Septentrio

Septentrio is a Belgian satellite-navigation technology company headquartered in Leuven. It designs and manufactures high-end multi-frequency global navigation satellite system receivers, receiver boards, modules, and associated positioning technologies. Rather than concentrating primarily on mass-market navigation devices, the company has built its business around professional and industrial users that need dependable, precise, and configurable positioning data for integration into larger systems. The company was incorporated in Leuven in January 2000 by Peter Grognard to commercialize satellite-navigation expertise developed at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, commonly known as imec, Belgium’s major independent research and development organization in microelectronics and nanotechnology. This research-oriented origin shaped Septentrio’s emphasis on internally developed technology. The company works across chipsets, receiver hardware, firmware, and positioning algorithms, allowing it to control much of the technology stack used in its products. Septentrio’s solutions are used in professional surveying and geodesy, airborne and land-based mapping, machine control, construction, mining, precision agriculture, transport, offshore and marine applications, timing, and other sectors in which positioning integrity is operationally important. Its products are also designed for use in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, including drones, mobile platforms, and other machines that require robust positioning in environments affected by signal reflections, interference, or changing satellite visibility. The company’s primary commercial audience includes original equipment manufacturers and system integrators that incorporate receiver boards and modules into specialized equipment. The company’s technical positioning is based on the combination of multi-constellation and multi-frequency signal tracking, high measurement reliability, and user control over receiver behavior. Septentrio has developed technologies for reducing the effects of multipath, resolving carrier-phase ambiguities, and monitoring the integrity of positioning results. Its portfolio has included AsteRx receiver products and other receiver boards and modules intended for professional deployment. The company has also been associated with multi-antenna attitude determination, enabling a receiver system to determine orientation as well as position. Septentrio has participated in the development and testing ecosystem surrounding emerging satellite-navigation constellations. Its receivers were used to track experimental Galileo signals transmitted by the GIOVE-A satellite and were reported to have tracked signals from the first experimental satellite associated with China’s future Compass navigation system. The company has also supported the use of signals from multiple global navigation systems, including GPS and GLONASS, as the industry moved toward broader multi-system positioning. Septentrio expanded beyond its Belgian base through regional operations serving the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Its North and Latin American activities have been based in Torrance, California, while Asia-Pacific operations have been based in Shanghai and Yokohama. In 2007, the company received a Trends Gazelle award recognizing rapid growth among Belgian start-ups. In January 2025, Hexagon AB announced an agreement to acquire Septentrio, and the transaction was completed two months later. Septentrio therefore remains an active specialist brand while operating under the ownership of Hexagon, a larger technology group focused on digital reality, measurement, and industrial solutions.

Septentrio was incorporated in Leuven, Belgium, in January 2000 by Peter Grognard. Its origins were closely connected to satellite-navigation research carried out at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, or imec. The company was established to turn that research expertise into commercial products and services for high-precision satellite positioning. This background gave Septentrio a technology-led identity from the beginning, with emphasis on signal processing, receiver architecture, and the practical requirements of professional users. The company developed as a specialist supplier rather than a consumer navigation brand. Its principal customers included original equipment manufacturers and system integrators that needed receiver boards and modules to embed in surveying instruments, mapping systems, industrial machinery, autonomous platforms, and other equipment. Septentrio’s work covered its own chipsets, hardware, firmware, and positioning algorithms. This vertically integrated approach enabled the company to tune receiver performance for demanding applications and to provide users with substantial control over configuration and measurement behavior. A central part of Septentrio’s technical proposition has been the use of multiple satellite constellations and frequency bands. Multi-system reception can improve availability and measurement performance when conditions change, while multi-frequency observations support more capable carrier-phase positioning. The company also developed APME, a multipath-mitigation technology intended to reduce errors caused when satellite signals reflect from buildings, terrain, machinery, or other surfaces before reaching an antenna. It used ambiguity-resolution techniques associated with the LAMBDA method and advanced user-controlled RAIM functions for monitoring the integrity of navigation results. Septentrio also became known for multi-antenna attitude determination. By using more than one antenna, a receiver system can derive orientation in addition to geographic position. This capability is relevant to surveying, marine systems, mobile mapping, airborne equipment, and machine control, where heading or attitude can be as important as location. The company’s broader applications have included land and airborne surveying, mobile mapping, precision agriculture, mining, construction, transport, offshore operations, timing, and geodesy. During the development of newer satellite-navigation constellations, Septentrio receivers were used in experimental signal-tracking activities. The company tracked Galileo test signals transmitted by the GIOVE-A satellite and reported tracking signals from the first experimental satellite associated with China’s Compass navigation system. These activities reflected the company’s interest in supporting multiple global navigation systems and in ensuring that its receivers could work with the expanding set of signals available to professional users. Septentrio’s growth was recognized in Belgium in 2007, when it received a Trends Gazelle award for rapid growth among Belgian start-up companies. Over time, the company established an international operating footprint while retaining its headquarters in Leuven. Its North and Latin American operations were based in Torrance, California, and its Asia-Pacific activities were based in Shanghai and Yokohama. In January 2025, Hexagon AB announced that it would acquire Septentrio. The transaction was completed two months later. The acquisition placed Septentrio within Hexagon’s wider portfolio of measurement, positioning, industrial, and digital-reality technologies. Septentrio remains an active brand and technology business, with its identity rooted in high-precision GNSS receivers and OEM-oriented positioning solutions.

• 2025

  Hexagon announces acquisition

  [1]Septentrioen.wikipedia.org

  Hexagon AB announced its intention to acquire Septentrio.

• 2025

  Acquisition by Hexagon is completed

  [1]Septentrioen.wikipedia.org

  The acquisition announced in January was completed approximately two months later.

• 2007

  Trends Gazelle growth award

  [1]Septentrioen.wikipedia.org

  Septentrio received a Trends Gazelle award recognizing rapid growth among Belgian start-ups.

• 2000

  Septentrio is incorporated in Leuven

  [1]Septentrioen.wikipedia.org

  Peter Grognard incorporated Septentrio in Leuven to commercialize satellite-navigation expertise developed at imec.

High-end professional positioning technology for OEMs, system integrators, and industrial users requiring precision, reliability, signal resilience, and control.

• GNSS receivers

  AsteRx series

  AsteRx is Septentrio’s named family of professional GNSS receiver products. The series represents the company’s focus on multi-frequency, multi-constellation positioning for demanding applications rather than consumer navigation. Depending on configuration and deployment, receivers in this family are intended for integration into surveying, mapping, machine-control, transport, agriculture, marine, and other industrial systems where precision, measurement reliability, and configuration flexibility are important.

• OEM positioning hardware

  GNSS receiver boards and modules

  Septentrio’s receiver boards and modules are designed for original equipment manufacturers and system integrators. They provide the core satellite-reception and positioning functions that can be incorporated into specialized instruments, vehicles, machines, mapping platforms, and autonomous systems. The OEM orientation allows customers to build a complete product around Septentrio technology while retaining control over the surrounding hardware, software, and application workflow.

• GNSS data recording

  RINEX recording solutions

  Septentrio receivers can support recording of GNSS observations for later analysis and processing, including workflows based on the Receiver Independent Exchange Format. Such recording is useful in surveying, geodesy, signal evaluation, troubleshooting, and research because it allows measurements captured in the field to be reviewed or processed after collection.

• Position and orientation systems

  Multi-antenna attitude-determination systems

  Septentrio was an early provider of single-board attitude-determination systems based on multi-antenna GNSS receivers. These systems use the relative geometry between antennas to estimate orientation as well as position. The capability is relevant to marine, airborne, mobile-mapping, surveying, and machine applications that require heading or attitude information without relying exclusively on separate inertial or magnetic sensors.

• 2025

  Septentrio joins HexagonM&A

  Background

  Hexagon announced plans to acquire Septentrio as part of its broader interest in measurement, positioning, and industrial technology.

  Action taken

  Hexagon announced the acquisition in January 2025, and the transaction was completed approximately two months later.

  Aftermath

  Septentrio became part of Hexagon while continuing as an active specialist brand focused on high-precision GNSS technology.

  Source

• 2021.06.30

  Reported2021.06.30

  Septentrio and XenomatiX start partnership[3]Septentrio 与 XenomatiX 开展合作sensorsandsystems.com

  Septentrio and XenomatiX started a partnership to enable high-quality LiDAR solutions. XenomatiX will use Septentrio's GNSS/INS receiver in its road-mapping system.

• 2020.10.12

  Reported2020.10.12

  Septentrio announces AsteRx-m3 GNSS receiver family[4]Septentrio 宣布推出 AsteRx-m3 GNSS 接收机系列suasnews.com

  Septentrio announced an expansion of its GPS/GNSS OEM portfolio with the AsteRx-m3 family of receiver products.

Read more

1. 1Septentrioen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Septentrio official websiteseptentrio.com
3. 3Septentrio 与 XenomatiX 开展合作sensorsandsystems.com
4. 4Septentrio 宣布推出 AsteRx-m3 GNSS 接收机系列suasnews.com