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TuSimple Holdings, a global autonomous driving technology company, has started Level 4 autonomous test runs on the freight corridor that connects the major cities of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

In 2021, TuSimple Japan, a subsidiary of TuSimple, completed a series of safety validation and testing work of its autonomous driving system with a truck provided by a Japanese OEM. In January, TuSimple Japan commenced regular testing on the Tomei Expressway.

It has been reported that the Japanese government is planning to launch a self-driving lane on some sections of the new Tomei Expressway by 2024 and will allow commercial operation of SAE Level 4 fully autonomous trucks in 2026.

TuSimple is developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous (SAE Level 4) driving solution for long-haul, heavy-duty trucks. As of March 2023, TuSimple trucks have recorded more than 10 million cumulative miles through testing, research, and freight delivery.

Tallysman Wireless and u-blox have partnered to develop PointPerfect precise point positioning real-time kinematic augmented smart antennas.

The ZED-F9R high precision GNSS and the NEO-D9S L-band receivers from u-blox have been integrated with Tallysman’s technology. The product integration will provide accuracy and precision.

The multi-band (L1/L2 or L1/L5) architecture removes ionospheric errors, and the multi-stage enhanced XF filtering improves noise immunity while relying on the dual-feed Tallysman Accutenna element to mitigate multi-path signal interference rejection. Some versions of the new smart antenna solutions include an inertial measurement unit (dead reckoning) and an integrated L-band corrections receiver to ensure operation beyond terrestrial network reach.

The PointPerfect GNSS augmentation service is now available in North America, Europe and parts of Asia Pacific.

It has been a wild decade, with so many players in the autonomous vehicle (AV) market, all striving for a leg up. Until the dominant design of present AV stacks emerged, there was no small amount of experimentation and less-than-successful alternate approaches. For instance, there was one big-name player that initially sought to create an AV solution without GNSS. Reality set in, and they soon embraced GNSS as an essential component.

Gordon Heidinger, segment manager, automotive and safety critical systems at Hexagon’s Autonomy and Positioning division, has had a front-row seat from which to observe, and contribute to the evolution of AV.

“I’ve been in the automotive industry for 20 years, all the way from OEMs like Chrysler to tier ones like Harman,” Heidinger said. “I’ve worked on the engineering side, on the project management side, and have now joined Hexagon | NovAtel to help further their involvement in the automotive industry. NovAtel was there for aviation 20 years ago, helping develop systems for planes to take off and land autonomously — we have a deep bench when it comes to applying such expertise for vehicular autonomy.”

NovAtel has long provided GNSS and IMU products and solutions, as well as real-time positioning services. Each are key elements of AV sensor stacks and overall autonomy solutions. Parent company Hexagon has multiple divisions contributing to intelligent transportation — on both the front end and back end.

The Front End

AV systems require highly reliable and smart sensor stacks that typically include cameras, radar, lidar and sonic sensors; these provide the relative positioning for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which are becoming commonplace for newer vehicles. There are also implementations that include GNSS/IMU for navigation and lane keeping.

“Lane keeping is possible to a limited degree with combinations of the other sensors; however, you need GNSS to let you know where you truly are for autonomous driving,” Heidinger said. “Are you on the right freeway lane in Ottawa, or is this an exit ramp? This was a big problem with today’s simple single frequency solution; a car can assume highway speeds on an exit ramp, not realizing it was an exit ramp.”

Only with the absolute precise positioning that GNSS provides, and a high-definition map, level 4 autonomy — and potentially level 5 someday — could be achieved. With current sensor stacks, when the car is moving, it can reliably detect the other cars moving in its vicinity. Furthermore, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) solutions are being developed and tested, which enable a vehicle to share data about where it is going, its speed and acceleration, and its current location. We may remain far from full autonomy until such solutions are broadly deployed, however we will see some of the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) solutions sooner than later.

Various developers and departments of transportation around the world are testing short range V2X communication systems.
“We would need real-time construction zone updates,” Heidinger said. “It would be tough to do lane keeping if a construction site closes or diverts lanes during the course of a day. Or if cameras detect crashes, or blocked lanes, this will need to be broadcast immediately and continuously in real-time.”

A representative example of a production high precision positioning system was demonstrated at the recent Consumer Electronics Show 2023 (CES 2023). ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF) has developed ProConnect — a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) solution that enables positioning and communication for use in applications with roadside infrastructure, such as traffic lights. It can be scaled to include other over-the-air alerts that could include first responder vehicle proximity and construction site status. At CES, the GNSS positioning was demonstrated with an autonomous vehicle platform from Hexagon.

“The precise map and the real-time updates from V2V and V2X systems all need precise absolute positions to relate objects to each other,” Heidinger stated. The question then becomes “…how reliable and trustworthy is that solution”?

There are international automotive-grade requirements such as the ISO 26262 standard for electrical/electronic systems, and automotive safety integrity levels. For instance, ASIL-B(D), and cybersecurity standard ISO/SAE 21434. The latter provides protection against external access without authorization.

“The level of reliability required is extremely high,” Heidinger said. “After all, these are human lives, in metal boxes hurtling along at highways speeds. There are ASIL standards that call for a probability of 10-8, or 1 in 100 million, in an hour that the system is wrong. These levels of reliability need to apply to electronic components, communications, and the availability of the GNSS positioning solution to really automate any type of vehicles. You’ll encounter similar AV standard references to five-nines, or 99.999%.”

Positioning Services

Heidinger explained that for most aspects of autonomy, GNSS can be “good enough”, even just to a foot. However, uncorrected, GNSS can never meet even those needs — achieving an accuracy of a few meters at best. Then there is the matter of reliability. Augmentations like real-time kinematics (RTK) and precise point positioning (PPP) apply broadcast “correctors” that can yield centimeter positions. RTK is not practical for broad areas or highway and road networks as it requires dense infrastructure and two-way communication with the vehicle, which can introduce security challenges.

Solutions for autonomy are typically PPP. While there are many applications of PPP that use clock, orbit and ionospheric model data broadcast from geostationary L-band satellites, for applications such as surveying, mapping, maritime and agriculture, this would not meet the reliability requirements for AV. The Achilles heel of broadcast PPP is that the satellites are usually limited in number and positioned over the equator; the vehicle can often lose sight of these. Instead, PPP services, such as that provided by NovAtel and others, are tapped by vehicles via mobile internet connections; this means cellular networks. While cellular services can often meet reliability goals, there are still vast areas of highways where availability is sparse.

The other challenge for PPP is the convergence time needed to get reliable sub-foot precision.

“No one wants to wait five minutes or more for it to converge,” Heidinger said. “By processing data from semi-dense networks of reference receivers, our PPP can converge rapidly enough to be ready to roll as soon as you start driving.”

The Back End

A free-for-all of autonomy is not going to happen on highways and roads that are not precisely mapped and kept up to date.
“There are visions of crowd sourcing map updates from the sensors in cars,” Heidinger said.

Crowd-sourced data is not systematic enough, though, and could be inconsistent. After all, there are privacy considerations, and how many vehicle owners would be willing enough to participate?

There are numerous mapping and imaging “buggies” plying road and highway networks on an ongoing basis; this could provide a base layer. But how precise? The specific applications these mapping buggies support may not need high precision. And operators may not be willing to invest in high precision/accuracy. The precision of the 3D maps would need to be higher than the target range of the AV systems. The technology exists and is broadly used for various applications in the form of centimeter precision 3D mobile mapping — at highway speeds. Such systems with lidar scanners, cameras, and positioning solutions can include GNSS, IMU, wheel speed encoders, and SLAM lidar for enhanced position stabilization. An example is the Pegasus TRK from Hexagon | Leica Geosystems.

GNSS is the key component — the provider of precise absolute positioning. When people drive, they are the sensor stack, and they are (mostly) aware of the context of where they are and can see and hear what is going on around them. Before we can hand over the driving duties to machines, and fully accept any autonomous driving technology, it will not only need to be as smart and aware as humans, but much better and more aware than humans. Autonomy sensor stacks can tell a car what it is doing, and what other things are doing in its immediate vicinity, but without a precise map, and knowing precisely where it is in real-time, a car would be still tip-toeing around in a fog of uncertainty.

Birmingham City Council has launched a mapping portal to address the issue of tree equity across the city.

With UK national tree map data, created by aerial mapping company Bluesky International, the interactive tool allows users to identify which parts of the city have lower than average tree canopy cover and investigate possible relationships between canopy cover and other socio-economic and environmental factors. The online platform also enables users to model different scenarios and targets to identify planting opportunities and locations to increase the number of trees.

The national tree map was created using innovative algorithms and image processing techniques, from the most up-to-date aerial photography and terrain data for the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. It provides a detailed reference as to the location, canopy cover and height of trees 3 m and taller that can be applied alongside other data to establish ownership, proximity to other features or assets, and relationships between demographic, economic or social data.

National tree map data is widely used by a number of different market sectors such as local authorities, energy companies, property developers and academic and research organizations, investigating the role of trees and green spaces and their impact on health, environment and infrastructure.

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has released its first EO and GNSS Market Report, where EO stands for Earth observation. The report is the result of a collaboration between 15 EUSPA experts from various fields and market research companies supporting EUSPA, backed by more than 50 external experts who helped validate the market trends and the data. In his foreword to the report, Rodrigo da Costa, EUSPA’s executive director, wrote: “Since its inception, the report has established itself as the most authoritative reference document for information on the global GNSS market. It is regularly referenced by policymakers and business leaders around the world.”

EUSPA’s EO and GNSS Market Report combines market and application data into one report that provides global coverage of EO and GNSS applications across 17 different market segments: agriculture; aviation and UAVs; biodiversity, ecoystems and natural capital; climate services; consumer solutions, tourism and health; emergency management and humanitarian aid; energy and raw materials; environmental monitoring; fisheries and aquaculture; forestry; infrastructure; insurance and finance; maritime and inland waterways; rail; road and automotive; space; urban development and cultural heritage.

Growth dominated by consumer solutions

Between 2021 to 2031, yearly shipments of GNSS receivers are projected to grow from 1.8 billion units to 2.5 billion units. The shipments will be dominated by the consumer solutions, tourism and health segments as the global sales of smartphones and wearables continues to increase.

The global installed base of GNSS devices in use is expected to reach more than 10 billion units by 2031 — dominated by consumer solutions, tourism and health, and road and automotive market segments, which will contribute to 98% of all devices in use. The global GNSS downstream market revenues, which covers both device sales and service-related revenues, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% over the next decade, reaching €492 billion by 2031. More than 82% of the revenue will be generated by value-added services. Beyond the mass markets, the markets of agriculture, urban development and cultural heritage, and infrastructure will be the main contributors to the global GNSS revenue stream.

The Asia-Pacific region continues to be at the top of the GNSS revenue market both for device sales and service revenues based on demand. The region is expected to increase its share of the global services revenues, nearing 46% by 2031; however, it will see a decline of its market share of device revenues. The Asia-Pacific region will be challenged by the upcoming markets of South America and the Caribbean, Non-EU27 Europe, the Middle East, and African regions.

The GNSS market

The report defines the GNSS market as activities in which GNSS-based positioning, navigation and/or timing is a significant enabler for functionality. The GNSS market is comprised of device revenues, revenues derived from augmentation and added-value services attributable to GNSS.

Augmentation services include software products, digital maps and GNSS augmentation subscriptions. Added-value service revenues include data downloaded through cellular networks specifically to run location-based applications, the GNSS-attributable revenues of smartphone apps, subscription revenues from fleet management services, and UAV service revenues across a range of industries. For multi-function devices such as smartphones, the revenues include only the value of GNSS-functionality, not the full device price, so, a case-specific correction factor is used.

About the charts

Data on the charts presented in the report start from the year 2020 and are estimated, projected and subject to update in the next edition of EUSPA’s Market Report. Historical figures are actual numbers based on reliable sources, per EUSPA. These will change if the number of applications is expanded in future reports.

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Source: EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report ISSUE 1,
copyright EU Agency for the Space Programme, 2022

On April 27, I attended (virtually) the spring 2023 meeting of the California Spatial Reference Center (CSRC) coordinating council. See the agenda below. This column will highlight some activities with which the CSRS is involved and how it’s advancing the science of geodesy. Anyone who has been following my latest columns knows that I am an advocate for any person or organization that promotes the advancement of geodesy and recognizes that the United States is experiencing a geodetic crisis.

First, I would like to state that Yehuda Bock, the director of CSRS, has been instrumental in advancing accurate geodetic positioning for as long as I have known him. I first met Bock in 1978 while I was attending the Ohio State University.

A video of the meeting is available from the CSRC here.

During the meeting, Bock presented the director’s report. He started with mentioning how geodetic infrastructure and methodologies are essential to mitigating the effects of natural hazards. That is something that affects everyone in the world, especially California, and one of the reasons that I always end my email messages and presentations with the following statement: “Geodesy is the foundation for all geospatial products and services.”

Bock highlighted how GNSS is important to explaining natural phenomena and hazards of the Earth. Most individuals use GNSS to know where they are on a map on a phone, but GNSS (and geodesy) is so much more important to the average citizen than just knowing their location on Earth. As you can see from the image below, GNSS positioning provides information about many of Earth’s systems, such as changes in local mean sea level, the values of atmospheric parameters, the status of water resources, and the movement of the Earth’s surface due to tectonic plates, glaciers, earthquakes and volcanoes. One or more of these activities are important to every individual in the world.

Bock provided examples of how GNSS has been used to investigate and monitor earthquakes, which is extremely important in California. See the image below.   

He highlighted a methodology of a kinematic datum that uses an intra-frame velocity model to estimate positions at any location and at anytime with respect to a reference frame and epoch.  This concept is part of the National Geodetic Survey’s new, modernized, National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). Several of my previous columns have discussed NGS’ NSRS and time-dependent coordinates (for example, see my August 2022 column). 

 California’s geodetic network is significantly affected by crustal movement. To help address this issue, the CSRS updated the NAD 83 coordinates. It’s denoted as CSRS epoch 2017.5 (NAD 83). See the image below for the project report on the update. This is important to anyone surveying in California because of the crustal movement affecting the coordinates of the monuments. California is well positioned to implement NGS’ NSRS. Part of the implementation of the CSRC epoch 2017.50 (NAD 83) was to have the new epoch-date coordinates transmitted with RTCM 3.0 data streams. This is something that other RTN operators from around the nation will have to do after NGS publishes the NSRS coordinates. The CSRS is a model from which others can learn. 

Users that access CSRC’s epoch 2017.50 website, can find the coordinates of marks published in CSRC epoch 2017.50 (NAD83). See the image below for an example. 

Bock discussed the integration of InSAR and GNSS to estimate accurate land changes over large areal extents. This type of research can help in developing an accurate intra–frame deformation model (IFDM) to account for movement between survey epoch coordinates (SEC) and reference epoch coordinates (REC). See my August 2022 column for more on NGS’s definition of SEC and REC coordinates.   

The rest of the director’s report included the following topics: 

• reference surfaces for unified reference frame 
• observation systems: terrestrial and marine geoids 
• unified reference frame 
• GNSS-IR 
• airborne gravity 
• geoid model 
• machine l;earning 
• tracking atmospheric rivers with GNSS meteorology 
• tracking extreme weather events with GNSS meteorology 
• cluster analysis to unsupervised analysis of GNSS time series isolate geophysical effects 
• proposed geodesy curriculum at SIO. 

The last one was the most important one to me because developing educational curriculums that include geodetic topics will help advance the science of geodesy.   

 

Other speakers at the coordinating council meeting discussed the use of geodetic science in projects such as measuring sea level rise along the California coast as well as performing geodesy on the seafloor.  

There was an interesting presentation by Humberto Gallegos discussing how to fill the skill gaps through the Geo-Spatial Engineering and Technologies (GSET) program at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). This program is helpful in developing future surveyors and geodesists. 

There also was a presentation on EarthScope by Bill Funderburk. See below for a few slides from Bill’s presentation. The presentation discussed the update on the Network of the Americas (NOTA). Bill provided information on NOTA partners, NOTA network and data, NOTA in California, and the EarthScope merger. His presentation also highlighted the many partners that support the NOTA, which includes 1,147 GPS/GNSS stations across the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Many individuals may not know it, but UNAVCO and IRIS merged on January 1, to become the EarthScope Consortium. Readers can find more information on this new organization here. 

I only highlighted a few items from the meeting. Please see the video of the meeting for more details.  

During the meeting, Bock was also presented with the CSRC Founders Award. It was a great honor for me to say a few words recognizing the important contributions that Bock has made to the geodetic community over the past five decades. It is in large part due to his leadership that California has progressed so much in geospatial positioning services. The following are a few photos from the ceremony and a statement from the CSRS. 

Recognition Statement from the California Spatial Reference Center

“Distinguished Research Scientist, Yehuda Bock, was recognized by the California Spatial Reference Center (CSRC: http://sopac-csrc.ucsd.edu/index.php/csrc/) with the Founders Day Award. Presented by Dana Caccamise, Bock was honored for the “thriving science and community outreach facilitated through [his] vision and implementation of the Center for decades.” With Bock’s guidance, CSRC was established in 1997 as a partnership with surveyors, engineers, GIS professionals, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the geodetic and geophysical communities, and has become of IGPP’s most successful outreach efforts.”

 

In my opinion, integrated and collaborative organizations are necessary for the successful development of geospatial products and services.  

I would like to highlight how the Ohio State University is integrating geodesy in a geology program. The Ohio State University Geology Field Camp is a geology class that is held every year. This year, the OSU Geodetic Department is going to participate in the program to explain how the science of geodesy is helpful to geologists. The plan is to provide exercises to explain how the camp’s activities can be enhanced with geodetic techniques. 

The 2023 geology summer field course lasts six weeks. This year, the course starts on Thursday, June 1, and ends on Friday, July 14. Students receive six semester credit hours for completion of the course. 

The course emphasize the following: 

• observation of stratigraphic units and their characteristics 
• interpretation and synthesis of structures, paleoenvironments, and geologic history 
• presentation of results by means of geologic maps and cross-sections 
• experience with 3D visualization, GIS, GPS and computer analysis of field data 

In conclusion, on June 22, NGS is hosting a webinar that will discuss some of the benefits and challenges of transitioning to the modernized NSRS. The presenters are not NGS employees.  They are guest speakers from the geospatial community. I would encourage all users to register for this webinar. 

Inmarsat has partnered with Australia and New Zealand to deliver the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN), which will provide accurate, reliable, and instant positioning services in the Asian Pacific region. The positioning service will be delivered on one of Inmarsat’s three new I-8 satellites in 2027.

SouthPAN will improve positioning accuracy to 10 cm for users in the maritime, agriculture and construction industries.

“SouthPAN represents extraordinary potential for the region,” Todd McDonell, president of Inmarsat Global Government, said. “It can save lives by enabling precision safety tracking, help farmers improve productivity through automated device tracking, or even support transport management systems of the future.”

The Inmarsat I-8 satellites will also be a critical part of a safety-of-life-certified SouthPAN for aviation and other applications, scheduled for 2028.

Q & A with Peter Soar, Business Development Manager, Military and Defense, Hexagon | NovAtel. Read more from this cover story here. 

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What have been the advances since you began deliveries of the GAJT-710ML?

The original signal plan for GAJT-710ML was GPS L1 and GPS L2 only, with specific capability to use civil, P(Y) and M-Codes. GAJT-710ML as delivered in 2019 addressed GPS L1, Galileo E1, QZSS L1, GPS L2, QZSS L2. The version delivered provides situational awareness by jammer power level – by automatic gain control (AGC), as well as jammer direction-finding to the most powerful jamming signal. We are in the process of improving GAJT-710ML to be able to give simultaneous directions to multiple jammers.

Meanwhile, deployment of GAJT-410ML has started. This is a 4-element version of the same technology as GAJT-710ML but for smaller platforms. By using an internal junction box, the user can install this GAJT with just one small RF cable penetrating the vehicle armor. The latest GAJT version is GAJT-AE2. This UK-built board-level product is also able to use the strong L5 signals.
We have also launched the Robust Dual Antenna Receiver (RoDAR). Our engineers put an anti-jam algorithm directly on our OEM7 dual-antenna receivers (OEM718D and OEM7720).This is for the very small platforms that cannot carry a full GAJT. It only provides one null (as it has two antennas) although it does so simultaneously on L1 and L5 and related GNSS signals.

NovAtel’s GAJT are commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. How does that help you with exports?

GAJT products are built in Canada (mainly) and the UK and are subject from source to the Controlled Goods Program of Canada and UK Export controls respectively, but are not subject to U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) until shipped to the United States. RoDAR is based on OEM7 receivers which are free from export controls and because only one null is created per frequency, the RoDAR configuration is also free from export controls.

Once goods controlled by Canada or the UK land in the United States, or are incorporated into an already ITAR controlled system, then they become subject to the ITAR. Being COTS helps with export classifications because GAJT is dual-use. For example, it is used in oil and gas exploration. One of the ways that we work with the U.S. Department of Defense and other departments is via Hexagon U.S. Federal, which is a U.S.-proxied organization that can operate at classification levels beyond what other Hexagon units can.

Has the form factor remained essentially the same, and will it remain the same, while you upgrade the electronics?

The GAJT-710ML form-factor remains unchanged. This is important because the installation schemes take time to design and the customer likes continuity in the area. We intend for follow-on products —which will naturally be better performing, lower volume and lower power — to have an optional interface that will allow mounting on existing installation schemes. GAJT-410ML and the other products are smaller.

Hexagon says that its anti-jam technology increasingly emphasizes protecting GPS signals against Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) from the advanced armed forces of nations. What are some examples and in what direction is anti-jam technology evolving?

Most conflicts of the previous generation were “asymmetric” in terms of the military technology deployed by each side. Now we see more conflicts between advanced armed forces which are more symmetric and expect that to continue. Anti-Jam technology is evolving to encompass all the GNSS signals and other PNT sensors that are being used by allied defense forces. This includes added GPS signals (beyond L1 and L2) as well as GNSS, L-Band corrections, SBAS and other emerging PNT signals. One task for us is to discern users’ requirements. Even within NATO there are different national policies as to which signals and sensors are essential/desirable/not to be used.

Q & A with Roger Hart, Director of Engineering, Spirent Federal Systems. Read more from this cover story here. 

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Why do you see the need to modernize GPS?

For many lay users, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are simply there, reliably guiding them and their systems to do the right thing in the right place at the right time. But with its vulnerabilities, we cannot take GNSS — GPS specifically — for granted, and it cannot remain static. Its ubiquity in commercial and defense applications demands ongoing improvements to signal quality, diversity, availability, and assurance. The GNSS signal space is increasingly contested, navigation warfare is common, and the risk to civilians and warfighters increases. For those of us focused on defense, we see the growing array of threats steadily ticking upward in novelty and number.

We applaud the ongoing efforts by the U.S. Space Force and Air Force to modernize the GPS space segment, control segment, and user equipment. GPS-contested and -denied environments are here to stay, so we must hone GPS as a tool for both the military and civil user.

How is Spirent Federal supporting modernization efforts?

In short, by providing deterministic simulation for future signals and capabilities not yet in theater. Regional Military Protection (RMP) is a recent example. RMP is a nascent anti-jamming capability that will be available on GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) satellites. RMP provides military users with a steerable, narrow-beam M-code signal that greatly amplifies the power over a defined geographical area. According to the GPS IIIF satellite manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, RMP can provide up to 60 times greater anti-jamming support. This allows U.S. and allied forces to operate with accuracy and resilience much closer to interfering sources than with legacy signals. GPSIIIF satellites with RMP are in production, and the latest publicly forecasted launch date is FY2027. With Spirent’s software-defined-radio-based simulator’s ability to support RMP simulation, modernized GPS user equipment (MGUE) can be tested and integrated with RMP early in the design phase before live-sky signals are available. Adaptive antennas, other constellations, encrypted signals, and non-RF sensors can also be tested with RMP. Coupled with this, the ability to simulate a wide range of edge cases during development enables superior performance in the real world.

And beyond RMP?

Low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellations have been a focus for several years as we look to next-generation alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) methods to complement GPS. We have developed LEO simulators for both the military and commercial sectors, including modeling tools that simplify the generation of large LEO constellations with high-fidelity orbital dynamics, delivering greater realism for applications that have no margin for error.

As GPS modernizes, there is a growing movement toward software-defined radio (SDR) architectures for both receivers and transmitters. Flexible SDR-based simulation encourages experimentation: on the same platform, applications can range from standard GNSS signals to entirely new constellations and RF modulations, including interference threats. Simulation of RF signals can be done in concert with inertial and other non-RF sensors, and deterministic architecture ensures that performance is maintained.

Another focus is on spoofing — creating tools to support defense in their efforts to harden GPS. One of the latest technological advancements in simulation is an “augmented reality” range capability: the device under test (DUT) on a moving aircraft or land vehicle is attached to a portable simulator. The DUT receives live-sky signals from the antenna on the vehicle but also receives additional spoofed signals injected by the live-sky-synced simulator.* The DUT’s resilience to the spoofed signals can then be analyzed and hardened against future spoofing attempts. Without the difficulties of setting up an open-air test, the real-world dynamics are employed in the test, heightening realism — and the simulated signals augment it.

*It is the sole responsibility of the user to obtain appropriate permits.

On May 31, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the main procurement batch of Galileo Second Generation (G2), initiated in summer 2022, has been finalized. The system is now ready for its on-orbit validation development phase.

Following the opening session of the European Navigation Conference (ENC), Javier Benedicto, director of navigation for the ESA, invited Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, and Thales Six GTS  to sign contracts commencing system engineering support for the next generation of Europe’s navigation satellite system.

Satellite-building contracts were awarded in May 2021 to Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space to create two independent families of satellites amounting to 12 G2 satellites in total. Separate contracts were also awarded to Safran Electronics and Defence-Navigation and Timing and Leonardo to provide the ultra-precise atomic clocks carried aboard.

Employing electric propulsion for the first time, and hosting a higher-strength navigation antenna, the G2 satellites will incorporate six (rather than four) enhanced atomic clocks as well as inter-satellite links to communicate and cross-check with one another. They will be controllable with an increased data rate to and from the ground and will operate for 15 years on orbit.

In addition, G2’s fully digital payloads are being designed to be easily reconfigured on orbit, enabling them to respond to the evolving needs of users with novel signals and services.

There are 28 Galileo satellites on orbit, making it the most precise satellite navigation system —providing meter-level accuracy to more than four billion users around the globe. There are 10 Galileo satellites due to be launched, after which the first of the G2 satellites with enhanced capabilities are expected to join the constellation in the next few years.