February 17, 2007
Applanix POS LV Aboard Stanford’s “Junior” for DARPA Urban Grand Challenge

In October 2005, five autonomous vehicles achieved the unthinkable by navigating 132 miles in the Nevada desert with no human intervention. For 2007, the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge will advance the state-of-the-art even further by having eligible robots handle everything from Global Positioning System (GPS) outages to dynamic obstacles and obeying stop signs within an urban setting. In order to deal with these challenges, the Stanford Racing Team’s new autonomous vehicle “Junior” will have Applanix POS LV technology onboard.

Beginning on November 3, 2007, the DARPA Urban Challenge will see competing robots attempt to accomplish various missions in a replicated city environment that includes simultaneous traffic comprised of other contending robots, unexpected path impediments, and compliance with standard traffic laws. Robots will not only have to be able to avoid contact and collisions, but their programming, positioning, and guidance systems will also have to be capable of deciphering various driving situations, such as negotiating intersection right-of-way and traffic merging.

“We are very pleased to have been selected as the positioning and orientation solution for Junior,” said Louis Nastro, Director of Land Products for Applanix Corporation. “This evolution of the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge requires a different approach to positioning. Characterizing the rapidly changing environment around the vehicle is critical and the POS LV is a turnkey solution which enables dynamic spatial data acquisition.”

“In the 2005 Grand Challenge, the operating environment enabled us to rely on an INS/GPS system that we developed in house,” states Sebastian Thrun, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. “For this Urban Challenge, the requirements are very different and Junior needs a more robust way to derive spatial data on the fly. This data is critical and used in a number of ways to successfully navigate the course.” Thrun added “The excellent partnership we have with Applanix facilitated integration of this vital solution into Junior and we are looking forward to participating in the Grand Challenge together.”

Junior and the Applanix POS LV 420
Junior is a 2006 Passat wagon with steering, throttle, and brakes modified by engineers at the Volkswagen of America Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, California, to be completely computer-controllable. The engineers also have created custom mountings for a bevy of sophisticated sensors.

An important difference between Junior and Stanley (the name given to Stanford’s 1st place winner of DARPA Grand Challenge 2005) is that Junior must be aware of fast-moving objects all around it, while Stanley only had to grapple with stationary objects in front of it. Junior’s sensors are therefore much more sophisticated. They include a range-finding laser array that spins to provide a 360-degree, three-dimensional view of the surrounding environment in near real-time. The laser array is accompanied by a device with six video cameras that “see” all around the car. Junior also uses bumper-mounted lasers, radar, and the Applanix POS LV 420 to collect information about where it is and what is around.

The Applanix POS LV 420 is a system that represents the state-of-the-art in mobile position and orientation technology given its ability to navigate an autonomous vehicle through the toughest environments accurately and reliably. This is achieved in large part by the way inertial and GPS data are blended together in real time. Raw GPS observables are utilized by the navigator in what is defined as a tightly-coupled system. During periods of GPS signal outages, usable observables continue to be incorporated into the navigation solution, providing an uninterrupted computation of position. This capability is further augmented by the system’s dual antenna GPS Azimuth Heading Measurement Subsystem (GAMS) array, which provides very accurate heading calibration of the inertial measurement unit (IMU) regardless of vehicle dynamics. The POS LV also uses a distance measurement instrument (DMI) to assist in navigating during extended outages

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ABOUT THE STANFORD RACING TEAM
The Stanford Racing Team (www.stanfordracing.org) is developing Junior, a 2006 Volkswagen Passat wagon, to become an autonomous ground vehicle capable of competing Nov. 3 in the 2007 Urban Challenge sponsored by the U.S. government's Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Competing with other robots Junior will have to accomplish missions in a simulated city environment as well as follow traffic laws. The team, based in the School of Engineering, is supported by returning industry team members Intel, MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, Red Bull and Volkswagen of America, and joined this year by new supporters Applanix, Google and NXP Semiconductors. DARPA also has provided $1 million of funding. The team took top prize in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge with its robot car Stanley.

About Applanix Corporation
Applanix, a Trimble Company (NASDAQ: TRMB), develops, manufactures, sells and supports products and solutions for Mobile Mapping and Positioning. Applanix’ Position and Orientation Systems ( POS) are used in a variety of applications, including road profiling, GIS data acquisition, aerial surveying and mapping, railroad track maintenance and seafloor mapping. Established in 1991, Applanix strives to support customers around the world with exceptional service.

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