Pretoria-based electronics company Etion Create’s new CheetahNAV Compact vehicle navigation system is making its debut at the IDEX 2025 exhibition in the United Arab Emirates this week. It is the latest derivative of the proven and successful CheetahNAV that has been introduced and delivered to several Middle East customers in the past two years.
“The Middle East has become a focus area for Etion Create and since we showed the CheetahNAV in Abu Dhabi some years ago, interest in our products has grown in many regions around the world,” said Tobie van Loggerenberg, executive manager for business development at Etion Create.
Etion Create is a division within Reunert Applied Electronics Holdings.
According to Van Loggerenberg, the latest CheetahNAV Compact was designed for compactness and space-efficiency, ensuring it can be seamlessly integrated into a wide range of vehicle platforms. Despite its reduced size, the display maintains excellent readability and clarity, thanks to advanced display technologies, the company said.
Besides route planning functionality, the CheetahNAV Compact utilises real-time moving map technology that provides the driver and crew members continuously with accurate situational awareness information.
Like Etion Create’s CheetahNAV, the system provides dead-reckoning horizontal position accuracy of 0.2% of distance travelled in a GNSS denied situation.
“This translates, by way of example, to accuracy of just 200 metres over a distance of 100 kilometres,” Van Loggerenberg explained. “It can integrate with any number of different inertial navigation systems and can be aligned with any of the satellite navigation constellations.”
The CheetahNAV Compact makes use of an advanced Inertial Navigation System (INS), comprising several aids, to provide accurate position, velocity, heading, and pitch and roll of the platform. The tactical grade integral inertial measurement unit (IMU) ensures jamming-free operation.
According to Etion Create both the CheetahNAV and its compact variant are made for tough operational conditions, having been designed and tested to withstand severe customer environments.
“For the benefit of our customers, we provide different language packs, as in this instance Arabic for the Middle East,” Van Loggerenberg affirmed. “Importantly, our customer can rest assured that Etion Create products are non-ITAR controlled.”
