Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
When we find ourselves in times of trouble, it can help to take the long view. Pull back, zoom out, range free. Consider a vastly enlarged scope and sequence.
That’s why I find this month’s NTS-3 story so welcome. “Next-generation technologies across space,” I keep repeating.
By Alan Cameron
This advanced geosynchronous satellite from the Air Force Research Laboratory will mature next-generation technologies across space, ground control, and user equipment segments. NTS-3 will experiment with multiple integrated technologies.
Future telecom, finance and energy sector applications may require time synchronization of tens or hundreds of nanoseconds. A joint time and composite MIMO channel estimation method for indoor receivers can meet these stringent requirements.
GPS satellites usually transmit their signals with constant power. However, a so-called “Flex Power” is foreseen to increase the strength of individual signals to better fulfill operational constraints. Flex power operations can be detected in carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) observations provided by GNSS receivers of the global tracking network of the International GNSS Service (IGS).
By Peter Steigenberger, et al.
We trace back through time to witness the progress in anti-spoofing solutions and describe how we arrived at the designs being implemented today; principally GPS’ CHIMERA, Galileo’s OSNMA, and ICAO’s SBAS data scheme.
Critical infrastructure has a compelling need to infer the assurance of PVT estimates—as do users in general. However, traditional PNT platforms do not offer a principled way to infer assurance from multiple anti-spoofing (A-S) techniques, situational awareness (SA) information, and other auxiliary sources such as network data. Here we introduce, a PNT Trust Inference Engine (PNTTING) that can assess PNT trust according to probabilistic models with rigorous semantics.
Researchers in the PRoPART project developed a 10-centimeter accurate and robust position determination system for autonomous vehicles, demonstrating a safe merge of a fully automated heavy truck between two cars driving at speed in an adjacent lane.
By Peter Gutierrez
The Federal Communications Commission ignored a technical standard defining radio-frequency interference. The five commissioners licensed powerful terrestrial broadcast next to the satellite band, exposing national defense and critical infrastructure to harm.
The Federal Communications Commission should really consider updating its motto. “Firm, fast, flexible, and fair” has a bit of an old-fashioned ring. As mottos go, it fails to keep up with the times.
By Alan Cameron
A new methodology targets sub-meter GNSS accuracies in the consumer realm for applications such as augmented reality and visually impaired navigation. Recent Android RTK smartphone services in a real-time environment achieve accuracies below 50 cm. Can these be matched with PPP?
By Joshua Critchley-Marrows, et al.
An assisted GPS direct positioning estimation (DPE) technique for urban environment copes with a full spectrum of direct-line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight or multipath conditions. A new approach using signal visibility and specular reflection predictions within the DPE shows the potential to reduce positioning error from approximately 30 to 10 meters.
At the 12th EU Space Conference in Brussels, Thierry Breton made his first appearance as the new European Commissioner for Internal Market, and a remarkable appearance it was. In his position, Breton is charged with overseeing two of the European Commission’s Directorates General, that of Communications Networks, Content and Technology, also known as DG CONNECT, and Defense Industry and Space, also known, cleverly, as DG DEFIS. In French, defis means “challenges.”
By Peter Gutierrez
After years of delay, we see movement toward a back-up service for PNT and ensuring that critical infrastructure owners and operators take steps to limit vulnerabilities.
By Dee Ann Divis
