distortions. 

This includes also an own designed 3D Helmholtz coil to apply well defined magnetic fields. The range covers even significantly stronger fields than the magnitude of earth magnetic field. 

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

 On April 6, 2019, the transmitted GPS week number in the navigation message of GPS will rollover from 1023 to 0.

Recently manufactured / delivered GNSS receivers inside of iMAR products should not be affected by this issue.  In case you detect any data inconsistency, please contact our support team.

The users of automated operating platforms and operators of reference stations shall pay special attention to this issue during the rollover. 

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)

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:

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 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 celebrates delivery of 400^th torpedo navigator to the navy  

Since now more than 15 years iMAR manufactures and deliveres highly accurate and robust inertial navigation systems for torpedoes into many naval applications worldwide. In December 2017 the manufacturing of the 400^th system of type iTNAV-06 had been counted. 

With the continuous delivery over more than 15 years of the iTNAV-06 product  iMAR demonstrates also a highly reliable production and obsolescence management of standard as well as customized products. 

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.