The race, which covered a 132-mile course in the Mojave Desert, made a great leap forward for the development of autonomous ground vehicle technology. It proved that these vehicles can cover long distances over difficult terrain and within a specified timeframe - all key elements towards bringing this technology into viable applications.

The DARPA Grand Challenge winner was Stanford University's "Stanley". This robotic vehicle completed the course in the shortest period of time, averaging speeds of 19.1 mph. Stanley completed the race using NovAtel's Propak(R)LBplus with Omnistar HP Service for precise positioning data.

The ProPak-LBplus GPS receiver combines GPS positioning with integrated access to OmniSTAR L-band signals, which provide various types of correction data to deliver autonomous sub-meter to decimeter level accuracy worldwide.

"Our NovAtel receiver provided us with the most consistent accuracy and fastest reacquisition time of the different GPS solutions we tried. This was essential for Stanley's smooth performance coming out of GPS blackouts caused by underpasses and tunnels along the Grand Challenge course," said Mike Montemerlo of the Stanford Racing team.

According to Graham Purves, NovAtel's Vice President of Sales, "We congratulate the Stanford team on their success in the DARPA Grand Challenge. NovAtel's GPS technology with integrated Omnistar service, as featured in our ProPak-LB family of products, has been a winning combination for many of our customers in commercial and military unmanned system applications. "With our latest generation of OEMV GPS receivers, we have continued to improve L-Band functionality by integrating it into our new ASIC design. As a result, system designers will see additional benefits including reduced hardware, size, cost and complexity."

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