Locata Corporation

A LocataNet is a ground-based local positioning system that provides positioning information which is indistinguishable from GPS to an appropriately configured receiver. The LocataNet achieves this without the satellites, atomic clocks or ground support structure required by traditional GPS satellite-based systems.

To create a LocataNet, LocataLite radio transceivers are deployed around a defined area. These devices collectively function like [1] a grounded version of a GPS satellite constellation, transmitting radiolocation signals that Locata receivers use to generate a positioning solution, outputting latitude, longitude and altitude, using trilateration in the same way as a traditional GPS receiver. LocataLites can be designed to transmit at any practical frequency or power level. The first commercially deployed designs operate in the same ISM band as Wi-Fi, and each LocataLite generally covers an area of up to 10 kilometers in radius in open environments.

LocataNets provide all of the Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) functions provided by a GPS satellite constellation, but in a local area, such as an open-cut mine, harbor, military range or other area. This allows operators to set up controlled positioning networks to locate, automate and direct objects with centimeter-level accuracy.[2] Locata’s duplication of PNT is made possible by the company's patented nanosecond-accurate TimeLoc synchronization technology.

Locata has been awarded a multi-year sole-source contract [7] with the United States Air Force 746th Test Squadron (746 TS), to deploy a LocataNet and provide positioning information when GPS is jammed across a 2,500 square mile area of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. TMC Design, a certified Locata Technology Integrator (LTI) has been let the contract to design, integrate, install and test Locata’s Non-GPS Based Positioning System (NGBPS) at the White Sands Missile Range location.[8]

Before the contract was granted, the USAF proved through independent testing that the LocataNet delivers accuracy of eight inches or less to aircraft up to 35 miles away.[9] Locata's NGBPS system will provide the 746 TS with enhanced validation capabilities in GPS denied environments while operating mobile and airborne position, navigation and timing (PNT) equipment and navigation warfare (NAVWAR) systems.[10]

Locata is the core component for the USAF's Ultra High Accuracy Reference System (UHARS) which will be deployed at White Sands in 2014 to improve performance of military systems in GPS-denied environments. UHARS is described by the USAF as the new "gold standard truth system for the increasingly demanding test and evaluation of future navigation and navigation warfare systems for the U.S. Department of Defense".[11]

In partnership with Leica Geosystems, the first commercial LocataNet is deployed at Newmont’s Boddington Gold Mine (BGM) in Western Australia.[12] In this environment, Locata’s technology provides positioning for automation of mining machines as the pit gets deeper and traditional satellite-based GPS coverage becomes unreliable because fewer satellites are in view in the pit, particularly near the mine’s pit walls.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in partnership with Perrone Robotics,[13] in December 2013 completed the installation of phase 1 of a two-stage Locata network as the first portion of a $30 million upgrade to the Vehicle Research Center (VRC). Locata is the sole-source of positioning information for the precision robotics control required by the VRC for the U.S. testing of next-generation vehicle collision avoidance systems.[14] As part of the upgrade, VRC researchers are installing new robotic and high-precision positioning technology for both their outdoor track and 300-by-700 foot indoor testing area.