A partnership to deliver seamless centimeter-level location accuracy
Point One's platform delivers 1–3 cm accuracy, about 100 times more precise than GPS. Applications include automotive, agtech, construction, drones, ground maintenance, and last-mile delivery robots.
Precise positioning data is generated through Point One’s RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) corrections service comprised ofand a network of base stations across the globe. These base stations corrects satellite errors in real time for use cases requiring precision positioning. Robust connectivity is essential to ensuring the uptime of the service for Point One’s customers.
Robust IoT connectivity to maintain precision accuracy
Real-time data transmission is critical to platform operations
Point One Navigation builds the centimeter-level precision location platform serving automotive, agriculture, logistics, construction, and adjacent verticals, including automotive, agriculture, logistics and construction.
Standard GPS navigation can drift by meters due to atmospheric interference, satellite clock errors and orbital variations. This is a major challenge for many high-stakes tasks where consistent, repeatable and automated accuracy is essential, such as with automated excavation machinery and field harvesters. This is where precision data can provide optimal accuracy by incorporating a satellite error correction layer.
Point One’s cloud-based platform orchestrates a network of base stations, which compare what GNSS says their position is and the true position to calculate atmospheric errors and signal noise.
The base stations receive signals from GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou satellites. The base station’s SIM cards stream raw data to a cloud server where the error data is corrected. This data then sent to the device, which uses Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning to apply the corrections and compute a precise location.
Unlike competitors that use third-party data and hardware, Point One manages its own network. This includes over 4,000 managed base stations on five continents. This enables Point One to provide an uptime of 99.9% and centimeter-level accuracy, around the world.
Reliable always-on data connections, even in the most challenging landscapes
Point One needed to source IoT SIM cards for worldwide multi-roaming connectivity, enabling devices to switch networks as required. Orange Business had the answer.
Point One is scaling rapidly and required a connectivity solution to match. Its go-to-market approach primarily targets OEMs and system integrators looking to embed precise positioning into their products, such as automotive, heavy plant and agricultural machinery.
Point One Navigation runs an integrated platform that controls the entire positioning stack from the satellite corrections through to the end-user APIs to easily integrate high-precision location data into apps. Point One owns and operates its entire base station infrastructure, rather than relying on third-party correction services to ensure service quality. A trusted partner for its IoT SIMs is pivotal to the performance of its service.
The company already had a relationship with Orange, having recently signed a strategic agreement with the Orange tower company TOTEM. By utilizing TOTEM’s cell towers, which already have stable power systems, Point One can further install and operate its own base stations for location services.
When it came to sourcing robust roaming IoT SIM cards, Orange Business stood out as the ideal partner, having extensive experience and a strong reputation in IoT SIM connectivity.
Orange Business roaming IoT SIM cards are designed to ensure constant connectivity, high security and global interoperability, making them ideal for providing consistent location updates for Point One customers.
Orange Business supports Point One's expansion plans by providing access to more than 600 networks in 190 countries, ensuring that devices remain connected across borders without any manual intervention. In the United States, for example, Point One can use a single roaming SIM across all three major carriers an offering no other company in the region can match.
In addition, rather than simply defaulting to a primary network, Orange Business IoT SIMs can connect to the strongest available signals, eliminating connectivity gaps even in the most remote areas.
Delivering unmatched reliability wherever deployed
Orange Business is helping Point One to rapidly expand its business, offering unmatched, reliable connectivity wherever its base stations are deployed.
The base stations are designed to work anywhere, supporting multiple cellular networks. They feature a dual cellular modem and four SIM card slots to ensure a reliable network connection to upload raw satellite data to the cloud. Each base station, around the size of a shoebox, can cover around 70 kilometers making it a relatively economic solution.
IoT SIM cards allow the base stations to connect to mobile networks to transmit data, ensuring 99.9% uptime for mission-critical positioning. Without this connection, they would not be able to communicate in real time, especially in areas where wired internet is not available.
The multi-network IoT SIMs use 4G Lite and 5G cellular networks. The exact network can change dynamically depending on the strength of coverage.
When the base station first powers up, it sends authentication data to the mobile network and sets up cryptographic credentials. Point One provides an option to encrypt data transmitted.
The base stations then use the IoT SIM card connectivity to push raw observation data collected from the satellites to the cloud, where the data is ingested in real time.
The cloud combines data from multiple base stations to compute precise positioning corrections. When requested, the data is sent to the device, which may be a car, drone or lawnmower, for example. The device has its own connection to download the data, usually an internal modem. Devices operating in controlled areas such as robots, however, may use Wi-Fi connections.
Once the device has the data, it runs a calculation to compare these corrections with its own GNSS observations to determine its exact location within a few centimeters.
The IoT SIMs allow the base stations to receive firmware updates and any configuration changes required over-the-air. They also transmit real-time telemetry data back to Point One operations for 24/7 monitoring of base station health and performance
Delivering centimeter level accuracy on a global scale
The roving capabilities of the IoT SIMs are also enabling Point One to move into new regions. The next frontier is Africa, where agritech is growing rapidly to improve efficiencies and adapt to climate change.
SIM technology is a critical pillar in Point One’s infrastructure, serving as the primary bridge for real-time data transmission between the base stations and the cloud.
The Orange relationship further strengthens Point One’s network and positions it as an indispensable enabler for this new technology.
Key figures
100
100 times more precise than GPS
2000
Managed base stations in the US, Europe, UK, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand
600
Networks provided access by Orange in 190 countries
When it came to sourcing robust roaming IoT SIM cards, Orange Business stood out as the ideal partner.
To go further
IoT helps SARA make its operations smarter, safer, and more economical
The Société Anonyme de la Raffinerie des Antilles (SARA, Antilles Refinery Corporation) is an oil refinery located in Martinique. It produces and distributes fuels and petroleum derivatives for Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana.
Point One Navigation
Point One Navigation, based in San Francisco, is a precision location platform for autonomy and robotics. It delivers centimeter-level positioning for demanding applications. Customers include DroneDeploy, Scythe, AIM, and Agra-GPS, compatible with John Deere and Fendt.