MerlinTPS Partners with Bluespec to Provide Urgently Needed GPS Augmentation and Backup Without Satellites

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MerlinTPS, a leading provider of of Terrestrial Positioning Systems (alternative GPS technology), alternative GPS technology, today announced it has partnered with Bluespec, an industry leader in RISC-V verification tools and silicon IP, to address the GPS industry’s critical need for augmentation and backup technology as satellites continue to face new challenges, including wartime contested space as well as increased costs to produce and maintain satellites. This collaboration enables the two companies to bring to life the next phase of MerlinTPS’ next-gen platform, which is capable of providing positioning, navigation, timing (PNT) and geospatial radio frequency data.

MerlinTPS is working with Bluespec to further develop its platform that can support GPS services in what will be a high-utility, low-latency edge platform based on the RISC-V open standard. This platform will support the expansion of today’s PNT security capabilities by utilizing existing signals of opportunity on the ground that combat jamming and spoofing. MerlinTPS will further raise the bar for security by creating new tools that will strengthen cybersecurity and physical security technology.

With Bluespec’s expertise in the design, implementation and verification of RISC-V processors, along with the company’s innovative technology to accelerate workloads, MerlinTPS will be able to quickly get up and running with customized RISC-V processors. Furthermore, Bluespec’s RISC-V solutions are designed to be easily ported from early prototypes using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to mass produced application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, saving development time and effort.

“Bluespec has helped many companies use RISC-V to innovate, and we are happy to be bringing that capability to MerlinTPS,” said Charlie Hauck, CEO of Bluespec. “With our verification and validation centric RISC-V solutions, MerlinTPS can develop customized solutions in a matter of weeks, allowing it to deliver highly differentiated products with minimal project and schedule risk.”

There’s been an inflection point in the silicon industry with the growing demand for high-power computing. Meeting this demand requires a high level of software and hardware co-integration and verification. MerlinTPS and Bluespec share a common vision of creating this next-gen technology, allowing MerlinTPS to innovate in new ways and accelerate development time to pilot different use cases as early as this summer.

“Bluespec’s seasoned advice, development experience and efficiencies have been a great springboard for us,” said Christian Kotscher, CEO at MerlinTPS. “Bluespec’s acute knowledge of leading software and hardware development stood out when we were looking for a partner for delivering the next iteration of our technology. With the need for supplemental GPS technology becoming more pressing by the day, our work together will help bring the platform and its multitude of capabilities to life quicker.”

By implementing Bluespec’s RISC-V processors in FPGAs, MerlinTPS can quickly modify, generate and load new code onto FPGAs. This approach allows for hardware reuse, avoiding the need to build custom hardware for each task. However, MerlinTPS can easily make customizations to Bluespec’s RISC-V soft processor cores — adding custom instructions designed to accelerate specific workloads — when needed. In the future, MerlinTPS plans to add AI capabilities to the platform, so these acceleration capabilities are especially important.