Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Seventeen years after federal regulators restricted a promising wireless technology to protect GPS and other spectrum users, they are being asked to loosen those limitations. Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) proponents insist the strictures are too tight and cut off their ability to innovate.
By Dee Ann Divis
Today’s vehicular navigation systems couple global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers with an inertial navigation system (INS). Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite signals are a particularly attractive INS aiding source in GNSS-challenged environments.
By Zak Kassas et alia
GNSS positioning is strongly challenged in urban canyon areas. The signal reflection induces multipath and non-light-of-sight (NLOS). These signal blockages and reflections are caused by the obstacles of signal transmission between the satellites and receiver.
By Weisong Wen, Li-Ta Hsu
Today, more and more integral fields of application including banking and finance, telecom networks and electricity grids, rely heavily on accurate, reliable, and traceable signals for time and synchronization.
By Ricardo Píriz, et al
Ligado Networks is pushing spectrum regulators to make a decision on its request to allow satellite frequencies near the GPS band to also be used for terrestrial 5G networks.
By Dee Ann Divis
The problem of Position Determination based on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites signal of opportunity in uncovered and denied GNSS areas such as oceanic regions, north regions and deserts can be significant one. How to maintain tracking information of airlines especially during distress and emergency? To achieve that, a new design for Search and Rescue (SAR) positioning information is developed. Position and speed of the transceiver could be estimated based on distributed Doppler information fusion from LEO satellites.
By Hamza Benzerrouk
Novel protection level formulas, combining RAIM with solution separation and Precise Point Positioning, are applied to static, automotive, and flight scenarios. The authors of this article demonstrate that protection levels below 2 meters are achieved with reduced computational loads.
With the rethinking of the Galileo Commercial Service (CS), the E6B signal will disseminate Precise Point Positioning (PPP) corrections whereas the E6C component will be encrypted for authentication purposes. Different processing options for the E6 signals are investigated and it is shown that the sensitivity gap between data and pilot processing can be bridged by introducing non-coherent integrations and inter-frequency aiding. Extended integrations mitigate the impact of noise while inter-frequency aiding reduces the dynamics perceived by the E6B tracking loop.
By Daniele Borio and Melania Susi
In the past few months, there have been articles in the press providing information and misinformation in advance of the GPS week rollover that occurred on April 6. Readers were warned to retire obsolete receivers, update software, check with manufacturers, and even perform testing of critical devices.
By John W. Betz
Curtis Hay is a Technical Fellow at General Motors, where he develops precise GNSS and map technology for safe and reliable autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. He has appeared on many international stages, but while he very much enjoys traveling and meeting people in faraway lands, both for work and for pleasure, he knows where home is.
By Peter Gutierrez
Hostile cyber operations such as jamming and spoofing of GNSS signals are a growing concern. While they do not cause major damages to the satellite navigation system as such, they can have severe effects on critical national infrastructures and many other systems. Here, we address how international telecommunications law as well as the international law on the prevention of war apply in this context.
By Ingo Baumann
Improvements to GPS performance are often incremental, achieved by squeezing better performance out of existing systems with clever tweaks, smarter analysis and sharper receivers. Then again, every once in a while, there’s a huge leap in the capabilities of the system itself—an advance so big that it makes you appreciate all over again the elegant wizardry of satellite navigation.
By Dee Ann Divis
This present edition of our “Human Engineering” article features a man who is not actually an engineer, although we believe the exception, in this case, is worth making.
“I am a licensed commercial airplane pilot with two undergraduate science degrees and two master’s degrees,” said James Joseph “JJ” Miller. “At NASA, I am a technologist manager overseeing the work of a team of engineers at several NASA field centers across the USA.”
By Peter Gutierrez
