Leica Geosystems Announces New ATHENA Program

Leica Geosystems AG (Switzerland) has announced the launch of Networked Reference Station ATHENA Program, aimed at selected Universities, Research Organisations and UNAVCO members with the goal of introducing GPS Reference Station Network technology to the academic and research communities, thereby facilitating its use for both teaching and scientific research purposes.

Leica Geosystems’ GPS Reference Station hardware and software products are used for supporting real-time high-accuracy positioning through the provision of RTK and DGPS corrections, providing GPS datasets for post-processing campaigns and defining regional and national geodetic coordinate datums.

ATHENA stands for ‘Affordable Technology for Higher-Education and Non-profit Associations’, and is a formalised purchase program for educational institutions teaching or performing research in the rapidly growing area of GPS Reference Station applications.

The ATHENA Program’s foundation is a new set of GPS Reference Station product bundles designed and priced for universities, colleges, UNAVCO-accredited members and research institutions and other institutions of higher education that provide accredited learning, formal education, and scientific research involving GPS.

Specific, discounted packages consist of various GPS reference station hardware and processing software options. Institutions will obtain all Client/Server functionality to allowing more students can have access to advanced reference station software to pursue individualized research. The Program also includes comprehensive training on the purchased hardware and software.

For further technical information on the hardware and software offered through the NRS ATHENA Program, please refer to the GPS Reference Station section of the Leica Geosystems website.