LASER BASED REAL-TIME POSITIONING SYSTEM

SPATIAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS INC. (SPSI) PROPOSES TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOP A SELF-CALIBRATING THREE DIMENSIONAL LASER-BASED POSITIONING SYSTEM FOR INTEGRATED USE IN A RIVER BOTTOM MAPPING SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO PROVIDE REAL-TIME 3-D POSITIONING OF A BOAT TO AN ACCURACY OF 100 MM IN THE VERTICAL AND 1 M IN THE HORIZONTAL. THE UPDATE RATE IS EXPECTED TO BE 50HZ AND THE RANGE 300 METERS. THE SYSTEM WILL BE SELF-CALIBRATING GIVEN A KNOWN BENCHMARK TO SET UP A SINGLE LASER BASED TRANSMITTER ON SHORE. MORE THAN ONE SELF-CALIBRATING TRANSMITTER CAN BE USED OVER SEVERAL BENCHMARKS TO CASCADE FROM ONE LOCAL AREA TO ANOTHER OR TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON DIFFERENT SIDES OF AN ABUTMENT WITHOUT RESETTING THE SYSTEM, THE PROPOSED SYSTEM IS A DEPARTURE FROM A VERY ACCURATE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SYSTEM OF SPSI'S. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL REQUIRE ONLY ONE TRANSMITTER AND THREE OF MORE RECEIVERS ON THE BOAT. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS EXPENSIVE THAN SPSI'S CURRENT TWO TRANSMITTER SYSTEM AND FUTURE PRICE WILL DROP SIGNIFICANTLY AS THE NUMBER OF PRODUCTS ARE DELIVERED. THE EXPECTED FUTURE PRICE OF THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE COMPARABLE TO A HIGH END TOTAL STATION.