Global positioning (GPS) is widely used for navigating, tracking and mapping. We leverage it on our phones to find our way to a new restaurant, or to log miles after a run. Recent data shows that 60% of drivers in the US use GPS weekly to navigate from point A to B. GPS is also the mainstay for surveyors, first responders, farmers and scientists who leverage its positioning power daily in their work.

However, GPS does have a few failings. Dependent on the accuracy to achieve, GPS must have a line of sight visibility to satellite and connectivity to correction services. It does not work indoors, or under bridges, and signals degrade in heavily treed areas or near large structures. And while GPS’s meter-level accuracy is good, greater precision is required for more and more use cases, such as industrial mobility, a growing field of transportation that includes mobile and autonomous robots on factory floors, autonomous trucking, drones, rail and marine transport in public roads, air space, tracks and waterways.

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Fixposition is a startup enabling an autonomous future by offering precise global positioning everywhere. The company, founded by Zhenzhong Su and Lukas Meier, offers Vision RTK-2, a solution for precise positioning that goes well beyond the reach of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

“Across the entire industrial sector, there are 5.6 billion GPS units, sensor chips and modules at work in all types of applications. With the world advancing quickly toward autonomous transport, the need for highly precise, affordable and ubiquitous positioning is growing quickly,” says Zhenzhong.

Vision RTK-2’s proprietary deep sensor fusion technology provides reliable and precise real-time global positioning enabling autonomous navigation systems to operate in a multitude of challenging environments. Compact and lightweight, Vision RTK-2 comes with two multi-band GNSS receivers, an embedded camera, and an IMU, and outputs position, velocity, and orientation information.

Fixposition’s unique sensor fusion enables high-accuracy positioning and highly reliable performance, even in areas with limited GNSS coverage. This combination of technologies significantly increases reliability and expands the availability of precise positioning in a compact module.

With dimensions of 113 x 130 x 30 mm3 and a weight of 420 g, Vision RTK-2 is compatible with platforms of many sizes, from small outdoor AV systems and asset-tracking devices to mid- and large-sized ground robots, for instance, farming or landscaping or utility vehicle.

“Our core IP is on the software. Sensor is a tool for customer to easily evaluate the technology. For customers in high volume production, they can integrate our technology via software deployment on their HW or integrate system-on-modules.

With our solution, autonomous vehicles can navigate freely and with precision, going in and out of barns and warehouses, under trees, through parks, under bridges. They don’t need beacons or wires, and do not need to be continuously connected to operate,” says Zhenzhong. One of the most novel applications of Vision RTK-2 is in Fixposition’s home country of Switzerland, where the sensor, discreetly tucked under the tail, enables a robotic patrol dog to conduct regular inspections of its territory.

Fixposition’s Vision RTK-2 starter kit, available for purchase on the company’s website, offers an out-of-the-box solution complete with Vision RTK-2, WIFI and GNSS antennas, mounting system and can be up and running in just 5 minutes. The company also has a direct sales team and a network of reseller partners worldwide.

With $12M in capital raised to date, Fixposition is poised for growth with its sights set on expansion in the US market. Introduced to Khasm Labs by its Silicon Valley-based investor, Zhenzhong immediately saw the fit with the world of 5G. The company’s product requires connectivity to correction data to initialize to centimeter-level accuracy. “In addition, we can also potentially take 5G data and use it for more precise and more stable localization for indoor environments and outdoors, as our core IP is sensor fusion algorithm and software” says Zhenzhong.

The Khasm Labs team has helped Fixposition connect to investors with a focus on robots and an understanding of positioning technology, and the relationship with the Lab has helped enhance existing customer relationships by brokering connections to business decision-makers.”

“Jim and his team have a fantastic network and have helped us gain exposure into organizations from the top down,” says Zhenzhong. “We’re a tech product company, so often our entry point is with engineering. That said, we’re not about just solving a tech problem. Our technology enables businesses to achieve a stronger return on investment, drive more revenue, cut costs, and enter new markets. At the end of the day, those are the business outcomes that will get a customer to sign the cheque.”