GMV, Inmarsat and Lockheed roll out a new-generation SBAS in Australia

GMV has just started a two-year collaborative project with Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Australia and New Zealand Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) for the deployment of a satellite positioning augmentation system. The objective of the project is to show the potential benefits of satellite navigation technologies in Australia, including integrity and high precision applications.

Current Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) improve the positioning accuracy and integrity of GPS satellites. SBAS have already been rolled out in the United States (WAAS), the European Union (EGNOS), India (GAGAN) and Japan (MSAS), with similar initiatives also underway in other countries like China (SNAS), Russia (SDCM) and South Korea (KASS).

Early this year, the Australian Government formally announced a 12 million–Australian-Dollar investment over two years, and organizations from a number of different industries including agriculture, construction, mining and transport among others will be called to participate in the exploitation phase of the satellite augmentation system.

As far as the infrastructure within the collaborative project is concerned, Geoscience Australia (GA) has selected GMV for the provision of the processing facilities in charge of the augmentation system, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) for the signal uplink to the GEO satellite, and Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT) for the SBAS payload in the 4F1 satellite. The participants will reuse all the experience and background expertise and apply their proprietary, cutting-edge technology to ensure the complete success of the project.

GMV has carried out several SBAS technology promotion projects. In 2010 GMV conducted a SBAS feasibility study and set-up an SBAS demonstration system in the Caribbean, Central America and South America (SACCSA) region. In addition, in May 2016 GMV completed the first stage of the SBAS-Africa project, which provided an SBAS testbed for Southern Africa. GMV is currently taking part in SBAS profile-raising projects in various parts of the world. GMV provides real-time and post-processing PPP services as part of the magicGNSS portfolio. GMV has also been one of the real-time IGS Service contributors since 2007.