Spotlight

Two of Dr. Humphreys’ students, Lakshay Narula and Matthew Murrian, were one of only eight teams chosen for the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship for 2017. Their project focuses on localizing pedestrians and cyclists to within half a meter, enabling self-driving vehicles to safely navigate with confidence. Their approach uses precise GNSS developed by Dr. Humphreys’ lab in conjunction with other sensing modalities, including an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a visible-light camera. 

Read more here. Congratulations to Lakshay and Matthew!

GPS World recently featured a paper authored by Dr. Humphreys and students from the Radionavigation Lab. The paper discusses the details of low-cost precise positioning, particularly in regards to autonomous driving.

In order to achieve this level of precision, a dense reference network is required. The paper outlines the implementation of RNL’s own network, the Longhorn Reference Network. The paper also includes a demonstration of precise positioning being used for lane-keeping in autonomous vehicles.

Read the full paper here.

IEEE Spectrum recently featured an article discussing centimeter-accurate GPS positioning for automated driving. Dr. Todd Humphreys discussed why centimeter-accurate GPS positioning is necessary, as well as some of the challenges that have yet to be solved.

“When there’s a standard deviation of 10 cm, the probability of slipping into next lane is low enough—meaning 1 part in a million” [Humphreys] said. This is opposed to the current meter-level accurate GPS tracking, which can increase the probability of lane slipping up to 1 or 10 – or maybe higher.

However, there are still some obstacles remaining, one of which is the time it takes for a centimeter-accurate GPS signal to converge. Right now, that time could be up to 5 minutes. According to Humphreys, that amount of time would be unacceptable to most users: “My vision of the modern driver is one who’s impatient, who wants to snap into 10-cm-or-better accuracy and push the ‘autonomy’ button.”

See a video overview here, or read the paper.

A recent NBC News article on the threat of GPS jamming and spoofing featured comments and insight from Dr. Todd Humphreys. The article also cites some interesting cases of intentional GPS jamming in Europe and the UK.

“The threat to the Global Positioning System (GPS) — the critical space-based navigational, positional and timing network — is escalating as potentially more destructive “spoofing” devices become readily available.”

“Humphreys estimates that … “the difficulty of mounting a spoofing attack has dropped by maybe a factor of a hundred since 2012,” when he first raised the alarm.”

Read the full story on NBC News website.

Take a look at our latest paper on the topic:
GNSS Spoofing and Detection

Dr. Todd Humphreys recently co-authored an article on GPS spoofing defenses with Dr. Mark Psiaki. This article is the cover story of the August 2016 issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine.

“Cellphone towers, stock exchanges, and the power grid all rely at least partly on GPS for precise timing. A well-coordinated spoof could interrupt communications, confuse automated financial traders, and inflict crippling power outages. In a worst-case scenario, a spoofer’s operator could overtake airplanes or ships to induce a crash, facilitate a heist, or even kidnap a VIP.”

“There are three main ways to protect against GPS spoofing: cryptography, signal-distortion detection, and direction-of-arrival sensing. No single method can stop every spoof, but Psiaki’s team has found that combining strategies can provide a reasonably secure countermeasure that could be commercially deployed.”

Read the full story on IEEE Spectrum website.

Take a look at our latest paper on the topic:
GNSS Spoofing and Detection

Austin, TX — Dr. Todd Humphreys and his students at the UT Radionavigation Lab recently demonstrated lane-departure warning system at the University of Texas at Austin campus deployed on a vehicle.

“While it may only be a centimeter at a time, what a University of Texas at Austin professor and his team have been able to accomplish is a monumental step in making autonomous vehicles a part of everyday life.”

“By working with local start-up, RadioSense, and using an app called Lane Watcher, the team is now able to demonstrate the accuracy of the GPS technology. Though the app won’t need to be used with the GPS, it helps to demonstrate visually what’s going on in the brains of the car. The app will show your vehicle on the road and immediately change colors when the car begins to drift.”

Read the full story and watch the video on KXAN website.

Take a look at our latest papers on the topic:
A Dense Reference Network For Mass Market Centimeter Accurate Positioning
On the Feasibility of cm-Accurate Positioning via a Smartphone’s Antenna and GNSS Chip

Austin, TX — Dr. Todd Humphreys and his students at the UT Radionavigation Lab have built an outdoor arena for testing automated drones as a part of the Machine Games project. KXAN News recently covered this story.

“There is a lot to learn when it comes to the technology behind drones and how it could eventually affect our everyday lives. That’s what researchers at the University of Texas are looking to answer with the Machine Games project.”

“The overall goal of the project is to make drones a part of everyday life, helping with tasks from searching for an open parking spot to delivering a pizza without human assistance. UT Professor Todd Humphreys says that drone technology is primitive and they are in the beginning stages of discovering all it can really do in the next few years.”

Read the full story and watch the video on KXAN website.