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Finally, we can use 5 more SAT's for GNSS. Fresh news from u-blox>

Thalwil, Switzerland - January 26, 2016 - u-blox (SIX:UBXN), a global leader in wireless and positioning modules and chips, announces the release of a new firmware, FW 3.01, for its u-blox M8 concurrent multi-GNSS platform.

u-blox M8 FW 3.01 now also supports Galileo, in addition to GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS and SBAS. It can track up to three constellations concurrently and makes use of all SBAS and QZSS augmentation systems at the same time. With Galileo fully deployed, the European positioning system will provide access to 24 additional satellites, thereby significantly increasing availability of GNSS signals and further improving position accuracy in challenging urban environments. u-blox M8 supports Galileo-based eCall, the European emergency call system, which will be required in new vehicles starting 2018. u-blox M8 is also compliant with ERA-GLONASS, eCall's Russian equivalent.

In addition, with FW 3.01, u-blox M8 now boosts the BeiDou acquisition sensitivity and adds support to the Indian GAGAN augmentation system.

u-blox M8 chips and modules are able to operate reliably in difficult environmental conditions as well as in a security attack scenario. Because a growing number of wireless systems rely on GNSS positioning, the threat of attacks, such as diversion of drones or hijacking of car electronics, has become very real. Security mechanisms are now embedded in FW 3.01, the result of years of intense research at u-blox R&D labs. An anti-spoofing feature detects fake GNSS signals, and a message integrity protection system prevents "man-in-the-middle" attacks. Yet another security function detects and suppresses jamming. Since all this functionality is already built into u-blox M8 FW 3.01, these security mechanisms are a lot more effective than an external system implementation.

Automotive-grade u-blox M8 products benefit from an extended operating temperature of -40 to +105°C and are AEC-Q100 Grade 2 qualified. The extended temperature range allows more flexibility in vehicle integration, for instance by integrating a u-blox M8 GNSS receiver into a roof-top antenna where temperatures can reach 105°C.

Another welcome feature of FW 3.01 is the 10% power reduction compared to earlier firmware versions of u-blox M8.

"u-blox has reached another milestone to provide customers with performance they need for advanced applications," says Uffe Pless, Product Manager Positioning, at u-blox. "u-blox is at the forefront of ensuring GNSS security and remains the supplier of choice for professional and automotive GNSS implementations."

The u-blox M8 platform supports applications where navigation performance, reliability, and high accuracy are paramount, whereas the recently announced u-blox 8 platform addresses power sensitive applications such as wearables. u-blox M8 and u-blox 8 products are pin- and software compatible.

Firmware to upgrade existing flash-ROM based u-blox M8 products can be downloaded from the u-blox website. Products with FW 3.01 in ROM will become available in Q2' 2016.

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  • Sorry all I apologise, no need for special antenna for Galileo sats

    @James Taylor got one Galileo sat

    3702191579?profile=original

    @John Bond you are right

    "GNSS-Radar is a nice site for satellite prediction EXCEPT for Galileo"

    I have a Galileo on my u center but no show on GNSS-Radar

  • Can GNSS Radar application (Javascript) be run

    in interactive, live mode, updating satellite tracks, updating gps sat radar live ?

  • For the last few days there have only been six healthy Galileo sats so often none are visible from a given location.

    GNSS-Radar is a nice site for satellite prediction EXCEPT for Galileo.  It's not even close for visibility prediction at my location.

    The firmware will produce a position at > 3 hertz using Galileo.  I've done it several times including once using just (4) Galileo sats.  It ran fine at 5 hertz for the fifteen minutes or so that the four sats were visible.  It can go higher than 5 hertz.

    Again, it will be at least a year from now before there are enough healthy Galileo sats to make a "noticeable" contribution 24 hours a day and another couple years before it can operate as a stand alone positioning system.

  • @Gabor,

    thank you, excellent GNSS Radar application.

    Can Google Maps' sat view be switched to maps ?

    Home drag and drop works fine.

    Any plans to implement GPS algorithm into Javascript to calculate 3D fix on-the-fly ?

    Support for RTK GPS via Internet ?

    to build All-Internet high-accuracy RTK GPS ?

  • There are 2 that are currently under going in-orbit testing, and another 4 under going ground testing pending launch.

  • For GALILEO you need to be lucky. With only 7 SV's online, there's a window when no GALILEO visible.
    In CEE region now 0 GALILEO is visible, but 4 BEIDU is visible. 
    Check the prediction on the radar, more less accurate:

    http://www.taroz.net/GNSS-Radar.html

    GNSS Radar
  • From a south facing window sill I've had 3.01 pull in a maximum of 28 satellites across the GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO constellations using a generic mag mount antenna, and similar results with an external Garmin GA38, and in general upper 20's for a satellite count.

  • Paul, I do not get usable Galileo sats either.

  • Ok, the Galileo signals share the same band as GPS, so if you have a GPS+GLONASS set up now, Galileo will be workable. You must enable Galileo via the CFG-GNSS command, and burn that in if you want it to stick. Also I believe there is a 3Hz navigation solution rate limit on Galileo, but the raw measurement rate is higher.

  • I think you also need the correct antenna, I also flashed the new software and I get2 or 3 galileo sat to show on the Ublox  Ucenter but no usable signal

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