GPS World

Category: GNSS

  • 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.

  • Respect the facts: March for Science

    Respect the facts: March for Science

    Photo: Petr Kratochvil
    Photo: Petr Kratochvil

    In life, few things are certain. In family, love and friendship, fewer. Add more people — workplace, groups, associations, government, society, nations, war — and the complications multiply, the certainties become more scarce.

    Some things, however, remain fixed, and true. We call them facts. They are not subject to denial or claims of fakery. They can sometimes be distorted, or their interpretation disputed, but at the end of the day they remain what they were at the beginning. Facts. True.

    They do not require a majority to believe in them, nor even a powerful minority. They exist outside belief, heedless of the powers of persuasion, cajolery, hucksterism.

    The facts do not always, to their detriment, speak for themselves. Reason does not always prevail. But the facts continue to exist, ruling the operations of the universe.

    It has been said that journalism’s duty is to print the facts and raise hell (Chicago Times, 1861). I submit to you that it is a scientist’s duty — and an engineer is a scientist — to live and practice by the facts, to preserve the facts if necessary. To raise hell? That may be a matter of taste or personal style. But to see that the facts are known, shared, publicly available — that can be undertaken without uncomfortable or unpleasant hell-raising.

    Guerrilla archiving and data rescues have mushroomed across the U.S., in response to fear that the U.S. government will remove facts it dislikes from its own websites. All-day hackathons are organized by volunteers; the events focus on downloading federal science data sets, particularly those related to climate change, from government websites and uploading them to a new site, datarefuge.org, an alternative source for data. They’re also feeding tens of thousands of government web pages into the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library with the mission of “universal access to all knowledge.” And of course someone has devised a custom-built app specifically for this purpose.

    Climate-change data has a geospatial aspect, and much of it was collected with GPS equipment. Positioning coordinates lie at the heart of so much key information. So an attack on carefully assembled, scientifically overseen data can be interpreted as an attack on the validity of global positioning technology. Whether or not we take it personally, we should be wary of any attempt to deny or abolish any facts, anywhere.

    We’ve seen this before, in other forms. The LightSquared episode in 2011–12 produced blatant denials of the physics of radio-frequency waveforms, for personal and institutional profit. We don’t yet know if this is happening again, whether government data has been erased or simply moved elsewhere.

    Whether or wherever they appear or disappear, the facts continue to exist, and perhaps they deserve more respect than they’ve been getting.

    MarchforScience.com, April 22.

  • Topcon’s new concrete paving system uses ‘millimeter GPS technology’

    Topcon’s new concrete paving system uses ‘millimeter GPS technology’

    ZPS_Topcon_Field-WTopcon Positioning Group has launched a new system for automated concrete paving — the ZPS system — with the new Z-Robot and Z-Stack sensor.

    Using enhanced Topcon “millimeter GPS technology,” the ZPS system is designed to bring unmatched accuracy to concrete paving with a fraction of the hardware required for a traditional local positioning system.

    The new Z-Robot is an advanced robotic total station with integrated Z-beam laser technology. The Z-Robot is designed to provide a hybrid function of high-precision, optically based vertical accuracy control and the convenience of Z-beam laser positioning to maintain that accuracy across the paver.

    “The ZPS system’s self-leveling Z-Robot cuts setup time in half compared with previous concrete paving methods,” said Murray Lodge, senior vice president and general manager of the Construction Business Unit. “With traditional systems, you need multiple, expensive robotic total stations to control the paver at any given time and at least another complete set of instruments for downrange transition. With the ZPS system, only one Z-Robot controls the paver — increasing productivity and profitability, and dramatically lowering the cost of the solution compared to LPS.”

    ZPS_concretepaving-Topcon-WOn board the paver, the ZPS system uses the new Topcon Z-Stack modular-designed system that seamlessly integrates GPS, optical targeting, and Z-beam reception into one unit by interlocking the required sensing technologies in one rugged “stack.”

    “The Z-Stack sensor is revolutionary,” said Lodge. “It combines time-proven Topcon positioning technologies into one multifunctional, consolidated and complete system that provides better accuracies and more efficient paving than ever before. The system requires no separate base station and only one cable needed for power and connectivity.

    “The system also offers a wider working area, with a range of up to 150 more feet than with traditional methods — minimizing instrument transitions,” Lodge said.

  • ‘DevOps’ best practices drive progress on next-gen GPS OCX control system

    New tech development approach speeds progress on improved GPS

    Raytheon’s use of technology development best practices — DevOps — and its completion of a systems engineering milestone are driving progress on the GPS  Next-Generation Operational Control System (OCX), according to the contractor.

    Raytheon has completed its latest major systems engineering milestone for the final software iteration, a marker of the progress achieved by the GPS OCX program course corrections implemented over the last two years.

    The milestone provided extra rigor and accountability around the systems engineering for the rest of the GPS OCX program, Raytheon said. It also enables more efficient completion of the remaining software development and associated cyber protection capabilities that will harden the system against hackers, double GPS accuracy, enhance its availability, and eventually replace the stop-gap and patching measures currently used on the legacy GPS ground system.

    DevOps. The OCX team reduced development cycle times to create more efficient and effective software development by using a commercial best practice called DevOps. DevOps combines commercial cloud technologies, new automation and software development processes.

    This is the first use of DevOps in a large-scale U.S. Department of Defense acquisition program.

    “The recent milestones achieved for OCX demonstrate our resolve to meet long-term schedule commitments and keep our momentum in 2017,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business. “These software development innovations are helping to drive OCX capabilities, the replacement of the legacy GPS ground system, and significant enhancements to GPS overall.”

    The U.S. Air Force-led GPS Modernization Program will yield new positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for U.S. military and civilian users across the globe.

    Developed by Raytheon under contract to the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, GPS OCX is replacing the current GPS operational control system and will support the launch of the GPS III satellites. The new system will provide enhanced performance, the effective use of modern civil and military signals and secure information-sharing with unprecedented cyber protection.

  • System of Systems: DHS Receiver Improvements, Australian SBAS

    System of Systems: DHS Receiver Improvements, Australian SBAS

    DHS Spells Out Receiver Improvements

    In early January, a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document appeared: “Improving the Operation and Development of Global Positioning System (GPS) Equipment Used by Critical Infrastructure.”

    The document focuses on receivers used in critical infrastructure, with an emphasis on timing receivers. It provides owners, operators, researchers, designers and manufacturers with information to improve the security and resilience of PNT equipment across the spectrum of equipment development, deployment and use.

    Specifically, its recommendations address:

    • installation and operation strategies that can be implemented for current equipment,
    • strategies that can result in more robust and resilient new and/or improved products based on existing technology and knowledge,
    • research and development that can lead to improved future capabilities.

    It introduces clear definitions of different categories of threats and hazards, including the new term “data spoofing.” It recommends some creative ways to install receive antennas, such as using decoy antennas and obscuring the location of the actual antennas being used, presumably to foil some spoofing attacks.

    It also points out that modern GNSS receivers are computers, and need to be operated and maintained with good cyber hygiene, just like other computers.

    The extensive list of recommended development strategies will challenge manufacturers while informing purchasers about the features they can seek in new equipment.

    Implementing these recommendations will lead to increased competence — that is, equipment that is better able to accommodate imperfect or faulty inputs, intentional or not.

    This document reflects the recognition that many reported problems or difficulties with GPS could be prevented or mitigated by improvements in GPS user equipment and how it is installed and operated. It is encouraging to see DHS taking steps to remedy this situation, and important that manufacturers of timing receivers, as well as critical infrastructure owners and operators that use timing receivers, follow through on these recommendations.

    Also for Receiver Manufacturers

    The Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) has issued a paper with calculation algorithms to promote consistent BeiDou IODE and IODC computational approaches within the community.

    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.

    Second-Generation SBAS

    Geoscience Australia, an agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, will collaborate with Lockheed Martin,  Inmarsat and GMV on research to show how augmenting signals from multiple GNSS constellations can enhance positioning, navigation and timing for a range of applications.

    The 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 Galileo, as well as dual frequencies, to provide greater 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.

    Basic GNSS signals require augmentation to meet higher safety-of-life navigation requirements. The second-generation SBAS will mitigate that issue. Once the testbed is operational, basic GNSS signals will be monitored by widely distributed reference stations operated by Geoscience Australia.

    A master station, installed by GMV, will collect the 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, which rebroadcasts the augmentation messages containing corrections and integrity data to end users. The whole process takes less than six seconds.

  • GLONASS ground station goes live in South Africa

    GLONASS ground station goes live in South Africa

    GLONASS-SouthAfrica

    A GLONASS ground station was officially commissioned in South Africa on Feb. 27.

    “Assembling and pre-commissioning work was completed on Nov. 25 to set up a measuring station on the premises of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) as part of the agreement signed between Russia’s High-Precision Instrument Systems Company and South Africa’s HartRAO on Oct. 29, 2015,” said the station developer, Russia’s Precision Instrument Systems Corporation.

    Sazhen-TM-BIS station in South Africa is the second station of the overseas network segment created for the GLONASS system. The first station was installed and commissioned in 2014 in Brazil.

    The station will continuous monitor GLONASS and GPS satellites’ navigation signals, measurements of current navigation parameters of their travel, and receipt of navigation messages from the satellites.

  • BeiDou launch schedule shared

    A launch schedule for future BeiDou satellites was reported on a space news discussion board. According to the schedule, the government of China is planning to launch 32 satellites through 2020.

    The schedule includes nine BeiDou-3 MEO satellites launched this year, and one replacement for a BeiDou-2 satellite, which retires in January 2018.

    The schedule is below:

    BeiDou-launches

    A PDF of the schedule is available for download.

  • GPS World editor to moderate innovation panel at Munich Summit

    GPS World editor to moderate innovation panel at Munich Summit

    Munichphoto
    Photo: GPS World

    This year, the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit features an interactive session on the topic “Industry Meets Research: Innovation Drivers and Barriers in SMEs.” Fabio Dovis from Politecnico di Torino will chair the session, and GPS World magazine Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Alan Cameron will moderate the discussion.

    “Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their innovative ideas are an important factor of economic growth,” states the conference program. “Therefore it is important to improve the environment in which innovative business ideas can be created. A main factor is the promotion and facilitation of technology transfer, thus the access to scientific results. In order to enable a dynamic and creative GNSS product, service and application development, a stronger and more structured link between the most promising results of GNSS research and companies should be fostered.”

    Enter the Fishbowl

    This session will be organized according to the so-called fishbowl method that will involve GNSS experts from universities, research centers and industry in an interactive discussion. Everybody is welcome to join the fishbowl and to be part of the GNSS Knowledge Triangle to strengthen the knowledge transfer and the future success of GNSS.

    According to the fishbowl method, five chairs will be arranged in circles and one chair is always unoccupied. Any member of the audience can, at any time, occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. When this happens, an existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl and free a chair. The discussion continues with participants frequently entering and leaving the fishbowl.

    The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit takes place March 14–16.

  • Lockheed responds to report on Air Force review of GPS III propulsion

    Lockheed Martin responded to a report by Bloomberg last week that the U.S. Air Force has opened a review of the propulsion systems used for Lockheed Martin’s GPS III and other military satellites, following a problem during an attempt to boost one into orbit.

    A Lockheed spokesperson said the first GPS III satellite passed all of its qualification testing and verification.

    “On Feb. 27, the Air Force declared GPS III Space Vehicle 01 (SV01) ready for storage following the completion of all space vehicle Factory Functional Qualification Testing (FFQT) and successful verification of more than 30,000 pre-storage technical requirements,” responded Chip Eschenfelder, communications lead for Lockheed’s Military Space division.

    “Out of an abundance of caution, the Air Force and Lockheed Martin are thoroughly evaluating the A2100 GPS III Propulsion Subsystem, prior to declaring the satellite Available for Launch (AFL),” Eschenfelder said. “This review is a standard process for our rigorous systems engineering approach to assure mission success.”

    The plan remains to launch the first GPS III satellite by spring of 2018.

    “Lockheed Martin is working closely with the Air Force on resolving any concerns about the mission readiness of SV01’s Propulsion Subsystem,” Eschenfelder said. “We are confident that this review will not delay the Air Force’s planned spring 2018 Initial Launch Capability (ILC).”

    Today, more than 50 Lockheed Martin A2100 bus satellites are operating successfully on orbit.

     

  • GPS III satellite propulsion under US Air Force review

    The U.S. Air Force has opened a review of the propulsion systems used for Lockheed Martin’s GPS III and other military satellites after a problem during an attempt to boost one into orbit, according to the service, Bloomberg reports.

    The review has delayed the Air Force’s acceptance of Lockheed’s first GPS III satellite, which is 34 months late. The most recent delivery goal had been Feb. 28, and the plan remains to launch it by spring of 2018.

    While there’s no evidence that the propulsion system on the first GPS III satellite has a flaw, the Air Force has decided to keep it in storage at a Lockheed facility out of an abundance of caution, Captain AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, told Bloomberg. It was placed into storage after having successfully completed all planned test and integration activities.

  • Friday is deadline for GPS OEMs to join live-sky spoofing event

    Friday is the deadline for GPS manufacturers to apply to test their equipment at a special event with live-sky test scenarios focused on spoofed GPS signals.

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is offering an opportunity for manufacturers of GPS equipment used in critical infrastructure to test their products against GPS jamming and spoofing.

    The GPS Testing for Critical Infrastructure (GET-CI) event, set for April 17-21 at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Indiana, is the first in a series of test opportunities.

    “Accurate and precise position, navigation, and timing (PNT) information is vital to the nation’s critical infrastructure,” said Robert Griffin, acting DHS under secretary for Science and Technology. “S&T has established this program to assess GPS vulnerabilities, advance research and development, and to enhance outreach and engagement with industry. The objective is to improve the security and resiliency of critical infrastructure.”

    The GET-CI events provide industry an opportunity to test GPS equipment in unique live-sky environments. For the April event, DHS S&T will be creating live-sky test scenarios focused on spoofed GPS signals.

    DHS S&T invites manufacturers of commercial GPS receivers and equipment used in critical infrastructure to submit applications for participation. For submission instructions and further information, see the Request for Information for Participation (RFIP) announcement on FedBizOpps.

    Interested organizations should submit their applications for participation by March 3.

    Email [email protected] with questions about the event and how to participate.

  • Ceva, Astri unveil NB-IoT GNSS-configurable solution for LTE devices

    Ceva, a licensor of signal processing IP for smarter, connected devices, and Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Lt. (Astri) have unveiled the Dragonfly NB1, a comprehensive cost- and power-optimized NB-internet of things (IoT) solution aimed at streamlining and the development of LTE IoT devices.

    The solution also features configurable software, allowing the addition of support for GNSS and sensing.

    According to the companies, Dragonfly NB1 leverages Ceva’s long heritage of low power DSPs and modem design and Astri’s experience in RF and IC design technologies. Dragonfly NB1 has the ability to reduce the time taken to get NB-IoT products certified and also provides low-power wide-area SoC designers with a flexible, software-upgradeable platform with key benefits in terms of die size and power consumption, the companies added.

    The Dragonfly NB1 solution is enabled by a Ceva-X1 IoT processor and incorporates highly power-efficient multi-standard RF with embedded PA, LNA, DC-DC and DCXO technology for NB-IoT and GNSS (GPS and BeiDou). It is specifically designed to operate with embedded flash by incorporating an optimized low latency memory subsystem with a dedicated cache controller.

    “In the coming years, NB-IoT will become the dominant technology for low power wide area connectivity,” said Michael Boukaya, vice president and general manager of Ceva’s Wireless Business Unit. “For most companies, understanding how to develop this technology is a daunting task. To overcome this, we have worked relentlessly with ASTRI to develop a complete solution from the ground up, that removes the design burden and allows SoC designers to add NB-IoT connectivity to their product designs. We’re extremely excited to announce this solution and demonstrate our leadership in IP for NB-IoT.”

    Ceva and ASTRI have also teamed up with GMV, a major player in navigation systems and solutions, to offer an integrated GNSS solutions for smart devices with location tracking of logistics, assets, wearables and more. According to the companies, the GNSS IP is available as an add-on software that runs on the Ceva X1 together with the NB-IoT and leverages ASTRI’s GNSS RF IP that is embedded in the solution.