Payerne, Switzerland, April 5, 2011 --As part of a major upgrade and renewal of the Swiss Meterological Network of weather stations, the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, is employing an Ashtech® ProMark™ 500, smart GNSS receiver, to measure to centimetre-level accuracy the position of each of its more than 1,100 sensors located at 135 stations throughout the country. The enhanced accuracy of the instrument positions leads to an improvement in MeteoSwiss products, especially solar radiation measurement, by improving the horizon definition; and atmospheric pressure measurements by providing an accurate altitude.

“MeteoSwiss operates its network of 1,100 very accurate sensors to record a wide variety of meteorological measurements, including air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall and radiation parameters.” explains Dr. Barbara Huguenin-Landl, Deputy Project Leader at SwissMetNet. “The sensors measure and broadcast their data, consisting of several thousands of parameters, every ten minutes to the central MeteoSwiss database. The data is among others used by MeteoSwiss to serve as an input to a high-precision numerical weather prediction system, COSMO, which generates regional and local forecast products for the complex Swiss topography. »

The ProMark 500, smart GNSS receiver, is being used to determine the exact x, y and z coordinates of each sensor in the network to update and improve the geospatial information in the MeteoSwiss central database. To ensure the required centimetre accuracy, the ProMark 500 connects to the Swipos-GIS/GEO RTK network via GSM to receive RTK corrections.

MeteoSwiss purchased the ProMark 500 from the Toptec Lutz Company, Ashtech distributor in Switzerland, headquartered in Zurich. In addition to its accuracy and ease of use, the Ashtech ProMark 500 was chosen by MeteoSwiss because of the software support, good user-instructions and local post-sale support available free of charge from Toptec Lutz. More info at www.toptec.ch

About Ashtech ProMark 500

The ProMark 500 is a dual-frequency GNSS receiver that processes GPS, GLONASS and SBAS signals to offer fast, real-time centimeter-level accuracy. The ProMark 500 delivers RTK features in a light, cable-free rover that provides maximum mobility and flexibility. The embedded Ashtech BLADE (Baseline Accurate Determination Engine) technology includes patented GPS+GLONASS processing algorithms ensuring maximum benefit from the added GLONASS signals.  BLADE also consists of other algorithms that provide fast initialization, long-range accuracy, and robust signal tracking. The ProMark 500 combines high performance with a flexible all-in-one communications system that enables NTRIP or direct IP real-time corrections via a GSM/GPRS enabled cell-phone module; a UHF connection for either a Pacific Crest or Ashtech UHF radio.

About Ashtech

Recognized as an industry innovator, Ashtech has been developing GNSS technology for more than 25 years.  Ashtech is the creator of BLADE technology, which introduces a unique patented method to the market using multiple GNSS constellations for high-accuracy positioning.  Ashtech has also introduced the MobileMapper^® series of products for GIS and mapping, as well as the ProFlex^™ 500 and ProMark series, including the ProMark 500, ProMark 100 and ProMark 200, a well-recognized GNSS Land Survey product line currently on the market. Ashtech S.A.S. is privately held and headquartered in Carquefou, France, with offices in Beijing, China, and Singapore, as well as affiliates in Santa Clara, California (Ashtech LLC) and Moscow (Ashtech A/O LLC). For more information on Ashtech, visit www.ashtech.com.

  
Media contact: Claire Geffroy, Email Contact