Commercialization of DGPS Compression and Modeling Methods for Vehicle Use

The primary technical objective to be achieved during Phase II is the transition from the developed laboratory prototype, which clearly demonstrated the feasibility and superior outcomes of the approach, to a deployable system consisting of two key elements (the reference station - compression side and the rover - expansion side) and packaging them into a form suitable for commercial sales to early adopters. This will be demonstrated in three different operational test environments (over three delivery media types) and is expected to subsequently lead to an early revenue stream supporting similar deployments as well as other related market opportunities. The commercialization section contains further details relating to these anticipated early markets. Expected Results: The results of the Phase I effort resulted in a working system, but one which was implemented using Matlab (an expensive mathematical modeling tool not suitable for deployment use) and Windows based PCs. This system also used prior saved “RINEX” data; it did not operate on the real time “Ntrip” data which is now widely available. A large part of the technical objectives in this phase deals with the process of transitioning the work into a real-time production environment suitable for a deployable system. This effort represents most of the labor (~78%) and roughly ~53% of the direct use of funds in the program. Suitable tasks in Phase II also support the filing of two patent applications discovered during the Phase I work effort which are needed to protect the invention (~14% of funds). A minor outreach and marketing task (mostly to key standard developing organizations who have an interest in this work) is combined with the support for the actual field demonstrations to begin developing commercial awareness of the product (~8%). These objectives will result in a demonstrated system which can be used to show the benefit of the research embodied into a suitable product offering, as well as providing early interactions with key identified potential customers. While significant further commercial development will remain ahead, the two core products (rover side and compression side devices) are expected to be advanced to the point when early sales and support for a permanent base of users can begin. In a related path, the developed message sets should then be in the process of committee review in various key standards groups, a technical objective needed for widespread adoption. While we do anticipate a need for Phase IIb funding, this is expected to be largely offset by the projected income of these early adopters as they begin to integrate the technology into their own products.