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The idea with Geo-PNT is to combine timing and navigation to optimise SWaP and lower costs, so it makes sense to have a single receiver for them Spectracom has unveiled a new combined clock and GPS Inertial Navigation System (INS) optimised for unmanned applications. The company’s Emmanuel Sicsik-Paré stressed that one of the key aspects of this new product, the Geo-PNT, is that it is the first time a precise clock, a GPS and an INS have been combined in the same box. This has the added attraction of reducing all-important Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) demands given that its use removes the need to equip an unmanned vehicle with specific ‘black boxes’ for sources of time, position and heading. Sicsik-Paré said, “Traditionally you have one box to manage timing and one to manage navigation, so you had more boxes with the old architecture. The idea is to combine timing and navigation to optimise SWaP and lower costs.” Precision time sources these days use GPS, he said, as does navigation, “so it makes sense to have a single receiver for navigation and timing.” Geo-PNT was introduced at the end of 2014, and the company has received its first orders. According to Sicsik-Paré, this combined system is being used in airborne applications, and the company also hopes to use it on ground vehicles. “The important benefit is the easier integration, using a single box and one GPS antenna,” he said. Other applications include the provision of time and navigation data for surveillance and reconnaissance payloads, and electronic warfare systems. Two-in-one ‘pilot’ launched Navigation