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The Institute of Navigation (ION) Satellite Division presented two prestigious awards Sept. 20 at the ION GNSS+ Conference in Miami, Florida.

Peter Teunissen was honored with the career-highlight Johannes Kepler Award. The Johannes Kepler Award recognizes and honors an individual for sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation. It is the highest honor bestowed by the ION’s Satellite Division.

Teunissen was recognized for his influential and groundbreaking contributions to the algorithmic foundations of satellite navigation, and for sustained dedication to the global education of the next generation of navigation engineers.

Teunissen invented the Least Squares Ambiguity Decorrelation Adjustment (LAMBDA) method, the worldwide standard for ambiguity resolution, which revolutionized high precision GNSS positioning capabilities. LAMBDA has thus become an indispensable tool that is most widely used in land, air and space navigation; positioning and attitude determination; differential and network processing; and in surveying and geodesy. He also extended the method to MC-LAMBDA, a multivariate constrained resolution method for optimal GNSS attitude determination.

Among others, Teunissen laid the mathematical and algorithmic foundation of reliability theory, which enables a proper understanding of the quality of different integer ambiguity resolution methods and a rigorous characterization of their failure rates, which even led to the development of an optimal test for ambiguity validation.

His findings are particularly important for multi-GNSS processing, which require a proper understanding of individual system characteristics and their respective contributions to achieve navigation solutions of the highest precision and integrity.

Teunissen has made contributions in the field of precise point positioning, the exploitation of triple-frequency observation, and the joint use of new GNSS such as Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS. Pioneering work in this area include the early setup of multi-GNSS receiver test beds in the Asia-Pacific area; the discovery and proper handling of mixed-receiver inter-satellite-type biases, which were vital to fully exploit ambiguity resolution in the regional, BeiDou-2 system; and the first demonstrations of mixed GPS/Galileo/IRNSS/QZSS L5 processing for precise positioning applications.

Teunissen has made significant contributions to educating future generations. He is currently a Professor of Satellite Navigation at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and Curtin University, Australia.

He received his Ph.D. at Delft University of Technology in Mathematical and Physical Geodesy. He holds several honorary professorships and fellowships of numerous international organizations, including Australia’s prestigious Federation Fellowship of the Australian Research Council.

He has published more than 300 papers, seven books, is co-editor and author of the Handbook of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and is a member of 13 editorial boards.

He is a regular contributor to ION and ION programs. He is a Fellow of the ION, the RIN and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.

Advanced RAIM topic earns Diaz the Parkinson Award

The Bradford W. Parkinson Award recognizes an outstanding graduate student in GNSS. It is presented in honor of Parkinson for his leadership in establishing the U.S. GPS and for his work on behalf of ION’s Satellite Division.

Diaz was recognized for graduate student excellence in GNSS in his thesis, “Design of an Integrity Support Message for Offline Advanced RAIM.”

Any graduate student who is a member of the ION and is completing a degree program with an emphasis in GNSS technology, applications, or policy is eligible for the award.

Program enters integration and test phase on track to 2021 delivery

Raytheon Company’s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, has completed full software and hardware development and entered the system integration and test phase. The milestone keeps GPS OCX, the enhanced ground control segment of a U.S. Air Force-led effort to modernize America’s GPS system, on track to meet its June 2021 contractual delivery deadline.

“GPS OCX is one of the largest, most complex software development programs in the Department of Defense, and we’re now in the home stretch toward full system delivery,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business.

The GPS OCX team completed development of 1.5 million lines of software code, supported by a pivot to leading-edge commercial software development processes that began in 2016. Additionally, the team’s information assurance best practices helped the program achieve the highest level of cybersecurity protections of any DoD space system.

The U.S. Air Force used the cybersecure GPS OCX launch and checkout system, often referred to as Block 0, to launch the first modernized GPS III satellite into space in December 2018 and the second in August 2019.

The team’s focus for the remainder of 2019 is the delivery of the system’s new modernized receivers, which will measure and monitor legacy military and civilian signals sent by the current GPS satellite constellation plus the new signals sent by the next-generation GPS IIIs.

Trade wars may be THE only serious limiting factor

The GNSS chip market worldwide is projected to grow by US$2.7 billion, guided by a compounded growth of 8%, to 2025, according to ResearchandMarkets. Other market reports cite “huge growth” and “strong development” in GNSS-related markets such as simulators, aviation and defense. We can count ourselves lucky — or remarkably prescient — to be part of such a robust industry, in such uncertain times.

The world conquest by smartphones, smart cities and the internet of things (IoT) will strongly support this market growth. Also on the horizon is the rising tide of GPS-enabled vehicles, putting automotive telematics on the road to assisted-driver and ultimately autonomous driving.

M&A. Meanwhile, the fast pace of mergers and acquisitions among manufacturers and integrators will strengthen the GNSS economy and propel it even higher. Such interactivity will bring higher revenue shares to key players as well as support overall profitability increases to come.

Accurate monitoring of operations and assets; the astonishing rise of drones to active roles in many industries; and the constant innovation and imagination churning out new products, solutions and augmented services — all will consolidate the strength of our remarkable economy. The much-heralded arrivals of BeiDou and Galileo fully upon the scene will only make the immediate future stronger for our industry.

PNT Broadly. Where GPS, GNSS, and multi-GNSS go, they carry other positioning technologies along on their coat tails: inertial, signals of opportunity, Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband and more. The growing pie is certainly big enough for all to get a large share.

That’s not to say there are no barriers to growth, no clouds on the horizon. Licensing, laws and regulations will, as ever, constrict growth. This is not always a bad thing. Controlled growth and wise use benefit us all, and prevent runaway bubbles that can burst for lack of proper internal support.
Mapping.

Meanwhile, a host of well-established businesses and nascent enterprises exploit the increased interest in location-based information as an enabler for many consumer, organizational and governmental services. This means that mapping and all manner of technologies associated with it — laser, lidar, infrared and more — may grow at even faster rates.

A brave new world awaits. Once GNSS is integrated with artificial intelligence, there’s no telling where we’re headed.

Of the many uncertainties across the globe, economic warfare poses a greater risk to GNSS than does military conflict. The latter, cynically enough, will actually benefit the industry in the short run, though its effect may chill in the long run.

Trade. One of the biggest questions confronting the industry now is whether the trade and tariff war between the U.S. and China will continue, and what effect it will have. Experts disagree widely on both questions, though almost all of them, except the leaders who are supposed to listen to them, agree that it’s generally a bad thing.

As was stated in these pages at this time last year, if business confidence falls as a result, global output could also drop.

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Opportunities Outweigh Obstacles

Industry leaders confront spectrum issues, jamming

In contrast to the rosy forecast on the previous page, serious issues confront the GNSS market. None of them are more serious, thornier or difficult to resolve (despite the many solutions offered) than spoofing and jamming.

Like a tragic hero, GNSS carries a potentially fatal weakness within its strength. To be ubiquitous and highly precise, the signals come from space. Coming from space, they are weak and susceptible to malicious meddling.

Other political and technological obstacles put pressure on the GNSS industry, and therefore upon the whole PNT industry. GNSS always will be the backbone, the center core holding together various adjunct positioning, navigation and timing technologies.

These issues, following closely on the heels of spoofing and jamming, include but are not limited to: spectrum competition and spectrum management; cybersecurity; privacy; net neutrality; national security export controls; product liability; and failure, however temporary, of GNSS systems.

We’ve seen this last most recently with Galileo, but all the GNSS have suffered such setbacks, and surely will again. The nature of the response to each occurrence is the most critical factor.

Keep on the Sunny Side. However, the opportunities far outweigh the obstacles. The greatest opportunities always arise from the greatest asset that the industry possesses: intellectual capital.

Many of the opportunities are cited on the previous page. While high precision will continue to lead the innovation charge and provide the highest profit margins, the smartphone and the automobile will increasingly take up the MVP (most valuable positioner) role within the industry.

Market Intelligence. All these factors make unprecedented demands on management attention and agility. Executives need good market intelligence to keep abreast and ahead of fast-developing research and development trends, market shifts, developments in neighboring or competing technologies, and protectionist tariffs and import/export controls.

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Insight provided by all regions, sectors and job titles

This year’s State of the GNSS Industry Survey provides insight from around the globe.

Just over half our respondents work for companies or organizations headquartered in North America; 15% are from Asia-based operations; roughly 10% each for enterprises in Europe and Latin America; slightly less for the Pacific region; and the rest of the replies scattered across Africa, the Middle East and Russia. Truly an international sampling!

Demographics. For job titles, we drew in-depth data from:

• owner/president/CEO, 21%
• engineer, 20%
• general, product or program manager, 19%
• other, mostly surveyors or GIS analysts, 18%
• researcher, 10%
• vice president, CTO, COO, CFO or similar, 6%
• sales and marketing, 5%

Sector. The intelligence in the following pages accumulated from these industry verticals:

• survey and high precision, 29%
• defense, security, government, 19%
• mapping, data acquisition/processing, GIS, 14%
• satellites, signals and simulation, 9%
• machine control, precision agriculture, or transportation (non-autonomous), 6%
• autonomous vehicles (air, ground or water), 5%
• wireless and consumer, 4%
• other, 13%

GIS ready to meet demands of IoT, smart cities

The mapping industry has taken to UAVs — sort of. Put it this way: UAVs are only one tool in the GIS (geographic information system) toolbox.

A third of our respondents (32%) say that UAVs will be used for less than 10% of field survey activity in the next three years. In contrast, a quarter of our respondents say that drones with variety of sensors (photogrammetric, lidar, hyperspectral, etc.) will perform up to half of mapping work.

The response is similar to replies in 2018. While UAVs are an exciting new technology for mapping, most respondents to our survey recognize the continued value of hands-on, in-the-field data collection. In fact, only 11% of respondents expect that mapping work on the ground will gradually disappear over the next three years.

Sensors Aboard. When on board a UAV, 43% say the best sensor to use in conjunction with GPS/GNSS for mapping and data collection is a high-resolution still-image camera, which is highly preferred over video cameras. Today’s high-resolution cameras can capture details down to a few centimeters on the ground, even from an aircraft hundreds of feet in the air (see our August issue for more on aerial mapping).

Other top sensor choices for our readers include lidar (light detection and ranging) at 32% and multispectral imaging cameras at 14%. Lidar (light detection and ranging) uses a pulsed laser to measure distances and generate precise, three-dimensional information.

Rather than UAVs, airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring lidar data over broad areas. Topographic lidar uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to measure seafloor and riverbed elevations. Lidar is used to create more accurate maps, make digital elevation models, assist in emergency response operations, to name a few applications. GNSS and INS systems translate the collected sensor data into static points for GIS.

Multispectral and hyperspectral cameras capture images in infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) as well as traditional RGB (red, blue, green). The main difference between multispectral and hyperspectral is the number of bands and how narrow the bands are — from 3 to 10 bands for multispectral to hundreds for hyperspectral. Practically speaking, multispectral imagery can be used to map forested areas, while hyperspectral imagery can be used to map tree species within the forest.

Both types of cameras are used in agriculture, ecology, oil and gas, oceanography and atmospheric studies. They can map invasive species, monitor crop health, and help in mineral exploration. For building inspections, a multispectral camera can see water penetration, plumbing leaks, overloaded electrical circuits and malfunctioning mechanical systems.

Cloudy, Chance of Maps. Anywhere, anytime access to geospatial data is increasingly important, fueled in part by both the internet of things (IoT) and smart-city initiatives. Geospatial technology enables effective and integrated planning by providing real-time location data and analytics.

Most mapping providers have developed cloud software and storage, which helps organizations access data to meet their specific requirements. Along with the cloud, advances in mobile computing are enabling organizations to take GIS to the field, interacting with the information needed to view, capture, update and synchronize changes between the field and office. The field workforce can use maps to add validity to data, record observations, and respond to events.

GIS software is also assisting connected cars and autonomous vehicles, an area expected to grow significantly (see page 38). The mobile GIS software market is expected to reach a CAGR of 18% by 2024, according to Global Market Insights.

In transportation and machine control

It’s hard to overstate the importance of inertial sensors in the transportation and machine control markets. For the second year, using inertial navigation systems (INS) to augment positioning was selected by the most respondents (43%) as the best additional solution for positioning in GPS/GNSS-challenged environments.

Inertial measurement units are based on multi-axis combinations of precision gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers using algorithms to determine location, direction and position. Other tech used to increase positioning accuracy includes signals of opportunity (cellular, radio, TV), visual indicators (such as lidar) and ultra-wideband.

Automakers are pushing hard to get autonomous vehicles on our roads and highways. Nissan and Renault (with Microsoft) plan to have 10 vehicles on sale by 2020 with “significant autonomous functionality.”

Ford plans to roll out autonomous vehicles by 2021, and Hyundai is targeting them for the highway by 2020 and urban driving by 2030. While industry experts debate the time frame, it’s clear autonomous vehicles are coming.

Every Tier 1 automaker has an autonomous navigation program, along with heavyweights such as Google, Apple an Amazon. Many automakers are teaming with tech companies on R&D, such as GM with Lyft, and BMW with Intel and Mobileye. Others are teaming with each other —Volkswagen and Ford partnered to acquire AI startup Argo. Daimler has joined Volvo to invest in the platooning concept, connecting trucks through wireless signals.

Stages of Autonomy. The move to autonomous won’t be a sudden jump, but will take place in incremental steps. Formerly only offered on luxury autos such as the Tesla or Mercedes, Honda has introduced semi-autonomous advanced-driver assistance systems (ADAS) options on its entry-level Civic, offering lane-keeping, automatic braking, and adaptive cruise control functionality for the mass market.

Automakers rely on SAE International’s J3016 standard, which defines six levels of automation from Level 0 (no automation) to Level 5 (full vehicle autonomy). The pivotal change occurs between Levels 2 and 3, when responsibility for monitoring the driving environment shifts from the driver to the system.

At Level 1 (driver assistance) is cruise control.

Level 2 (partial automation) includes Audi Traffic Jam Assist, Cadillac Super Cruise, Mercedes-Benz Driver Assistance Systems, Tesla Autopilot and Volvo Pilot Assist.

Level 3 (conditional automation) puts the car in the driver’s seat, but prompts the driver to intervene in a difficult encounter (Audi Traffic Jam Pilot).

At Level 4 (high automation), the car operates without human input, but only under select conditions (road type, geographic area). For instance, the driver might manage all driving duties on surface streets then become a passenger as the car enters a highway.

At Level 5 (full automation), the driverless car can operate on any road and in any conditions a human driver could negotiate. There are no Level 5 autos yet, but Waymo is using a fleet of 600 Chrysler Pacifica hybrids to develop Level 5 tech for production.

Machine Control. Not having to deal as much with traffic, except to navigate to the work site, machines in agriculture and construction are much more autonomous than the family car.

For liability reasons, fully autonomous machines have yet to be approved for field work in the U.S. Nevertheless, manufacturers such as Case IH, New Holland, John Deere and Komatsu are continuing to push the tech, and most tractors sold in the U.S. today include auto-steering systems.

At construction sites, GNSS technology installed in bulldozers, excavators, graders and pavers increase productivity and provide situational awareness to operators. GNSS increases the efficiency and accuracy of these machines, with the input used in task management, data management and theft-detection applications.

Operators rely on GNSS information to position the cutting edge of a bulldozer blade or an excavator bucket. GNSS enables comparison of the position against a 3D digital design to compute cut and fill amounts. Display systems provide the operator with the visual information to manually move the machine’s blade or bucket for highest accuracy.

Reversing norm, cedes initiative to civil side

Nowhere is the interest in anti-jamming and anti-spoofing technology higher and more urgent than in the defense and security sectors. Overall, the anti-jamming market is about a tenth the size of the full GNSS market, but that still amounts to a considerable number. It is projected to grow at a slower rate than the overall market, according to one market report, or about 40% of the total GNSS industry pace from 2018 to 2023.

Major growth opportunities stem from high demand for robustness and resistance to enemy technology in military applications. This demand is primarily for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to conduct surveillance, reconnaissance and actual combat. Other demands are for munitions and guided implementations, and low-cost GPS anti-jamming solutions.

While the military market has fueled growth in civil GPS products and services, this trend is being turned on its head.

For instance, U.S. Army light tanks were equipped in quick succession with new iterations of civil anti-jam units.

“[We] asked for exactly what we wanted and industry built exactly to that. We don’t know exactly what we want. Tell us how we should do this the best, and then we’ll test that,” said the acquisition officer in charge. This PNT program may set the mold for future U.S. military development — leaving requirements broad and open to change with the knowledge that technology develops quickly, and can just as quickly be shown to be vulnerable.

Go Small, Go Modernized. Two other key trends exert control over the defense market: the reduction in size, weight and requisite power (SWaP) of hundreds — if not more — of GNSS-dominated navigation and positioning devices installed aboard myriad different military platforms, and the coming need to retrofit all such platforms, not only for SWaP but for the new signals, prime among them M-code, coming with modernized and multi-GNSS.

Commercial activity in this sector is constrained to a degree by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), administered by different U.S. government departments to ensure that defense-related technology does not fall into adversarial or mischievous hands. Nevertheless, all those involved in defense and security will be very, very busy for several years to come.

Different platform configurations rapidly emerge

Drones continue to move further into everyday life and activity as they become more involved in applications that touch almost everyone. Previously a curious novelty, now unmanned aircraft are almost commonplace.

Real Estate. Suppose you are buying a new house. Almost all the exterior home pictures and video on real-estate websites come from dones. The high-definition photo capability of any commercially available drone is well up to providing great panoramic aerial shots — now virtually required to market homes.

Suitable UAVs and their operators are either readily available, or real-estate agents are taking on the job, buying and flying the equipment and managing the video-processing software themselves. Approvals for regular real-estate operations using drones now can be more readily obtained The objective is near real-time approval using the U.S. FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system, with drone operations provided by an expanding list of independent UAS Service Supplier companies, cleared and qualified by the FAA to provide commercial drone operations.

Crop Monitoring. In agriculture, it is virtually expected that a large farm operation will be on a crop monitoring/maintenance program that entails regular drone data-collection flights and automated processing of geo-tagged photographic, thermal and laser crop images. An initial baseline set of images establishes the starting point for the program, and then analysis identifies crop weaknesses. A fertilizer/treatment “prescription” is then drawn up to address deficiencies. After applications throughout the growing areas, follow-up drone monitoring checks whether growth rates have improved or if more remedial action is necessary.

The cycle continues throughout the growing season. A number of large and small companies offer turnkey services to farmers, or farms themselves run subsets of this UAS-based operation.

Construction and Inspection. Mining and construction now also have drone services that gather and process image data to automate significant parts of the process, as does surveying and geospatial information services (GIS).

Facility inspection using drones follows the agriculture model, with initial overflights establishing a baseline status record against which subsequent image data is compared.

Indoor automation with drones also has enabled a huge reduction in time spent in frequent physical inspection of tanks, pressure vessels, holds and more. It also has greatly improved safety for inspection personnel who no longer have to crawl through extensive, potentially toxic environments, such as the containment vessels at Fukushima Daiichi.

News and Events. News gathering has been enhanced by the use of drones. Aerial videos capture the news quickly and inexpensively compared to helicopters, and provide overview situational awareness for the news audience. In the same vein, we can add crowd surveillance at large events, where higher levels of security are required, such as the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Paris.

Package Delivery. One classic drone application — package delivery — still hasn’t arrived fully, but many trials have been underway for several years, particularly for the delivery of medical supplies. It seems now that UPS is making a significant effort to qualify a UAS system that meets existing manned delivery standards (FAA Part 137 operations) by the end of this year. Wish them luck: there are many elements to prove and demonstrate for an unmanned delivery system, particularly in populated areas.

Security and Defense. Extensive use of drones in local and national policing and security operations has become almost commonplace, too. Cost-effective and easy-to-fly UAV systems have begun to replace manned surveillance helicopters, with police forces discovering significant improvements in reaction speed and affordability.

And, of course, the use of drones by defense forces worldwide has expanded greatly. Most people can picture the familiar silhouette of the General Atomics Reaper as their image of what a military drone looks like. Many people might even now know where the Straight of Hormuz is located, following the world-wide reports of an apparent Iranian attack that brought down a Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, followed by the takedown of one or two Iranian drones by the USS Boxer in the same area. Drones would now seem to be predominantly associated by Joe Public with a level of military aerial presence — perhaps more so than in any civilian applications.

New and different configurations of UAS continue to rapidly emerge for any and all applications in both the civil and military sectors. Now that we have operating regulations for small UAS in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world, cost-effective commercial uses abound and support new and existing tasks, and the military is rapidly creating new variations to assist or replace manned ground, navy and airborne forces. Large and small investments in artificial Intelligence for drone automation seem to be announced almost daily – so we can expect some independent drone capability to emerge over time.

There is only much, much more to come.

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TONY MURFIN is a GNSS aerospace consultant with several decades experience at leading companies in the GPS/aviation and OEM sectors.

Real-time network availability grows in appeal, extent

State of the GNSS Industry respondents who identified themselves as being from the survey sector constituted 28% of the total, roughly corresponding to the percentage of the magazine’s readership.

In similar results to 2018’s study, the most promising and practical way to gain the increased accuracy that survey and other high-precision applications demands, the choice was “dual-frequency, dual- or multi-constellation GNSS,” followed by “real-time kinematic.” The newest application in the survey, ”real-time network (RTN) availability,” came in a close third. GNSS receivers with inertial correction devices or remote sensing capability, while increasing in product exposure and advertising, continue to remain low on the respondent’s agenda.

While not surprising that dual-frequency, dual- or multi-constellation GNSS would remain on top of the list with RTK capability coming in second, what is surprising is how RTN availability is a primary choice of many of those answering the poll questions. Coverage of RTN networks is expanding, so many surveyors must be taking advantage of them, seeing the value of not relying on a base station RTK setup.

With the advancements in 5G cellphone coverage, it would not be startling to see this category increase significantly in the coming years. I also foresee an increase in precise point positioning (PPP) usage with UAV implementation because the cost of entry is quite reasonable.

The Role of Drones. This year’s question on what role drones (UAVs) will play in the next three years for the survey sector was expanded to include the broad range of remote-sensing modules being added to the aerial vehicles — and based upon the responses, rightly so.

More than 32% of the poll-takers replied that UAVs with remote-sensor capability will perform up to 50% of our field survey tasks. Those who feel that drone technology will only perform one-tenth of the survey tasks fell to 35%, down from 42% in 2018.

However, those who felt UAVs will perform up to half of survey tasks rose significantly, from 9% last year to 23% this year. Bringing up the bottom were those who felt drones will perform 80% of field tasks along with gradually phasing out field surveyors, coming in at 5% each.

The expansion of remote-sensing methods (photogrammetric, lidar, hyperspectral, etc.) now available on UAVs has increased the viability for more data collection by autonomous and pilot-controlled methods. Increases in software capability, ease-of-use and storage capacity is leading to more surveying and mapping implementation in everyday tasks.

The overall increase in those who see UAVs becoming more prevalent in a surveying department’s service offerings should not be surprising as more firms adopt the newer technology to maintain a competitive edge. We will continue to watch this trend, noting how the surveying profession both adapts to emerging technology and how that will affect the workforce. The rise from 1.3% to 5% of those who feel traditional tasks by field surveyors will begin to disappear is not troublesome, but may be a sign of changes in our near future.

The surveying industry continues to embrace GNSS and UAV technology along with the advancements happening on nearly a daily basis. More professionals are upgrading to remain current with the market trends, so staying in tune with the technological advancements is a major key to success.

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TIM BURCH is a professional land surveyor and secretary on the board of directors, National Society of Professional Surveyors.

Starting this year, new-generation GNSS-based landing systems — ground-based augmentation systems or GBAS — landing systems will be deployed at airports all around Europe to increase runaway capacity by up to 6% in peak traffic periods, according to Indra, a key partner of the European GBAS Alliance.

The GBAS technology allows aircrafts to make steeper approaches, which saves fuel and reduces noise and CO₂ emissions. GBAS further improves airport capacity by letting approaching aircraft use different glide slopes to avoid wake turbulence left by precedent aircraft in the runaway.

According to research by the European Union’s SESAR initiative supported by Eurocontrol simulations, this can lead to a runway capacity increase between 2 and 6%.

The European GBAS Alliance includes airports, airlines, air navigation service providers and air- and ground-manufacturing industry working for a coordinated and synchronized deployment of ground-based augmentation systems (GBAS).

The plan is for deployment preparations to start this year, and ramp up in 2020. The focus is particularly on precision approaches in low-visibility conditions.

The first collaborative meeting took place in Toulouse, France, in June with more than 20 organizations represented.

GBAS is recognized as a supplement and, in the future, the replacement of instrument landing systems (ILS).

A synchronized GBAS implementation for low visibility operations (GBAS GAST D for categories II and III) will lead to environmental, economical, capability and safety benefits for airports, airlines and air navigation service providers.

Indra has been a driver for GBAS development for years, and is one of the initiators behind the European GBAS Alliance. It contributes with one of the technological pillars; the NORMARC GBAS system is an Indra Air Solution capable of guiding aircraft even in low visibility conditions (CAT II and III). The technology is ready, and the focus now is on getting the infrastructure and regulatory framework in place.

“The great response to this initiative is very encouraging,” said Hugo Moen, GBAS general sales manager at Indra. “In spite of the indisputable benefits to everyone, we need a collective effort to get out of a “chicken or egg” situation. Both airlines and airports need to make some investments, but airlines are reluctant to invest in GBAS receivers for aircraft as few airports have the required infrastructure. Likewise, airports or ANSPs are not investing since few aircraft can make use of the system.”

GBAS differs from ILS in being based on GNSS instead of conventional radio signals. Whilst ILS signals can be affected by topography and other physical objects, GBAS has no critical or sensitive areas. This allows for higher capacity during precision approaches, reducing the risk of diversion, cancellation and go-around.

“GBAS enables steeper and shorter approaches. Precision landings can be performed at airports where this has not been possible due to topography or other reasons. In Norway, we have used GNSS-based landing systems at 17 airports for many years, with great results. It is nice to see the industry working together so more countries can benefit from this new technology,” said GBAS Product Manager Linda Lavik from Indra.

Quectel Wireless Solutions Co. Ltd., in association with STMicroelectronics, has released the LG69T module, an automotive-grade dual-band high-precision GNSS module that integrates dead-reckoning (DR) and real-time kinematic (RTK) technologies.

The new Quectel module, announced at 2019 Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, is designed to facilitate open-sky positioning performance with an accuracy of up to 10 centimeters, which is currently the industry’s most advanced positioning technology for the automotive market. LG69T will support next-generation precision positioning capabilities for smart vehicles and autonomous driving scenarios.

The Quectel LG69T GNSS module is based on ST’s STA8100GA, the latest Automotive-grade dual frequency positioning chip with 80 tracking channels and four rapid-acquisition channels that are compatible with many constellations: GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, NAVIC/IRNSS and QZSS.

It is an AEC-Q100-qualified dual-band (L1 + L5) GNSS module that integrates multi-band RTK technology for centimeter-level accuracy.

The LG69T module’s dead-reckoning capabilities feature an integrated inertial measurement unit (IMU) that provides continuous high-precision positioning. The LG69T supports corrections input for standard Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) and centimeter-level navigation by using RTCM data from a third — local base stations. The module performs well under the highly challenging conditions of urban canyon environments.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with STMicroelectronics on our newest generation of high-precision positioning module,” said Min Wang, Quectel’s automotive product line general manager. “With this highly-integrated LG69T module, automakers and Tier 1 suppliers will no longer have to spend time selecting components, integrating hardware, adapting interfaces and conducting tests and verifications, which will greatly cut their time-to-market and costs, and help them accelerate the deployment of autonomous driving to seize early opportunities.”

“ST has strong experience and is the Global Automotive High Precise Positioning Technology and Market Leader. We are very proud to cooperate with leading Chinese smart driving high technology company,” said MH TEY, Greater China, South Asia and Korea automotive marketing and application head of department, STMicroelectronics. “Today, there is growing dependency on high-performance GNSS in automotive applications such as navigation, safety and autonomous driving. With this cooperation, we are very confident to become the market leader by providing cost-effective and unique best-in-class solution for autonomous vehicle.”

Engineering samples of Quectel’s LG69T module will be offered to automakers and Tier 1 suppliers by the end of 2019, and the product will be commercially available around mid-2020 and is expected to be deployed in mass produced models as early as 2021.