TRX NEON Gets the Warfighter Located and Tracked
For dismounted soldiers operating in GPS-denied combat environments, accurate location information is crucial. It is a key requirement for effective navigation and situational aeareness, as well as targeting and tracking. What is needed in the event GPS is denied in complex terrain is knowledge about the activity, location and motion of the individual warfighter. When he operates in naturally or intentionally denied environments like urban or subterranean areas, a solution provided by US company TRX Systems offers an accurate ranging and tracking accuracy. Called TRX NEON, this personnel tracker delivers continuous location both indoor and outdoor when dismounted soldiers are operating with and without GPS. This is a key requirement when operating in buildings or below the surface.
The TRX NEON solution on display at the stand of Precision Technic Defence GmbH is deployed with an Android Location Service (APK) and ultra-wideband (UWB) Tracking Unit that operate completely offline, without the need for an Internet or cloud connection, according to a TRX Systems fact sheet. PT Defence’s Sales Manager Oliver Haak describes TRX NEON as a solution with which personnel can be “seamlessly tracked” inside buildings and in underground areas (e.g. tunnels). “With TRX NEON, situational awareness will be significantly improved,” he says. With the help of the ATAK UI, TRX NEON users can easily access initialisation indicators, manual check-in and UWB configuration capabilities that allow for 3D tracking inside buildings and in areas below the surface. TRX NEON is described as a suite of patented algorithms to fuse inertial sensor data, GPS, warfighting waypoint check-ins and UWB shared constraints, along with position data obtained from third-party sources to deliver the reliable location.
Stefan Nitschke