NovAtel

What NovAtel does

NovAtel Inc., founded in 1978 and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, designs, manufactures, and sells high-precision GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technology as a wholly-owned division of Hexagon AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXAB). Its product portfolio centers on the proprietary OEM7 receiver platform — multi-constellation, multi-frequency boards and enclosed systems such as the PwrPak7 and MarinePak7 — combined with SMART and VEXXIS antennas, SPAN GNSS+INS tightly coupled inertial navigation, the GAJT family of anti-jam antennas (up to 65 dB interference suppression), and the GRIT firmware suite for spoofing detection, interference mitigation, and RF environment characterization. The company monetizes hardware sales alongside recurring revenue from TerraStar PPP, Oceanix, and HxGN SmartNet RTK correction services, plus firmware feature unlocks and automotive engineering and integration services.

The business serves defense and aerospace, automotive (ADAS and autonomy), agriculture, marine, survey and mapping, mobile mapping, precision timing, and unmanned systems customers, with the first three verticals flagged as primary. Distribution runs through direct enterprise sales, an authorized global dealer network, and an e-commerce storefront. Within Hexagon, NovAtel is paired with the recently acquired Septentrio and Inertial Sense franchises and Antcom antennas, forming an integrated PNT stack that competes in the high-precision OEM and assured-PNT segments.

Name

NovAtel

Legal name

NovAtel Inc.

Website

https://novatel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

NovAtel, a Hexagon division founded in 1978 in Calgary, designs high-precision GNSS receivers, antennas, anti-jam systems, and correction services for defense, automotive, agriculture, marine, survey, and unmanned-systems customers worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision GNSS Positioning Technology

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

SIC

Measuring & Controlling Devices, Nec (3829), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

GNSS/GPS Navigation & Augmentation Systems (IMABAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marine Navigation Systems (ECDIS, Radar, GNSS, AIS) (IMAJAJAE), Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) Electronics for Weapons (IMABAGAH)

Keywords

• Precision GNSS receivers
• GNSS correction services
• GNSS inertial navigation
• Anti-jam antennas
• OEM GNSS boards

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. GNSS Hardware Products: Sale of GNSS receivers, antennas, and integrated systems including OEM7 boards, enclosures, SMART antennas, and combined GNSS+INS systems
2. Correction Services Subscriptions: Subscription-based precise point positioning (PPP) and RTK correction services including TerraStar-L, TerraStar-C PRO, TerraStar-X, Oceanix, and SmartNet offerings with various accuracy levels and convergence times
3. Firmware and Software Options: Proprietary firmware programs, software licenses, and feature upgrades for receiver customization and performance optimization
4. Professional Services: Engineering and integration services for automotive and autonomy applications, training, and technical support

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NovAtel designs, manufactures, and sells high-precision OEM GNSS receiver boards (OEM7500, OEM7600), enclosed receiver systems (PwrPak7, MarinePak7), GNSS+INS combined systems (SPAN), SMART antennas, and GNSS antennas (VEXXIS). The company also provides GNSS anti-jam antenna systems (GAJT family), resilience firmware (GRIT), post-processing software (Waypoint), and global correction services (TerraStar, Hexagon SmartNet, Oceanix) for centimeter-level positioning.

Product overview

NovAtel offers a comprehensive portfolio of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) products organized around several core categories: compact OEM receiver boards (OEM7500, OEM7600) for embedded integration; enclosed receiver systems (PwrPak7, MarinePak7) for standalone applications; SPAN technology combining GNSS with inertial navigation for continuous positioning; SMART antennas and GNSS antennas for signal reception; anti-jam protection via the GAJT family; and GRIT technology for signal resilience. The portfolio includes software solutions (Waypoint post-processing, NovAtel Application Suite), correction services (TerraStar, Hexagon SmartNet, Oceanix), and automotive solutions. The company positions itself as a precision positioning technology provider serving survey, mapping, marine, automotive, and robotics applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TerraStar: Global precise point positioning (PPP) correction services delivered via satellite or internet for centimeter-level accuracy
• SPAN
• GRIT
• GAJT
• VEXXIS
• SMART Antennas
• OEM7
• Waypoint
• Oceanix
• HxGN SmartNet
• RoDAR
• SmartNet PRO
• SmartNet+

Products and services

• OEM7500 Compact OEM GNSS receiver board providing high-precision positioning for integration into original equipment manufacturer products.
• OEM7600 Compact OEM GNSS receiver board designed for demanding applications requiring reliable, high-accuracy positioning data.
• PwrPak7 Enclosed GNSS receiver system offering robust, high-precision positioning for survey, mapping, and autonomous applications.
• MarinePak7 Enclosed GNSS receiver designed for marine applications with enhanced ruggedization for harsh maritime environments.
• SPAN Technology GNSS+INS technology that combines GNSS positioning with inertial measurement units for continuous, accurate positioning during GNSS outages.
• SMART Antennas Integrated GPS and GNSS antenna solutions combining receiver and antenna into compact form factors for various applications, including SMART2 and SMART7 product lines.
• GNSS Antennas Full line of precision GNSS antennas (VEXXIS series, high precision antennas, compact antennas, CRPA antennas, fixed reference antennas) supporting multi-constellation, multi-frequency reception.
• GAJT Anti-jam Antenna Family Anti-jam protection systems (GAJT-AE3, GAJT-310, GAJT-410ML, GAJT-410MS, GAJT-710ML, GAJT-710MS, GAJT-AE-N) designed to safeguard GNSS receivers from intentional and unintentional jamming and interference.
• GRIT - GNSS Resilience and Integrity Technology Firmware suite providing signal resilience and interference detection for mission-critical applications, including GNSS Spoofing Detection, GNSS Interference Toolkit, and Time-Tagged Digitized Samples.
• Waypoint Post-Processing Software Post-processing software suite (Inertial Explorer, Inertial Explorer Xpress, GrafNav, GrafNav Static, Waypoint SDK) for GNSS and inertial data analysis, enabling high-accuracy positioning results through post-mission data processing.
• NovAtel Application Suite Comprehensive software suite for receiver configuration, monitoring, and data management across the NovAtel product portfolio.
• TerraStar Correction Services Satellite and IP-based precise point positioning (PPP) correction services including TerraStar-L, TerraStar-C PRO, TerraStar-X, and TerraStar Global variants with various accuracy levels and convergence times.
• Hexagon SmartNet RTK Correction Services Network-based RTK correction service providing RTK-quality positioning through a distributed network of reference stations, including SmartNet PRO with RTK ASSIST PRO and SmartNet+ with RTK ASSIST.
• Oceanix Correction Services Maritime-focused precise point positioning correction services supporting high-accuracy positioning for marine and ocean applications.
• Automotive Solutions Ground vehicle positioning solutions including automotive GNSS modules and antennas, positioning engine, and engineering and integration services for autonomous driving, ADAS, and fleet management applications.
• Drivers for ROS Software drivers enabling integration with Robot Operating System (ROS) platforms for robotics and autonomous navigation applications.
• Off-road Autonomy Development Kits Development kits for off-road autonomy applications including GNSS for autonomy and perception sensors for off-road autonomous systems.
• EDIE Software Development Kit Encode/Decode Interface Engine SDK providing developer tools for working with NovAtel receiver data formats and interfaces.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5-7 dB tracking improvement in challenging environments with new OEM7 firmware
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Inertial SensecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 April 2026Hexagon completed acquisition of Inertial Sense to add tactical-grade GNSS+INS technology that strengthens the assured PNT portfolio for NovAtel products.
• Milanion GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2026Strategic partnership announced at World Defense Show 2026 to enhance autonomous systems with improved ISR, navigation, and mission resilience. Collaborations aim to advance persistent surveillance, secure navigation, and operational effectiveness across land, sea, and air platforms.
• ElistaircoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2026Strategic partnership announced at World Defense Show 2026 alongside NovAtel partnership to enhance autonomous systems with improved ISR, navigation, and mission resilience capabilities.
• SeptentriocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 March 2025Hexagon completed acquisition of Septentrio to expand the reach of mission-critical navigation and autonomy applications, complementing NovAtel's GNSS portfolio.
• AntcomminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerAntcom (part of Hexagon) specializes in communication and navigation antennas, providing custom antenna designs for NovAtel products including CRPA arrays for GAJT systems.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• SBG Systems: French manufacturer of inertial navigation systems tightly coupled with GNSS (GNSS+INS) for survey, marine, autonomous vehicles and defense, comparable to NovAtel's SPAN product line.
• Trimble: Global leader in high-precision GNSS positioning for agriculture, construction, survey, mapping and autonomy. Directly comparable to NovAtel in OEM GNSS receivers, correction services and integrated PNT offerings across the same verticals.
• ComNav Technology: Chinese OEM GNSS board and receiver maker serving survey, mapping, agriculture and GIS — directly comparable to NovAtel's OEM7 product family and a relevant competitor in low-cost high-precision GNSS.
• Hemisphere GNSS: Designs and manufactures high-precision GNSS OEM boards, receivers and antennas for surveying, agriculture, marine and machine control. Direct product-level overlap with NovAtel's OEM7 boards and correction services.
• Topcon Positioning Systems: Major provider of high-precision GNSS receivers, OEM boards and correction services for agriculture, construction and survey. Competes head-to-head with NovAtel in OEM GNSS hardware and integrated positioning solutions.
• Septentrio (Hexagon): High-precision GNSS OEM receiver and OEM board maker serving surveying, defense, marine and industrial automation; acquired by Hexagon in March 2025, now a sister entity to NovAtel within the same positioning division and a direct commercial peer historically.
• Tallysman Wireless: Specialist in GNSS and Iridium antennas including reference and CRPA antennas; complements/tangentially competes with NovAtel's VEXXIS antenna family and GAJT CRPA-based anti-jam arrays.
• u-blox: Swiss fabless designer of GNSS chipsets and modules serving automotive, industrial and consumer markets. Overlaps NovAtel in OEM GNSS positioning modules, particularly for automotive and high-precision industrial applications.

Broad incumbents

• Leica Geosystems (Hexagon): Hexagon-owned surveying and measurement brand using NovAtel GNSS components inside broader survey hardware; incumbent in surveying/mapping with overlapping product capabilities and shared correction-service infrastructure via SmartNet.

Emerging players

• Swift Navigation: US-based provider of precise GNSS positioning solutions (Skylark corrections, Piksi receivers, Starling autonomy stack) targeted at automotive, robotics and logistics — overlaps NovAtel on automotive-grade PNT and on the correction-services model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/novatelinc
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCsuAWyH_l9c3HlgdDTcL45A
• Facebookfacebook.com/novatelinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/novatel

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NovAtel