Iris is a European Space Agency (ESA) project backed by a number of high-profile European partners, developing a new satellite-based, air-ground communication system for air traffic management. Aimed at making aviation safer, greener and more efficient, it is essentially a data link service (DLS) satellite system, based on existing Inmarsat infrastructure. By 2028, Iris will enable full, 4D trajectory management over airspace across the globe. The data link will be the primary means of communication between controllers and cockpit crews.

Certification of ESSP as an Iris data link services provider comes after more than a year of testing and audits at ESSP and Inmarsat premises, establishing compliance with the applicable regulation and associated industrial standards for data link services.

A Service Definition Document (SDD) has been prepared by ESSP describing the intended Iris communication services, including target performance requirements, limitations and conditions of usage and service liability. The new ESSP certification comes just weeks after Viasat/Inmarsat and ESSP signed a long-term contract that will see ESSP acting as the Service Provider for Iris data link services, powered by Viasat’s SwiftBroadband Safety (SB-S) connectivity.

ESSP is the EGNOS service provider

ESSP is of course already under long-term contract with the European Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA), acting as service provider for the EGNOS Open Service and Safety of Life Service (SoL), a role that includes carrying out EGNOS operations and part of EGNOS maintenance. That contract also includes terms for further expanding EGNOS service provision into new sectors and new geographical areas.

Iris will enter full commercial and operational service in Europe in 2024 with airlines including easyJet and ITA Airways, supporting the Single European Sky’s ATM Research (SESAR) master plan. ESSP will also lead Iris service commercialization, targeting European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP’s). The ESSP service provision consortium includes ESSP SAS, Inmarsat and SITA. The addition of other communication network providers (CNPs) such as NewPENS and Collins Aerospace is expected in the coming months.

From Iris to IRIS²

IRIS² (‘IRIS Squared’ – ‘Infrastructure for resilience, interconnectivity and security by satellite’) is the EU’s newest space-based infrastructure project. Being mounted in record time, it will offer enhanced communication capacities to governmental users and businesses, and deliver high-speed internet broadband in connectivity dead zones. Initial services are scheduled for launch as early as 2024, with full operational capability by 2027.

According to multiple EU sources, the IRIS² satellite constellation, while focused on telecommunications, will likely also provide contributions to an emerging coordinated PNT infrastructure. There will be space on IRIS² satellites for secondary payloads and a decision is expected soon as to whether that will include a PNT payload.

Speaking earlier this year (2023), Javier Benedicto, ESA Director of Navigation said, “IRIS², Galileo and EGNOS all have to be connected, because, at the end of the day, we want to reach the smartphone, we want to reach the airplane cockpit, the dashboard of the autonomous vehicle, and this requires a combination of sensors and techniques for both communication and navigation. This will require the use of optical technologies, quantum communication, quantum encryption, and with all of this, I am sure that Europe will remain at the forefront of resilient PNT.”

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Like many massive infrastructure projects, the NextGen program has suffered numerous setbacks, many self-inflicted. An August 2016 report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of FAA’s parent, the Department of Transportation, noted, “FAA’s plans have proven to be unrealistic, lacking stable investment priorities and requirements for NextGen systems.”

With more than $7 billion in modernization funds already expended, the FAA is currently projecting costs of $14.8 billion from Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 to 2030, according to the OIG report. Despite the characterization of NextGen as being wildly over budget, however, total cost estimates for the program “have evolved, but not increased markedly since FY 2004,” the OIG says. The president’s proposed FY18 budget requests $988 million for continued NextGen development, down from $1.055 billion in FY17.

As other infrastructure modernization efforts involving GNSS have shown, getting the technology right is the easy part. The Global Positioning System has a 22-year operational history to bolster expectations about its performance, which has continued to improve steadily. The arrival of other GNSS systems has only strengthened this technological resource.

Instead, the sticking points arise from such issues as enterprise architecture, systems integration with other technologies such as data communications and weather forecasting, interagency cooperation, human factors, cybersecurity, operational procedures, and regulatory updates to accommodate modernization.

Like America’s healthcare insurance system, modernization of the National Air Space is more complicated than casual observers might think.

NextGen needs to happen, first, because it will pay off in improved aviation operations, greater capacity, and better use of the crowded National Air Space (NAS). FAA modernization has already provided $2.7 billion in savings from such things as less usage of fuel and is expected to provide another $160 billion in benefits through NextGen’s targeted 2025 completion date.

Efforts so far have barely scratched the surface of what GNSS and other NextGen technologies can provide.

However, the need to get NextGen back on track has gained heightened urgency with the renewed push to privatize U.S. air traffic control (ATC). On June 27, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a measure that would turn the nation’s taxpayer-funded ATC infrastructure and operations (carried out by 30,000 public employees) over to a nonprofit organization controlled by aviation industry representatives.

The measure, previously backed unsuccessfully by House Transportation Committee chairman Bill Shuster, has gained important support from President Donald Trump.

NAS modernization is a perhaps uniquely complicated undertaking with many elements subject to inevitable changes as technologies and operational environments (including the political and economic context) evolve. NextGen is a moving target being shot at from a moving platform.

Attempting to privatize air traffic control at this point in the process would throw a very large monkey wrench into some very delicate works in progress. As Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and committee Vice Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a February 28 letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune, “If air traffic control were separated during this critical period of technological advancement, the progress already being made to synchronize investment from government and industry related to safety, equipage, training, operational changes, and overall integration would be lost.”

And the FAA, not some newly convened group dominated by stakeholders with their own interests in mind, should continue to lead this project. As a special National Research Council committee concluded in a congressionally mandated analysis of NextGen in 2015, “Replacing or upgrading systems while continuously and safely operating the whole system is an intricate undertaking, a process that the FAA seems to have mastered.”

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1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)

Nouméa ground station after the flood

A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat

Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV

Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)

“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto

The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder.

Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram

Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST

1. ANTARCTIC OASIS
Antarctic Peninsula

1. ANTARCTIC OASIS
Antarctic Peninsula
√ The “Antarctic oasis” is how polar researchers refer to the north end of James Ross Island, which at the extreme northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, is shielded from storms by the Trinity Mountains. For researchers at the Johan Gregor Mendel Research Station located on the Ulu Peninsula at the far north end of the island, the time and resources available for accurate positioning are limited, therefore, the processes to capture positions must be simple, efficient and combine readily with the scientific activities. One of the most important uses of GNSS at the Mendel Polar Station is for monitoring glaciers. Scientists are studying four glaciers on the island within 15 kilometers of the station. On three glaciers, networks of bamboo rods are installed into the ice at regular intervals. Researchers use GNSS to measure the 3D position at the base of each rod. They also measured the distance from the top of the bamboo to the ice surface. The data collected will support months and years of processing and analysis. Plans are already underway for future visits by Czech teams to James Ross Island.

2.  WHERE’S THE BEEF?
Wageningen, The Netherlands
√ This E-Track project uses the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) to provide higher accuracy locations than in conventional GPS animal tracking. It developed GPS animal tracking and analysis tools for sophisticated behavioral research on wild and domestic animals and focuses on enhanced accuracy, combined with fast sampling, sensors and a wide range of tag formats, sizes and remote communication systems.
The system is validated in field studies with mammals and large birds and uses devices enhanced by using the EGNOS augmentation system. The different GPS tags, either implemented as backpacks (birds) and collars (mammals) collect raw GPS signals to either calculate high precision “on board” or in post processing mode. GPS + EGNOS provides submeter accuracy. The devices developed in E-Track also include 3D accelerometers, necessary for the distinguishing behaviors with almost similar spatial patterns. It features a tracking software solution that is marketed via Noldus Information Technology, and the E-Track is carried out in the context of the Galileo FP7 R&D program supervised by the European GNSS Agency.

3. FINDING THE POWER
Reykjavík, Iceland
√ New research, with lead authors from the University of Gothenburg, gives indications of the best places in Iceland to build thermal power stations. In Iceland, heat is extracted for use in power plants directly from the ground in volcanic areas. Constructing a geothermal power station near a volcano can be beneficial, since Earth’s mantle is located relatively close to the crust in those areas, making the heat easily accessible. But placing a power plant near an active volcano is not without risk, as an eruption can easily destroy any human-made construction in its way.

The scientists have now studied three different parts of the divergent ridge (area where the ocean plates are slowly sliding away from each other) that crosses Iceland from southwest to northeast. The slow movement and separation of the ocean plates can cause cracks in Earth’s crust, through which hot magma from the planet’s interior rises to the surface. As a result, many volcanos have emerged along the divergent boundary. Using a geodetic GPS, the scientists have now been able to measure the movement of the plates over time. The data used in the study is based on measurements from almost 100 “fixed” measurement points. The information from the measurement points have made it possible to draw maps that show in what way the plates are moving away from each other and how large the deformation zone is.

4. AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE?
Symonston, Australia
√ Australia is indeed on the move, with the Pacific tectonic plate moving in a northeasterly direction by about seven centimeters each year. As of January 2017, Australia’s coordinates have officially moved 1.8 meters northeast, following the launch of the Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 (GDA2020). The first update to Australia’s coordinate system in two decades, GDA2020 is a step towards modernizing Australia’s spatial referencing system.

The work of Australia’s experts from Geoscience Australia and the Intergovernmental Panel on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) are behind the move to GDA2020; Australia is one of the first countries in the world to make the ambitious move towards a dynamic datum. It will have the valuable role of supporting future positioning needs for applications like driverless vehicles and centimeter-accurate personal navigation. Australia’s current datum GDA94, like most other national datums the world over, adopts an epoch to define the datum and is expected to differ over time from the ITRF datum used by satellite navigation systems like GPS.

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With the Australian government’s announcement earlier this month that it would invest $12 million in a two-year program looking into the future of positioning technology in Australia, comes plans for testing of satellite based augmentation systems (SBAS) to be undertaken, and for future applications for all four major modes of transport in Australia, as well as for potential safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental benefits.

With the Australian government’s announcement earlier this month that it would invest $12 million in a two-year program looking into the future of positioning technology in Australia, comes plans for testing of satellite based augmentation systems (SBAS) to be undertaken, and for future applications for all four major modes of transport in Australia, as well as for potential safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental benefits.

The SBAS test-bed is Australia’s first step toward developing the positioning technology and expertise needed to be competitive globally and could impact the country’s place as an industry leader in the Asia Pacific region. An SBAS would overcome current gaps Australia has in mobile and radio communications and, when combined with on-ground operational infrastructure and services, could ensure that accurate positioning information can be received anytime and anywhere within Australia.

The two-year project will test two new satellite positioning technologies including next generation SBAS and Precise Point Positioning, which will provide positioning accuracies of several decimeters and five centimeters, respectively. Currently, positioning in Australia is usually accurate to five to 10 meters.

“SBAS utilizes space-based and ground-based infrastructure to improve and augment the accuracy, integrity and availability of basic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, such as those currently provided by the USA Global Positioning System (GPS),” stated Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester, who added the program could test the potential of SBAS technology in the four transport sectors—aviation, maritime, rail and road.

“The future use of SBAS technology was strongly supported by the aviation industry to assist in high accuracy GPS-dependent aircraft navigation. Positioning data can also be used in a range of other transport applications including maritime navigation, automated train management systems and in the future, driverless and connected cars.”

From using Google Maps on smartphone to emergency management and farming, many people use and benefit from positioning technology every day without even realizing it.

The funding will be used to test instant, accurate and reliable positioning technology that could provide future safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental benefits across many industries in Australia, including transport, agriculture, construction, and resources.
According to the Australian Government, research has shown that the wide-spread adoption of improved positioning technology has the potential to generate upwards of $73 billion of value to Australia by 2030.

The benefits to this improved technology can be widespread. Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said access to more accurate data about the Australian landscape would also help unlock the potential of the North.

“This technology has potential uses in a range of sectors, including agriculture and mining, which have always played an important role in our economy, and will also be at the heart of future growth in Northern Australia,” Senator Canavan said.
“Access to this type of technology can help industry and Government make informed decisions about future investments.”

The SBAS test-bed is Australia’s first step towards joining countries such as the United States, Russia, India, Japan and many across Europe in investing in SBAS technology and capitalizing on the link between precise positioning, productivity and innovation.

Early this year, Geoscience Australia with the Collaborative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) will call for organizations from numerous industries including agriculture, aviation, construction, mining, maritime, rail, road, spatial, and utilities to participate in the test-bed.

GNSS Infrastructure
The SBAS test-bed will utilize existing national GNSS infrastructure developed by AuScope as part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

It will test two new satellite positioning technologies — next generation SBAS and Precise Point Positioning, which provide positioning accuracies of several decimeters and five centimeters, respectively.

Highly accurate positioning technologies are already available in Australia, but they can be cost-prohibitive and not readily available in many areas.

Geoscience Australia is working with the CRCSI on the project, which is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an SBAS for Australia, and build expertise within government and industry on its transformative benefits. The project is funded through the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, and Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

Positioning data has become fundamental to a range of applications and businesses worldwide. It increases productivity, secures safety and propels innovation; enables GPS on smartphones, provides safety-of-life navigation on aircraft, increases water efficiency on farms, helps to locate vessels in distress at sea, and supports intelligent navigation tools and advanced transport management systems that connect cities and regions.

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Lockheed Martin has announced a major upgrade to modernize the GPS ground control system, the company said. The commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) upgrade no. 2 (CUP2) project, which became operational in mid-October to manage the 31 GPS satellites, is the latest step in the U.S. Air Force’s plan to refresh technology and transform the legacy operational control segment, also known as the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP), the company said.

Lockheed Martin has announced a major upgrade to modernize the GPS ground control system, the company said. The commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) upgrade no. 2 (CUP2) project, which became operational in mid-October to manage the 31 GPS satellites, is the latest step in the U.S. Air Force’s plan to refresh technology and transform the legacy operational control segment, also known as the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP), the company said.

"Under CUP2, Lockheed Martin and the Air Force installed modern commercial hardware and a major software upgrade that enhances the system’s ability to protect data and infrastructure from cyber threats, as well as improves its overall sustainability and operability," said Vinny Sica, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of mission solutions. "Continued modernization and cyber-hardening of the GPS control system is vitally important to the sustainment of navigation services for our military and all global GPS users."

The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin the CUP2 project in November 2013 through its GPS Control Segment contract. The system, a part of a GPS Control Segment contract, is deployed into the AEP’s GPS Master Control Station and the Alternate Master Control Station.

This is the third major technology upgrade of the GPS command and control system since the GCS contract began in January 2013, the company said.

In May, as part of Contingency Operations (COps) through the GPS III contract, Lockheed Martin demonstrated a preliminary design to build off CUP2 and further upgrade the AEP, the company said. This supports the next generation GPS III satellites to perform their positioning, navigation and timing mission.

Lockheed Martin said COps is a temporary gap filler prior to the entire GPS constellation’s transition to the next-generation Operational Control System (OCX) Block 1, which is currently in development.

The Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Global Positioning Systems Directorate, contracted the CUP2 upgrade. The Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation.

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The 2016 Trimble Dimensions user conference and exhibition will take place at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas on November 7, 8 and 9.

The annual event gathers users of Trimble’s products including positioning technology for unmanned systems as well as mapping, GIS, surveying, photgrammetry and remote sensing and other technologies of interest to readers of Inside GNSS.

Four hundred and fifty technical sessions and networking events give attendees an opportunity to network widely within and among industry groups.

The 2016 Trimble Dimensions user conference and exhibition will take place at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas on November 7, 8 and 9.

The annual event gathers users of Trimble’s products including positioning technology for unmanned systems as well as mapping, GIS, surveying, photgrammetry and remote sensing and other technologies of interest to readers of Inside GNSS.

Four hundred and fifty technical sessions and networking events give attendees an opportunity to network widely within and among industry groups.

If you are an expert in a field covered by the conference and are an experienced presenter in front of large audiences, Trimble will welcome your proposal for speaking at the event.The organizers are accepting abstracts until 20 here.

Early bird pricing ends on July 31.

The post Trimble Dimensions 2016 appeared first on Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design.

The 2015 Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Forum will be held at the College Park Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, U.S.A. on May 12-13, 2015.

The 2015 Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Forum will be held at the College Park Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, U.S.A. on May 12-13, 2015.

The theme of the inaugural two day event is “Accelerating Space Situational Awareness Capabilities.” It will bring together a community of experts from Government, Space Agencies, Satellite/Spacecraft Operators, Space Lawyers, Space Insurance providers and Defense. The event will focus on understanding and predicting the physical location of natural and manmade objects in orbit around the Earth, with the objective of avoiding collisions and protecting space infrastructure.

Registration is open online.

Col. Harold Martin, director of National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing and Kenneth Hodgkins, director of State Department Office of Space and Advanced Technology will be among the featured speakers at the panel discussion on Emerging GNSS Applications.

Other topics include:

• AFSPC: The Future GNSS, GPS Program and the Next Five Years
• Promoting Space Security and Sustainability
• The Astrodynamics Innovation (AIC) and International Participation
• An Examination of the CNES Role in French Space Surveillance
• Exploring Current and Global SSA Capabilities and Programmes
• SSA and Collision Avoidance Activities
• Understanding Current SSA Technologies Being Developed
• SDA CA Operations
• SMARTnet – Final Testing
• The Importance of Space and Cyberspace: Global Coverage and Global Access
• Space Weather on Critical Operations and Activities in the High North
• The Impact of Space Weather on Space Exploration
• Space Situational Awareness Sharing for the 21st Century
• ….and more.

With a focus on solving the political issues but not ignoring the technical, Space Situational Awareness 2015 is the second gathering of dedicated SSA experts from across Europe and the USA, to discuss and debate the business, political and technical challenges that lie ahead.

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The 6th Conference on European Union Space Policy will take place at the European Commission’s Charlemagne Building, in Brussels, Belgium on January 28 and 29, 2014.

Registration is now open. Online registration closes January 22, 2014.

The theme is "What Direction for Europe in Space Between Now and 2020?." The conference is sponsored by the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.

The 6th Conference on European Union Space Policy will take place at the European Commission’s Charlemagne Building, in Brussels, Belgium on January 28 and 29, 2014.

Registration is now open. Online registration closes January 22, 2014.

The theme is "What Direction for Europe in Space Between Now and 2020?." The conference is sponsored by the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.

The issues under discussion during the plenary sessions are:

• European Space Industry: Facing the Challenge of Competitiveness
• International Dimension of Space: Cooperation and Competitiveness
• EU Space Programmes: Prospective State-of-Play
• The Growing Role of Satellite Telecommunications, and New Challenges for Operators
• What Are the New Challenges and Opportunities for Europe in Space?
• The Defence and Security Dimension of Space Services and Activities

The keynote speaker on January 29 will be Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the European Commission.

Other morning speakers include the Greek Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Presidency of the Council of the EU;
the President of Eurospace; the President of ESOA.

This year, organizers emphasize the need to examine the future of Europe in Space at the start of the European Union’s Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014-20, and the critical decisions the EU and the European Space Agency must make in order to pursue the current EU space programmes, such as EGNOS, Galileo and Copernicus, and to launch new initiatives, such as Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST).

The conference is free and aimed at decisionmakers in EU governance and industry as well as members of the public, but everyone must register online by January 22, 2014. Those who do not register by that date should contact the conference organizers by email at the address below.

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A public-private partnership created to reduce the financial burden involved in implementing the nation’s GPS-based, next-generation (NextGen) air transportation system has raised its first rounds of financing and is now negotiating contracts with its charter customers.

“We have  . . . closed our first tranche of equity,” said Jim Hughey, senior vice-president of the NextGen Equipage Fund. The fund has secured a total of $100 million in commitments with some $40 million of that coming from leading aerospace companies.

A public-private partnership created to reduce the financial burden involved in implementing the nation’s GPS-based, next-generation (NextGen) air transportation system has raised its first rounds of financing and is now negotiating contracts with its charter customers.

“We have  . . . closed our first tranche of equity,” said Jim Hughey, senior vice-president of the NextGen Equipage Fund. The fund has secured a total of $100 million in commitments with some $40 million of that coming from leading aerospace companies.

The fund is a channel for airlines and air carriers to tap federally supported loans. The loans support the purchase of the hardware and services needed to equip aircraft to use NextGen, an upgrade to air traffic surveillance, control, and communications being developed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In the works since 2003, NextGen is widely seem as crucial to handling the growth in demand for air travel over the next decade. The U.S. air transportation system now moves some 730 million passengers and supports roughly 70,000 commercial and general aviation flights every 24 hours, according to a brief prepared by the House Aviation Subcommittee for a NextGen status hearing on September 12.

The FAA expects the number of passengers to reach 1 billion by 2025 with more than 95,000 flights every day, according to the General Accountability Office (GAO) — a level of activity widely acknowledged to be unsupportable with the nation’s current infrastructure.

Fly Now, Pay Later
The equipage fund raises money that it uses to buy the equipment needed for airlines to update their planes and systems. It then installs the equipment and helps keep it up to date. The airline or air carrier pays for the equipment and service over time, avoiding an up-front financial hit.

Because the government is guaranteeing the loans, the cost of the capital is low, explained Hughey. The fund leverages the money from private investors into much larger purchases of equipment multiplying its effect. Hughey said the $100 million raised so far, which is at risk, is expected to fund $1 billion in equipment. The revenue to pay off the equipment purchases/installation comes from the airlines’ payments made over time.

From the government’s point of view, the approach is intended to speed adoption. The real cost savings from NextGen don’t occur until a critical mass of the industry, an estimated 60 percent, adopts the new system. That suggests that those who wait to equip until most others have already done so will be at an advantage: they get the offsetting savings sooner after investing in the equipment as opposed to sitting, unrewarded, on sunk costs for an extended period of time.

The fund, however, may be able to change that calculation. It offers a lower-cost way to finance the equipment but, since its resources are likely to be limited, those airlines that do not move quickly may get left out. That creates an incentive to adopt early — and some firms are already moving to take advantage of the fund.

“We are a proceeding now with our first commercial contracts with our customers, which are a couple leading airlines,” Hughey told Inside GNSS. “They will be the charter customers for the fund.”
Although the fund is not expected to be able to finance all of the billions in equipment upgrades that will needed to take advantage of NextGen, it may expand its efforts.

“If we are successful in placing the full $1 billion in capital that is leveraged off the $100 million, then we would be very interested in doing a larger portion.” It would likely take several years to place the first round of capital, Hughey said.

Political, Administrative Obstacles
The legal basis for the fund and the federal loan guarantees was put into place in February with the passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. The bill set forth a number of tasks for the FAA aimed at improving management accountability in the NextGen program, which is costing the agency some $1 billion a year.

The FAA’s implementation of that law and NextGen’s ballooning costs — especially for the key En Route Automation Modernization or ERAM program — came under fire during the Aviation Subcommittee hearing.

“If you were working for me and you had a $330 million to $500 million overrun (in ERAM), and a three- to four-year delay, your butt would be fired. That is not acceptable.” Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the chair of the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary, John Porcari and Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

The FAA has made changes, said Huerta, including restructuring its NextGen contract. Some things also are not currently within FAA control, pointed out Porcari.  

The FAA administrator, for example, is supposed to have a deputy directly overseeing NextGen. Though the role has been delegated to Vicki Cox, she cannot be put into place until Acting Administrator Michael Huerta is confirmed as administrator — and his confirmation has been hung up since March. The reauthorization bill also calls for appointment of a Chief NextGen Officer. The lack of confirmation is holding up that new position as well.

“There is a chain of command issue here,” said Porcari.

Porcari also assured the committee that the United States was working with the European Union to ensure that their version of NextGen, which is called SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research), would be fully interoperable with the U.S. system. The United States is slightly ahead in its development of NextGen, witnesses told the committee, acknowledging that there is an economic advantage to having the lead in the development of a satellite-based air transportation system.

That lead was fragile, however, as was any hold on the jobs and exports linked to having the foremost system.
“We’re ahead — but just a little bit,” Gerald Dillingham, the director of GAO’s Physical Infrastructure Division, told the committee. “There’s a lot of cooperation but also some competition between the U.S. and Europe. I think what is important is that it could go off track at any time. If we fall behind implementing NextGen, and they keep moving, we could find ourselves in a different position.”

Implementation would fall behind should sequestration take place in January, Porcari said in response to a question from Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Ill.

Costello pointed to a report by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) that said sequestration could push back full implementation of NextGen by 10 years or more to 2035 or beyond at a cost of some 1.3 million jobs and tens of billions of dollars in economic activity.

Porcari did not address the AIA report, saying it, and other reports, were based on very specific assumptions on which he declined to comment. He agreed, however that sequestration would delay NextGen — and the hit to the program would be worse than one might expect at first glance.

“If (sequestration) happens in January, we’re already a quarter of the way through the fiscal year; so, the impact would be greater because it is not spread over an entire year.”

Dee Ann Divis is an editor at the Washington Examiner in Washington D.C. She writes the Washington View column for Inside GNSS.

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GNSS vulnerability is rightly one of the most talked about topics of 2011.

GNSS vulnerability is rightly one of the most talked about topics of 2011.

Publicity of events such as the “accidental” GPS jamming at the Newark Airport in the United States, the Royal Academy of Engineering report regarding the vulnerability of UK GNSS services, the recent investigations into the LightSquared “problem,” numerous conference presentations, and many articles in technical journals and news media — all address the well-known fact that space-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) is vulnerable to localized RF interference at or near to the receiver operating frequency.

Some of this publicity relates to the UK’s developments in the area of detecting GNSS interference, specifically the GAARDIAN program (for GNSS Availability, Accuracy, Reliability anD Integrity Assessment for Timing and Navigation). This was a wide collaboration between government, academia, and industry to develop a robust system for analyzing interference phenomena associated with GPS and eLoran systems and the effects on their use in safety- and mission-critical applications.

The GAARDIAN program completed in 2011. This article gives an overview of the resulting capability to detect GNSS interference and jamming. It also provides details about a specific recent detection event that demonstrated the capability of the system and that, by involving UK Law enforcement agencies, proved the system can be operationally effective.

GAARDIAN ’s Guardians
GAARDIAN, a collaboration led by Chronos Technology Ltd., included the University of Bath, General Lighthouse Authorities of UK and Ireland, BT, Ordnance Survey, National Physical Laboratory, and Imperial College London. The project was part-funded by the UK’s national innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, and ran between October 2008 and March 2011.

The project set out to create interference detection and monitoring sensors (IDMs) that could be deployed in the vicinity of safety- and/or mission-critical PNT applications. These sensors or probes had a design brief to monitor the integrity, reliability, continuity, and accuracy of the locally received GPS and eLoran signals on a round-the-clock basis and report back to a central server, which acts as the user interface.

Users were to be alerted in real time to any anomalous behavior in either of the GPS and eLoran signals. This concept can also be considered a GNSS/ PNT quality of service (QoS) monitoring and reporting system.

System Design
The GAARDIAN program has resulted in a 24×7 nationwide experimental IDM system, whose sensors continuously monitor PNT signals from both GPS and eLoran. GPS is the main GNSS technology monitored, but integration of other GNSS technologies is certainly possible. eLoran is an alternative PNT technology unaffected by interference to GPS and technically dissimilar in its dependencies, e.g., operating at different frequencies and using separate infrastructure from GNSS.

The design of the GAARDIAN architecture consists of three main elements: probe, server, and communication. The probe, shown in the accompanying photo, acts as a semi-portable station that executes specialized functions to detect anomalous events and failures of GPS or eLoran in the vicinity of the probe.

The station also processes data obtained by the probe to reduce the amount that needs to be transmitted to the central server. The server’s role is to manage and process the data received from probes and external sources including the Ordnance Survey’s OS Net network of permanent GNSS receivers.

The server offers the users real-time access to the output of the probes (including anomalous events) and dedicated system (GPS and eLoran) positioning/timing performance. Furthermore, it provides the probes with information on failures that have a regional impact.

Both the probes and the server integrated specialist monitoring technologies from the partners, with the integration and normalization being carried out at and by Chronos’ UK headquarters premises and staff, respectively.

The probe is designed to be adaptable to various user applications, and specific functionality can be enabled or disabled depending on user requirements. Every probe performs a minimum set of functions:

• interference detection
• failure identification 
• data capture during anomalous events 
• eLoran validation

The specific functionality of the probes and the server, summarised above are based on these activities. For example, assessment of conditions such as space segment failures can be performed to ensure an event is due to a localized problem and not systematic.

Figure 1 (see inset photo, above right) outlines the basic probe architecture in which the outputs from a GPS receiver, an eLoran receiver, and a small form factor rubidium atomic clock are analyzed. One form of the analysis performed is an investigation of the 1PPS output of the two PNT sources against a common reference.

A time interval error (TIE) measurement of these outputs is conducted continuously over multiple sample window sizes. This is converted to maximum time interval error (MTIE) and compared with a predefined limit. This enables short-, medium-, and long-term timing anomalies to be reported.

Not only does this feature enable the detection of multipath, interference, and system anomalies in the GPS signal, it also provides a readymade QoS service should eLoran become the accepted technological alternative PNT to GPS or for adopters of the future Galileo Publicly Regulated Service (PRS).

Maximum time interval error (MTIE) is the largest peak-to-peak TIE (i.e., wander) in any observation interval of length t, calculated as follows: 

Equation 1

where n is the number of samples in the measurement window, τ₀ is the sample interval, N is the number of samples in the data set. The index variable i is incremented to scan across the window and k, representing the starting point of the current data set, is incremented for sliding the measurement window.

This principle can be used to set thresholds of maximum allowable TIE, which when exceeded can be flagged as an alert. Figure 2 shows some early experimental data that compares a GPS 1PPS to a cesium standard, with a jump in the TIE when a system anomaly occurs. In the example data, the operation of a GPS repeater is causing the reaction.

In addition to this TIE measurement, the probe characterizes the GNSS RF multipath environment. This is accomplished via an algorithmic comparison of the measured GPS signal/noise ratio (SNR) for each satellite against a precalculated polynomial “Quickthresh” mask. This algorithm uses the SNR, azimuth, and elevation values to develop a mask for “normal” signal strength and extract some parameters related to multipath of the probe.

An “event” occurs when the SNR for a [user-configurable] number of satellites has dropped below expected tolerances, leading to the assumption that a multipath or jamming environment may exist. Other parameters are taken into account, such as standard deviation per satellite and the multipath conditions of the “normal” state.

This means that a probe can, if necessary, be deployed into a strong multipath environment. Over the course of the GAARDIAN program, the time required for the normal state determination was reduced to a level that enables the rapid deployment of a probe to a location of interest, a concept being used in the successor program, SENTINEL (see image at the top of this article).

Probes are currently deployed at various locations around the UK and Ireland and continuously report on the integrity, continuity, accuracy, and reliability of the PNT signals in the vicinity. The data is communicated back to a central location, and continuously available via a common web browser, making the complex data accessible quickly and easily. Figure 3 shows the server’s graphical user interface through which users are alerted and, in turn, can access data from individual probes and perform detailed event analysis.

Server side analysis tools include the ability to perform historical trend analysis of both the GPS and eLoran data from the probes. These tools enable operators and users to monitor long-term factors, such as the eLoran additional secondary factor (ASF) variations, and analyze long-term GPS QoS metrics and event patterns.

This pattern analysis capability was used during a recent investigation by the GAARDIAN program team, which we will describe next.

Event Investigation
GAARDIAN as a research tool has delivered a number of key firsts in the field of GPS interference detection, eLoran monitoring techniques, and GPS multipath characterization, Even though only an experimental rather than operational system, one of the partners, Ordnance Survey, requested that a GAARDIAN probe be moved to a specific site of interest in the UK.

This article will not detail the location of this probe, but the reason for the deployment was that an Ordnance Survey OS Net reference station at the location was experiencing significant failures. The OS Net network, consisting of more than 100 continuously operating GNSS receivers, facilitates a core geodetic remit of Ordnance Survey as well as providing data and services for internal and commercial GNSS correction services across the whole of Great Britain.

Therefore, failure of an OS reference station, particularly intermittent failure, of any of these reference stations has a significant effect on business continuity because of the resulting data loss.

Deployment of the GAARDIAN probe to the site of the OS Net reference station represented the first operational deployment of the system in the UK. Installation and setup work by Chronos Technology, meant that the same RF environment as seen by the reference station was also seen by the probe. Although the probe detected immediate loss-of-signal events, the program team allowed the probe to gather three weeks’ worth of data before full analysis was undertaken.

Human or Natural?
The analysis showed two clear and distinct types of event; Figure 4 shows an example of the first event type, dubbed internally as “Short Shallow Fat” or SSF. The figure diagram shows carrier/ noise values against time, and the event is clearly visible. This event was found to be sidereal in nature and therefore discounted as the cause of the problem. The root cause of this first type of event is currently under investigation and not part of this article.

Figure 5 shows the second type of event detected by the GAARDIAN probe. Its signature was christened internally as “Deep Short Sharp” or DSS. Again, the event can be clearly seen in the data and was found to have an average duration in the order of only a few seconds. This was the event that correlated each time with the loss of lock experienced by the OS Net reference receiver. The DSS event affected signals from all satellites in view at the time of the event.

Detailed analysis concentrated on the DSS profile, particularly the frequency of occurrence, looking for trend patterns. This analysis showed that the event exhibited regularity in terms of days of the week upon which it occurred. The event also changed activity during a public holiday (e.g., an expected Monday event happened on a Tuesday as Monday was a public holiday). In addition to other indicators that cannot be detailed here, this pattern led the team to suspect it was not caused by a natural event, but rather by manmade means.

Enforcement
To progress this analysis further and to bring the OS Net reference site back to full and reliable operation clearly called for some “on the ground” investigation and mitigation. During the GAARDIAN program, strong links were forged with elements of UK law enforcement and culminated in the SENTINEL program. This activity included gaining the UK Association of Chief Police Officers ITS Working Group (ACPO ITS) as a full partner. Discussions with ACPO ITS and other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) allowed the GAARDIAN team to compile a confidential report on the events described here, which led to the deployment of LEA assets to the vicinity of the site in question.

Small, handheld detection devices were used to aid in localizing any interference source, as GAARDIAN itself cannot provide a location or bearing of the interference source. (This latter capability is part of the SENTINEL program.)

This article cannot provide specific details of the LEA operation nor describe how the GAARDIAN team further contributed, for reasons of operational security and possible legal proceedings. We can say, however, that the LEA ground operation did identify a source of the interference, which was identified as one of the vehicle-based GPS jamming devices seen frequently on the Internet and as described in the Royal Academy of Engineering report on GNSS vulnerabilities.

As a result of this event analysis, therefore, the initial assessment that the problem was manmade was proven correct.  Any further action by the appropriate UK authorities is to be determined by the UK LEAs, and the GAARDIAN team will not be involved.

Conclusion
This overview and case study has shown that the GAARDIAN system, although an experimental network, is fully capable of detecting deliberate and accidental GPS interference & jamming. And, as the case described here demonstrates, it is capable of being the primary detection sensor used in an operational law enforcement environment. Detection of interference events lasting just a few seconds has shown to be possible.

We should also note that occasional variants of the DSS profile described in the article exhibited a “tail,” i.e., a shallow recovery back to a normal signal/ noise state. This was subsequently identified as a waiting period by the vehicle emitting the jamming signal at nearby traffic lights.

GAARDIAN thus fulfills the role called for by the original design concept. Further work would be needed to integrate the server and probe functionality within a customers’ existing monitoring infrastructure, or perhaps to form the core of a monitoring system that needed to be implemented from the ground up. A number of avenues are currently being explored in this respect.

As collateral benefits of the GAARDIAN project in addition to achieving the core goals of GPS interference detection, additional capabilities have been realized, such as long-term eLoran ASF monitoring and calibration, differential eLoran calculations, and the introduction of a multiple technology PNT QoS monitoring system.

The technology mentioned in this article is also being improved upon for the SENTINEL program, which incorporates additional capabilities for determining the location of an interference source and providing a measure of trust in a PNT system.

Cooperation between the GAARDIAN team and UK LEAs, based on analysis of GAARDIAN data, enabled a quick and effective identification of the source of radio interference. GAARDIAN data was an invaluable aid to decision making on the ground, which not only proved successful but also avoided the need for potentially protracted and costly law enforcement investigation.

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