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Tag: GNSS research

  • FGI-GSRx software-defined GNSS receiver goes open source

    FGI-GSRx software-defined GNSS receiver goes open source

    NLS-FGI logo

    The open-source release of FGI-GSRx software receiver widens its user base and offers researchers, students and developers a chance to utilize the research platform for innovations.

    The GSRx software receiver, developed by the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), is now being released as open source for use by the GNSS community.

    FGI-GSRx has been extensively used as a research platform for the last decade in different national and international research projects to develop, test and validate novel receiver processing algorithms for robust, resilient and precise positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).

    FGI-GSRx has been used to develop algorithms for detecting GNSS jamming and spoofing events in several past R&D projects. It is also used to develop mitigation algorithms to offer a resilient PNT solution to the user.

    The FGI-GSRx software receiver will be discussed in the next edition of the textbook GNSS Software Receivers by Borre, Fernández-Hernández, Lopez-Salcedo and Bhuiyan. The book will be published by Cambridge University Press in August.

    Uses of the software receiver

    The software receiver can be used in universities and other research institutes to provide graduate-level students and early-stage researchers with hands-on training in GNSS receiver development. It can also be used in the GNSS industry as a benchmark software-defined receiver implementation.

    The software receiver is already being used in the “GNSS Technologies” course offered widely in Finland at the University of Vaasa, Tampere University, Aalto University and the Finnish Institute of Technology.

    The open-source release of FGI-GSRx will enable any third-party developer, researcher or student to use the platform to develop, test and validate innovative algorithms. It offers a flexible interface and configuration files, so that researchers can further implement their own codes or algorithms at different receiver processing stages. This allows the user to go much deeper into the coding without addressing all the implementation details, explained Research Professor Zahidul Bhuiyan, FGI, National Land Survey of Finland.

    Meeting evolving industry needs

    The GNSS market has faced a transformation in the past two decades, with new features and signal properties being added to the modernized satellite navigation systems at an increasing pace. A software-defined receiver enables algorithm optimization and testing in this rapidly changing industry.

    The multi-constellation FGI-GSRx receiver has evolved to provide diversity and improved accuracy. When the FGI-GSRx was first developed, it was able to track the Galileo test satellites GIOVE A and GIOVE B. Since then, FGI researchers have been continuously developing new capabilities to the software receiver with the inclusion of Galileo in 2013, the Chinese satellite navigation system BeiDou in early 2014, the Indian regional satellite navigation System NavIC in late 2014, and the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS in 2015.

  • Researchers develop new ionospheric scintillation model for GNSS

    Researchers develop new ionospheric scintillation model for GNSS

    The ionosphere is shown in purple and not-to-scale in this image. (Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein)
    The ionosphere is shown in purple and not-to-scale in this image. (Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein)

    Researchers have developed a new mathematical model to more accurately capture how ionospheric scintillation interferes with GNSS signals, reports EOS.

    The new model uses a Markov chain. The model’s parameters were drawn from data on actual signal disruptions caused by ionospheric scintillation above Hong Kong on March 2, 2014. The researchers compared its predictions with real-world data and found it accurately emulated the timing and duration of the actual signal disruptions and did so more accurately than an earlier model that did not use a Markov chain approach.

    Citation: “Markov Chain-Based Stochastic Modeling of Deep Signal Fading: Availability Assessment of Dual-Frequency GNSS-Based Aviation Under Ionospheric Scintillation” by Andrew K. Sun, Hyeyeon Chang, Sam Pullen, Hyosub Kil, Jiwon Seo, Y. Jade Morton and Jiyun Lee, Published in Space Weather, June 24, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002655

    The team’s findings also suggest that dual-frequency GNSS signals can significantly counteract the disruptive effects of strong scintillation, specifically for aircraft navigation.

    In the future, this new modeling approach could be extended to improve understanding of other effects of ionospheric scintillation on GNSS signals, as well as their effects at other latitudes.

  • GNSS data show Lebanon blast affected ionosphere

    GNSS data show Lebanon blast affected ionosphere

    A 2020 explosion in Lebanon’s port city of Beirut led to a southward-bound, high-velocity atmospheric wave that rivaled ones generated by volcanic eruptions.

    The epicenter in Beirut, before and after the explosion.(Image: Bhaskar Kundu, et al. Scientific Reports. Feb. 2, 2021).
    The epicenter in Beirut, before and after the explosion.(Image: Bhaskar Kundu, et al. Scientific Reports. Feb. 2, 2021).

    Just after 6 p.m. local time (15:00 UTC) on Aug. 4, 2020, more than 2,750 tons worth of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate exploded in Lebanon’s port city of Beirut, killing around 200 people, making more than 300,000 temporarily homeless, and leaving a 140-meter-diameter crater in its wake. The blast is considered one of the most powerful non-nuclear, man-made explosions in human history.

    Now, calculations by Hokkaido University scientists in Japan have found that the atmospheric wave from the blast led to electron disturbances high in Earth’s upper atmosphere. They published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

    The team of scientists, which included colleagues from the National Institute of Technology Rourkela in India, calculated changes in total electron content in Earth’s ionosphere: the part of the atmosphere from around 50 to 965 kilometres in altitude. Natural events like extreme ultraviolet radiation and geomagnetic storms, and man-made activities like nuclear tests, can cause disturbances to the ionosphere’s electron content.

    “We found that the blast generated a wave that travelled in the ionosphere in a southwards direction at a velocity of around 0.8 kilometres per second,” says Hokkaido University Earth and Planetary scientist Kosuke Heki. This is similar to the speed of sound waves travelling through the ionosphere.

    The team calculated changes in ionospheric electron content by looking at differences in delays experienced by microwave signals transmitted by GPS satellites to their ground stations. Changes in electron content affect these signals as they pass through the ionosphere and must be regularly taken into consideration to accurately measure GPS positions.

    The ionospheric disturbance caused by an explosion can be detected by differential ionospheric delays of microwave signals of two carrier frequencies from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites. (Image: Bhaskar Kundu, et al. Scientific Reports. Feb. 2, 2021).
    The ionospheric disturbance caused by an explosion can be detected by differential ionospheric delays of microwave signals of two carrier frequencies from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites. (Image: Bhaskar Kundu, et al. Scientific Reports. Feb. 2, 2021).

    The scientists also compared the magnitude of the ionospheric wave generated by the Beirut blast to similar waves following natural and anthropogenic events. They found that the wave generated by the Beirut blast was slightly larger than a wave generated by the 2004 eruption of Asama Volcano in central Japan, and comparable to ones that followed other recent eruptions on Japanese islands.

    The energy of the ionospheric wave generated by the Beirut blast was significantly larger than a more energetic explosion in a Wyoming coal mine in the USA in 1996. The Beirut blast was equivalent to an explosion of 1.1 kilotons of TNT, while the Wyoming explosion was equivalent to 1.5 kilotons of TNT. The total electron content disturbance of the Wyoming explosion was only 1/10 of that caused by the Beirut blast. The scientists believe this was partially due to the Wyoming mine being located in a somewhat protected pit.

    Original Article

    Bhaskar Kundu et al. Atmospheric wave energy of the 2020 August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, from ionospheric disturbances. Scientific Reports. February 2, 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82355-5

  • Research Roundup: Navigation in urban environments

    Research Roundup: Navigation in urban environments

    Image: Moncherie/E+/Getty Images
    Image: Moncherie/E+/Getty Images

    Of the hundreds of papers researchers presented this year at the Institute of Navigation’s annual ION GNSS+ conference, which took place virtually Sept. 21–25, the following three focused on navigation in urban environments. Papers are available at www.ion.org/publications/browse.cfm.

    Low-Cost Single-Frequency PPP System

    Featuring multi-constellation global availability, fast convergence and continuous navigation solutions, Instant PPP (IP3) was developed as an ideal precise positioning solution for mass-market applications in urban environments. The low-cost single-frequency PPP system demonstrates 50-cm accuracy in open-sky and suburban environments, and is further enhanced to support precise positioning in urban environments. The IP3 library is uniquely designed and enhanced. For instance, the instant receiver velocity based on the Doppler observations and the coordinate changes calculated from the carrier-phase differences between two consecutive epochs are integrated for the one-step prediction of the receiver positions in the Kalman filter.

    Meanwhile, the weight of carrier phase, pseudorange and Doppler observations are smartly tuned as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) respectively. Additionally, quality control adapts to different scenarios, such as open-sky or urban environments. The receiver clock drifts for different constellations are specifically modelled in the velocity estimation to increase the degrees of freedom, which further enhances the solution availability in these extreme challenging situations.

    To evaluate the IP3 library in urban environments, real-time vehicle-based field tests were carried out with an IP3 evaluation kit in Calgary, Canada. Results indicate the IP3 library can provide 50-cm accuracy in suburban areas with 100% solution availability. In an urban environment with numerous high buildings, the positioning root-mean-square error (RMS) of IP3 degrades to meter level while the solution availability remains 100%. IP3 can provide precise positioning solutions with low-cost GNSS receivers even in urban environments.

    Citation. Hongzhou Yang, Fei Liu and Yang Gao, Profound Positioning Inc., Canada, “Precise Positioning into Urban Environments: A Low-Cost Single-Frequency PPP System.”

    A Sub-Meter Real-time Positioning Service for Smartphones

    A real-time positioning service for smartphones that meets a target threshold of 50 centimeters in urban environments is evaluated. The evaluation is possible through the Flamingo service, an API library for smartphone developers that enables higher accuracies than standard Google location services. The API is offered in a format that simply replaces Android location, streamlining its integration into new and existing applications that require better positioning. The service provides reference station infrastructure and correctional data products through a modified version of traditional NTRIP services. Duty cycling, low-quality clocks and high RF interference are common in a smartphone, so pre-filtering algorithms have been designed and calibrated to reject and de-weight poor measurements.

    Based on proximity to a local base station, the service decides whether to use RTK or PPP-like processing. Performance is assessed on positioning accuracy, reliability and availability. Different operational environments are tested, such as pedestrian navigation in a congested area, and cycling scenarios. These are chosen to closely correspond to various applications. Rather than proving ideal test conditions and post-processing to optimize performance, the study focuses on realistic, real-time processing inside a smartphone.

    Results are collected through a simple logging app that uses the Flamingo API. A target is set for 50 cm or better accuracies, where current smartphone positioning is within only a few meters. This enables mass-market location services to be applied in new markets such as augmented reality, lower accuracy surveying, GIS asset collection, and navigation assistance applications.

    Citation. Joshua Critchley-Marrows, William Roberts, Malgorzata Siutkowska, Maria Ivanovici, NSL, UK; Valentin Barreau, Soufian Ayachi, Laurent Arzel, Telespazio, France, “A Sub-Meter Real-Time Positioning Service for Smartphones.”

    The Path to Robust Municipal PNT

    This research identifies where municipal governments fit in the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) ecosphere, their awareness of PNT-related issues, whether and how they are approaching these issues, and actions they can take to improve their services to citizens and travelers. Lessons from other areas are applied, such as the resource typing construct used in FEMA’s National Incident Management System, to develop best practices for city PNT activity. This work will guide cities in addressing this important area and assist policy makers in efforts to involve cities in the development and implementation of PNT processes.

    Citation. Steven Polunsky, Alabama Transportation Policy Research Center, University of Alabama, “The Path to Robust Municipal PNT.”

  • Using consumer-grade sensors for precise positioning

    By Urs Niesen, Jubin Jose, Xinzhou Wu, Qualcomm Technologies Inc.

    Emerging automotive applications require reliable but at the same time low-cost positioning solutions. In this paper, we present such a solution by fusing the measurements from several consumer-grade sensors using a tightly coupled centralized filter.

    The sensors used are a single-frequency GNSS receiver providing GPS and GLONASS pseudoranges and GPS carrier-phase measurements, a micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU), a monocular camera, wheel-speed and steering-angle sensors.

    We also employ vehicular constraints, integrated as pseudo-measurements. The centralized fusion architecture allows sensor cross-calibration and improves outlier detection. The filter runs in real time on the target platform, producing pose estimates at 30 Hz. Through extensive experimental evaluations, we demonstrate positioning accuracies of sub-meter 95-percentile horizontal errors even in GNSS-challenged deep-urban scenarios.

    Conflicting Requirements. Accurate positioning is a requirement for several emerging vehicular applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. Positioning solutions for these applications face two competing constraints. To be technically viable, the computed position estimate needs to be reliable in scenarios ranging from open sky to deep urban, with less than 1-meter 95-percentile horizontal error as an often-mentioned target. To be economically viable, the system needs to be built from consumer-grade components.

    We reconcile these conflicting requirements by fusing measurements from several low-cost sensors into a single pose estimate using one centralized extended Kalman filter (EKF). A multi-constellation single-frequency GNSS receiver provides GPS pseudorange and carrier-phase measurements and GLONASS pseudorange measurements. These are combined in a tightly coupled integration architecture with a consumer-grade MEMS IMU used to produce the reference navigation solution.

    Tight integration enables outlier rejection directly for the raw GNSS measurements. This is crucial in deep-urban scenarios, since many or most raw GNSS measurements could be outliers in these conditions. We use a monocular camera and vehicular sensors, providing four wheel-speed measurements and a steering-angle measurement, as additional aiding sensors.

    Constraints. Finally, vehicular constraints are integrated as pseudo-measurements. These sensors have very different noise sources and failure modes, which allows cross-calibration and improves failure and outlier detection. Given the tightly coupled integration in a single EKF, the filter state is quite large and can reach more than 100 dimensions. Despite its size, we are able to run the filter in real time and on target, producing pose outputs at a rate of 30 Hz.

    We report the result of extensive experimental evaluations in different scenarios ranging from open sky with good satellite visibility to deep urban with long stretches of no or only limited satellite visibility. In each of these scenarios, we obtain the target accuracy of sub-meter 95% horizontal positioning error.

    We show that, in the benign open-sky scenarios, GPS and IMU sensors are sufficient to achieve the target accuracy. However, in challenging deep-urban scenarios, all the integrated sensors are required to attain reliable sub-meter positioning performance.

    Sensors and Components. We use Qualcomm SiRFstarV 5e B02 GNSS chipset, a low-cost commercial GNSS product, connected to a NovAtel GPS-702-GG dual-frequency GPS+GLONASS Pinwheel antenna, the only component not consumer-grade, to separate impact of a specific antenna on performance. We plan to evaluate low-cost antennas in the future. We use a TDK InvenSense low-cost MEMS 6-axis IMU (MPU-6150) and a vehicle interface with vehicle sensors through the controller area network bus. Accurate timestamping for tightly coupling sensor measurements is provided by a custom sensor sync board. The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 automotive platform for real-time computation. (Qualcomm SiRFstar and Qualcomm Snapdragon are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.)

    This paper was presented at ION-GNSS+ 2018.
    .

  • Research Roundup: Design and evaluation of integrity algorithms for PPP in kinematic applications

    By Kazuma Gunning, Juan Blanch and Todd Walter, Stanford University, and Lance de Groot and Laura Norman, Hexagon Positioning Intelligence

    UAV and autonomous platforms can greatly benefit from an assured position solution with high integrity error bounds. The expected high degree of connectivity in these vehicles will allow users to receive real-time precise clock and ephemeris corrections, which enable the use of precise point positioning (PPP) techniques.

    Until now, these techniques have mostly been used to provide high accuracy, rather than focusing on high-integrity applications. The authors apply the methodology and algorithms used in aviation to determine position error bounds with high integrity (or protection levels) for a PPP position solution.

    PPP techniques can provide centimeter accuracy without local reference stations in kinematic applications. These techniques have so far mostly been used to provide high accuracy, and it is only recently that they have been proposed to provide integrity, that is, position error bounds with a very low probability of exceeding them.

    There has been preliminary work on the application of integrity to PPP, but it remains a challenge to translate the benefits of PPP to accuracy while maintaining high integrity. Most of the integrity work in PPP and real-time kinematic (RTK) has dealt more with the ambiguity resolution process under nominal error conditions and less on the integrity of the position solution under fault conditions.

    The authors overview their PPP filter implementation, and describe the threat model as well as two classes of integrity algorithms: solution separation and sum of squared residuals based (also called residual-based [RB], a misnomer, as all autonomous integrity monitors are based on the residuals.)

    They present data sets used to evaluate the algorithms, compare the protection levels (PLs) obtained with different algorithms, and present the results obtained with the most promising PL formulation in four different data sets: static, dynamic in open-sky conditions, dynamic in midtown suburban conditions, and in flight.

    Concluding, they state: “We have formulated RAIM protection-level formulas using either solution separation or the sum of residual squares. Both formulations consist of straightforward adaptations of snapshot RAIM to a Kalman filter solution.

    “For solution separation, we have shown an implementation where the computational cost of running a bank of filters is far from being proportional to the cost of one filter. Instead, we could run 50 additional filters for the cost of one.

    “For residual based RAIM we have developed a set of formulas to update the sum of square residuals from one time step to the next one. Because this test statistic is exactly the same as the one used in snapshot RAIM (when we consider the problem as a batch least squares), we could use the formula that ties the slope of a fault mode to the standard deviation of the solution separation. The slope can therefore also be updated recursively.”

    Finally, “we have refined the PPP filter, added one scenario (suburban driving conditions), and examined the effect of considering multiple faults in the formulation of the test statistics and the protection levels. The results are very promising: protection levels below 2 m appear to be achievable, and the computation load is lower than expected.”

    This paper was presented at ION-GNSS+ 2018. See www.ion.org/publications/ browse.cfm.

  • Research Online: Positioning integrity parameters for vehicle safety

    By Yanming Feng and Charles Wang,
    Queensland University of Technology, Australia,
    and
    Charles Karl, Australia Road Research Board, Australia /
    Presented at ION International Technical Meeting 2018

    Connected vehicle safety and traffic applications depend on communication, position and velocity information to function. However, road users may have different vehicle communicating and positioning capabilities. Further, the performance of communicating and positioning could vary from time to time and location to location.

    The vehicle safety system must be fully aware of the performance of vehicle positioning outputs and warn drivers when the positioning system cannot be used for the intended level of safety applications. Minimum operational performance standards about positioning have not been established in the road community.

    This paper reviews and develops the required navigation performance parameters for vehicle positioning capability in terms of accuracy, integrity, timeliness and interrogability of positioning solutions.

    It attempts to adjust the integrity performance parameters for vehicle safety positioning and provide the analysis for integrity risk, protection level and different alert limits. It introduces the error ellipse representation to visualize the protection bubble area of each vehicle on the road. Experimental results demonstrate how different capability levels meet different integrity alarm limits.

    Available online via www.ion.org/publications/browse.cfm.

  • Turbulence not the culprit for Northern Lights’ effect on GNSS

    Researchers at the University of Bath, U.K., have gained new insights into the mechanisms of the Northern Lights, providing an opportunity to develop better satellite technology that can negate outages caused by the natural phenomenon.

    Previous research has shown that the natural lights of the Northern Lights — also known as Aurora Borealis — interfere with GNSS signals. Plasma turbulence within the Northern Lights has been deemed responsible for causing GNSS inaccuracies. However, the latest research found that turbulence doesn’t exist, suggesting new, unknown mechanisms are actually responsible for outages on GNSS signals.

    This is the first time it has been shown that turbulence does not take place within the Northern Lights. The findings will enable new technological solutions to overcome these outages.

    The research team from the University of Bath’s Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, in collaboration with the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT), observed the Northern Lights in Tromsø, Norway, where they observed and analyzed the Northern Lights simultaneously using radar and a co-located GNSS receiver.

    GNSS signals were used to identify how the Northern Lights interfere with GPS signals. Radar analysis provided a visual snapshot of the make-up of the phenomenon.

    The researchers believe this heightened understanding of the Northern Lights will inform the creation of new types of GNSS technology that are robust against the disturbances of the Northern Lights, and help influence GNSS regulations used in industries such as civil aviation, land management, drone technology, mobile communications, transport and autonomous vehicles.

    “With increasing dependency upon GNSS with the planned introduction of 5G networks and autonomous vehicles which rely heavily on GNSS, the need for accurate and reliable satellite navigation systems everywhere in the world has never been more critical,” said university lead researcher and lecturer Biagio Forte.

    “The potential impact of inaccurate GNSS signals could be severe. Whilst outages in mobile phones may not be life threatening, unreliability in satellite navigations systems in autonomous vehicles or drones delivering payloads could result in serious harm to both humans and the environment,” Forte said. “This new understanding of the mechanisms which affect GNSS outages will lead to new technology that will enable safe and reliable satellite navigation.”

    The Northern Lights occur at North and South magnetic Poles, and are the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere.

    The research was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.

  • Geoscience Australia, Lockheed collaborate on multi-GNSS SBAS research

    Geoscience Australia, Lockheed collaborate on multi-GNSS SBAS research

    Geoscience Australia, an agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Lockheed Martin have entered into a collaborative research project to show how augmenting signals from multiple GNSS constellations can enhance positioning, navigation and timing for a range of applications.

    Other partners are Inmarsat and GMV.

    The research project aims to demonstrate how a second-generation Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) testbed can — for the first time — use signals from both GPS and the Galileo constellation, as well as dual frequencies, to achieve greater GNSS integrity and accuracy.

    Over two years, the testbed will validate applications in nine industry sectors: agriculture, aviation, construction, maritime, mining, rail, road, spatial and utilities.

    To improve precision navigation, a second-generation SBAS will use signals from both GPS and Galileo, and dual frequencies, to achieve even greater GNSS integrity and accuracy.
    To improve precision navigation, a second-generation SBAS will use signals from both GPS and Galileo, and dual frequencies, to achieve even greater GNSS integrity and accuracy. (Graphic: Lockheed Martin)

    In January, the Australian Government announced $12 million in funding for the trial of SBAS technology.

    “Many industries rely on GNSS signals for accurate, safe navigation. Users must be confident in the position solutions calculated by GNSS receivers. The term ‘integrity’ defines the confidence in the position solutions provided by GNSS,” says Vince Di Pietro, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand. “Industries where safety-of-life navigation is crucial want assured GNSS integrity.”

    Ultimately, the second-generation SBAS testbed will broaden understanding of how this technology can benefit safety, productivity, efficiency and innovation in Australia’s industrial and research sectors, according to Lockheed.

    “We are excited to have an opportunity to work with Geoscience Australia and Australian industry to demonstrate the best possible GNSS performance and proud that Australia will be leading the way to enhance space-based navigation and industry safety,” Di Pietro adds.

    Basic GNSS signals are accurate enough for many civil positioning, navigation and timing users. However, these signals require augmentation to meet higher safety-of-life navigation requirements. The second-generation SBAS will mitigate that issue.

    Once the SBAS testbed is operational, basic GNSS signals will be monitored by widely-distributed reference stations operated by Geoscience Australia. An SBAS testbed master station, installed by teammate GMV of Spain, will collect that reference station data, compute corrections and integrity bounds for each GNSS satellite signal, and generate augmentation messages.

    “A Lockheed Martin uplink antenna at Uralla, New South Wales, will send these augmentation messages to an SBAS payload hosted aboard a geostationary Earth orbit satellite, owned by Inmarsat,” says Rod Drury, director of international strategy and business development for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. “This satellite rebroadcasts the augmentation messages containing corrections and integrity data to the end users. The whole process takes less than six seconds.”

    By augmenting signals from multiple GNSS constellations — both Galileo and GPS — second-generation SBAS is not dependent on one GNSS. It will also use signals on two frequencies — the L1 and L5 GPS signals, and their companion E1 and E5a Galileo signals — to provide integrity data and enhanced accuracy for industries that need it.

    Research partners

    Lockheed Martin will provide systems integration expertise in addition to the Uralla radio frequency uplink. GMV-Spain will provide its magicGNSS processors. Inmarsat will provide the navigation payload hosted on the 4F1 geostationary satellite. The Australia and New Zealand Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information will coordinate the demonstrator projects that test the SBAS infrastructure.

    Lockheed Martin has significant experience with space-based navigation systems. The company developed and produced 20 GPS IIR and IIR-M satellites. It also maintains the GPS Architecture Evolution Plan ground control system, which operates the entire 31-satellite constellation.