Companies in the spotlightLocata Corporation: Location hot spots -- beyond GPS
A conversation with Locata CEO Nunzio Gambale; “It has been an adventure and we have already come a long way. I hope to live long enough to see positioning technology implemented in a place like New York City to be able to locate the position of someone in an emergency down to a couple of feet. That’s my dream”
Locata Corporation Pty Ltd., developer and provider of new radiolocation technology which provides precise positioning even in local environments such as urban and indoor markets that are difficult for traditional GPS systems. It does this through deployment of a network of terrestrially based transceivers, LocataLites, which transmit precise ranging signals. LocataLites create a positioning network replicating GPS satellite constellation but on the ground.
HSNW: Supposedly the founders of Locata started out as musicians…
Nunzio Gambale: David Small, the prime inventor of our technology is a base player, and so am I. We knew each other from the local musician scene. I’m a musician at heart first and everything else second. You know our story is really truly bizarre. We met at my cousin’s engagement party and started batting ideas around. We are both very inventive.
HSNW: And now you are talking about replacing a $20 billion satellite system…
NG: One of the things that I love about Australia is that we have this culture that emphasizes do-it-yourself inventiveness. We’re able to fix things with a pair of pliers and some bailing wire. We pride ourselves on getting by in that wild, wild west type of mentality and we make things happen.
We didn’t have the infrastructure resources of a Silicon Valley nor a vast number of venture capitalists that will fund young projects, and so we had to just get real inventive think differently about a problem and solve it without a lot of money.
I recently spoke to a major American aerodynamics company about what we’ve done. We’ve spent US$12 million getting the technology to its present stage and when I mentioned this to the VP of this very large company, he was amazed. We’re very proud of what we have accomplished.
HSNW: Just what have you accomplished?
NG: Positioning devices and technology that surpass traditional GPS technology in meeting real needs. Let me elaborate.
I am sure that you have heard GPS described as the accepted world standard for location technology, and indeed it is at the heart of almost all high-tech location applications.
But the problem is that GPS was designed in the seventies for open sky conditions, therefore is doesn’t work very well in urban, industrial and indoor markets which is exactly all the places where everyone wants positioning to work today.
The problem is that satellites are 22,000 kilometers away and they transmit a very small signal. The signal leaves the satellite and is received at your antenna;
