New Combined Program Office to enhance U.S. ability to prevail against threats in space, including new hypersonic weapons
Space Systems Command (SSC) is leading a new tri-agency Combined Program Office (CPO) comprised of representatives from SSC, the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The CPO was established on Aug. 19 to enhance the United States’ ability to deter, defend and win against competitors’ challenges in space.
The Space Acquisition Council, established by Congress to manage space procurements across the Department of Defense, concurred on the CPO proposal, enabling the coordinated development and fielding of capabilities in the missile warning (MW), missile tracking (MT), and missile defense (MD) mission areas.
The CPO will address growing challenges resulting from the transition of space from a peaceful domain to one that is congested, contested and competitive. Other nations now challenge access to and movement in space, and have demonstrated the capability and intent to hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk.
“The MW/MT/MD mission is driving the U.S. Space Force’s new ‘requirements to execution’ roadmap, rapidly turning USSF Force Design into operational capabilities that will outpace and defeat very determined threats,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Brian Denaro, Space Sensing program executive officer and leader of the new CPO. “Our adversaries continue to develop missile technologies that are faster burning, dimmer and more maneuverable. This Combined Program Office, in partnership with SDA and MDA, will drive critical integration across a new resilient multilayer architecture that will warn, track and defeat these increasingly advanced and elusive missile threats.”
Establishing this partnership among MW/MT/MD acquisition organizations will enhance the interface between requirements, operators and users, optimizing delivery of integrated and resilient sensor-to-shooter capabilities for the United States and its allies.
“We are focused on delivering MW/MT/MD capabilities to the warfighter and the nation,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Rasmussen, Tranche 1 Tracking Layer program manager, SDA. “The Combined Program Office is a critical component in delivering this capability and enabling our nation to counter hypersonic and advanced missile threats. Together, SDA, MDA and SSC will ensure a synchronized end-to-end capability that sets the foundation for a continually evolving and advancing MW/MT/MD architecture.”
“With the emerging advanced threats, space-based sensors are essential to missile defense,” said Walter Chai, director for space sensors at MDA. “The close collaboration between SDA, SSC and MDA will ensure that we are able to defeat these threats.”
The CPO organizational structure integrates strategic decision-making across the interagency, establishing:
clear roles, responsibilities, and authorities for SSC, SDA, MDA and other mission partners
end-to-end system of systems accountability between requirements and weapon system delivery
development and management of standards (models, open architecture, data, etc.)
integration with operators, combatant commands and other weapon systems.
Space Systems Command is the U.S. Space Force field command responsible for rapidly identifying, prototyping and fielding resilient space capabilities for joint warfighters. SSC delivers sustainable joint space warfighting capabilities to defend the nation and its allies, while disrupting adversaries in the contested space domain. SSC mission areas include launch acquisition and operations; space domain awareness; positioning, navigation and timing; missile warning; satellite communication; and cross-mission ground, command and control, and data.
Light and with low power consumption, the NavGuard NOCTA Mini is a fully integrated day and night optical navigation module for jam-proof and spoof-proof operations
Photo: Asio Technologies
Asio Technologies has launched the NavGuard NOCTA Mini, a tiny jam-proof aerial optical positioning system for unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
NavGuard is a real-time optical navigation system that enables seamless and accurate autonomous GNSS-free navigation for tactical UAS platforms in areas where the GNSS signal is spoofed, jammed or unavailable. Using machine vision technology, artificial intelligence, advanced optics and sensor fusion, NavGuard can be installed on various unmanned aerial platforms to enable safe and sustainable 24/7 drone missions under complete GNSS blackout.
NavGuard’s new mini version, NOCTA Mini, is suitable for installation on small UAS. Lighter than other NavGuard systems and with low power consumption, it is a fully integrated day and night optical navigation module for jam-proof and spoof-proof operations.
NOCTA Mini enables UAS to operate beyond visual line of sight from takeoff to landing. Because it is based on machine vision, the system is drift-free. The self-contained system incorporates a computing module, geographic information system (GIS) infrastructure, and day and night cameras.
Designed for applications such as defense, homeland security and infrastructure security, it is a suitable solution for tactical UAS missions where payload capacity and flight time are limited, and continuous operation under all conditions is critical.
The Visual Navigation System improves navigation in GNSS-denied environments by means of visual odometry techniques
Photo: UAV Navigation
UAV Navigation has released its new Visual Navigation System (VNS), a new capability for manufacturers and end users of NATO Category I and II unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
The compact and lightweight device — provided as an optional peripheral to the main flight control system — enables the safe and efficient navigation of UAVs in GNSS-denied environments. The VNS combines visual odometry techniques and pattern identification with the rest of the sensors onboard the aircraft to ensure that the absolute position, orientation and relative movement of the aircraft over the ground is calculated with extremely high accuracy.
The planning and execution of UAV missions in environments in which the GNSS signal is either unavailable or unreliable is becoming more critical. For some missions, the datalink to the ground control station may be subject to interference, or the operation dictates that the flight must be performed without a datalink from the outset.
Under these circumstances, UAS traditionally rely on an inertial navigation system (INS) to complete the mission. However, all such inertial systems accumulate navigational drift due to sensor noise, propagation models and the difficulty in characterizing external forces. This positional error limits any such UAS operation because an accurate position cannot be guaranteed.
The new VNS, combined with the company’s Vector range of flight control systems, effectively addresses this problem by using data independent from GNSS and more accurate than INS. The system identifies patterns in the terrain below to assist in canceling out any accumulated error, allowing the UAS to operate for long periods without losing positional precision.
Because of its reduced size and weight, the VNS can be installed in Category I and II UAS, enabling them to take advantage of this navigation technique without penalizing autonomy or payload capacity.
The new VNS — developed entirely by the Spanish company UAV Navigation, part of the Oesía Group — has produced outstanding results during flight testing, both on fixed-wing platforms (typically with higher airspeeds and greater service ceilings) and rotary-wing platforms (where high vibrations and hover maneuvers are typically a problem). The new VNS has proved its ability to provide accurate navigation information for flights where there may be an intermittent loss of GNSS signal, and also when a flight must be executed from the outset without GNSS data.
Expanded Construction One Portfolio enables an end-to-end digital experience for heavy civil and infrastructure contractors to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability
Trimble has acquired privately held B2W Software, a provider of estimating and operations solutions for the heavy civil construction industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With the passage of the U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and other infrastructure legislation across the globe, construction organizations are fast-tracking the digitization of their processes and operations. As infrastructure projects become increasingly complex, data-driven insights and analytics will be imperative to improve productivity, increase efficiency and drive sustainability.
“Seamlessly connected workflows are key to unlocking the true potential of an organization’s data,” said Elwyn McLachlan, vice president of Trimble’s Civil Solutions Division. “With the acquisition of B2W, Trimble will be able to provide an unparalleled end-to-end digital experience — connecting the digital to the physical — for heavy civil and infrastructure contractors.”
The addition of B2W’s comprehensive suite of pre-construction and operations capabilities will expand Trimble’s already extensive civil infrastructure portfolio and Trimble Construction One, a purpose-built connected construction management platform.
Photo: Trimble
B2W’s integrated suite of applications includes estimating, scheduling, field tracking, equipment maintenance, data capture and business intelligence. By combining these capabilities with Trimble’s field data, project management, finance and human capital management solutions, civil contractors will be able to bridge the gap between office and field in new ways, promoting transparency, efficiency and ultimately profitability.
“B2W has helped thousands of heavy civil contractors increase their bid accuracy and operational efficiency,” said Paul McKeon, B2W founder and CEO. “Now with Trimble, we can realize the next chapter of our story. By linking the planned with the executed, we will provide civil contractors with a truly connected construction experience, unlocking valuable new insights for our customers across their entire operation.”
B2W will be reported as part of the Buildings and Infrastructure segment.
Perkins Coie LLP acted as legal advisor to Trimble. Piper Sandler & Co. acted as a financial advisor and Foley Hoag LLP acted as legal advisor to B2W Software.
News from the European Space Agency (ESA). Europe’s first generation Galileo constellation is already the world’s most precise satellite navigation system — delivering meter-scale positioning to more than 3.5 billion users worldwide. The Galileo Second Generation will enable even better performance and an expanded range of services.
Essential elements of the G2 system are being evaluated in ESA laboratories, including key algorithms to synchronize satellite timing and determine orbits, as well as test versions of a GNSS receiver and emergency beacon.
Two independent families of satellites, totaling 12 G2 satellites, are being procured by Thales Alenia Space in Italy and Airbus Defence & Space in Germany. With their first launches due in the middle of this decade, G2 satellites will be much larger than existing Galileo satellites, and they represent a major technical step forward.
Backwards-compatible with the current constellation, the G2 satellites will incorporate numerous technology upgrades, developed through EU and ESA research and development programs. They will employ electric propulsion for the first time and host an enhanced navigation antenna. Their fully digital payloads are being designed to be easily reconfigured in orbit, enabling them to actively respond to the evolving needs of users with novel signals and services.
The GNSS antenna farm on the ESTEC roof for live signal reception. (Photo: ESA)
Algorithms at the heart of G2
At the heart of satellite navigation is the ability of the satellites to determine where they are in space and the precise time down to a few billionths of a second as they transmit their navigation signals. The greater the precision of these factors, the greater the accuracy of the positioning for users, because Galileo receivers take the time between the signals being transmitted and received and turn it into a measurement of distance. Signals from four or more satellites are used to pinpoint the receiver’s location.
The Advanced Orbit Determination and Time Synchronisation (ODTS) Algorithms Test Platform evaluates the advanced software that will perform these calculations for G2. Developed by Thales Alenia Space through an EU Horizon 2020 project coordinated by ESA, the platform is now installed and running in ESA’s Navigation Laboratory. The laboratory is based at ESA’s technical heart, the ESTEC establishment in the Netherlands, where it is helping simulate how the G2 satellites will operate in practice.
“This platform represents a dynamic, highly-performing environment for algorithm experimentation in both real-time and post-processing modes, using either real or simulated data,” said Francisco González, the project’s technical officer. “It contains the algorithmic core of Navigation for Earth Orbit Determination and Identification Segment, NEODIS, which is the suite of algorithms developed by Thales Alenia Space for precise orbit determination of the satellite constellation. These algorithms allow the real-time estimation of orbits and clocks, as well as the generation of Galileo navigation messages, with an estimated accuracy in the tens of centimeters.”
“Important evolutions aimed at improving the estimation of clocks and orbits are being incorporated,” said Gustavo Lopez-Risueno, head of ESA’s Galileo G2 System Engineering Unit. These improvements include:
integration of composite clock algorithms for a stable and robust reference timescale
the dynamic modeling of satellite and station clocks based on their known behavior
the processing of auxiliary measurements such as laser range measurements, in which lasers are reflected off of satellites to measure their orbital position, delivering a ranging accuracy down to under a centimeter —significantly better than the half-meter or so available from radio ranging
intersatellite links.
The first G2 receiver prototype “breadboard” is now running in ESTEC’s Navigation Lab. (Photo: ESA)
First G2 receiver up and running
Another outcome of ESA-led H2020 research is also up and running in the lab: the first G2 receiver prototype “breadboard,” developed by GMV.
“Its development has been key to supporting the fine-tuning and assessment of some signal design options we are considering,” said Jose A. Garcia-Molina, who leads the G2 signal-in-space design at ESA. “Representative mass-market receiver processing architectures and techniques have been considered to assess the final benefits a user would receive.”
“This first G2 receiver breadboard allows us to better understand the performance G2 can achieve in different user conditions, such as the urban environments in which many Galileo users are based today,” said Miguel Manteiga Bautista, who leads ESA’s G2 Programme.
Meanwhile, two parallel activities have been started for development of the G2 test user receiver. The receiver will be taken outside the lab for various test activities ahead of the first G2 launches, and then again for in-orbit testing and validation.
Arctic Mass Rescue Operation in 2021 tested the rescue of 200 cruise-ship passengers using Galileo SAR. (Photo: EUSPA)
Search-and-rescue system also being updated
Nearby, in ESTEC’s Telecommunications Lab, is the G2 search and rescue test beacon simulator, now operational following site acceptance testing.
Like their first-generation predecessors, the G2 satellites will pick up emergency signals from beacons on Earth and relay them to a ground station, which will forward them to local emergency services. This contributes to emergency response saving more than 2,000 lives annually.
Emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). (Photo: ESA)
The new simulator to model the performance of these emergency beacons was developed over three years by Thales Alenia Space, under ESA leadership through a G2G System Engineering Technical Assistance Activity.
“Equipped with state-of-the-art signal generation and processing capabilities, coupled with a 200 W amplifier, this new simulator offers several enhanced functionalities over first-generation simulators, including the transmission of the new G2 beacons developed by the Cospas-SARSAT organization and the simulation of complex operational scenarios of up to 15 parallel distress beacons,” said Eric Bouton, ESA’s Galileo search and rescue engineer.
“Its development is really a crucial step to gaining a better understanding of the in-orbit behavior of Galileo’s First and Second Generation search-and-rescue payloads with the new waveforms of the G2 beacons and with the growing beacon population and associated alert traffic,” Bouton said. “It will be used for an initial test campaign already in preparation, and in the future to support the commissioning of all new Galileo search-and-rescue systems.”
According to Fact.MR, a market research and competitive intelligence provider, the global surveying and mapping services market was worth US$9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3% during the forecast years of 2022-2032.
The survey and mapping industry has significantly benefited from drone technologies, because UAVs are less expensive and more accessible compared to traditional methods. Conventional surveying methods require rental aircraft and trained pilots, along with attached recording instruments — a costly and resource-intensive process. The introduction of UAVs has substantially created a future opportunity for surveying and mapping services to gather spatial information in a tighter structure. This also allows the collection of geospatial information with easy storage, processing and sharing capabilities.
For instance, in May 2022, India-based software company PDRL introduced a software-as-a-service platform — DroneNaksha — under the Svamitva Yojana scheme by the government of India for mapping land parcels using drone technology across the country. Similarly, in March 2022, Australia-based Emesent introduced Hovermap ST autonomous drone lidar mapping and surveying payload.
The integration of advanced technologies such as Wi-Fi, first-person view cameras, and GPS technology to make UAVs highly flexible and eliminate the need for a skilled pilot is expected to stimulate the demand for drones for survey and mapping activities, thereby driving market expansion.
Key Takeaways
The global surveying and mapping services market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 3.4% and reach US$13 billion by 2032.
Over the 2017-2021 historical period, the market evolved at 3.2% CAGR.
Forestry and agriculture account for a leading share in the market at a valuation of US$1.80 billion in 2021.
North America and East Asia account for leading shares in the global mapping services market at 24% and 32%, respectively.
Experts at u-blox discuss how they’re creating a hybrid positioning system for automated vehicles using GNSS and terrestrial radio ranging
By David Bartlett, senior principal engineer, Product Center Positioning, and Stefania Sesia, head of Application Marketing, Automotive, u-blox
There’s so much discussion around automated vehicles in the mainstream press these days, that it’s easy to forget some of the critical enabling technology needs to mature significantly before large numbers of people are being whisked from A to B by completely driverless cars.
An area demanding particular attention is high-precision positioning. The Society of Automotive Engineers published a six-level automation scale. For vehicles at the higher end of the scale to become reality, they need to be able to reliably pinpoint their location to within centimeters, at all times.
Society of Automotive Engineers’ six-level automation scale. (Image: SAE International)
The positioning systems in most modern cars — which typically use GNSS receivers coupled with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and the odometer — can’t get close to this level of accuracy. Even in the most favorable conditions for GNSS satellite signal reception, accuracy is between 2 and 5 meters horizontal circular error probable (CEP) without a correction service. In more challenging environments, such as urban areas or indoors, this is significantly reduced.
Using UWB and V2X to complement GNSS
Various solutions are being developed to address this GNSS shortcoming, but all currently have their limitations or don’t offer a solution that’s workable in all environments. Future autonomous vehicles will therefore invariably need to rely on hybrid solutions that blend multiple technologies.
One area where relatively little research has been done to date is in combining GNSS with terrestrial radio signals to enhance automotive positioning accuracy. Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X), IEEE 802.11p V2X, its successor 802.11bd and ultra-wideband (UWB) can all be used for short-range distance measurements. V2X ITS communications technology is listed as a potential positioning solution in EN 302890 (Intelligent Transport Systems), while UWB technology is gaining momentum for indoor applications, as well as by vehicle manufacturers for keyless entry.
These technologies are all ripe for further investigation as complements to GNSS and IMUs, to ultimately support higher levels of vehicle autonomy. U-blox recently ran a study to evaluate the terrestrial-ranging strengths and weaknesses of IEEE 802.11p V2X and UWB as part of a hybrid solution with GNSS for automotive navigation. Our aim was to establish their feasibility for this application, and identify where further research needs to happen for this type of hybrid navigation solution to become part of future autonomous vehicles.
A terrestrial-ranging system requires a network of fixed ground stations (typically referred to as roadside units, or RSUs, in V2X systems) at known locations. V2X or UWB signals sent out by the vehicle are returned by the RSUs, enabling the vehicle to measure the roundtrip time, and consequently calculate the distance between itself and the anchor point. Do this for three or more RSUs that are geometrically dispersed relative to the vehicle, and you can determine its position.
The need to simulate
Mass deployment of the RSUs required for this type of solution has not yet happened. Installing a suitable network of ground stations in an urban setting on public land wasn’t feasible for our research, in part because the regulatory landscape around UWB in this context is still evolving.
Instead, we set up anchor points around various private estates, from open fields to areas representative of urban environments, such as a business park. We took extensive measurements of the UWB and V2X signals’ behavior in these environments, which enabled us to extract performance statistics such as noise, and subsequently create a behavioral simulation model for the ranging performance.
Our test methodology
Having established our behavioral simulation model for different types of environments, rural, urban and indoor settings, we did a number of real-world test drives. These covered a wide range of driving conditions. We took in high-speed sections of open road, dense urban areas, start-stop congested traffic, numerous corners, and places with limited or no GNSS reception such as tunnels.
During these drives, we collected both GNSS measurements and ground truth. For the former, we used a u-blox NEO-M8L module with built-in IMU. To establish the ground truth, we used a high-grade real-time kinematic (RTK) receiver, GNSS augmentation data service and a high-spec IMU.
We classified each section of the test drives based on the environment — dense urban, tunnel, open countryside and so on — to enable us to apply the appropriate noise models in our simulation.
Next, we allocated RSU positions based on chosen density and placement rules, and added 2 m of random height variation, to ensure we avoided a fully planar deployment. We tested with various numbers of RSUs, to help understand how many would be required to achieve the necessary levels of location precision.
We then set additional simulator variables, such as the accuracy of the timestamp on the ranging measurements.
Having done all of this, we generated simulated ranging measurements between the RSUs and the truth position for every ranging epoch. To these, we added noise on a sample-by-sample basis, and merged the resulting noisy simulator measurements with the GNSS measurements we recorded en route.
Key findings
The output of the simulator enabled us to generate performance statistics that facilitated a comparison between the hybrid GNSS + V2X and GNSS + UWB solutions and a conventional GNSS + IMU solution, similar to those found in mainstream vehicles today.
The table below shows performance of the three solutions.
UWB
V2X (IEEE 802.11p)
GNSS+IMU
Ranging update rate
0.67 Hz
(1.5 s interval)
10 Hz (0.1 s interval)
n/a
Horizontal accuracy
0.1 – 2.5 m (Hybrid)
1.1 – 4.2 m (Hybrid)
1.2 – 5.5 m
Height accuracy
0.4 – 5 m (Hybrid)
5 – 10 m (Hybrid)
2 – 7 m
Frequency of operation
6.5 GHz
5.9 GHz
n/a
Signal bandwidth
500 MHz
10 MHz
n/a
Performance of the three navigation solutions on test.
At a very high level, we found that the GNSS+V2X (IEEE 802.11p) system achieved performance similar to a conventional GNSS+IMU(DR) solution using standard positioning. In situations where there is no GNSS reception, or where this is seriously degraded, an IMU also loses its value, given its reliance on continual GNSS reception to remain aligned. Here, a V2X-based positioning solution would be of value for navigation guidance.
However, more work will need to be done, including into the role of the IMU in high-integrity, high-accuracy positioning, to achieve the levels of accuracy and integrity that autonomous applications require.
The GNSS + UWB hybrid system delivered significantly better performance, approaching the levels that can be achieved using an RTK-based GNSS augmentation service. Our test system ran at 0.67 Hz, and was able to deliver precision close to 10 cm, though we would expect future production systems to align with the more common 10-Hz refresh rate broadly used in V2X.
By pairing a 10-Hz UWB ranging system with a high-accuracy GNSS system using correction data, it should be possible to achieve 10 cm-level accuracy in most situations. GNSS with correction data is already proven to be capable of delivering this level of precision in open areas and motorways. A network of RSUs deployed in urban environments would enable UWB to complement high-accuracy GNSS in situations where satellite reception is challenging.
However, the limited range of UWB, coupled with current regulatory restrictions around outdoor use, limit its usefulness at the present time. That said, micro-navigation in indoor areas, such as parking garages, could be a good fit for this technology.
Other lessons learned
The research brought to light a number of other important findings. First, having even just two RSUs visible, in addition to GNSS, provided significant benefit in the hybrid solution.
Second, height variation in the RSUs is essential if the navigation system is to determine the vehicle’s height accurately, particularly with V2X technology. This will be particularly important when it comes to enabling vehicles to safely operate where there are different levels of road one above the other, such as at multi-level junctions.
Third, we were successfully able to build a hybrid filter to process the signals from the V2X, UWB and GNSS systems, and seamlessly handle the transition between areas with GNSS only (where there were no RSUs deployed) and terrestrial ranging only (such as tunnels).
Fourth, despite the promise it showed for this application, terrestrial ranging is far from immune to environmental effects and multipath. Even UWB would sometimes suffer from non-line-of-sight signal propagation.
Finally, accurate time alignment between the GNSS and terrestrial ranging measurements also emerged as a critical factor. Where we had initially anticipated that alignment to within a few milliseconds would be sufficient, in reality we found we needed to be below 100 microseconds.
What next?
This research has shown the potential of using terrestrial-radio ranging to complement the existing positioning technologies and services being deployed in vehicles today. That said, more needs to happen, not least on the regulatory front, for this technology to genuinely become one of the enablers of future autonomous vehicles.
Outdoor UWB use needs to be permitted for this application, for example, and there needs to be widespread deployment of UWB-capable RSUs. Moreover, when RSUs of any kind are being deployed, thought needs to be given to their possible use as positioning anchors, rather than simply as communication devices.
In addition, more spectrum and wider channels need to be allocated to V2X. And we need to see positioning primitives and signals incorporated into the V2X standards. (Positioning primitives allow a car to know in what direction it is headed — up/down/left/right — relative to a point of reference. It uses signals from the sensors to calculate these values.)
A related area that merits further investigation is the use of UWB ranging to protect vulnerable road users such as people walking, wheeling and cycling. With modern smartphones and cars both now including UWB technology, there are opportunities to use this to make autonomous vehicles more aware of the position of people in their surroundings.
If you’d like to find out more about the research, our methodology, or the results, we’d be delighted to discuss these with you. Please email [email protected] to get in touch.
Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. (Photo: ESA)
News from the European Space Agency (ESA)
Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system continues to evolve. For the first time, end-to-end testing of the Galileo system demonstrated signal acquisition of an improved version of the Public Regulated Service (PRS), the most secure and robust class of Galileo services.
The system test extended from the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre in Spain and the Galileo Control Centre in Germany to a Galileo satellite at ESA’s ESTEC technical heart in the Netherlands, which then broadcast in turn to a user receiver.
Galileo’s PRS is an encrypted navigation and timing service for governmental authorized users and sensitive applications intended to remain available even in scenarios where other Galileo services might be degraded or jammed.
An initial version of the PRS signal has been broadcast by the satellites up to now, but as of next year the signals will evolve into an enhanced version known as Full Operational Capability Public Regulated Service (FOC PRS), which has been defined in close collaboration with the European Commission, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) and the EU Member States.
The system’s FOC PRS capability is being enabled by an expansion of the Galileo ground mission segment — important upgrades of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centres (GSMCs) in St. Germain-en-Laye, France, and Madrid, Spain. These two sites oversee PRS provision and monitor its performance.
This coming version of the security monitoring centers, set for the following year, is being developed by an industrial consortium led by Thales Alenia Space in France.
Meanwhile the progressive deployment of remote system infrastructure is taking place over the course of this year, readying Galileo sensor stations to receive the upgraded PRS signals.
Upgrade of Galileo Sensor Station on Norway’s remote Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic Ocean. (Photo: ESA)
“To qualify, the FOC PRS Signal in Space required a major Galileo end-to-end test, demonstrating the compatibility of the space segment with the ground and user segments, called the System Compatibility Test Campaign (SCTC),” explained Federico Di Marco, ESA SCTC test director. “This test involved all Galileo key players spread across Europe, requiring close cooperation between the teams and months of preparation.”
The SCTC was led by an ESA engineering team from the agency’s ESTEC technical center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands supported by the System Engineering Technical Assistance industrial team led by Thales Alenia Space in Italy and in close collaboration with the operations team supervised by EUSPA.
“The testing involved three centers across Europe: the GSMC in Madrid, the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, and ESTEC hosting an actual Galileo satellite plus FOC PRS user receivers,” added Edward Breeuwer, who is in charge of Galileo system qualification at ESA.
FOC PRS test receiver developed by Antwerp Space under ESA contract. (Photo: ESA)
The FOC PRS signal was generated at the GSMC, sent to the German control center, then uplinked to the Galileo satellite at ESTEC, where the satellites are tested for space in advance of launch. The Galileo satellite then broadcast the FOC PRS signal in turn, to be picked up by a pair of receivers also on site: one developed by Antwerp Space under ESA contract and the other developed by Leonardo as part of a national development undertaken by Italy’s Competent PRS Authority, charged with overseeing the country’s PRS use.
“This marks the first time we have integrated such a nationally developed receiver within a system test activity,” said Fabio Covello, who oversees system security for ESA. “Having achieved this for PRS makes us very proud. We are confident that this experience can pave the way for future fruitful collaborations between the Galileo Programme and EU Member States, in the frame of specific tests to guarantee compatibility between the ESA-developed system and nationally developed PRS receivers.”
This successful outcome sets the scene for the PRS qualification at ground segment and system level, followed by operational validation planned in coming months, culminating in the first FOC PRS Signal In Space operational broadcast, in the course of next year.
FOC PRS test receiver developed by Leonardo as part of a national development undertaken by Italy’s Competent PRS Authority, charged with overseeing the country’s PRS use. (Photo: ESA)
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has issued a report discussing whether a terrestrial wireless network proposed by Ligado Networks — and approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in April 2020 —will cause widespread interference to millions of GPS receivers.
The 77-page report reviews order FCC 20-48, which authorized Ligado Networks LLC to operate a low-power terrestrial radio network adjacent to the GPS frequency band. It considers how best to evaluate harmful interference to civilian and defense users of GPS, the potential for harmful interference to GPS users and DOD activities, and the effectiveness and feasibility of the mitigation measures proposed in the FCC order.
Section 1663 of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act called on the Department of Defense (DOD) to enter into an agreement with the NASEM to carry out “an independent technical review of the order and authorization [of FCC 20-48] to the extent that such Order and Authorization affects the devices, operations or activities of the Department of Defense.”
The committee formed in response met weekly from September 2021 to April 2022 to plan the study; receive briefings from experts and stakeholders; and review relevant reports, technical literature, and written submissions to the committee. In addition, a cleared subset of the committee received a set of classified briefings.
Most receivers in the clear,
high-precision and Iridium vulnerable
The committee found that most commercial and certified aviation GPS receivers will not experience significant harmful interference from Ligado emissions as authorized by the FCC.
However, high-precision receivers are vulnerable. That said, the committee claims current technology enables building a receiver robust to Ligado signals for any GPS applications.
“All GPS receiver manufacturers could field new designs that could coexist with the authorized Ligado signals and achieve good performance even if their existing designs cannot,” the report states.
For Iridium, the report states, “Iridium terminals will experience harmful interference on their downlink caused by Ligado user terminals operating in the UL1 band while those Iridium terminals are within a significant range of a Ligado emitter — up to 732 meters.”
For defense devices, operations and activities, the committee acknowledged that proposed mitigation procedures may be effective, but “may be impractical without the extensive dialog among the affected parties,” and mitigation “may not be practical at operationally relevant time scales or at reasonable cost. ”
This report concludes, “Spectrum real estate is a living asset and approaches must allow not only for a degree of confidence that a deployed system will not be compromised by future, unforeseen entrants, for a period of time, but also must recognize that capabilities will evolve.
“Some form of more definitive receiver standards and establishment of set time periods where adherence to those receiver standards will ensure successful operation for a frequency band’s incumbents and new entrants seem to be important tools in this regard.”
Responses to the Report
Ligado Networks
“Ligado’s licensed and authorized operations can co-exist with GPS. As the report concludes, the technology to enable compatibility has been in use for over a decade, and most consumer equipment, commercial general navigation, timing, cellular and aviation receivers will not experience harmful interference from Ligado’s operations.
“The NAS found what the nation’s experts at the FCC already determined: A small percentage of very old and poorly designed GPS devices may require upgrading. Ligado, in tandem with the FCC, established a program two years ago to upgrade or replace federal equipment, and we remain ready to help any agency that comes forward with outdated devices. So far, none have.
“Now that the review is completed, it is our sincere hope the DOD and the NTIA will stop blocking Ligado’s license authority and focus instead on working with Ligado to resolve potential impacts relating to all DOD systems, including but not limited to GPS. We will continue working with all involved stakeholders to determine a mutually beneficial way forward.”
U.S. Department of Defense
“National security missions that our service men and women execute every day are of the utmost importance and require a solution that ensures continued operations of critical systems.
“The NASEM study confirms that Ligado’s system will interfere with DOD GPS receivers, which include high-precision GPS receivers. The study also confirms that Iridium satellite communications will experience harmful interference caused by Ligado user terminals. Further, the study notes that when DoD’s testing approach, which is based on signal-to-noise ratio, is correctly applied, it is the more comprehensive and informative approach to assessing interference. The study also concludes that the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) proposed mitigation and replacement measures are impractical, cost prohibitive, and possibly ineffective.
“These conclusions are consistent with DoD’s longstanding view that Ligado’s system will interfere with critical GPS receivers and that it is impractical to mitigate the impact of that interference.
“DoD looks forward to continuing to work with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, FCC and Ligado on this complex and important issue.”
GPS Innovation Alliance
Acting Executive Director of the GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA), Alex Damato, issued the following statement on the release of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study on reviewing the FCC’s Ligado Order:
“GPSIA and the GPS industry applaud the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s reaffirmation that Ligado’s terrestrial operations would have a harmful, real-world impact on the millions of federal and commercial users that rely on GPS, satellite communications, and weather forecasting services every single day. The report’s evaluation of the materials, developed over years of extensive and technically rigorous testing, demonstrates that Ligado would pose an unacceptable risk to services critical to safety-of-life operations, our national security, and our economy. It also builds on the broad consensus, including within fourteen federal agencies and departments, that Ligado’s proposed deployment would result in widespread interference to a substantial number of GPS receivers.
“Following the release of this study, GPSIA urges government action to address the imminent, but preventable, harm that would result from Ligado’s deployment.”
**Consistent with the terms of their litigation settlements with Ligado, GPSIA members Deere & Company and Garmin International, Inc. do not affirmatively endorse or oppose the deployment of Ligado’s proposed communications network.**
Keep GPS Working Coalition
The Keep GPS Working Coalition was formed in response to the FCC order. Spokesperson Dale Leibach issued the following statement.
“The NAS report, which follows the analysis of an immense amount of technical information and review by experts from a broad range of disciplines, highlights the fundamental flaws in the FCC’s Ligado decision. The order must therefore be vacated in its entirety, so that millions of GPS devices are protected from harmful interference caused by Ligado’s planned network.
“It is important to note that the potential for interference arises because Ligado proposed, and the FCC approved, a fundamental change in the use of the spectrum adjacent to the band used by GPS. With this approval, the FCC essentially authorized terrestrial operations in a satellite band without adequately considering the impact Ligado’s proposed operations would have on countless consumers, farmers, ranchers, pilots, boat owners, surveyors, construction companies and others.
“Furthermore, the FCC’s decision failed to take into account that there are more than a billion GPS receivers in use in the United States. The NAS report notes, and the Keep GPS Working Coalition acknowledges, that the majority of GPS receivers will not be harmed by Ligado’s operations. However, the massive GPS user base means that tens of millions of devices will suffer harmful interference if Ligado deploys its network. And, as stated in the report, the risk of interference is greatest for high precision receivers used in some of the most significant sectors of the U.S. economy.
“Lastly, the NAS report describes in detail the fundamental flaws in the safeguards the FCC adopted to address harmful interference where it occurs. It is simply not feasible, nor reasonable, to force first responders, farmers, boat owners, and the many other owners of equipment and machines that rely on GPS to police interference and bear the costs of addressing it. The best approach is to avoid interference altogether by rescinding Ligado’s authorization to conduct terrestrial operations under its satellite license.
“While Ligado may seek to cherry pick details to fit its misleading narrative, the truth is that this report validates the concerns raised by virtually everyone who has taken a position on this matter other than the FCC and Ligado itself. In particular, the report highlights significant national security concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Defense, which has said the FCC Ligado order will put missions and troops at risk. Likewise, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior and Justice, the Federal Aviation Administration and other expert agencies all opposed the FCC order because of the substantial harm it would cause to critical civilian industries and users.”
Iridium
“The findings from NAS are consistent with the opposition from 14 federal agencies, more than 80 stakeholders, and Iridium’s concerns that Ligado’s proposed operations will cause harmful interference. The NAS study clearly demonstrates what the rest of the industry has known for years: the prior FCC order failed to fully consider the risk of harmful interference posed to mission-critical satellite systems. Iridium urges the FCC to take swift action to reverse the order before Ligado starts its technical demonstrations this fall.”
Satellite Safety Alliance
“The Satellite Safety Alliance applauds NAS for its comprehensive review of the record and findings that Ligado’s plan threatens vital GPS and satellite communications services. These findings align with the concerns across the vast federal and commercial user base of GPS, satellite communications, and weather forecasting services.
“This study is a reminder to our nation’s leaders and the Federal Communications Commission that Ligado’s harmful interference will disrupt day-to-day operations and cost billions of dollars to the consumers of these mission-critical services. The FCC must stay or reverse the Ligado order to address the imminent — but preventable — harm from the company’s proposed terrestrial network that it intends to deploy a test network this fall.”
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
“The Report from the National Academies indicates that Ligado’s terrestrial operations would cause harmful interference to GPS devices and that a number of the FCC’s mitigations would be practically unworkable. NTIA will review this detailed report more carefully, but we believe this offers the commission an important opportunity to reconsider Ligado’s authorization.”
BAE Systems has received a $13 million contract for advanced GPS technology to protect U.S. F-15E aircraft from GPS signal jamming and spoofing. The company’s Digital GPS Anti-jam Receiver (DIGAR) will ensure the reliability of military GPS systems for aircraft operating in challenging signal environments.
DIGAR uses advanced antenna electronics, high-performance signal-processing and digital beamforming — a capability that combines 16 steered beams — for better GPS signal reception and superior jamming immunity. These capabilities are critical for high-speed aircraft as they maneuver through the battlespace.
The F-15 Eagle is the second U.S. Air Force fighter platform to receive DIGAR GPS upgrades, following the F-16 Fighting Falcon. DIGAR also provides advanced GPS capabilities for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft as well as multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.
Two U.S. Marine Attack Squadron 211 F-35B Lightning IIs and two U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagles assigned to the 67th Fighter Squadron, fly over United Kingdom aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth over the west Indo-Pacific region in August 2021. (Photo: USAF/Staff Sgt. Kyle Johnson)
“Modern airborne missions require accurate positioning and navigation data, and GPS systems must be able to withstand adversaries’ best disruption efforts,” said Greg Wild, Navigation and Sensor Systems product line director at BAE Systems. “Our DIGAR antenna electronics are trusted to protect these platforms in contested environments.”
BAE Systems’ family of military GPS products offer size, weight and power characteristics suitable for a variety of applications, including handheld electronics, vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, aircraft and precision-guided munitions. In addition to GPS anti-jam products, the company is delivering advanced GPS products compatible with the next-generation M-code satellite signal, and is developing the next generation of receivers to ensure dependable GPS for warfighters across land, air and sea domains.
BAE Systems work on military GPS technology takes place in Cedar Rapids, where the company is investing more than $100 million to build a 278,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art research and manufacturing center.
An F-15 Eagle with the 159th Fighter Wing, Louisiana. (Photo: USAF/Tiffany A. Emery)
Partnership will test future eVTOL flight routes and concept of operations in the Kansai region
Photo: Airbus
Airbus is partnering with Japanese helicopter operator Hiratagakuen to develop advanced air mobility services in the Kansai region and beyond. Through this agreement, the companies will tackle crucial aspects required to launch a commercial transportation service with CityAirbus NextGen.
As a first step, the partners’ joint project to organize a simulation of ideal routes, concepts of operations, and necessary equipment for safe electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) flights in the Kansai region. Kansai was selected by the Osaka prefecture for the project. A demonstration flight is scheduled for later this year.
With the aim to implement air mobility services beyond urban environments, the joint work of Airbus and Hiratagakuen will support the development of advanced air mobility solutions with CityAirbus NextGen for use cases ranging from air medical services to commercial air transport and ecotourism in a variety of operational contexts.
Airbus and Hiratagakuen will use an H135 helicopter to test advanced navigation and communication technologies for safe operations of eVTOLs in urban environments, while simulating CityAirbus NextGen’s flight configuration.
Hiratagakuen is a Kansai-based helicopter operator that specializes in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), transportation of personnel, flight training and maintenance. The company’s fleet includes 14 H135 and two H145 helicopters.
In September 2021, Airbus unveiled its eVTOL prototype CityAirbus NextGen to explore advanced air mobility technologies. The company plans to construct a dedicated center to test the aircraft’s systems in the lead-up to its maiden flight. Airbus is also working closely with industrial and institutional partners to lead the development of urban air mobility ecosystems, including ITA Airways in Italy and launch of the Air Mobility Initiative in Germany.
SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, has introduced two new LNP Thermocomp compounds that offer the potential to improve signal gain performance compared to ceramics in second-generation automotive GNSS antennas.
The new compounds, LNP Thermocomp ZKC0CXXD and LNP Thermocomp ZKC0DXXD, help enable the design and molding of antenna substrates with more complex pattern markings that add effective surface area, a critical factor in enhancing signal capture.
For customers that use ceramics, switching to the LNP Thermocomp compounds can help lower system costs by avoiding secondary operations, as well as improving antenna performance. Designers and engineers who find current materials inadequate for developing novel, high-resolution GNSS antennas can help address new requirements with the SABIC products, the company said.
“As GNSS antenna technology advances to its second generation with higher resolution, SABIC continues to enhance the scope and capabilities of our LNP specialty compounds portfolio to meet new performance requirements,” said Joshua Chiaw, director of business management, LNP, SABIC. “Our new LNP Thermocomp compounds can help antenna manufacturers achieve superior signal gain compared to ceramic substrates. They also provide flexibility to produce smaller parts with the same performance as ceramic, or equal-size parts with better performance. This remarkable combination of improved signal capture and design freedom, plus system cost advantages, can help propel innovation in GNSS technology — a keystone of occupant safety today and autonomous driving in the future.”
The LNP Thermocomp compounds, which offer a high dielectric constant (Dk) for miniaturization and a low dissipation factor (Df) to facilitate signal acquisition, can be tailored to meet the electrical requirements of individual applications. They feature electroplating capability, good thermal resistance for reliability, and the design freedom and production efficiency of thermoplastics. Both are well-suited for shark fin-style and new conformal antenna designs.
Space Systems Command (SSC) is leading a new tri-agency Combined Program Office (CPO) comprised of representatives from SSC, the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The CPO was established on Aug. 19 to enhance the United States’ ability to deter, defend and win against competitors’ challenges in space.
