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US Army Chooses Austin-Based Tern for GPS Alternative
Developing
In Short: The U.S. Army has awarded a $11 million contract to Tern, an Austin-based startup, to develop a GPS alternative that could enhance navigation in areas where traditional GPS signals are disrupted.
The U.S. Army is turning to Tern, an Austin-based startup, to develop a GPS alternative amid rising disruptions in regions like the Middle East and Ukraine.
Moore noted that Tern's technology is 'passively listening' to the vehicle's data without disrupting it, and then uses proprietary methods to make the information usable for navigation.
In testing, Tern's tech never lost its vehicle's position during the entire trip, while traditional GPS signals cut out dozens of times, according to Moore.
The contract is a validation for Tern, which has spent years proving the effectiveness of its technology, and comes as modern vehicles generate a wealth of data that Tern's tech stack can utilize for navigation.
What's still developing
- The Army is tapping Tern at a time when GPS disruptions are on the rise, especially in the Middle East and in the skies above Ukraine and Russia.
- “We’ve got a device that plugs into the diagnostics board of the vehicle, wired to a tablet, and then that tablet is the interface for the soldier to use, and we provide both the position and navigation and routing there for the soldier,” Tern co-founder and CEO Shaun Moore said in an interview.
- Tern then uses “proprietary methods” to make the information usable for navigation. (He declined to go into specifics.) “There is quite a bit of work that was done to get it to the point where we can just receive that information and then output latitude / longitude, so big effort by our team,” he said.
- 25% off tickets now Back by popular demand: Save up to $300 on Disrupt Austin-based Tern has won a contract from the U.S.
Sources
- TechCrunchlink