GPS World

Tag: UK GNSS

  • CGI to develop service to alert UK of GNSS disruption

    CGI to develop service to alert UK of GNSS disruption

    The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to London-based CGI to develop a GNSS Event Notification Service (GENS) capable of monitoring the United Kingdom (U.K.) GNSS spectrum to enable effective alerting and reporting of position, navigation and time (PNT) disruption.

    GENS will integrate CGI’s PNT Incident Event Monitoring (PNTIEM) system with existing U.K.-developed sensors from Ordnance Survey’s network (OS NET) of GNSS receivers and GMV NSL’s Detector, GISMO and Strike 3 interface technologies.

    Bringing together existing systems will build on proven technologies, reducing the cost of development of a large-scale monitoring network while providing the ability to introduce new services for detecting GNSS events and disruption, according to a CSI press release.

    Supported by the OS and GMV NSL, CGI will lead the delivery of GENS using an agile software delivery experience, supported by system design and DevSecOps development and integration skills. An open interface will be offered for future providers of GNSS measurements or spectrum event data.

    Alongside the GENS system technical delivery, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will develop a GNSS guidance document in partnership with U.K. government departments, agencies, CNI operators, professional institutes, academic institutes and commercial organizations to enable informed requirements development, procurement, deployment and support of HMG GNSS-reliant services.

    Reviewed alongside events identified by GENS, the combined offering will highlight and inform stakeholders on risks posed by the loss of PNT services as identified by the PNT Strategy Group Interim Report in April 2020.

    GENS will also respond to HMG’s “Satellite-derived time and position: a study of critical dependencies” report which identified the need for mitigation to GNSS disruption and estimated the economic impact to the U.K. economy of a five-day disruption to GNSS at £5.2 billion.

    The full GENS system will enable users across both commercial and public sector services to subscribe to be informed of both GNSS quality and interference events for regions of interest. By focusing on these events and the improved understanding of the risk posed by disruption, stakeholders will be better informed to enable them to build system resilience or to respond to the disruption of GNSS within the U.K.

    ‘‘Detecting and monitoring GNSS is core to better understanding the scale and risk posed by PNT disruption in the U.K. and across all ESA member states,” said Rafael Lucas Rodriguez, technical officer for GENS, European Space Agency. “ESA is supporting CGI to develop effective tools enabling a system to be created utilizing previous ESA and UK HMG work. This will bring direct benefits for U.K. public and private stakeholders.”

    “The U.K. is a leading investor in GNSS research,” said Andy Proctor, U.K. lead delegate to the ESA Programme Board for Navigation. “Understanding GNSS spectrum quality is vital for the stability of PNT services in the U.K. This program will help promote and address GNSS disruption affecting PNT services while supporting the U.K.’s thriving space sector and the wider economy.”

    “This is an exciting project that brings together CGI’s navigation and spectrum domain expertise supported by scaled agile and DevSecOps delivery experience,” said John Hanley, vice president of secure and assured space solutions at CGI in the U.K. “After talking to both public and private stakeholders for GNSS, it became clear that one of the initial challenges is understanding the scale of PNT disruption. GNSS services touch every part of society across finance, utilities, transport and defense and need to be protected.”

    CGI has been delivering complex, mission-critical space software systems for clients across Europe, Asia and North America, supporting satellite navigation, communications, operations and space enabled applications for more than 40 years.

    Feature photo: alice-photo/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

  • With new space program, UK continues march to more holistic PNT

    With new space program, UK continues march to more holistic PNT

    Photo: UK government
    Photo: U.K. government

    News from the British government appears to be a part of the United Kingdom’s diversification away from primary reliance on GNSS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services, and toward a more diverse set of sources.

    The nation has previously undertaken establishment of a National Timing Centre for distribution of time from suites of atomic clocks and has long transmitted an eLoran timing signal from a government facility in Anthorn.

    Thursday’s press release, titled “Government to explore new ways of delivering ‘sat nav’ for the U.K.,” reinforces the government’s commitment to space-based PNT, but not necessarily from GNSS.

    OneWeb satellites

    The announcement follows significant criticism in Parliament of the nation’s purchase of a 45% share of the bankrupt communications satellite company OneWeb, with the India’s Bharti Holdings having the majority stake. OneWeb had 74 of its planned 648 satellites in orbit when it declared insolvency. With new ownership and financing in place, it plans to resume operations and launch another 36 satellites in December.

    Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s motivation for making the investment was to offset Britain’s post-Brexit exclusion from Europe’s Galileo system. The idea was that OneWeb assets in low earth orbit (LEO) could provide a global British PNT capability.

    This concept faced political and technical opposition from the start. Many technologists in the U.K. and elsewhere doubted that the constellation could be easily adapted to provide sufficiently accurate PNT services. The doubts were so serious that the senior career civil servant responsible for signing the agreement to invest in OneWeb took the very unusual step of refusing to do so without written direction from the political appointee she worked for.

    Before the OneWeb investment, the U.K. government had been studying establish of its own GNSS like America’s GPS and Europe’s Galileo. Sources say the required investment was much higher than the nation wanted to make and would provide little added capability beyond that available from extant systems.

    According to Thursday’s press release, the UK GNSS effort was exploratory and will end this month. It will be “reset” as the Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Programme (SBPP). This project “will explore new and alternative ways that could be used to deliver vital satellite navigation services to the United Kingdom which are critical for the functioning of transport systems, energy networks, mobile communications and national security and defence, whilst boosting the British space industry and developing the U.K.’s own capabilities in these services.”

    While the press release is short on detail, it does mention satellites at low earth orbit and that “a wider range of options” will be examined. This could suggest redoubling efforts on getting PNT from OneWeb, and/or investing in regional PNT satellites.

    Galileo again?

    The press release also says SBPP will “consider collaboration with international allies to share satellite navigation services, costs and technology.” This may signal reengagement with Europe on involvement with Galileo.

    Some observers have said that Brexit did not have to automatically mean that the U.K. was excluded from the Galileo project. European Union membership is not required for participation in the European Space Agency which is responsible for Galileo. Switzerland and Norway, for example, are not EU members, but are members of ESA and sit on its governing board.

    The U.K. government has been very concerned with PNT and GNSS vulnerability since at last 2012 when large solar flares became part of its National Risk Register. In 2017 a London Economics Report found that a five-day GNSS disruption would cost the nation more than $1.3B per day.

    This most recent announcement indicates that Britain is still intent on going its own way and diversifying PNT sources, while still acknowledging the ongoing importance of GNSS and keeping its options open with allies.

    Dana Goward is president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. He is the proprietor at Maritime Governance LLC. In August 2013, he retired from the federal Senior Executive Service, having served as the maritime navigation authority for the United States. As director of Marine Transportation Systems for the U.S. Coast Guard, he led 12 different navigation-related business lines budgeted at more than $1.3 billion per year. He has represented the U.S. at IMO, IALA, the UN anti-piracy working group and other international forums. A licensed helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, he has also served as a navigator at sea and is a retired Coast Guard Captain.