Altus APS-3 Review Highlights Integration With ikeGPS
Posted on Mon, Apr 23, 2012
We’re delighted to see that our partner, Altus, is making real waves against the incumbent players in the RTK market and getting some well-deserved notice from some of the industry experts. In a recent GPS World article, Tony Murfin reviews the Altus APS-3 integrated receiver/antenna for obtaining high accuracy GPS data and its integration with ikeGPS™. As Mr. Murfin describes, "Altus is a California-based business that has made an impact with innovative, high-performance products in a market that didn’t seem to have room for a new entrant. The technology, innovation, and product-marketing approaches that Altus has used appears to have made a real impact and provided a number of customers with a new outlook on their survey tools." ikeGPS™ adds value to the high accuracy GPS survey by enabling remote location data capture and measurement of remote objects such as utility poles, vegetation, buildings and signs and much more.
The Advantages of APS-3
As Mr. Murfin describes, the APS-3 "...includes dual-frequency GPS/GLONASS/SBAS, integrated GSM modem, UHF radio, Bluetooth, removable SD data card, and dual lithium-ion "hot-swap" batteries. Altus makes and assembles this self-contained, integrated unit and was one of the first to market with an affordable single-unit integrated receiver." The APS-3 is portable, highly accurate and easy to integrate with other systems, such as ikeGPS™. "Customers can mix and match software, and interface with other controllers and instruments (such as total stations), and also establish their own way of working."
Benefits of ikeGPS Integration
The integration of ikeGPS™ with APS-3 has mutual benefits. For ikeGPS™ users, using APS-3 establishes a more accurate GPS location to start with that in turn enables capturing more accurate locations of remote objects using ikeTools™ and ikeSolutions™. For APS-3 users, as Mr. Murfin puts it, "...used stand-alone, the Ike uses a calibrated camera and digital compass for GIS data gathering. When integrated with the APS-3, more accurate measurements are available, while also acting as a controller for the APS-3. Likewise, APS-3 users can also benefit from the efficiency of using two sensor systems and one controller." Field crews using APS-3 and ikeGPS™ together get the benefits of both - GPS accuracy plus the efficiencies and productivity benefits of remote GIS data collection and processing. Add to that the power of ikeGPS™ to measure remote objects and pass the data along to popular industry solutions, such as Powerline Systems' PLS-POLE™ and Terra Spectrum Technologies’ VMSuite™ for utility vegetation management, and you have an extremely powerful and useful combination of technologies.
To read the entire GPS World article, click here.
To learn more about ikeGPS™, click here.