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News ReleaseNovAtel Inc. CTO Receives Johannes Kepler Award from the Institute of Navigation
(Calgary, Alberta, October 10, 2006) - NovAtel Inc. (NASDAQ: NGPS), a precise positioning technology company, announced today that Patrick Fenton, the Company’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, has received the Johannes Kepler Award from the Institute of Navigation (ION). The prestigious award was presented to Mr. Fenton by Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, Chair of the ION Satellite Division and Dean of Engineering at the University of Calgary, at a ceremony held in Fort Worth, Texas. The ION selects award winners to honor an individual during their lifetime for sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation, and it is only given in those years in which an outstanding contribution is considered worthy of such recognition. According to Dr. Gerard Lachapelle, long time colleague and past ION Western Region Vice President, recognition of Pat through the Kepler Award was, if anything, overdue. Pat's early efforts at Norstar Instruments in the late 80s, followed by a series of fundamental and highly successful inventions since joining NovAtel in 1989, have had a profound impact on GPS technologies and industry. These include advanced receiver architecture and designs such as the Narrow Correlator® and Pulse Aperture Correlator (PAC) technology. Many of these technologies are standards in the GPS industry. He was instrumental in the commercialization of the Multipath Estimating Delay Lock Loop (MEDLL) technology extensively used within the ground reference receivers of the wide area Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) augmentation systems around the world such as the US FAA’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). "I am extremely honored to have been selected by ION for a Kepler Award. It is very rewarding personally and professionally to be recognized as someone who has made a significant contribution to the navigation industry, and to join the admirable rank of past winners. As well, I must express my gratitude for the talent and enthusiasm of my friends and colleagues at NovAtel throughout the years, who have played a tremendous part in this achievement," said Mr. Fenton. As VP and CTO for NovAtel, Mr. Fenton holds a key role in developing core products that have positioned the Company on the leading edge of GPS and other precise positioning technologies. His patented Narrow Correlator® tracking technology and follow-on multipath reduction techniques have revolutionized the accuracy of the public accessible C/A code GPS signal, leading the way to sub-meter positioning. Mr. Fenton received his Geomatics Engineering degree from the University of Calgary in 1981. He has developed, patented and published (at ION) many other GPS receiver improvement technologies. Mr. Fenton has also served as ION ‘98 Technical Chair and has Chaired or Co-Chaired numerous technical sessions at ION conferences throughout the years, and was named a Fellow Member of ION in 2003. About the IONThe Institute of Navigation is a non-profit professional society dedicated to the advancement of the art and science of navigation. It was founded in 1945 and currently has over 4000 members practicing in the field of navigation. It serves a diverse community including those interested in air, space, marine, land navigation, and position determination. Although basically a national organization, its membership is worldwide, and it is affiliated with the International Association of Institutes of Navigation. About NovAtel Inc.NovAtel designs, markets and sells high-precision GPS and other positioning components and sub-systems used in a wide variety of commercial applications principally in the aviation, geomatics (surveying and mapping), mining, precision agriculture, marine and defence industries. NovAtel is also the principal supplier of reference receivers to national aviation ground networks in the US, Japan, Europe, China and India. NovAtel’s solutions combine hardware, such as receivers and antennas, with software to enable its customers to fully integrate the Company’s high-precision GPS technology into their respective products and systems. NovAtel, an ISO 9001 certified company, is focused on supplying core high-precision positioning technology to OEMs and system integrators who build systems for various end market applications. For more information, visit www.novatel.com. Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on management’s current expectations regarding NovAtel’s future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures, competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘will’’, ‘‘potential’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘predict’’, “forecast” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including operating results of the Company’s joint venture Point, Inc. (“Point”), impact and timing of large orders, U.S. dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate fluctuations, establishing and maintaining effective distribution channels, certification and market acceptance of NovAtel’s new products, credit risks of customers and the Company’s joint venture Point, pricing pressures in the market and other competitive factors, maintaining technological leadership, timing of revenue recognition in connection with certain contracts, the ability to maintain supply of products from subcontract manufacturers, the procurement of components to build products, product defects, the impact of industry consolidations, vulnerability to general economic, market and business conditions, competition, environmental and other actions by governmental authorities, reliance on key personnel and other factors described in the Company’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005 and other SEC filings, many of which are beyond the control of NovAtel. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and NovAtel assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
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