Image courtesy Inmarsat
Providers and users of positioning services across Australasia will now have the option of more accurate and reliable services, with Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN) early Open Services going live as of 27 September.
The development comes just two weeks after Geoscience Australia awarded a $1.18 billion, 19-year SouthPAN communications contract to Lockheed Martin Australia.
SouthPAN will boost positioning accuracy from as much as 5 to 10 metres, to as little as 10 centimetres — a 50-fold improvement.
With early Open Services, industry and the community can harness SouthPAN and immediately integrate it with existing equipment or products to create or enhance positioning service offerings to end-users.
Some of the applications that will benefit from the development include:
- Heavy vehicle automation: SouthPan will enable truck platooning, where vehicles can connect to each other as a group to transport goods.
- Precision agriculture: Applications include improved yield mapping, controlled traffic farming, inter-row seeding, precision spraying and livestock management.
- Personnel safety: Mines and construction sites will benefit through smart geo-fencing technologies that accurately identify the location of workers and key equipment.
SouthPAN is a partnership between Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
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