NavCom X is a precision positioning and communication system developed by Czech company Betrian, in collaboration with the Prague-based GNSS Centre of Excellence (GCE), and with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) under the NAVISP program.
The project is a direct response to Czech railway operators calling for a modular, high-accuracy GNSS-based device, with Galileo as the preferred satellite system. But the resulting solution is easily adaptable to other sectors requiring precise positioning and reliability.
NavCom X combines advanced hardware and a distributed services software architecture, enabling precise, standalone tracking and system monitoring, independent of external power or connectivity. The system is designed for high performance, resilience, and flexibility, capable of tracking service intervals and accessing real-time and historical data.
The system also features integrated Galileo OSNMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication), providing authentication of navigation messages to mitigate spoofing. NavCom X anticipates future ERA (EU Railways Agency) standards, including those pertaining to OSNMA.
Hardware and software integration
At a recent ESA-hosted event, NavCom X team leaders, including Petr Seč from Betrian and Tomáš Duša from GCE, presented the system. The hardware design is compact and robust. Described as ‘not just a bulky tablet’, it supports external antennas, strong power supply options and a user interface tailored to specific use cases.
Energy efficiency was a major project focus. The software architecture includes modular daemons (background processes), such as GNSS processing, OSNMA handling and data transmission. The team followed receiver guidelines and conducted early-stage tests using software-defined radios (SDRs) and vectors provided by the European Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA).
A comprehensive testing campaign was conducted at the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC), including cold, warm, and hot start scenarios, as well as spoofing resilience trials using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) techniques and GNSS E1 signal spoofing.
Field trials took place at the Velim test rail circuit in the Czech Republic, operated by the Railway Research Institute (VUZ). The campaign covered 20 test scenarios under realistic conditions, involving multiple locomotive types, varying speeds, and with L1 jamming. Mechanical, electrical, UI, connectivity, and data handling were all verified. All navigation performance goals were met, OSNMA authentication and resilience against spoofing were demonstrated successfully, with battery performance exceeding targets.
Seč said the NavCom X system sets a new foundation for safe, efficient, and scalable GNSS adoption in rail and other sectors such as agriculture, high-definition mapping, and construction. Next steps include improving modularity, refining OSNMA features, enhancing energy performance, and integrating cloud-based analytics.
