Australian New Generation Satellite Positioning Augmentation System kicks off

The technology multinational 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).

The main objective of the new generation satellite positioning augmentation system is to make the following signals available for the first time ever in Australia:

SBAS L1 Legacy signal: A GEO L1 legacy test signal. This is the same service as currently provided by EGNOS in Europe and WAAS in the USA.
SBAS L5 Dual-Frequency and Multi-Constellation (DFMC) signal: A GEO L5 test signal providing dual-frequency augmentation for GPS and Galileo constellations. The augmentation of more satellites in comparison to L1 improves system performance, and the use of two frequencies means no ionosphere corrections are necessary. No other Satellite Based Augmentation System is currently providing this service in the world.
Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service: In addition, the availability of a GEO signal is considered an opportunity to broadcast high-precision Precise Point Positioning (PPP) navigation corrections where sub-decimeter level accuracies at user level are expected. As a contribution to the next generation augmentation system, and for the first time, the PPP service will provide positioning integrity confidence levels, thus paving the future for a new innovative generation of multimodal applications.

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. The results will broaden the understanding of how this technology can benefit safety, productivity, efficiency and innovation in Australia’s industrial and research sectors.

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.

Australian new generation satellite position system architecture

Background

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’ (http://magicgnss.gmv.com/) portfolio. GMV has also been one of the real-time IGS Service contributors since 2007.