Exact vehicle positioning is a major challenge for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles. Future safety-critical driving functions also require functional safety down to the sensor layer. NAVENTIK PATHFINDER enables both - a more robust localization even in urban environments and the implementation of functional safety concepts through transparency of the signal pre-processing within the receiver framework.
A dedicated hardware GNSS receiver plus antenna results in a complex system architecture. An integrated supervision of the receiver performance is not possible.
Our software positioning engine is seamless integrated into the central ADAS platform. This approach leads to a simplified architecture and enables an integrated safety concept.
A key objective for GNSS-based positioning is to provide integrity while remaining robust against multipath errors, interference and satellite failures.
The heart of PATHFINDER's functional safety concept and an essential step towards certification according to ISO 26262 is the development of the protection level feature.
To form a integrity monitoring concept for a protection level computation, two steps need to be taken:
The protection level is defined as the upper bound of the positioning error.
The application rejects measurements whose protection level exceeds its alert limit .
The upper bound tends to get large, especially in urban areas.
NAVENTIK has employed a significant R&D effort into the development of the principles for the computation of the protection level. It will be computed based on the well-known error models of GNSS signals, the integration of certified and modern augmentation correction services, the error models from specific inertial sensors or visual odometry input along with the system models of vehicle. The underlying statistical principles are part of the main IP of NAVENTIK.
NAVENTIK has successfully developed all preconditions for the protection level computation. Based on the implemented development processes, the certification will be the next step. PATHFINDER software components will be qualified as a Safety Element out of Context for safety level ASIL-B according to ISO 26262. We are following ASPICE as the current standard for software best practices in the automotive industry. Furthermore, we are committed to the full qualification of a real time protection level for safety-of-live applications according ISO21448 (SOTIF).
For a deeper dive into our positioning technology please check our FAQ section.
In short, PATHFINDER integrates all safety-relevant aspects of vehicle localization. All steps of signal processing are carefully reviewed so as not to lose or falsify any information relevant for the estimating a valid error budget. The PATHFINDER modules will be interfaced by an API tailored to your needs and requirements. As we aim to implement on your ECU or ADAS processor, we carefully develop according to automotive standards and will also comply with ISO 26262.
Current release of PATHFINDER GNSS & emPE available under R&D License
(Software libraries for integration on your ADAS platform or delivered on NVIDIA® Jetson NX™)