Swift Navigation Introduces Starling, a GNSS Positioning Engine, and Availability with Broadcom’s Dual Frequency BCM47755 Chip

Interoperability Demonstrated in Test Drive in California

San Francisco, CA—October 9, 2018—Swift ​​Navigation​, a ​​San ​​Francisco-based ​​tech ​​firm building centimeter-accurate ​​GNSS ​​technology and a Cloud-based Corrections Service​​ to ​​power ​​a ​​world ​​of ​​autonomous ​​vehicles, today announced the availability of it’s Starling™ Positioning Engine with the Broadcom’s industry-leading dual-frequency GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver chip, the BCM47755. This new solution is capable of delivering centimeter accuracy with minimal power consumption and small footprint for rapidly expanding precise positioning applications.

Swift unveiled its Starling Positioning Engine, a modular and portable GNSS high-precision positioning engine that leverages Swift’s Skylark™ Cloud Corrections Service. Starling revolutionizes the architecture and cost structure of precise positioning applications. Platform independent, Starling is an advanced GNSS processing engine that enhances the measurements from commercially available GNSS receivers to provide true precision and integrity capabilities. Swift’s Starling software is GNSS receiver agnostic and works with a variety of GNSS chips and inertial sensors. Starling features multi-band, multi-constellation support to provide centimeter-level accuracy and supports the calculation of integrity outputs to provide absolute position, velocity and time (PVT).

Swift showcased the integration of Starling with the Broadcom^® BCM47755 chip—the latest generation of Broadcom GNSS receiver chip—during a recent test drive in California. The synergistic benefits of integrating Starling with the BCM47755 measurement engine include low system-level power consumption and a smaller PCB (printed circuit board) footprint. The successful integration illustrated the accuracy of the combined solution and forthcoming offerings for autonomous vehicles including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), robotics, asset tracking, fleet management and other applications requiring precise positioning. The BCM47755 simultaneously supports GPS and GLONASS in the L1 frequency band or GPS and Galileo in both the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands. Starling combines the GNSS raw observations from the BCM47755 with corrections from Swift’s Skylark Cloud Corrections Service to deliver centimeter-level positioning.

Test Drive Route

The image below is of an open sky freeway environment on Interstate 280 in California where Starling + the BCM47755 were tested and data collected and processed in real time.

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Horizontal Position

Horizontal CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function)

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“Broadcom is delighted to work with Swift in their integration of Starling and Skylark with our BCM47755,” said Vijay Nagarajan, Senior Director of Product Marketing for the Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division at Broadcom. “This is an exciting development for Swift and Broadcom, bringing together innovative hardware and software for the precise positioning market.”

​​“Swift has taken its mature Starling Positioning Engine that has long been powering Swift’s Piksi^® Multi and Duro^® receivers and made it interoperable with other industry leading chipsets to provide customers with a broader selection of precise autonomous navigation solutions,” added Samir Kapoor, EVP Engineering & Product at Swift Navigation. “We are excited to offer an integrated solution with the Broadcom BCM47755 GNSS receiver chip.”

Swift has developed an out-of-the-box evaluation platform for the combined Swift/Broadcom solution, called the Starling + BCM47755 Evaluation Kit, which will be available to order in Q4 2018. To learn more, contact sales@swiftnav.com. The Evaluation Kit includes:​

• Starling Evaluation Board
  • Cortex-A7 Processor Running Starling Positioning Engine on Linux
  • Broadcom BCM47755 Chip
  • I/O – RS-232, Ethernet, USB, CAN
  • Supports SBP, NMEA and RTCM3 Protocols
  • Built in NTRIP Client
  • Built in Client for Skylark, Swift’s Cloud-Based GNSS Corrections Service
• Dual Frequency, Multi-Constellation Antenna
• External Cell Modem
• Power Supply, Cabling and Accessories
• Evaluation Kit Hardware Design Documentation, including Schematics and Layout
• Evaluation Kit User Manual, Swift Console PC Application and Firmware Image

ABOUT SWIFT NAVIGATION

Swift Navigation, Inc. was founded in 2012 to make GPS positioning technology more accurate and affordable. Today Swift Navigation has gained a reputation for defining a new category of GNSS systems as the industry’s first low-cost, high accuracy real-time kinematics (RTK) receiver. Its GPS and GNSS positioning products are available at a fraction of the price of the competition and deliver 100 times better accuracy than the GPS in a cell phone. Swift Navigation’s technology benefits a multitude of industries and applications—including autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision agriculture, robotics, surveying and space. With its innovation and technology honored by Inc.’s and Forbes 30 Under 30 lists, Swift Navigation is enabling a world where fields farm themselves, drones fly safely and autonomous transportation can take you home. Swift Navigation provides an end-to-end GNSS solution with a line of Piksi^® Multi and Duro^® receivers and Skylark^™ Cloud Corrections Service. Learn more online at swiftnav.com, follow Swift on Twitter @Swiftnav