FocalPoint Positioning has introduced a new software defined GNSS receiver technology called Precise+, aiming to solve one of the biggest limitations in high precision satellite navigation: maintaining reliable carrier phase tracking in difficult real world environments without relying on inertial sensors or external sensor fusion systems.
The announcement was made during the 2026 edition of the European Navigation Conference 2026 in Vienna, where the company positioned Precise+ as a major extension of its Supercorrelation signal processing platform into the carrier phase domain.
Unlike many modern automotive positioning stacks that depend heavily on IMUs, dead reckoning systems, wheel sensors, cameras, or LiDAR to stabilize positioning when GNSS quality collapses, Precise+ attempts to improve the raw GNSS receiver performance itself. That distinction is technically important because most current RTK and PPP positioning failures begin inside the receiver before sensor fusion layers even have a chance to compensate.
Carrier Phase Stability in Urban Environments
One of the core problems facing RTK and PPP deployment in automotive autonomy is cycle slip instability. When satellite signals are partially blocked by trees, urban buildings, tunnels, or reflected through multipath environments, carrier phase lock can break repeatedly. Once that happens, high precision positioning systems often require reinitialization before centimetre level accuracy can return.
This issue remains one of the biggest obstacles preventing scalable deployment of lane level GNSS positioning in real world autonomous driving conditions.
According to FocalPoint, Precise+ directly targets those carrier phase interruptions at the receiver level. Instead of relying on external correction layers to recover from degraded conditions, the software is designed to maintain stronger phase tracking through difficult signal environments where conventional receivers typically lose stability.
The company claims the technology achieved 80 cm positioning accuracy at the 99th percentile during testing in Thetford Forest, a commonly used dense foliage GNSS benchmark environment in the United Kingdom. In the same conditions, traditional high end receivers reportedly exceeded three metres of positioning error.
Why This Matters for Automotive GNSS
From a technical perspective, the most interesting part of this announcement is not necessarily the raw accuracy number itself, but the architecture philosophy behind it.
The automotive industry has increasingly moved toward massive sensor fusion stacks because GNSS alone often becomes unreliable in dense environments. However, those architectures also increase system complexity, computational load, power consumption, and integration costs.
If receiver level signal processing can significantly reduce carrier phase instability before fusion even begins, it changes the economics of scalable high precision navigation. It could allow lower cost ADAS systems, delivery robots, agricultural machines, drones, and connected vehicle platforms to maintain useful precision performance with less dependence on expensive sensor redundancy.
This is especially relevant for V2X infrastructure, automated driving systems, and robotic platforms operating in partially obstructed environments where GNSS degradation is constant rather than occasional.
The approach also aligns with a broader industry trend toward software defined GNSS architectures, where positioning improvements increasingly come from signal processing innovation instead of purely adding more hardware sensors.
Commercialization and Industry Positioning
FocalPoint stated that it is already collaborating with multiple chipset manufacturers to commercialize the technology. If the platform proves scalable across mass market automotive silicon, it could become particularly attractive for next generation ADAS and autonomous mobility systems seeking higher precision without dramatically increasing hardware costs.
The company’s broader Supercorrelation platform has already gained attention inside the GNSS industry for attempting to improve weak signal tracking and multipath mitigation through advanced software correlation techniques rather than traditional receiver architecture changes alone.
About FocalPoint Positioning
Founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom, FocalPoint Positioning develops software based GNSS receiver technologies focused on improving positioning performance in challenging environments. The company’s core Supercorrelation technology is designed to enhance signal tracking sensitivity, reduce multipath interference, and improve positioning robustness for smartphones, automotive systems, wearables, and IoT devices.
FocalPoint has secured partnerships and development programs with multiple semiconductor and automotive related companies, while its positioning software targets integration into mass market GNSS chipsets rather than standalone hardware receivers. The company operates in the growing software defined GNSS segment, a market increasingly viewed as strategically important for autonomous systems, robotics, connected mobility, and next generation PNT resilience.
