Figure 1. Galileo/GPS skyplot. HUST NAVIS Center figureA research team at the NAVIS Center at Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Vietnam has achieved what it says is the first successful Galileo-only positioning in Asia.
A research team at the NAVIS Center at Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Vietnam has achieved what it says is the first successful Galileo-only positioning in Asia.
On March 27, 2013, the four Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites
— PFM (PRN11), FM2 (PRN12), FM3 (PRN19), and FM4 (PRN20) — were visible
at the same time in the sky over Hanoi for nearly two hours (from 2:15
to 4:00 GMT) while transmitting a valid navigation message. This enabled
the NAVIS team to compute position fixes for Galileo and compare those
results with simultaneous GPS position fixes and combined Galileo/GPS
position fixes.
Figure 1 shows a skyplot of the satellites of the GPS and Galileo
systems at the time of the campaign, with the satellites’ pseudorandom
noise (PRN) code designations and their elevations in degrees above the
horizon.
Figure 2 shows position fixes computed using GPS only, Galileo only, or
GPS+Galileo. During the campaign, the data demodulation process
determined that the Galileo system indicated a “navigation data valid”
status for PFM and FM3, and “working without guarantee” status for FM2
and FM4.
The positions were obtained by a receiver antenna located on top of the
roof of the NAVIS Center, at latitude, 21°00’16.69” N, longitude
105°50’37.90” E, and height, 35.2 meters.
The NAVIS Center
was established by a project co-funded by the European Union and
collaborates with European and Asian partners on research and
development of satellite navigation technology in South-East Asia.
Inside GNSS received the report of the HUST campaign from Dr. Ta Hai
Tung, director of the NAVIS Center, and Professor Gustavo Belforte,
NAVIS Center co-director.
