July/August 2024 | Engineering Solutions from the Global Navigation Satellite System Community | www.insidegnss.

com

Published by utonomous Media

CPNT
PROTECT • TOUGHEN • AUGMENT • ADOPT
The push to reliably backup GPS by
making PNT more resilient

THE BACKDROP | How far CPNT has advanced, in short order, and where it’s quickly headed
THE INITIATIVES | Karen Van Dyke outlines USDOT’s continuous efforts to move CPNT forward
THE RESEARCH | OSU demonstrates how cellular SOPs can be a reliable PNT source for aircraft
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS
JULY/AUGUST 2024 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 4
Published by utonomous Media

FOCUS ON CPNT

22 Moving CPNT Forward

Spoofing and jamming threats aren’t going
away, and we know the devastating impact a
widespread GPS outage would have. It’s clear
we need reliable CPNT backups to vulnerable
GPS signals. In this issue, we take an in-depth
look at CPNT’s rapid advancement, where it’s
headed, and the government’s role in driving
adoption. We also highlight research from OSU
that leverages cellular signals for reliable PNT.
CPNT innovations continue to make their mark,
making this a critical and exciting time for PNT.

Table of Contents
BY THE NUMBERS
44 Working Papers
Navigating the Noise
EDITORIAL Sahana Bandagadde Umesha, Thomas Kraus, Nikolas Dütsch, Dr. Clovis Maia, Prof. Thomas Pany
10 The Time is Now A look at the critical realm of defending space-based receivers against
jamming attacks, particularly focusing on interference within the GPS L1
ARTICLES frequency range for one of the ATHENE 1 satellite’s zenith antennas.
22 The ABCs of PNT
30 Advancing CPNT
32 Protecting the Skies: GNSS- 58
Less Aircraft Navigation with
Cellular Signals of Opportunity
44 Working Papers:
Navigating the Noise
52 Human Engineering:
Making the Magic Happen
58 Protecting RA on the Shielded
Side of the Moon

COLUMNS/DEPARTMENTS
12 GNSS Solutions
16
70
Inertialist
Advertisers Index
58 Protecting RA on the Shielded Side
70 GNSS Timeline of the Moon
Opening the “radio window” into the universe.
Jean-Luc Issler, Jean Pla, Romain Desplats
Answering the Call to
Authors from CNES explore lunar in-situ PNT GNSS-like frequencies,
Strengthen PNT.
and the threats L and C bands pose to radio astronomy and spectral lines
See JNC coverage on page 66.
observations.

4 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOCUS ON CPNT EDITORIAL

10
22 The ABCs of PNT The Time and the Place
The Time to Act is Now
A look at how far we’ve come and where we’re
going with this evolving technology.
COLUMNS
Dawn Zoldi 16
30 Advancing CPNT Inertialist
Quartz or Silicon?
The USDOT’s efforts to move PNT forward With guest columnist David Gaber of Epson.
to protect critical infrastructure. Andrey Soloviev
Karen Van Dyke

32 Protecting the Skies:

DEPARTMENTS

12 GNSS Solutions
GNSS-Less Aircraft Navigation Are RAIM and Advanced RAIM useful for applications that take

with Cellular Signals of Opportunity advantage of differential GNSS corrections and monitoring for integrity?

Leveraging cellular signals as reliable PNT for aircraft. 52 Human Engineering

Zaher (Zak) M. Kassas, Joe Khalife, Ali A. Abdallah, Nadim Khairallah, Making the Magic Happen
Shaghayegh Shahcheraghi, Chiawei Lee, Juan Jurado, Steven Wachtel, Jacob Steve Woolven’s journey to his role as President of Trimble
Duede, Zachary Hoeffner, Thomas Hulsey, Rachel Quirarte, RunXuan Tay Applanix and the impact he’s had on the industry.
Peter Gutierrez
Zak Kassas and co-authors demonstrate how cellular SOPs
can be used as a reliable PNT source for aircraft. 70 GNSS Timeline/Advertisers Index

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Editorial Advisory Council
VIDAL ASHKENAZI
Nottingham Scientific Ltd., Nottingham, United Kingdom

JOHN BETZ
MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

PASCAL CAMPAGNE
France Developpement Conseil, Vincennes, France ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS FROM THE GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM COMMUNITY

MARIO CAPORALE July/August 2024 Volume 19/Number 4

Italian Institute of Navigation, Rome, Italy
Published by utonomous Media
MARCO FALCONE
European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

SERGIO GRECO EDITORIAL

Thales Alenia Space, Rome, Italy
Editor Emeritus Glen Gibbons [email protected]
JEANLUC ISSLER Editor Renee Knight [email protected]
CNES, Toulouse, France
Creative Director Christine Waring
CHANGDON KEE
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Contributing Editor for “Working Papers”
Günter Hein [email protected]
MIKHAIL KRASILSHCHIKOV
Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia
Contributing Editor for “GNSS Solutions”
SANG JEONG LEE Sam Pullen [email protected]
Chungnam National University, Daejon, Korea
Contributing Editor for “Brussels View”
MARCO LISI
ESA, Belgium
Peter Gutierrez [email protected]

JULES MCNEFF Contributing Editor for “The Inertialist”

Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc., Vienna, Virginia, USA Andrey Soloviev [email protected]
PRATAP MISRA Advisory Editor Abe Peck [email protected]
Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA

BRAD PARKINSON
Contributing Editor for “GNSS & the Law”
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA Ingo Baumann [email protected]
TONY PRATT Technical Editor Fiona Walter
Professor and Consultant, United Kingdom Circulation Director Jan Edwards-Pullen
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ISS Reshetnev, Zheleznogorsk, Russian Federation ADVERTISING SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
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THE TIME AND THE PLACE

The Time to Act is Now

P
rotecting our critical infrastructure Zoldi’s article with an update on the U.S.
is paramount. If GPS goes down, the government’s efforts to advance CPNT.
results could be devastating to everyone “Given the growing reliance on PNT
who depends on it. And we know GPS, while within civil applications, it is imperative that
a remarkable system, is vulnerable. The threat civil PNT users have uninterrupted PNT
from spoofing and jamming continues to services,” she writes. “This imperative is
grow, with such attacks becoming more and reflected in the policy of the U.S. Government’s
more sophisticated. The time to act is now, Executive Order 13905, Strengthening
and we can sense the urgency in the recent National Resilience Through Responsible Use
push by both government and industry of PNT Services, that seeks ‘to ensure that
RENEE KNIGHT leaders to find reliable backups to GPS. disruption or manipulation of PNT services
EDITOR
Developing complementary PNT (CPNT) does not undermine the reliable and efficient
solutions has become a top priority, and functioning of its critical infrastructure...and
that was evident at ION’s Joint Navigation [to] ensure critical infrastructure can withstand
Conference (JNC) held in June. Many of the disruption or manipulation of PNT services.’”
exhibitors highlighted solutions designed To round out our CPNT coverage, OSU’s
to backup GPS or mitigate the spoofing Zak Kassas and co-authors highlight research
and jamming attacks that threaten it. that leverages cellular as a signal of opportunity
(SOP). The test results presented demonstrate
the “tremendous potential of cellular signals
as an A-PNT source to GNSS for aircraft
THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW navigation,” according to the authors.
AND WE CAN SENSE THE URGENCY The jamming threat is one of the main
drivers behind CPNT. In this issue’s Working
IN THE RECENT PUSH BY BOTH Papers, authors discuss how jamming
GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY LEADERS effects space-based receivers and how to
defend against it, focusing on interference
TO FIND RELIABLE BACKUPS TO GPS. within the L1 frequency range for an
ATHENE 1 satellite zenith antenna.
Moving to other hot industry topics, in GNSS
Manufacturers are certainly answering the Solutions, Sam Pullen answers how useful
call to strengthen GPS, and have come a long RAIM and Advanced RAIM are for differential
way in a short amount of time. Contributor GNSS corrections and integrity monitoring,
Dawn Zoldi provides an overview of the while Jean Luc-Issler of CNES and co-authors
progress, where we are today and where we’re tackle how to protect radio astronomy on
going in her article, the ABC’s of PNT, the first the shielded side of the moon, outlining the
in a package devoted to this crucial topic. She threats posed by GNSS L and C bands.
compares results from 2021’s Volpe Report, David Gaber of Epson lays out the differences
which was one of the first to evaluate the between quartz and silicon IMUs in The
effectiveness of various backup solutions, with Inertialist, and why products from OEMs are
last year’s European Commission (EC) Joint differentiated from those provided by integrators.
Research Centre (JRC) testing campaign. She Finally, Peter Gutierrez takes us through Steve
also looks at current initiatives in the U.S. and Woolven’s remarkable career journey, from
Europe, including the nine contracts DOT the early days running his family’s resort to his
awarded to vendors to conduct real-world current role as President of Trimble Applanix.
field tests of commercial PNT technologies. This is an exciting time for PNT. CPNT
Karen Van Dyke, Director, Positioning, solutions will bring much needed resiliency,
Navigation, and Timing (PNT) and mitigating growing threats. There’s plenty
Spectrum Management in the USDOT’s to cover, but if you have a topic you’d like
Office of the Assistant Secretary for to read more about, let me know. You can
Research and Technology (OST-R) follows reach me at [email protected].

10 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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GNSS SOLUTIONS

Are RAIM and Advanced RAIM useful for applications

that take advantage of differential GNSS
corrections and monitoring for integrity?

A:
GNSS Solutions is a regular column Re c eiver Autonomou s Adding RAIM and ARAIM to
featuring questions and answers I nt e g r i t y M o n i t o r i n g Integrity Monitoring
about technical aspects of GNSS. (R AIM) and Advanced GNSS applications with the most
Readers are invited to send their RAIM (ARAIM; known more gener- demanding accuracy and integrity re-
ally as Solution Separation RAIM, or quirements normally employ augmenta-
questions to columnist Dr. Sam
SS-RAIM) were originally designed to tion systems such as Satellite-based and
Pullen, who will answer them or
detect, alert and (where possible) exclude Ground-based Augmentation Systems
select other experts to do so. faulty measurements caused by Signal- (SBAS and GBAS, respectively). The cor-
in-Space (SIS) failures. These include rections generated by these systems re-
satellite clock and ephemeris faults and duce user measurement errors, provide
atmospheric (ionospheric and tropo- bounds on these errors, and indicate
spheric) anomalies. Civil aviation has which measurements should not be used
used RAIM for this purpose for many based on ground-system monitoring
years in Area Navigation (RNAV) and with multiple static reference receiv-
Required Navigation Performance (RNP) ers. This has the effect of reducing the
operations. ARAIM improves upon the
performance and availability of RAIM
and will (in a few years) make it possible
“ARAIM HAS A MAJOR
to conduct instrument approaches with ADVANTAGE OVER
vertical navigation without the need to
receive corrections and integrity infor-
TRADITIONAL RAIM IN THAT
mation from augmentation systems. IT CAN DIRECTLY REPRESENT
Table 1 shows the integrity performance
commitments that GNSS service provid-
AND MONITOR FAULTS ON
ers have made to civil aviation via the MULTIPLE SATELLITES.”
SAM PULLEN is a senior International Civil Aviation Organization
researcher within the (ICAO) [1]. These are used as inputs in the probabilities of undetected faults on
GNSS Laboratory at ARAIM user algorithm [2] and identify satellites and other SIS anomalies to
Stanford University, the additional protection ARAIM must below 10 -7 per hour. As a result, users
where he received his
Ph.D. in Aeronautics and
provide to achieve the integrity risk of with access to either SBAS or GBAS
Astronautics in 1996. He 10 -7 per operation or below for opera- corrections are likely to use them to
has supported the FAA tions with failure consequences deemed simplify user integrity monitoring. For
and other service providers in developing “Hazardous,” as is the case for precision example, airborne users applying the
system concepts, technical requirements, approach under restricted-visibility con- SBAS or GBAS Minimum Operational
integrity algorithms, and performance
models for GBAS, SBAS and other GNSS
ditions. For example, GPS commits to a Performance Requirements (MOPS) are
applications. He has also performed GNSS fault rate (Rsat) no greater than 10-5 per encouraged to use RAIM when it is avail-
system design, application development, satellite per hour for faults affecting able, they are not required to, nor are they
risk assessment, and legal support individual satellites that are not correlated limited by the higher protection levels
through his consultancy, Sam Pullen across multiple satellites. ARAIM (or any (PLs) generated by RAIM due to its need
Consulting. E-mail: [email protected].
other integrity subsystem) must reduce for redundant satellite measurements.
this probability to a small fraction of the This raises the question: Is RAIM or
integrity risk requirement by detecting (particularly) ARAIM a useful addi-
and excluding such faults or alerting that tion to integrity monitoring for users
use of GNSS is no longer safe within the who make use of augmentation system
6-second time to alert (TTA) for CAT I integrity monitoring? The answer de-
precision approaches. pends on the operational environment

12 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
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GNSS SOLUTIONS

GPS GLONASS Galileo BDS obtained. For example, if 16 satellites

Default ISD Parameters are in view from two constellations (e.g.,
GPS and Galileo), and each satellite has
Pconst, default 1 × 10 -8 1 × 10 -4 2 × 10 -4 6 × 10 -5
an independent probability of exces-
Psat, default 1 × 10 -5 1 × 10 -4 3 × 10 -5 1 × 10 -5
sive multipath of 0.001, the probability
Rconst, default 1 × 10 /hr
-8
1 × 10 /hr
-5
1 × 10 /hr
-4
6 × 10 -5/hr of excessive multipath on any pair of
Rsat, default 1 × 10 /hr
-5
3.4 × 10 /hr
-5
2 × 10 /hr
-5
1 × 10 -5/hr satellites is (0.001)2=10-6, which is small
MFDconst, default 1 hour 10 hours — 1 hour but not negligible (and would be larger
MFDsat, default 1 hour 3 hours — 1 hour when multipath errors correlated among
σURA_default, dual frequency IAURA 9m 6m 7m nearby satellites are included). Therefore,
σURE_default, dual frequency Nominal URA 8m 4m 7m
each of the 16-choose-2=120 indepen-
dent satellite pairs must be monitored by
σURA_default, single frequency IAURA 9m 6.5 m (E1), 7.5 m (E5a) 7m
ARAIM, creating a total of 16+120=136
σURE_default, single frequency Nominal URA 8m 4.7 m (E1), 6 m (E5a) 7m
hypotheses to be checked and updated
bnom_default 0m 0m 0m 0m every epoch (e.g., every second).
TABLE 1 GNSS Service Provider Integrity Performance Commitments [1] For users with powerful processors,
ARAIM calculations with hundreds of
of each user. For aircraft in flight with fault on one or more measurements is fault hypotheses may be workable, but
an excellent view of the sky and far represented by its own fault hypothesis, this is not the case for most off-the-
from ref lecting surfaces other than and every one of these hypotheses is shelf automotive and maritime user
those of the aircraft itself, the prob- checked by comparing the all-in-view equipment today. The best alternative
ability of large errors generated at the position solution to the solution that is to combine the various multiple-fault
aircraft itself due to multipath or radio would apply if the measurement(s) in hypotheses into groups so the number of
frequency interference (RFI) is very low. that hypothesis were faulted. If this dif- hypotheses that must be checked every
However, for automobile, train, ship and ference between these solutions is large epoch is limited to what the user’s pro-
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are cessor can handle. One way of doing this
much closer to obstacles and reflecting is to group satellites in similar locations
surfaces (including the ground and the
“FOR USERS WITH in the sky into single hypotheses [3].
sea surface) and potential RFI or spoof- POWERFUL PROCESSORS, Returning to the example above, if the
ing transmitters, local threats may be 16 satellites in view can be grouped into
more likely than SIS failures that can
ARAIM CALCULATIONS four sets of four nearby satellites each,
be mitigated by augmentation systems. WITH HUNDREDS OF FAULT only four fault hypotheses would remain
Under these conditions, ARAIM may to be monitored. The disadvantage of
be a necessary addition to external SIS
HYPOTHESES MAY BE this approach is resolution of faults in
monitoring. WORKABLE, BUT THIS IS NOT individual satellites is reduced, leading
Consider the use of augmented GNSS to significantly larger protection levels.
on a vehicle being driven autonomously
THE CASE FOR MOST OFF-
and relying on GNSS and other sensors THE-SHELF AUTOMOTIVE Conclusion
to stay within a lane of traffic. In rural ARAIM is an important addition to
areas, multipath errors will be relatively
AND MARITIME USER integrity monitoring for augmented
benign (albeit worse than on an aircraft), EQUIPMENT TODAY.” users when local faults from multipath
but as the vehicle approaches urban areas or RFI are more likely to occur than the
and especially “urban canyons,” very compared to nominal conditions, the SIS faults mitigated by augmentation sys-
large multipath errors may occur due to fault hypothesis in question is likely to tems. When the number of satellites in
the GNSS receiver tracking a reflected be true, and ARAIM would then proceed view is large, hundreds of individual fault
signal instead of the one directly from a to try to isolate the fault to that specific hypotheses may need to be monitored, but
satellite. ARAIM would thus be useful hypothesis or, failing that, alert the user this number can be reduced by grouping
(and perhaps necessary) to exclude or that safe operations are no longer feasible. individual measurements at the cost of
at least detect such large errors on one However, if the probability of indi- losing fault resolution and therefore suf-
or multiple satellites. vidual measurement faults is much larger fering higher protection levels. This is a
than what is typical for SIS faults in key tradeoff to investigate when designing
Working with ARAIM Table 1, the number of multiple-mea- and procuring cost-effective user receiver
ARAIM has a major advantage over tra- surement fault hypotheses will grow and processor hardware.
ditional RAIM in that it can directly quickly and may exceed the ability of
represent and monitor faults on multiple the user’s processor to update ARAIM References
satellites. In ARAIM, each hypothesized every time new measurements are References available online.

14 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
© Safran - ESO / L.Calçada / Daniel Linares - PEMA 2M
INERTIALIST

THE INERTIALIST is a regular feature in Inside GNSS. This expert-authored

column explores operational principles and the state-of-the-art of this key
navigation technology. It discusses main principles, current technological
trends and system integration aspects of inertial navigation. These include:

• aspects of inertial navigation mechanization (system initialization, integration

algorithms, non-inertial effects, compensation of coning and sculling);
• trends in sensor technologies (micro-electromechanical systems or
MEMS, fiber optic and ring laser gyros, cold atom interferometry);
• fusion with other sensors (integration approaches
and example implementations) and,
• system implementation aspects (time synchronization, bandwidth and
vibration profiles, and the influence of latencies under high dynamics).
We welcome questions and suggested topics of specific interest from the
readers of Inside GNSS. Please contact us at [email protected].

Quartz or Silicon?
In high-performance applications, the debate over quartz and silicon MEMS inertial
sensors rages on, but guest columnist David Gaber of Epson makes the case for why
Andrey Soloviev, author products from OEMs versus integrators are superior.
of The Inertialist, is a principal
at QuNav. His research and DAVID GABER, GROUP PRODUCT MANAGER, INERTIAL SENSING DEVICES
development interests focus EPSON

I
on sensor-fusion and signal- n the development of systems by silicon MEMS IMUs to mitigate
processing implementations requiring inertial measurement inherent performance limitations and
for GNSS-degraded and
technologies for high performance explores the tuning capabilities that
GNSS-denied applications. He
applications, the choice between quartz allow skilled engineers to optimize
received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from
Ohio University, the Institute of Navigation (ION)
MEMS and silicon MEMS inertial mea- both types of MEMS IMUs for spe-
Early Achievement Award and the RTCA William surement units (IMUs) is crucial for cific application requirements. In both
Jackson Award. He will occasionally bring in other achieving optimal performance and cases, if customers are seeking high
subject matter experts to aid in the discussion. reliability. Th is article examines the performance MEMS IMUs and have
advantages of quartz and silicon MEMS skilled engineering resources at their
IMUs in critical scenarios, addressing disposal, there is a clear advantage to
their respective stability, precision and integrating MEMS IMUs from origi-
resilience. Additionally, it delves into nal equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
the compensatory measures employed versus integrators.

16 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

Key Parameters for Engineers Building “Integrating quartz Fragility: Quartz inertial sensing
High Performance Systems elements themselves can be fragile
Bias Stability: Bias stability refers to the
or silicon MEMS IMU and susceptible to mechanical stress,
stability of the IMU's output when it is technology directly from requiring careful handling and protec-
not experiencing any external accel- inertial sensor OEMs like tive measures before they’re installed in
eration or rotation. The bias represents IMU packages. Quartz MEMS IMUs are
a constant error in the sensor output
Analog Devices, Seiko Epson, often accompanied by specific handling
that can cause drift in the navigation Silicon Sensing or Honeywell instructions to minimize accidental
solution over time. Low bias stability is offers significant advantages damage risks during integration.
essential for maintaining accurate and Delta Frequency Issues: Quartz MEMS
stable navigation estimates, especially
compared to using IMUs from IMUs may experience delta frequency
during periods when GNSS signals are integrators who combine shifts under specific conditions, affecting
unavailable or unreliable (e.g., in urban sensors from different frequency stability. Continued expo-
canyons or under dense foliage). sure to vibration or shock at or near
Noise Performance: IMU noise directly
manufacturers.” the delta frequency can also disrupt
affects the accuracy of the derived output accuracy.
navigation solution, particularly in the Limited Per formance at Ver y High
presence of low-frequency signals (e.g., in the navigation solution, particularly Temperatures: At very high temperatures,
gravity). Lower noise levels enable more when GNSS aiding is intermittent or quartz can undergo structural changes
precise measurement of accelerations unavailable. that affect its mechanical properties and
and angular rates, resulting in improved Update Rate and Latency: The IMU’s up- stability. This limitation can restrict the
navigation accuracy and reduced error date rate determines how frequently new use of quartz-based inertial sensors in
accumulation during integration. measurements are available for naviga- extreme temperature environments.
Scale Factor Stability: Scale factor stabil- tion computations. Low latency and high Complex Manufacturing Process: Fabricat-
ity refers to the consistency of the IMU's update rates are critical for real-time ing high performance quartz-based
sensitivity (scale factor) over time and navigation applications, ensuring timely inertial sensors involves complex manu-
environmental conditions. Variations updates to the navigation solution and facturing processes, including crystal
in scale factor can introduce errors in reducing the impact of dynamic motion growth and precision machining. These
navigation calculations, especially dur- on accuracy. processes can be costly and may limit
ing dynamic maneuvers or changes in scalability and mass production of quartz
temperature. Advantages of Quartz MEMS IMUs inertial sensors into high-volume, com-
Dynamic Range: The dynamic range High Precision and Stability: Employing moditized applications like automotive
of the IMU determines the maximum innovative sensor designs and packag- safety or smartphone orientation.
accelerations and angular rates that it ing, quartz MEMS IMUs offer excep-
can accurately measure without satura- tional precision and stability, essential Advantages of Silicon MEMS IMUs
tion. A wide dynamic range is crucial for navigation, guidance and control Silicon MEMS IMUs offer several specific
for accommodating various operating tasks in high performance applications. advantages that make them highly desir-
conditions and maneuvers encountered Resilience to Harsh Environments: Using able for various applications, especially
during navigation, ensuring the IMU synthetic crystal grown specifically for in automotive, robotics and consumer
remains within its linear measurement inertial sensors, quartz MEMS IMUs electronics. Some of the key advantages
range. exhibit inherent robustness against of silicon MEMS IMUs include:
Temperature Stability: IMU perfor- temperature variations, solar radiation Miniaturization: Silicon MEMS IMUs
mance can be significantly affected exposure and persistent operation in can be very small and lightweight com-
by temperature variations, leading to low atmospheric pressure, ensuring pared to traditional inertial sensors,
changes in bias, scale factor and noise consistent performance in challeng- making them ideal for applications
characteristics. Good temperature sta- ing operational conditions. where size and weight constraints are
bility ensures consistent performance Frequency Stability and Q Factor: Quartz critical, such as in drones, wearables,
across different environmental condi- inertial sensors in MEMS IMUs provide and handheld devices.
tions, reducing the need for frequent high Q factor and stable resonance fre- Low Cost: MEMS fabrication tech-
recalibration. quencies, minimizing frequency varia- niques allow for high-volume, cost-effec-
Alignment Accuracy: Accurate align- tions and drift over time. tive silicon MEMS IMU manufacturing.
ment of the IMU's sensor axes with re- This makes them more affordable
spect to the platform's reference frame is Limitations of Quartz as an Inertial compared to traditional inertial sen-
essential for computing precise attitude Sensor Base Material sors, enabling widespread adoption in
(orientation) estimates. Misalignment Despite their advantages, quartz MEMS consumer and industrial markets.
errors can introduce significant errors IMUs have certain limitations: Continued on p. 20

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 17

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INERTIALIST

Continued from p. 17 rotational tests and calibration standards Parameter Adjustment: Customers can
Low Power Consumption: Silicon MEMS are employed to optimize scale factor ac- collaborate with OEMs to tune various
IMUs typically consume very low power, curacy and reduce measurement errors. parameters of MEMS IMUs to optimize
making them suitable for battery-op- Vibration and Shock Filtering: Silicon performance. This includes adjusting
erated devices and applications where MEMS IMUs can be affected by ex- sensor sensitivity, bandwidth, noise
power efficiency is essential, such as in ternal vibrations and shock, leading characteristics, and dynamic range
IoT devices and mobile platforms. to transient spikes or noise in sensor based on application requirements.
Integration: Silicon MEMS IMUs often readings. Filtering algorithms are Parameter tuning allows customization
integrate multiple sensors (gyroscope, implemented to remove or reduce the to meet specific performance criteria
accelerometer) into a single compact impact of high-frequency vibrations and environmental conditions.
package. This integration simplifies sys- and shocks on IMU outputs. Digital Digital Signal Processing (DSP): DSP
tem design, reduces component count, signal processing techniques, such as techniques are applied to MEMS
and improves overall system reliability. low-pass filtering and adaptive filtering, IMU outputs for signal conditioning
are used to improve signal quality and and noise reduction. OEMs often work
Compensatory Measures enhance sensor robustness in dynamic with customers to develop proprietary
in Silicon MEMS IMUs environments. algorithms for filtering, averaging and
Silicon MEMS IMUs leverage ad- Sensor Fusion with External Sensors: To processing sensor data in real time. DSP
vanced signal processing and com- improve accuracy and reliability, Silicon enhances sensor accuracy and stability,
pensatory measures to enhance system MEMS IMUs are often integrated with particularly in dynamic applications
performance: external sensors, such as GNSS receiv- prone to vibration and motion.
Temperature Compensation: Silicon ers, magnetometers, and barometers, Temperature Compensation: MEMS
MEMS IMUs are sensitive to tempera- through sensor fusion algorithms. IMUs may incorporate temperature
ture variations, which can lead to changes Fusion of IMU data with complementary compensation mechanisms to main-
in bias, scale factor and sensor output. sensor inputs allows for error compensa- tain performance across temperature
Temperature compensation techniques tion, enhanced navigation performance, variations. Customers can work with
involve measuring the IMU's response at and reliable orientation estimation even OEMs to use temperature sensors or
different temperatures and applying cor- under challenging conditions (e.g., GPS internal algorithms to dynamically ad-
rection factors to minimize temperature- signal loss or magnetic disturbances). just sensor parameters and minimize
induced errors. Advanced algorithms and Dynamic Bias Compensation: Dynamic thermal drift effects based on specific
calibration methods are used to model bias compensation techniques continu- applications.
and compensate for temperature effects, ously monitor and adjust bias estimates Bias and Scale Factor Estimation: OEMs
ensuring consistent performance across based on real-time sensor data and perform bias and scale factor estimation
a range of operating temperatures. environmental conditions. Adaptive to characterize sensor errors. Advanced
Bias Drift Calibration: Bias drift is a com- algorithms adaptively estimate and calibration methods, such as Allan vari-
mon issue in IMUs, where the output correct bias errors, minimizing drift ance analysis or closed-loop calibration,
bias slowly changes over time due to and improving the long-term stability are employed to identify and correct
imperfections in sensor and environ- of silicon MEMS IMUs. sensor biases and scale factors, ensur-
mental factors. To mitigate bias drift, ing consistent performance throughout
silicon MEMS IMUs undergo regular Tuning Capabilities and Performance the operating lifetime in a customer’s
calibration procedures to estimate and Extraction in Quartz and Silicon MEMS application.
correct bias errors. Inertial navigation IMUs from OEMs
systems (INS) often employ Kalman These are essential aspects that allow Advantages of Integrating MEMS
filtering or similar algorithms to con- skilled customers to optimize sensor IMUs from OEMs
tinuously estimate and compensate for performance for specific applications. Integrating quartz or silicon MEMS
bias drift based on IMU measurements Here's a detailed exploration of tuning IMU technology directly from inertial
and external sensor inputs (e.g., GNSS, capabilities and performance extraction: sensor OEMs like Analog Devices, Seiko
magnetometers). Sensor Calibration: MEMS IMUs un- Epson, Silicon Sensing or Honeywell
Scale Factor Calibration: Scale factor er- dergo calibration processes to adjust offers significant advantages compared
rors in Silicon MEMS IMUs can lead sensor outputs and minimize errors. to using IMUs from integrators who
to non-linearities and inaccuracies Calibration involves compensating combine sensors from different manu-
in sensor measurements. Scale factor for sensor biases, scale factors, mis- facturers. The primary advantage lies
calibration involves characterizing the alignments, and temperature effects. in the deep knowledge and expertise
IMU's sensitivity across its measurement Customers can work with OEMs to that sensor manufacturers possess about
range and applying correction factors specify calibration techniques to en- their own technology, enabling them to
to linearize the sensor response. Precise hance sensor accuracy and reliability optimize sensor performance, identify
calibration techniques using controlled across operating conditions. weaknesses, and exploit specific features

20 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

for various applications. Here's a detailed “Employing innovative advanced calibration techniques, param-
exploration of these advantages: eter adjustments, and digital signal pro-
In-Depth Sensor Knowledge: OEMs
sensor designs and cessing tailored to specific application
have extensive knowledge of their own packaging, quartz MEMS requirements. By leveraging their deep
sensor technologies, including design IMUs offer exceptional understanding of sensor characteristics,
principles, fabrication techniques, and OEMs facilitate the exploitation of sen-
operational characteristics. This compre-
precision and stability, sor features to enhance performance
hensive understanding allows them to essential for navigation, in diverse operational environments.
optimize sensor performance, fine-tune guidance and control Moreover, the advantages of integrating
sensor parameters, and address specific OEM-supplied MEMS IMUs extend be-
weaknesses or limitations.
tasks in high performance yond technical capabilities to encompass
Performance Optimization: OEMs can applications.” comprehensive support, application-
leverage their expertise to optimize IMU specific customization, and access to
performance for various applications. leading-edge innovations. OEMs offer
This includes fine-tuning sensor cali- invaluable for system integrators and robust technical documentation, appli-
bration, implementing advanced signal developers, providing guidance on cation notes, and responsive customer
processing algorithms, and enhancing sensor setup, troubleshooting, and support, empowering engineers to navi-
sensor accuracy, stability and reliability implementation best practices. gate complex integration challenges and
based on real-world usage scenarios. Access to Latest Innovations: OEMs optimize sensor performance effectively.
OEMs can adjust sensor parameters continuously innovate and release This article underscores the compel-
and configurations to enhance perfor- new sensor technologies and product ling case for engineers and developers
mance for specific applications. This updates. Integrating directly from OEMs seeking high-performance MEMS IMUs
may involve modifying sensor response ensures access to the latest advancements to integrate directly from OEMs. By
curves, bandwidth settings, or filtering in MEMS IMU technology, enabling harnessing OEM expertise, engineers
techniques to achieve optimal results developers to stay at the forefront of can unlock the full potential of quartz or
in challenging environments. sensor capabilities and performance. silicon MEMS inertial sensors, achieving
Application-Specific Customization: OEMs Supply Chain Stability: Most MEMS superior performance, reliability, and
can provide tailored solutions and cus- inertial sensor OEMs strive to verti- innovation in critical applications across
tomization options to meet specific cally integrate their products as much as aerospace, defense, robotics, and be-
application requirements. They can possible. In doing so, elaborate measures yond. The integration of OEM-supplied
recommend sensor configurations, are taken to ensure continuity of supply IMUs represents a strategic imperative
communication protocols, and inte- not only for the piece parts required for for realizing technological excellence
gration techniques that align with the MEMS IMU manufacture, but also for and competitive advantage in the rapidly
intended use case, ensuring optimal products they sell to their customers. evolving landscape of inertial sensing
performance and compatibility. OEMs technologies.
possess detailed knowledge of sensor Conclusion
characteristics, including noise levels, The debate over the choice between References
bandwidth, drift rates, and environmen- Quartz and Silicon MEMS inertial sen- References available online.
tal sensitivities. This understanding sors for high-performance applications
allows them to exploit specific sensor remains a critical topic, influenced by the Author
features for optimizing performance compelling case for integrating IMUs David Gaber has
in diverse applications. directly from OEMs versus using inte- overseen the Inertial
Advanced Sensor Fusion and Integration: grators of other manufacturers' sensors. Sensors Group at Epson
OEMs often develop sophisticated sen- This article has elucidated key consider- America since 2012 and
sor fusion algorithms and integration ations in this discourse, emphasizing the is responsible for scaling
techniques that leverage the strengths advantages inherent in OEM-supplied the division's growth.
Prior to joining Epson,
of their IMUs. This enables seamless IMUs for optimized performance and
David led the applications engineering
customer or end-user integration with reliability. team at Systron Donner Inertial, support-
other sensors (e.g., GPS, magnetometers) Engineers and developers targeting ing quartz MEMS sensor integration on
to enhance overall system performance, high-performance applications benefit the U.S. Navy’s Mark 48 and 54 torpedoes
such as in navigation, motion tracking, from the profound sensor knowledge as well as JDAM and various military
and stabilization applications. and domain expertise possessed by aircraft upgrade programs. Previously,
Comprehensive Technical Support: OEMs inertial sensor OEMs such as Analog David worked as a program manager for
offer comprehensive technical support, Devices, Epson, Silicon Sensing and U.S. Air Force contracts performed abroad
documentation, and application notes Honeywell. These OEMs excel in op- in support of numerous manned and
specific to their IMUs. This support is timizing sensor performance through unmanned aircraft initiatives.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 21

 CPNT

characteristics (e.g., resilience, accuracy,

coverage and deployment feasibility) using
14 Measures of Effectiveness (MoE), across
various scenarios (see Volpe Report
Measures of Effectiveness page 24).
Specifically, the five timing scenarios
assessed vendor systems based on four
attributes: 72-Hour Bench Static Timing,
Static Outdoor Timing, Static Indoor
Timing, Static Basement Timing, and
eLORAN Reference Station Offset. DOT
also developed four positioning scenar-
ios to assess vendor systems based on
these five attributes: Dynamic Outdoor
Positioning with Holds, 3D Positioning,
Static Outdoor Positioning, and Static
Indoor Positioning.
EDITOR’S NOTE: CPNT technology is gaining momentum as the industry and government Volpe, however, also concluded no
looks for ways to backup vulnerable GPS signals. It’s clear this is a critical time for PNT and single alternative technology can fully
those who rely on it. In the following pages, Inside GNSS compares findings from the Volpe replace GPS or meet all PNT require-
and JRC studies, both of which evaluated alternative PNT options, highlights the USDOT’s ments across its four identified critical
recent moves to advance CPNT, and features work completed at The Ohio State University infrastructure sectors (Transportation,
that demonstrates how cellular signals of opportunity (SOPs) can reliably backup PNT. Telecommunications, Energy and Space
Operations). Instead, it recommended
the use of a diverse portfolio of comple-

The ABCs of PNT

A
lternative. Backup. Complement- mentary technologies to enhance the
ary. These words describe the nation's critical infrastructure. It also
A look at how far we’ve come, where global efforts to find technolo- emphasized the importance of continued
we are today and where we’re gies capable of fulfilling critical infra- research and development, the need for
structure requirements for positioning, public-private partnerships to explore
going in the effort to protect PNT
navigation and timing (PNT) in the and deploy effective PNT solutions and
and critical infrastructure when absence, degradation or disruption of the necessity of federal guidance and
GNSS services aren’t available. GNSS services. This search has been coordination to ensure the interoper-
ongoing and continues to evolve. Here, ability and security of alternative PNT
we provide a historical look back at some (A-PNT) systems.
of the efforts in the U.S. and Europe, a
snapshot of the current PNT environ- Europe Gets into Alt-PNT Game
ment and how it has influenced more It has been three years since the Volpe
recent developments in the search for Report was published, and new technol-
resilient PNT solutions, and a glimpse ogies have emerged that were not tested.
into what may lie ahead in that quest. Hence, the European Commission (EC)
Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra,
The U.S. Leads the Charge Italy, launched its own testing campaign
For years, the U.S. has been sounding for A-PNT, using a Call for Tender from
the clarion call to protect, toughen and the Directorate General for Defence
augment PNT. Industry and Space (DEFIS). The resul-
Dawn M.K. Zoldi The 2021 analysis prepared by the Volpe tant report presented the findings from
(Colonel, USAF, Retired) is National Transportation Systems Center this latest and extremely comprehen-
a licensed attorney and a under the direction of the U.S. Department sive European test campaign (“DEFIS
25-year Air Force veteran.
of Transportation (DOT) was one of the Report,” officially titled “Assessing
She is an internationally
early studies charged to identify viable Alternative Positioning, Navigation
recognized expert on advanced technology law and
policy and the CEO of P3 Tech Consulting LLC.
backups or complements to GPS. and Timing Technologies”).
The Volpe Report evaluated the ef- Six companies were awarded EC
fectiveness of 11 different technologies contracts for the test campaign: OPNT
from various companies and organi- BV, Seven Solutions SL, Satelles Inc.,
Header image courtesy of NASA.gov.
zations based on several performance GMV Aerospace and Defence, Locata

22 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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 CPNT

and NextNav. The JRC used several

key performance indicators (KPIs) and Volpe Report Measures of Effectiveness
related performance characteristics:
• Technical Readiness–System (TRL 6–9): Assessed
robustness to interference (including the technology readiness level of the system.
for GNSS frequencies, weak RF, strong
• Technical Readiness–User Equipment (TRL 6–9): Evaluated
RF), encryption-readiness (including the technology readiness level of the user equipment.
for data, signal) and scalability to local,
• Timing and Positioning Accuracy as residual error (m, ns): Measured
regional or continental areas. the accuracy of timing and positioning in meters and nanoseconds.
Like the Volpe Report before it, the
• Spectrum Protection (protected, owned, leased, shared): Reviewed the
DEFIS Report does not specify a single status of spectrum usage whether it is protected, owned, leased or shared.
“winner” among the technologies tested.
• Service Deployment Effort (low, medium, high): Assessed
Both NextNav and Satelles tech again the effort required to deploy the service.
performed well in several tests. However,
• Service Coverage per Unit of Infrastructure as number of
studying performance Tables 1 and 2 transmitters per area covered (units/km²): Evaluated how
(as published in the final JRC DEFIS many transmitters are needed per area to provide coverage.
Report), it’s clear Locata’s new technology • Service Synchronization (UTC, cascade, self-synchronizing): Measured
appears to have been the top performer in the synchronization capability of the service, whether it aligns with
this study. Locata was the only technol- UTC, used cascade synchronization, or was self-synchronizing.
ogy, amongst all of the PNT candidates, • PNT Signal Robustness (strong, weak): Assessed
that delivered exemplary performance the robustness of the PNT signal.
in all tested environment scenarios, and • Service Resilience (fail-safe, -over, -soft, -hard): Evaluated the resilience
also across all tested resilience, accuracy, of the service in terms of its ability to fail-safe, fail-over, fail-soft, or fail-hard.
and deployment parameters. • PNT Distribution Mode (terrestrial RF, orbital RF, fiber,
Locata is a terrestrially based technol- database): Reviewed the modes of PNT distribution, including
ogy that offers high-precision positioning terrestrial RF, orbital RF, fiber optics, or databases.
and timing. It uses a network of propri- • Service Interoperability (high, low): Assessed the
etary ground-based transmitters, known interoperability of the service with other systems.
as LocataLites, which emit signals that • PNT Information Security (high, medium, low): Evaluated the
a Locata receiver can use to calculate its level of information security provided by the PNT service.
position with high accuracy. The Locata • Time to Service Implementation (short, medium,
network is novel in that its transmitters long): Measured the time required to implement the service.
can maintain sub-nanosecond synchro- • PNT System/Service Longevity (long, medium, short): Assessed
nization without any dependence on the expected longevity of the PNT system or service.
GPS, satellites, external corrections,

Timing Time Generation Time Transfer Time Transfer Time Transfer OTA Time Transfer TA
MTIE (ns)
Performance (days) Fibre (ns) Networks (ns) Outdoors (ns) Indoors (ns)
OPNT N.A. N.A. 0.057 N.A. < 200 (±100) N.A.
7 Solutions SL 80 280 0.089 N.A. N.A. N.A.
SCPTime 1 <1000 N.A. 35 N.A. N.A.
GMV 100 57 1 500 N.A. N.A.
Satelles Inc. 110 364 N.A. N.A. 145 < 340
Locata 1 < 1000 0.4 (4.9) 0.4 (6.1) 0.7 (6.1) 0.2 (5.2)
NextNav LLC 11.6 40 N.A. N.A. N.A. < 39
TABLE 1 DEFIS JRC Timing Performance Test Results
Source: Table 17 from page 76, EC DEFIS Alternative PNT Report: https://tinyurl.com/ydbaprtv.

2D Positioning
Outdoors (m) Indoor (m) Outdoors (m) Indoor (m)
Performance
Satelles Inc. 17.0 15.0 N.A. N.A.
Locata < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.02 < 0.02
NextNav LLC 9.0 14.0 11.0 N.A.
TABLE 2 DEFIS JRC Positioning Performance Test Results
Source: Table 18 from page 76, EC DEFIS Alternative PNT Report: https://tinyurl.com/ydbaprtv.

24 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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CPNT

tests indicate a focus on validating the

accuracy of Locata's technology under
DOT Announces 9 Contract Awards different conditions.
On June 19, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) The JRC tests also covered the practical
announced nine Complementary Positioning, Navigation
aspects of deploying the technology on
and Timing (CPNT) contract award winners.
a wide scale, including infrastructure
The awards were given as part of the Rapid Phase of the DOT’s CPNT Action requirements, scalability and integra-
Plan, coming from the USDOT’s, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research tion with existing systems. For the JRC
(DOT/OST-R), Volpe Center. The awards total more than $7.2 million.
demonstrations, Locata used its technol-
Some contract winners are reported on in this article, and many ogy at a fully automated port machinery
have been covered by Inside GNSS. The contract winners are: manufacturing and testing facility. The
Carahsoft Technology Group, Locata Corp, Hoptroff Inc., Microsemi autonomous machinery at the site was
Frequency and Time Corp, NAL Research Corp, NextNav, LLC, Parsons
used to demonstrate Locata's centime-
Government Services, Inc., Safran Trusted 4D, Inc. and Tern AI, Inc.
ter-level performance in environments
“These awards will enable DOT to conduct real-world field tests of requiring high precision and reliability,
commercial PNT technologies to facilitate adoption into systems that plus its ability to integrate into complex
depend on secure and reliable PNT services,” DOT/OST-R Director
industrial applications. Additionally,
for the Office of Positioning, Navigation and Timing & Spectrum
the demonstration of UTC time transfer
Management Karen Van Dyke wrote in her article, “Advancing CPNT”
(page 30). “…these awards provide funding for instrumentation, to an indoor Locata Rover suggests the
testing and evaluation of CPNT technologies at field test ranges in technology's capability to integrate with
conjunction with critical infrastructure owners and operators.” global time standards, an important
factor for deployment feasibility. The
The goal, she continued, is to “facilitate adoption of
CPNT technologies to improve PNT resiliency.” report confirmed that Locata’s ground-
based networks provide non-GPS based,
CPNT technologies offer a layered approach, giving those who
centimeter-level positioning accuracy
rely on GPS access to reliable backups when it’s down. More
in areas where GPS doesn’t work.
resilient PNT will continue to be an industry focus, with many
manufacturers and researchers working on new solutions. What did we learn from the Volpe
and DEFIS Reports? Despite originat-
The Ohio State University, for example, recently completed
ing from different regions at different
research to leverage cellular as a signal of opportunity (SOP). Zak
times, they share several commonalities
Kassas and co-authors detail the results of their testing and the
benefits of this approach in “Protecting the Skies” on page 32. in their findings regarding A-PNT.
Now that the DOT awards have been given, technologies will begin
Commonalities and Learnings
to be fielded. Development will continue, with the Protect, Toughen,
The commonalities of both Volpe and
Augment and Adopt (PTAA) principles developed by the National
Space-Based PNT Advisory Board leading the way forward. DEFIS reflect a global consensus on the
need for resilient PNT solutions that
can complement or serve as backups
or the atomic clocks relied upon by all including those that affect resilience. to GNSS. At a high level, both reports
other tested systems. This unique new The technology's performance in these also underscore the vulnerabilities of
capability was clearly demonstrated dur- diverse environments suggests a high GNSS, including susceptibility to jam-
ing the JRC tests and is documented in level of resilience, particularly in over- ming, spoofing and signal degradation
the final DEFIS Report. Locata specifi- coming signal multipath issues common in certain environments. This shared
cally designed this technology to work in urban and indoor environments. concern highlights the critical need for
in areas where GPS and other GNSS Accuracy, a critical measure for any A-PNT solutions to ensure continuity
signals are unreliable or unavailable. PNT technology, indicates a system's of services for critical infrastructure
In the JRC tests, Locata’s tech dis- ability to provide precise location and and national security.
played significant resilience, the ability timing information. JRC engineers
to maintain operational capability in the tested Locata systems to measure the
face of challenges such as signal interfer- precise time transfer capability and CPNT Go Time
ence, jamming or environmental ob- positioning accuracy. The tests included Read IGM’s exclusive interview
stacles. Locata tests, conducted in both a local area component within the JRC with Karen Van Dyke in “CPNT
an industrial test facility in Düsseldorf, facility and a wide area component ex-
Go Time for USDOT: An
Germany, and a “multipath-rich” indoor tending outside the premises, using an
Exclusive Interview with the PNT
space at the JRC facility in Ispra, as- outdoor “timing backbone” to also syn-
Director” at insidegnss.com.
sessed the positioning accuracy of Locata chronize an indoor positioning network.
technology against various challenges, The specific numerical results of these

26 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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CPNT

Resilience and accuracy emerged as Cybersecurity threats, including more and industries to invest in and develop
key performance characteristics in both sophisticated cyber-attacks on critical resilient PNT systems that can ensure
reports, especially in transportation infrastructure, have risen in number. continuity and reliability of critical ser-
and telecommunications. Both reports Attacks on energy grids, transportation vices in the face of diverse and evolving
evaluated technologies for their ability to networks and government databases threats. As the need for robust A-PNT
provide reliable and precise PNT infor- have shown how vulnerabilities in digi- solutions has become more critical than
mation, even in challenging conditions tal and communication networks can ever to safeguard national security, eco-
where GNSS signals are compromised. be exploited. For example, the energy nomic stability and public safety, other
From these demonstrations, Locata, grid, both in the U.S. and globally, faces countries have jumped on the A-PNT
NextNav and Satelles seemed to be the numerous virtual (cyber) weak spots bandwagon—notable among these, the
top contenders. At the same time, both that can lead to disruptions in power United Kingdom (UK).
reports concluded that no single A-PNT supply and everyday life unless alterna-
technology can fully replace GNSS across tive solutions can shore them up. The UK Launched Its Own Initiative
all applications and sectors. Instead, Escalating geopolitical tensions in- In response to the growing recognition
they advocated for a diverse portfolio volving major powers have led to ad- of the vulnerabilities faced by space-
of technologies in a system-of-systems ditional concerns over the security of based PNT assets, particularly arising
integration to serve different needs and satellite navigation systems. Instances from nearby geopolitical tensions, the
environments in a layered approach. of GPS signal jamming and spoofing in UK launched a comprehensive strategy
The two reports also converged on conflict zones, such as Russia-Ukraine, to enhance the resilience and innovation
the needs for further R&D, supportive have extended to nearby regions. of its PNT services.
public-private partnerships and policy Add to this the increasing frequency Key components of the UK's PNT
frameworks to enhance the resilience and severity of natural disasters, driven strategy included: development of a
of PNT services worldwide. by climate change, which pose sig- cross-government crisis plan to ensure
With regard to the ongoing need for nificant risks to GNSS infrastructure. immediate short-term preparedness for
R&D, they focused on the requirement Hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes scenarios where services become unavail-
to enhance the performance, scalability have been known to damage satellite able; creation of a National Timing Centre
and cost-effectiveness of A-PNT technol- ground stations and other critical in- to provide resilient, terrestrial, sovereign
ogies and emphasized the importance of frastructure. A-PNT technologies can and high-quality timing services across
innovation and testing to identify viable ensure continuous operations during the UK; a PNT Growth Policy empha-
solutions that can be deployed at scale. and after such events. sizing R&D programs, standards and
This specific point seems to be at the Significant space weather events, such testing activities across various sectors;
core of the U.S. Department of Transport as solar flares and geomagnetic storms, and a Contextual Complementary PNT
Critical National Infrastructure tests. have the potential to disrupt satellite op- (CPNT) Framework to dovetail off work
Finally, they agreed that on the policy erations. If a strong solar flare interferes from the JRC and DOT.
front, considerations for interoperabil- with satellite communications, this could In support of this strategy, the UK
ity, standardization and security will lead to reduced accuracy or a complete Research and Innovation Council un-
ensure these technologies can be ef- loss of positioning and timing data. This veiled a Strategic Priorities Fund. The
fectively implemented within existing risk underlines the importance of hav- UK National Timing Centre currently
infrastructure. ing terrestrial and non-satellite-based spearheads this 5-year £36 million
Since the publication of the DEFIS and systems as viable PNT alternatives. initiative dedicated to ensuring reliable
Volpe Reports, several global events have Finally, technology continues to ad- Time and Frequency services across
highlighted the vulnerabilities of relying vance and with it, new vulnerabilities the UK. It has three main objectives:
solely on GNSS and have validated the have emerged. The expansion of 5G establish a Resilient Enhanced Time
need for real solutions now. networks and the Internet of Things Scale Infrastructure; financial support
(IoT) increases our dependency on to the UK industry through Innovate
The Evolving Threat Picture precise and reliable timing, predomi- UK; and offering specialized training
In the past few years, the world has nantly provided today by GNSS. Any programs for experts, postgraduates
witnessed a ramp up in cybersecurity disruption in GNSS services could have and apprentices.
threats, geopolitical tensions, natural cascading effects on everything from Specifically, to enhance the nation's
disasters, space weather events and urban transportation to critical health timing resilience, the initiative plans
climate change as well as technologi- care services. This interconnectedness
cal advancements that come with their highlights the need for diversified PNT The JRC Tests
own new vulnerabilities. All of these solutions to provide independent backup For a more an in-depth look
underscore the increasing importance in the event of GNSS failures. at the JRC tests, read “Backing
of resilient PNT systems and robust These events collectively illustrate up GNSS” at insidegnss.com.
alternative solutions. the growing imperative for countries

28 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

to broaden the network of sites gener- It specified stringent requirements for No One Size Fits All
ating time by providing atomic clock the tech it seeks, including accuracy and One thing is for sure, whether in the
backups to ensure users have access to integrity in the face of signal disruptions, U.S., EU or UK, there will be no one
UTC(k) traceable time (think: network reliability to withstand a variety of signal size fits all solution for A-PNT | CPNT
of resilient, distributed atomic clocks threats, and stringent security practices because the relevant critical infrastruc-
throughout the UK). This Resilience consistent with national cybersecurity ture sectors each have their own specific
Enhanced Time Service (RETS) infra- frameworks. operational requirements and challenges
structure includes four sites designed to In our recent interview with the Office that make certain A-PNT technologies
operate independently of GNSS. of the Assistant Secretary for Research more suitable than others. What we’ve
As the UK continues to ramp up its (DOT/OST-R) Director for the Office seen, based on the demonstrations so
timing efforts, so too does the USDOT’s of Positioning, Navigation and Timing far, is some tech works for some ap-
effort to develop and implement CPNT & Spectrum Management Karen Van plications and arguably, some of that
technologies. Dyke on the follow-on RFQ, she charac- tech could work across all.
terized DOT’s effort as “a two-pronged Together, these technologies could
DOT Ramped Up Its Search approach” focused on bolstering GPS provide the necessary resilience, accu-
Over the past year, in what can only be as well as finding “gap fillers,” to step racy and security to support the criti-
characterized as an intensification of up if GPS becomes unavailable. cal infrastructure sectors identified in
effort, the USDOT issued both a Request At the Assured PNT Summit Conference the Volpe and DEFIS Reports. In the
for Information (RFI) and a subsequent in Washington D.C. in late May, Van meantime, all we can do is continue
Request for Quotes (RFQ). Dyke announced that the DOT hoped to wait and see what developments
The RFI clearly indicated the DOT pri- to award contracts to the CPNT candi- will continue to occur both in the U.S.
marily seeks high Technology Readiness dates selected by the U.S. Government for and across the pond, in the search for
Level (TRL) non-space-based alternatives Critical National Infrastructure testing A-PNT and CPNT solutions that will
that can offer accuracy, integrity and re- sometime in June, and they did. (See DOT protect our security, economy and daily
silience under adverse GNSS conditions. Announces 9 Contract Awards, page 26). lives.

Resilient GNSS receiver

for mission critical applications

Field-proven Jamming and Spoofing

Detection and Mitigation

See the full report of the

JammerTest in Norway

www.septentrio.com

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 29

 CPNT

Plan (FRP) in partnership with the DOD

and Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to reflect the policy, planning and
requirements development activities for
federally provided PNT systems.
DOT also is committed to investing
in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (STEM) education and
developing the U.S. PNT workforce of
the future. DOT currently is working
with two University Transportation
Centers (UTCs) whose research is fo-
cused on Assured PNT:
• The Center for Assured and
Resilient Navigation in Advanced
TransportatION Systems
(CARNATIONS) led by the Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT)
• The Center for Automated Vehicles
Advancing CPNT Research with Multimodal AssurEd
Navigation (CARMEN+) led by The
The USDOT’s role and the PNT needs of critical infrastructure Ohio State University, whose work is
KAREN VAN DYKE
featured in this section.
Director, Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) and Spectrum Management
in the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R). The Imperative of Protect, Toughen,
Augment and Adopt (PTAA)

S
afety is the U.S. Department of effectively onto our roadways and into GPS relies on a low power signal from
Transportation’s top priority. PNT our air space with human drivers and space and is subject to cyberattacks, jam-
services must be accurate, reliable, pilots. As technology evolves, each of these ming, spoofing, denial of service, and
available, and trustworthy to safely and systems are becoming Highly Automated other malicious actions. GPS is also sus-
effectively support current and emerging Transportation Systems (HATS). ceptible to natural interference events,
transportation services, applications, PNT services are key enablers to our e.g., space weather. Degraded, denied,
and supporting infrastructures. Nation’s critical infrastructure, providing and/or manipulated PNT, or PNT that is
The transportation sector is one of the technologies and operations used in syn- used improperly, can lead to disastrous
largest users of civil PNT services. Aviation chronization of telecommunications, mobile and sometimes fatal consequences.
systems rely significantly upon the consis- Internet of Things (IoT), power generation As the lead Federal department for
tency and integrity of PNT signals through- and transmission, financial transactions, Civil PNT, DOT must address both cur-
out all phases of a flight—from preflight precision agriculture, surveying, advanced rent and future challenges that include:
and takeoff to approach and landing. The construction technologies, mining and • Increasing occurrences of GPS
rail industry relies on PNT for its shared exploration for natural resources, earth- jamming and spoofing and the
track and Positive Train Control (PTC) quake detection, space missions, scientific ability to quickly detect and
systems. PNT is crucial in the maritime applications, and other important civil uses. mitigate interference.
industry and is used by mapping systems to Per Space Policy Directive 7, DOT • Fostering implementation of
avoid grounding, beacon systems to track co-chairs the National Space-Based PNT cybersecurity awareness
ships and avoid accidents, and sensors for PNT Executive Committee (EXCOM), and protections as new forms of
clearance under bridges. which is the interagency body for guid- cyberattacks continue to emerge.
PNT also plays a critical role in the ing whole-of government interests in the • Promoting “responsible use” and
ever-evolving cooperative and automated provision of space-based PNT services “risk-based decision-making” by
technologies and systems as they are more and augmentations, as well as PNT PNT users, especially for critical
broadly implemented and integrated into resiliency. In this role, DOT represents infrastructure operations.
today’s transportation environments. A the civil departments and agencies in GPS • The need to toughen GPS user
Header image courtesy of NASA.gov.

prime example is connected and auto- development, acquisition, management, equipment against intentional
mated vehicles, not only cars, trucks, and operations. DOT also participates in jamming as well as signal and data
and buses but also bicycles, motorcycles, radionavigation planning and require- spoofing.
wheelchairs, drones, and other forms of ments development activities, including de- • Increasing dependency on
mobility that need to integrate safely and velopment of the Federal Radionavigation precision timing.

30 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 Given the growing reliance on PNT needs and that have been assessed As part of the Rapid Phase of the
within civil applications, it is imperative by the U.S. Government to CPNT Action Plan, DOT recently
that civil PNT users have uninterrupted understand their capabilities and awarded contracts to nine CPNT tech-
PNT services. This imperative is reflected vulnerabilities. nology vendors (See “ABCs of PNT” for
in the policy of the U.S. Government’s more on which companies received
Executive Order 13905, Strengthening Need for Resilience and How CPNT the contracts). These awards will en-
National Resilience Through Responsible Endeavors to Deliver It able DOT to conduct real-world field
Use of PNT Services, that seeks “to en- Complementary PNT (CPNT) incorpo- tests of commercial PNT technologies
sure that disruption or manipulation of rates other sources of positioning, navi- to facilitate adoption into systems that
PNT services does not undermine the gation, and/or timing to complement or depend on secure and reliable PNT
reliable and efficient functioning of its augment space-based PNT systems (e.g., services.
critical infrastructure…and [to] ensure GPS, GNSS). CPNT services are defined Awarded through the Volpe Center,
critical infrastructure can withstand by their source location (space-based or in response to the Rapid Phase of the
disruption or manipulation of PNT terrestrial), their service volume (local at DOT Complementary PNT Action
services.” a fixed point versus regional or global), Plan, and totaling more than $7.2 mil-
To address these challenges, DOT and their autonomy (dependent, requiring lion, these awards provide funding for
embraces the Protect, Toughen, and frequent refresh rates versus autonomous instrumentation, testing and evalua-
Augment (PTA) principles developed by with no refresh needed once initialized). tion of CPNT technologies at field test
the National Space-Based PNT Advisory DOT developed a Complementary ranges in conjunction with critical in-
Board. PTA is a critical set of principles, PNT Action Plan to drive CPNT adoption frastructure owners and operators. The
but they are not fully sufficient until they across the Nation’s transportation system goal is to facilitate adoption of CPNT
are put into use. Thus, adoption extends and within other critical infrastructure technologies to improve PNT resiliency.
these important principles to Protect, sectors. The DOT Complementary PNT The CPNT technologies covering
Toughen, Augment and Adopt (PTAA). Action Plan addresses disruption, denial low Earth orbit (LEO), Terrestrial RF,
PTAA initiatives focus on establishing and manipulation of GPS. These GNSS Time Over Fiber, and Map Matching/
greater resiliency, resulting in PNT ser- vulnerabilities include unintentional Map Tracking will be fielded within six
vices remaining consistent and available and intentional jamming and spoofing months after award at a diverse set of
in the event of human-made or natural (both measurement and data spoofing) test range models (Federal Government-
disruptions, including: of the GPS signal and physically impeded Hosted, Critical Infrastructure and
• Protecting spectrum that delivers environments in which the availability of Vendor-Fielded).
PNT signals and creating a the GPS signal is impacted (e.g., indoors, Adoption and use of appropriate
robust nationwide interference underground, and urban canyons). This CPNT services by critical infrastructure
detection and location system plan is intended to address GPS vulner- owners, operators and users will ensure
that can be used to alert users, abilities/limitations on both a widespread the Nation’s critical infrastructure has
mitigate interference problems, and local scale. continuous and reliable PNT services.
and enable recovery following PNT The DOT CPNT Action Plan, issued
degradation or failures. on Sept, 11, 2023, has five components: Author
• Cyber toughening PNT user 1. Developing safety-critical PNT Karen Van Dyke serves
equipment and working with standards for transportation as the Director for
partners from DOD and the State services. Positioning, Navigation,
Department to address International 2. Developing a PNT vulnerability and Timing (PNT) and
Traffic in Arms Regulations and performance testing Spectrum Management
(ITAR) and Export Administration framework on demonstrated in the U.S. Department of
Transportation Office of
Regulations (EAR) considerations and suitable complementary
the Assistant Secretary for Research and
for use of multi-element Controlled technologies. Technology (OST-R). Karen has been
Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPA) 3. Conducting vulnerability involved in navigation-related programs for
for civil applications. Standards performance assessments at test over 30 years starting at the Volpe National
and specifications to design these ranges and proving grounds Transportation Systems Center in
capabilities into future systems must (sandbox facilities). Cambridge, Mass, before transitioning to her
be created. 4. Developing PNT performance current role at DOT Headquarters in
• Embracing a diversity of PNT monitoring capabilities to ensure Washington, D.C., where she is responsible
sources that can provide accurate, PNT services provide operational for overseeing the navigation program and
reliable, and resilient PNT services resilience and achieve safety development of policy positions on PNT and
by enhancing existing systems critical standards. radiofrequency spectrum in coordination
with DOT leadership within the Office of the
with new technologies that can 5. Establishing a Federal PNT
Secretary of Transportation.
serve a broad range of civil PNT Services Clearinghouse.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 31

CPNT

Protecting the Skies: GNSS-Less Aircraft

Navigation with Cellular Signals of Opportunity
With the threat of spoofing and jamming on the rise, this work demonstrates
how cellular signals can be used as a reliable PNT source for aircraft.
ZAHER (ZAK) M. KASSAS, more than two years ago. In 2024, hun-
SHAGHAYEGH SHAHCHERAGHI dreds of passenger jets were affected by
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
an alleged Russian attack on GPS signals
JOE J. KHALIFE, ALI A. ABDALLAH, NADIM
KHAIRALLAH in the Baltic region. The attack started
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE on Easter Sunday and lasted more than
CHIAWEI LEE, JUAN JURADO, STEVEN WACHTEL, 63 hours. Due to GPS jamming, Finnair,
JACOB DUEDE, ZACHARY HOEFFNER, the only international airline operating
THOMAS HULSEY, RACHEL QUIRARTE flights to the second largest airport in
US AIR FORCE Estonia, suspended its daily flights for
RUNXUAN TAY the month of May. North Korea “up-
REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE AIR FORCE graded” its GPS attacks from mere jam-
ming, which led to a South Korean drone

G
NSS jamming and spoofing crashing in 2012 killing and injuring
incidents have been bubbling three people, to spoofing, affecting 200+
over the past decade, reaching planes over five-days in June. Alleged
an outburst in 2024 with numerous Israeli GPS spoofing for 5+ months has
aviation-related incidents from the Baltic wreaked havoc in neighboring Lebanon,
to the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea. even extending to Cyprus, some 200
These incidents jeopardize aviation’s km away from Lebanon. Whacky GPS
continuous, efficient and safe operation. receivers across Lebanon showed their
In 2021, based on in-f light moni- location at Beirut’s International Airport.
toring of aircraft GNSS receivers, the Lebanese citizens have not been able
International Telecommunication to rely on GPS in their daily lives, with
Union (ITU) reported that more than pilots now abandoning GPS and flying
10,000 radio frequency interference with a compass and a paper map.
(RFI) events were detected globally.
EUROCONTROL, a pan-European, A Call for Action
civil-military organization dedicated Several national and international regu-
to supporting European aviation, con- latory bodies have put forth calls to find
cluded that 38.5% of European enroute GNSS alternatives. In 2021, the National
flight traffic operates through regions Institute of Standards and Technology
intermittently but regularly affected by (NIST) issued a report on “Foundational
GNSS RFI. Two major RFI incidents PNT Profile: Applying the Cybersecurity
were reported in the U.S. in 2022. Framework for the Responsible Use
The first, lasting 33 hours, in which of PNT Services,” where it identified
air traff ic control (ATC) warned signals of opportunity (SOPs) and ter-
pilots that GPS was unreliable within a restrial radio frequency (RF) sources
50-nautical-mile radius of the Denver as a mitigation category that apply to
International Airport, with RFI likely to the positioning, navigation and timing
be experienced by aircraft on the ground (PNT) profile. In 2023, the International
and as high as 40,000 feet above sea Air Transport Association (IATA) in-
level. The second, lasting 44 hours, shut vited the International Civil Aviation
down a runway at Dallas-Fort Worth Organization (ICAO), in coordina-
International Airport after aviation tion with manufacturers and airspace
authorities said GPS signals there weren’t user communities, to develop a global
reliable, forcing approaching and depart- strategy on Alternative PNT (A-PNT)
ing aircraft to take cumbersome routes. to ensure continuity of flight and air
Tensions between NATO and Russia traffic management (ATM) operations
have risen since the Ukraine invasion during GNSS interruptions. IATA added
Header image courtesy of NASA.gov.

32 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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CPNT

lack of features and nearby objects, while

navigation with camera images coupled
with feature and elevation maps requires
additional terrain knowledge that might
not be readily available onboard the air-
craft. Plus, clouds below the aircraft
would prevent cameras from getting
usable images from the ground. Finally,
many SOPs are practically unaffected
FIGURE 1 USAF Pilots and ASPIN researchers with Ms. Mabel (C-12 aircraft). Left to right: by dense smoke, fog, rain, snow, and
Hulsey, Tay, Abdallah, Quirarte, Kassas, Khalife, Hoeffner and Wachtel. other poor weather conditions. Previous
studies have shown cellular SOPs could
yield meter-level accuracy on ground
vehicles in GPS-jammed environments
[3], [4] and sub-meter-level accuracy on
low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) in differential [5], [6] and non-
differential [7] fashions.
This article demonstrates the vi-
ability of using cellular SOPs as PNT
sources for aircraft. The results were
achieved from a collaboration between
the United States Air Force (USAF) and
the Autonomous Systems Perception,
Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN)
Laboratory through a week-long flight
campaign called “SNIFFER: Signals
of Opportunity for Navigation In
FIGURE 2 Hardware setup with which the C-12 aircraft was equipped. Frequency-Forbidden EnviRonments.”
ASPIN Laboratory’s cognitive software-
that “on-board availability of alterna- defined receiver (SDR), Multichannel
tive navigation capability using inertial Adaptive TRansceiver Information
navigation system (INS)/inertial refer- eXtractor (MATRIX), was flown on a
ence unit (IRU) or other conventional Beechcraft C-12 Huron, a fixed-wing
radio navigation aids can be helpful.” USAF aircraft, to collect ambient cel-
SOPs refer to ambient RF signals not lular signals for flight runs over three
intended as PNT sources, e.g., AM/FM, regions in California: (i) Region A
digital television, cellular, and satel- (rural): Edwards Air Force Base (AFB),
lite communication signals [1]. SOPs, (ii) Region B (semi-urban): Palmdale,
particularly cellular, possess attractive and (iii) Region C (urban): Riverside.
attributes for aircraft navigation. First, The flights spanned different altitudes
in contrast to dead-reckoning-type and a multitude of trajectories including
sensors (e.g., INS), absolute position straight segments, banking turns, benign
information can be extracted from and aggressive maneuvers, and ascend-
SOPs. Second, they are abundant in ing/descending teardrops with a descent
most locales of interest, and their re- rate ranging between 0 to 1,500 ft/min.
ceived carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) is The flights were performed by members
20 to 30 dBs higher than that of GNSS of the USAF Test Pilot School. The main
[2]. Third, they are cost-effective: The conclusions from SNIFFER are:
infrastructure is already deployed and • Cellular signals are surprisingly
retrofitting aircraft with SOP receivers powerful at both (i) high altitudes,
FIGURE 3 Regions A and B in Southern is not as cumbersome as adding other exhibiting CNR of 25–55 dB-Hz
California, over which the flight sensors (e.g., radar, LiDAR, cameras, at altitudes of 2,000 to 23,000 feet
campaign took place. The orange pins
represent cellular BS towers. The flight etc.). Fourth, radars and LiDARs are above ground level (AGL) and (ii)
trajectories over the four days are shown “proximity” sensors and are not par- horizontal distances exceeding 100
in different colors. ticularly helpful at high altitudes due to km [8].

34 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

• ASPIN’s MATRIX SDR was able to the C-12 aircraft, known as Ms. Mabel, Challenges of Cellular OFDM-Based
acquire and simultaneously track along with ASPIN researchers and USAF High-Altitude Aircraft Navigation
100+ cellular base station (BS) pilots. Figure 2 shows the hardware setup Signals received from terrestrial trans-
towers over trajectories of tens of with which Ms. Mabel was equipped. mitters by high altitude aircraft suffer
kilometers [9]. from high path loss due to long-range
• Upon fusing the cellular carrier Flight Regions and Aircraft Maneuvers wireless propagation. By design, cellu-
phase observables with altimeter A flight campaign over four consecu- lar BSs are optimized for ground-based
measurements via an extended tive days was conducted, during which user equipment (UEs)–the BS tower's
Kalman filter (EKF), meter-level samples of cellular signals were stored antennas are tilted downwards to prevent
3D position root mean-squared for post-processing via the MATRIX inter-cell interference and provide ser-
error (RMSE) was achieved [10]. SDR. The flights took place over three vice to UEs via the antenna’s main lobe.
• Radio simultaneous localization regions in California, (i) Region A The current and previous cellular
and mapping (radio SLAM) (rural): Edwards AFB, (ii) Region generations (4G LTE and 5G) adopt
enables the exploitation of BSs B (semi-urban): Palmdale, and (iii) orthogonal frequency-division multiplex-
whose positions are not precisely Region C (urban): Riverside. This ing (OFDM). OFDM-based navigation
know a priori without appreciable article shows results from Regions receivers in the literature were designed
degradation in navigation [11]. A and B (illustrated in Figure 3). for ground platforms or low altitude UAVs
Additional data and analyses in all three operating in close proximity of the BS,
SNIFFER Hardware Setup regions can be found in [8-11]. where the UE is within the BS antenna’s
The hardware used to collect cellular The C-12 flew at altitudes up to 23,000 main lobe or some of the more powerful
data in the SNIFFER flight campaign feet AGL and performed two types of sidelobes. Employing such receivers on
was assembled on a rack, which was maneuvers. The first were climbing/ high altitude aircraft revealed challenges
mounted on the C-12 aircraft. The rack descending teardrop-like patterns. in acquiring and tracking terrestrial
was equipped with: These patterns were used to assess the cellular signals, especially from BSs ex-
• A quad-channel universal software ability to acquire BS towers at different hibiting low CNRs. Figure 4a shows the
radio peripheral (USRP)-2955. altitudes and to characterize the CNR. acquisition results of 4G LTE’s primary
• A desktop computer equipped with The second was a grid-like pattern with synchronization signal (PSS) with the
solid-state drive for data storage. many turns and straight elements. These state-of-the-art cellular navigation re-
• A laptop computer running real- patterns were used to stress-test the cel- ceiver on a ground-based receiver [12].
time cellular acquisition, which lular navigation receiver’s tracking loops. The same receiver was able to acquire
was operated during the flight The navigation solution was computed and track cellular signals on low altitude
by a flight engineer to determine from the proposed receiver’s output and UAVs, achieving submeter-level accuracy
when, where and what cellular compared with the aircraft’s ground [7]. However, upon testing this receiver
channels were available to tune truth, which was obtained from the on cellular data collected on an aircraft
the USRP-2955 accordingly. The C-12's on-board Honeywe H764-ACE at 5,500 ft AGL, the receiver failed to
USRP-2955 was connected to the EGI INS/GPS. acquire the PSS, as shown in Figure 4b.
laptop via a peripheral component
interconnect express (PCIe) cable.
• A GPS antenna to (i) feed GPS
measurements to the aircraft
navigation system and (ii) discipline
the USRP’s onboard GPS-
disciplined oscillator (GPSDO).
Three consumer-grade 800/1,900
MHz Laird cellular antennas were
mounted to the bottom of the
C-12 and were connected to the
USRP-2955. The USRP was tuned
to listen to three carrier frequencies
corresponding to U.S. cellular
providers: T- Mobile, AT&T and
Verizon. The sampling rate of
each cellular channel was 10 mega
samples per second.
The MATRIX SDR was used to post- FIGURE 4 The acquisition output of state-of-the-art cellular receiver: (a) on a ground-based
receiver and (b) on an aircraft at 5,500 feet AGL.
process the stored data. Figure 1 shows

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 35

CPNT

Another challenge on high altitude accuracy is limited due to the small duty This limitation becomes more severe on
aircraft is the receiver’s ability to esti- factor of the synchronization signals, high dynamics platforms, where Doppler
mate, in the acquisition stage, the initial defined as the ratio between the number shifts have a wider range.
Doppler with sufficient accuracy to of exploited symbols in a frame to the
achieve lock in the tracking loops. Such total number of symbols in a frame [4]. Opportunistic Cellular Navigation Receiver
To address the aforementioned chal-
lenges, a radical time-domain-based
receiver that operates on a so-called
ultimate reference signal (URS) was
designed [9]. State-of-the-art navigation
receivers only consider the orthogonal-
ity of the synchronization and channel
estimation reference signals (RSs) in the
frequency-domain, i.e., the transmitted
OFDM frame is always reconstructed
from the received time-domain serial
data. Then, the navigation observables
are estimated by using the RS with the
highest bandwidth. Cellular navigation
receivers adopted such an approach by
following the design outlined in cellular
communication receivers. However, in
communication applications, it is neces-
sary to reconstruct the OFDM frame
to extract various system information,
which allows for two-way communi-
FIGURE 5 Block diagram of the proposed receiver. Thick lines represent complex-valued
cation between the UE and the BS. In
quantities.
contrast, in opportunistic UE-based
navigation applications, the ultimate
objective is to obtain navigation ob-
servables by using the most available
frequency (bandwidth) and time (duty
factor) resources in the received signal.
The developed receiver exploits the
orthogonality property of OFDM signals
in both frequency and time, where all
available resource elements (REs) are
combined and used simultaneously in
a time-domain-based URS.
Figure 5 summarizes the acquisition
FIGURE 6 Left: Climbing teardrop aircraft trajectory in Region A. Right: Receiver’s output:
CNR, Doppler, pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs). and tracking stages of the proposed re-
ceiver. Note the similarities between
the proposed receiver’s tracking stage
and the tracking stage of a conventional
GNSS receiver: virtually all building
blocks are identical (carrier wipe-off,
correlators, filters, discriminators,
and numerically-controlled oscilla-
tor (NCO)), with the main difference
being the pseudorandom noise (PRN)
generator being replaced with the URS
generator.
The developed URS-based receiver
amplifies the received OFDM signal
FIGURE 7 Left: Descending teardrop aircraft trajectory in Region A. Right: Receiver’s output: by a factor of 120 ≈ 21 dB. Thus, using
CNR, Doppler, pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs).
the URS addresses the challenge of

36 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

weak signals, which arises in high
altitude aircraft navigation, among
other applications (e.g., indoor and
deep urban navigation). In addition,
the proposed URS-based receiver im-
proves the duty cycle by a factor of
60, which improves the carrier phase
est i mat ion acc u rac y a nd i n it ia l
Doppler shift estimation [9].

Cellular Signal Characterization

The developed opportunistic cellular
FIGURE 8 Grid aircraft trajectory in Region A. Right: Receiver’s output: CNR, Doppler,
receiver was used to process the col- pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs).
lected cellular in-phase and quadrature
(I&Q) samples during the aircraft’s
flights. Figures 6–11 show the receiver’s
navigation observables (pseudorange
and Doppler) along with the CNR and
number of tracked cellular BSs during
various flight trajectories and maneu-
vers. The following conclusions can be
made from these results:
• The developed receiver, by design,
possessed high sensitivity. This
high sensitivity enabled the
receiver to acquire and track
much weaker signals from further FIGURE 9 Left: Climbing teardrop aircraft trajectory in Region B. Right: Receiver’s output:
away BSs, increasing the number CNR, Doppler, pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs).
of hearable BSs by an order of
magnitude compared to state-
of-the-art opportunistic cellular
navigation receivers. Essentially,
re-processing the raw LTE samples
increased the acquirable and
trackable BSs from about a dozen
with the receiver developed in [12]
to more than 100 with the newly
developed receiver in [9].
• In rural and semi-urban regions,
no matter the aircraft maneuvers,
tens of BSs were simultaneously FIGURE 10 Left: Descending teardrop aircraft trajectory in Region B. Right: Receiver’s output:
trackable, some of which were CNR, Doppler, pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs).
more than 100 km away. A
significant factor behind the
change in the number of tracked
BSs during the aircraft’s flight is
attributed to the aircraft’s body
and wings causing signal blockage
and severe attenuation during
banking.
• Co-channel interference does not
seem to be problematic for BSs
within tens of kilometers from the
aircraft, as the proposed receiver
was able to track all such BSs with FIGURE 11 Left: grid aircraft trajectory in Region B. Right: Receiver’s output: CNR, Doppler,
pseudorange, and number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs).
sufficiently high CNR.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 37

CPNT

Aircraft Navigation Results trajectory (from its onboard GPS-INS the range error is due to the clocks’ drift.
The navigation observables produced system), some of the tracked cellular Figures 14 and 15 show the EKF error
by the opportunistic cellular naviga- BSs were mapped, cross checked via plots and the ±3σ bounds. These plots
tion receiver were fused with altimeter Google Earth, and associated with the show the EKF errors remain bounded
measurements via an EKF to estimate produced pseudoranges. throughout the aircraft’s trajectory.
the aircraft’s states (position and Figures 12 and 13 show the produced The variations in the σ-bounds are
velocity) along with the clock error (bias CNR, pseudoranges, and range error due to a combination of: relative ge-
and drift) difference between the air- (difference between the receiver’s ometry between the aircraft and BSs,
craft’s receiver and each BS [9]. To this pseudorange and the true range) to the number of tracked BSs (eNodeBs), and
end, given knowledge of the aircraft’s mapped BSs. The drifting behavior in model mismatch between the aircraft’s
maneuvers (especially during banking)
and assumed aircraft dynamical model
(Wiener process acceleration model).
Table 1 summarizes the navigation
performance in Regions A and B while
Figures 16 and 17 show the aircraft’s
traversed trajectory, estimated trajectory,
and BS positions. It is worth emphasiz-
ing that the reported performance is
expected to improve if an INS is coupled
with the LTE navigation observables
(e.g., via a tightly coupled SOP-aided
INS [13]) and/or observables from all
tracked BSs (see Figures 6 to 11) are fused
in the EKF.

Radio SLAM with Unknown Cellular

Base Station Position
FIGURE 12 Region A results: (a) Time history of CNRs for all BSs used to compute the If the cellular BS positions are not known
navigation solution in Region A. (b) Time history of pseudoranges estimated by
the developed receiver and corresponding true range. The initial values of the a priori, the aircraft can still navigate to
pseudoranges and ranges were subtracted out for ease of comparison. (c) Time history a relatively acceptable degree of accuracy
of the pseudorange error (pseudorange minus the true range). The initial values of the by adopting the radio SLAM framework
pseudorange errors were subtracted out for ease of comparison.
[11] (Figure 18). In this framework, the
aircraft estimates its states (position,
velocity, clock errors), simultaneously
with the states of the cellular BS (posi-
tion and clock error) [13]. For aircraft
dynamics, one can use either (i) the
aircraft’s on-board INS, aided by navi-
gation observables extracted from the
cellular BSs or (ii) adopt a dynamical
model describing the aircraft’s motion
(e.g., Wiener process acceleration model,
coordinated maneuver, etc.).
A thorough radio SLAM study was
conducted in [11], applied on four
flight trajectories in Regions A, B and
C, which:
• Compared the performance
with (i) INS coupling versus
(ii) adopting a Wiener process
FIGURE 13 Region B results: (a) Time history of CNRs for all BSs used to compute the acceleration model
navigation solution in Region A. (b) Time history of pseudoranges estimated by
the developed receiver and corresponding true range. The initial values of the • Evaluated the degradation in
pseudoranges and ranges were subtracted out for ease of comparison. (c) Time history performance due to having to map
of the pseudorange error (pseudorange minus the true range). The initial values of the the SOP positions simultaneously
pseudorange errors were subtracted out for ease of comparison.
with navigating the aircraft.

38 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 Metric Region A Region B Different a priori conditions of the
Total number of unique eNodeBs used 32 18 SOPs’ positions were studied: from
all unknown, to some known, to
Number of {min, max} eNodeBs used 17-27 5-17
all known.
Cellular frequency [MHz] 731.5 731.5
• Evaluated the performance due
739 739 to intermittent pseudorange
751 measurements.
Flight duration [sec] 455 601 The cellular towers’ initial position
Flight length [km] 42.6 56.8 uncertainty in the local north-east-down
(NED) frame Pr,sop (0|0) was set to
Altitude AGL [ft] 7,530-7,598 3,540-4,573
diag[105, 105, 102] m2, which correspond
Position RMSE [m] 7.00 8.29
Velocity RMSE [m/s] 0.34 0.41
Position error standard deviation [m] 3.37 4.11
Velocity error standard deviation [m/s] 0.18 0.22
Maximum position error [m] 14.16 21.59
Maximum velocity error [m/s] 3.82 3.20
TABLE 1 Navigation Performance with Cellular LTE Signals

FIGURE 16 Experimental environment and

aircraft navigation results in Region A
showing: BS (eNodeB) positions, true
aircraft trajectory, and aircraft trajectory
estimated using cellular SOPs. The
aircraft traversed a total distance of 42.6
km in 455 s. The position RMSE over the
trajectory was 7.00 m.

FIGURE 14 EKF plots of the time history of the position and velocity errors in Region A and
the ±3σ bounds.

FIGURE 17 Experimental environment and

aircraft navigation results in Region B
showing: BS (eNodeB) positions, true
aircraft trajectory, and aircraft trajectory
estimated exclusively using cellular SOPs.
The aircraft traversed a total distance
of 56.8 km traversed in 601 s during the
FIGURE 15 EKF plots of the time history of the position and velocity errors in Region B and experiment. The position RMSE over the
the ±3σ bounds. entire trajectory was 8.29 m.

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CPNT

FIGURE 18 Overview of a tightly-coupled radio SLAM framework. The radio front-end collects
signals, which are processed in the navigation receivers. The EKF is initialized with GNSS
receiver estimates. The EKF time update is performed based on the toggling switch: (i)
using a dynamical model that describes the navigator’s dynamics or (ii) using an INS, when
available. The EKF measurement update is performed using navigation observables from FIGURE 19 Top: Aircraft’s true (cyan) and
received SOP signals and altimeter measurements. estimated trajectories: (i) SOP-INS
radio SLAM with all six SOPs unknown
(magenta) and (ii) altimeter-aided INS
(red). Bottom: The initial SOP position
estimate (green pin) has a 2D error
of 263.65 m (in the North-East plane)
with respect to the true SOP position
(yellow pin) while the final SOP position
estimate (blue pin) converged to within
19.38 m from the actual BS tower after
performing radio SLAM. Map data:
Google Earth.

to an initial 2–D 95% uncertainty circle

of radius 774 in the North-East plane.
The radio SLAM EKF was initialized
with the true aircraft states (obtained
from the aircraft’s onboard GNSS-INS
FIGURE 20 EKF plots of the time history of the aircraft’s states estimation errors and associated
system), after which GNSS was assumed
±3σ bounds for a filter implementing the INS radio SLAM framework with n=6 known BS unavailable throughout the flight run.
positions and m=0 unknown BS positions (blue) and n=2 known BS positions and m= 4 Figure 19 shows a sample of the
unknown BS positions (orange) as well as the ±3σ bounds for an altimeter-INS filter (red).
The first row corresponds to the orientation states of the aircraft’s body frame with respect achieved navigation results on one of
to the NED frame represented using Euler angles. The second and third rows correspond to the flight runs, while Figures 20 to 22
the aircraft’s position and velocity states in the NED frame, respectively. show the EKF error plots. Table 2 sum-
marizes the navigation performance of
the altimeter-INS filter, the SOP-INS,
and Wiener process acceleration (in
parentheses) radio SLAM frameworks
with varying levels of a priori knowl-
edge on the SOP BSs’ true positions
(n =number of SOPs with known BS
position; m =number of SOPs with
unknown BS position).
It is interesting to note the navigation
performance does not degrade appre-
ciably even when all SOPs are unknown
and mapped simultaneously. It is worth
emphasizing that the reported perfor-
mance is expected to improve signifi-
FIGURE 21 EKF plots of the time history of the horizontal position estimation errors in the cantly if all tracked BSs (Figures 6 to
North-East plane and associated ±3σ bounds for SOP 1 for the INS radio SLAM filter with 11) are fused in the EKF and/or motion
n=2 known BS positions and m= 4 unknown BS positions. planning strategies are adopted [14].

40 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

Future Outlook and Recommendations
This article demonstrated the tremen-
dous potential of cellular signals as an
A-PNT source to GNSS for aircraft
navigation. With a specialized receiver
design, more than 100 cellular BSs were
acquirable and trackable at altitudes
as high as 23,000 feet AGL and from
horizontal distances exceeding 100
km. Upon fusing the cellular receiver's
navigation observables with altimeter
data via an EKF, sustained meter-level
accurate navigation was demonstrated
over trajectories exceeding hundreds
of kilometers, while exercising vari- FIGURE 22 Flight Run 1 EKF plots of the time history of the differenced clock error states
ous maneuvers over different regions estimates and associated ±3σ bounds for SOP 1 for the INS radio SLAM filter with n = 2
known BS positions and m = 4 unknown BS positions.
in Southern California. When the cel-
lular BS positions were not known a
Radio SLAM Radio SLAM Radio SLAM
priori, radio SLAM was shown to be Altimeter-INS
(n =0, m = 6) (n=2, m=4) (n=6, m=0)
effective without appreciable degrada-
Attitude RMSE (°) 143.68 3.01 3.30 3.32
tion in navigation performance.
Final Att. Error (°) 128.96 2.80 1.88 2.20
While the revealed results are prom-
ising, particular needs of military Max Att. Error (°) 299.97 13.20 13.26 13.27
operations versus civil aviation (e.g., Position RMSE (m) 27,226 43.27 (47.39) 28.20 (26.20) 10.14 (10.17)
low-altitude urban air mobility) must Final Pos. Error (m) 37,011 78.77 (80.610 43.67 (34.47) 2.81 (7.13)
be addressed if cellular SOPs are used Max Pos. Error (m) 41,425 79.29 (82.50) 45.25 (52.77) 39.64 (36.79)
in practice. For instance, while the con- Velocity RMSE (m/s) 203.17 0.67 (0.94) 0.53 (0.83) 0.47 (0.80)
ducted research in [8-11] focused on
Final Vel. Error (m/s) 242.91 0.86 (0.88) 0.68 (0.64) 0.51 (0.51)
showing the ranging/accuracy aspects,
Max. Vel. Error (m/s) 271.64 2.20 (3.07) 1.82 (2.99) 1.99 (2.99)
issues of integrity, availability, and con-
tinuity were not studied and warrant TABLE 2 Radio SLAM Experimental Results
further research. In addition, how can
we deal with potentially irreconcilable Air Force Office of Scientific Research views of the U.S. Department of Energy
conflicts between the long timeline of (AFOSR) under Grant FA9550-22-1- or the United States Government.
civil aviation operation versus the short 0476, the Office of Naval Research
timeline of cellular technology? What (ONR) under Grant N00014-19-1- References
commitments should we require from 2511, the National Science Foundation (1) J. Raquet et al., “Position,
governing bodies (e.g., 3GPP) or local (NSF) under Grant 2240512, and the navigation, and timing technologies
cellular operators? The authors hope this Laboratory Directed Research and in the 21st century,” J. Morton, F.
article will initiate a robust discussion by Development progra m at Sandia van Diggelen, J. Spilker, Jr., and B.
standards bodies, government agencies, National Laboratories. DISTRIBUTION Parkinson, Eds. Wiley-IEEE, 2021,
vol. 2, Part D: Position, Navigation,
and aviation stakeholders into using (or STATEMENT A. Approved for pub-
and Timing Using Radio Signals-of-
dual purposing) the existing cellular lic release; Distribution is unlimited. Opportunity, ch. 35–43, pp. 1115–1412.
infrastructure as a complementary PNT 412TW-PA-20146. Sandia National
(CPNT) solution. Future work should Laboratories is a multimission labora- (2) A. Abdallah, J. Khalife, and Z. Kassas,
study the achievable performance and tory managed and operated by National “Experimental characterization of
its repeatability to satisfy minimum Technology & Engineering Solutions of received 5G signals carrier-to-noise ratio
in indoor and urban environments,” in
operational performance standards Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary
Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular Technology
(MOPS). of Honeywell International Inc., for the Conference, April 2021, pp. 1–5.
U.S. Department of Energy’s National
Acknowledgements Nuclear Security Administration under (3) Z. Kassas, J. Khalife, A. Abdallah,
This work was supported in part by contract DE- NA0003525. This paper and C. Lee, “I am not afraid of the
the U.S. Department of Transportation describes objective technical results GPS jammer: resilient navigation via
signals of opportunity in GPS-denied
(USDOT) under Grant 69A3552348327 and analysis. Any subjective views or
environments,” IEEE Aerospace and
f o r t h e C A R M E N+ Un i v e r s i t y opinions that might be expressed in the Electronic Systems Magazine, vol.
Transportation Center (UTC), the paper do not necessarily represent the 37, no. 7, pp. 4–19, July 2022.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 41

CPNT

(4) Z. Kassas and A. Abdallah, “No GPS (11) Z. Kassas, N. Khairallah, J. Khalife, (ION) Samuel Burka Award, and ION Col.
no problem: Exploiting cellular OFDM- C. Lee, J. Jurado, S. Wachtel, J. Duede, Thomas Thurlow Award. He is a Fellow of
based signals for accurate navigation,” Z. Hoeffner, T. Hulsey, R. Quirarte, and IEEE and ION and a Distinguished Lecturer
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and R. Tay, “Aircraft navigation in GNSS- of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic
Electronic Systems, vol. 59, no. 6, denied environments via radio SLAM Systems Society.
pp. 9792–9798, December 2023. with terrestrial signals of opportunity,”
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Joe Khalife was a
(5) J. del Peral-Rosado, P. Nolle, F. postdoctoral fellow at
Transportation Systems, 2024, accepted.
Rothmaier, S. Razavi, G. Lindmark, X. Jiang, the University of
D. Shrestha, F. Gunnarsson, S. Parsawar, R. (12) K. Shamaei and Z. Kassas, California, Irvine, and
Mundlamuri, F. Kaltenberger, N. Sirola, O. “LTE receiver design and multipath member of the ASPIN
Sarkka, U. Noman, J. Rostrom, K. Vaarala, analysis for navigation in urban Laboratory. He received
P. Miettinen, S. Garlaschi, L. Canzian, H. environments,” NAVIGATION, Journal a B.E. in Electrical
Babaroglu, E. RastorguevaFoi, M. Turunen, of the Institute of Navigation, vol. 65, Engineering and an M.S. in Computer
J. Talvitie, and D. Flachs, “Proof-of-concept no. 4, pp. 655–675, December 2018. Engineering from the Lebanese American
of dedicated aerial 5G and GNSS testbed University and a Ph.D. in Electrical
(13) J. Morales and Z. Kassas, “Tightly-
for enhanced hybrid positioning,” in Engineering and Computer Science from
coupled inertial navigation system with
Proceedings of ION GNSS Conference, the University of California, Irvine. He is a
signals of opportunity aiding,” IEEE
September 2022, pp. 2362– 2376. recipient of the 2018 IEEE Walter Fried
Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic
(6) J. Khalife and Z. Kassas, “Differential Systems, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 1930–1948, 2021. Award and 2021 IEEE Robert T. Hill Best
framework for submeter-accurate Dissertation Award.
(14) Y. Yang, J. M. J. Khalife and, and Z.
vehicular navigation with cellular signals,”
Kassas, “UAV waypoint opportunistic Ali A. Abdallah
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles,
navigation in GNSS-denied received a B.E. from the
vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 732–744, January 2023.
environments,” IEEE Transactions on Lebanese American
(7) J. Khalife and Z. Kassas, “On the Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. University and an M.S.
achievability of submeter-accurate UAV 58, no. 1, pp. 663–678, February 2022. and Ph.D.. in Electrical
navigation with cellular signals exploiting Engineering and
loose network synchronization,” Computer Science from
IEEETransactions on Aerospace and Authors the University of California, Irvine. He was
Electronic Systems, vol. 58, no. 5, Zaher (Zak) M. Kassas a member of the ASPIN Laboratory. He is a
pp. 4261–4278, October 2022. is the TRC Endowed recipient of the 2020 IEEE/ION Position,
Chair in Intelligent Location, and Navigation Symposium
(8) Z. Kassas, J. Khalife, A. Abdallah, Transportation Systems, (PLANS) best student paper award.
C. Lee, J. Jurado, S. Wachtel, J. Duede, Professor at The Ohio
Z. Hoeffner, T. Hulsey, R. Quirarte, and State University, and Nadim Khairallah
R. Tay, “Assessment of cellular signals Director of the received a B.E. in
of opportunity for high-altitude Autonomous Systems Perception, Mechanical Engineering
aircraft navigation,” IEEE Aerospace Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN) from the American
and Electronic Systems Magazine, vol. Laboratory. He is also Director of the U.S. University of Beirut and
37, no. 10, pp. 4–19, October 2022. Department of Transportation Center: an M.S. in Mechanical
(9) Z. Kassas, A. Abdallah, Shahcheraghi, Center for Automated Vehicle Research and Aerospace
J. Khalife, C. Lee, J. Jurado, S. Wachtel, with Multimodal AssurEd Navigation Engineering from the University of
J. Duede, Z. Hoeffner, T. Hulsey, R. (CARMEN), focusing on navigation California, Irvine. He was a member of the
Quirarte, and R. Tay, “I can hear you resiliency and security of highly ASPIN Laboratory. He is a recipient of the
loud and clear: GNSS-less high altitude automated transportation systems. He 2022 U.S. Department of Transportation
aircraft navigation with terrestrial received a B.E. in Electrical Engineering Graduate Student of the Year award and
cellular signals of opportunity,” IEEE from the Lebanese American University, the 2022 IEEE Vehicular Technology
Transactions on Aerospace and an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Conference best student paper award.
Electronic Systems, 2024, accepted. Engineering from The Ohio State
University, and an M.S.E. in Aerospace
(10) Z. Kassas, J. Khalife, A. Abdallah, C. Engineering and a Ph.D. in Electrical and
Lee, J. Jurado, J. Duede, Z. Hoeffner, T. Computer Engineering from The
Hulsey, R. Quirarte, S. Wachtel, and R. Tay, University of Texas at Austin. His awards
“Flight demonstration of high altitude include the National Science Foundation
aircraft navigation with cellular signals,” (NSF) CAREER award, Office of Naval
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Research (ONR) Young Investigator
Magazine, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 150–165, 2023. Program (YIP) award, Air Force Office of
Scientific Research (AFOSR) YIP award, IEEE
Walter Fried Award, IEEE Harry Rowe
Mimno Award, Institute of Navigation

42 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 Shaghayegh Steven Wachtel is a U.S. Rachel Quirarte is a
Shahcheraghi is a Ph.D. Air Force Captain and a KC-46 and KC-135
student in the Flight Test Engineer, programmatic flight
Department of Electrical assigned to the 780th commander and test
and Computer Test Squadron, Eglin AFB, pilot in the 418th Flight
Engineering at The Ohio FL. He received a B.S. in Test Squadron in the U.S.
State University and a Mechanical Engineering Air Force. She received a
member of the ASPIN Laboratory. She from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the
received a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Flight Test Engineering from the U.S. Air U.S. Air Force Academy, an M.S. in Flight
Engineering from Shiraz University and an Force Test Pilot School, and an M.S. in Test Engineering from the U.S. Air Force
M.S. in Telecommunication Engineering Systems Engineering from the Air Force Test Pilot School, and an M.S. in
from Politecnico Di Milano. Institute of Technology. Mechanical Engineering from Rice
University.
Chiawei Lee is an Jacob Duede is a Major
Assistant Professor and in the U.S. Air Force. He RunXuan Tay received
Instructor Flight Test was trained as a a B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineer at the U.S. Air Communication/ Engineering from the
Force Test Pilot School. Navigation/Mission University California, San
He serves as the Test Systems apprentice on Diego, and M.S. degree
Management Program C-17 Globmaster II in Flight Test
Director where he oversees about a aircraft. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the
dozen student and staff led flight test Engineering from the U.S. Air Force U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. He is
projects each year. In addition, he is the Academy and graduated from the U.S. Air currently a test pilot at Air Warfare Center,
Chief Test Safety Officer responsible for Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Republic of Singapore Air Force, where he
the safe execution of curriculum and Force Base. He is a Senior Pilot with over works on fixed wing test programs.
flight test project safety packages. He 2,000 hours and holds an M.S. in
received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Engineering from the University of
from the University of California, Los Arkansas and an M.S. in Flight Test
Angeles, and a M.S. in Aero/Astro Engineering from Air University.
Engineering from Stanford University.
Zachary Hoeffner is a
Juan Jurado is a U.S. Air flight test engineer at
Force Lieutenant Colonel the U.S. Air Force. He
and the Director of received a B.S in Nuclear
Education at the U.S. Air Engineering from the
Force Test Pilot School. U.S. Air Force Academy,
He holds a B.S. from an M.S. in Flight Test
Texas A&M University, Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Test
M.S. from the Air Force Test Pilot School, Pilot School, an M.S. in Engineering
and M.S. and Ph.D. from the Air Force Physics and Applied Physics from the Air
Institute of Technology. Previously, he Force Institute of Technology, and an M.S.
served as Director of Engineering for the in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force
413th Flight Test Squadron and oversaw Institute of Technology.
various C-130, V-22, and H-1 flight test
programs. His research interests include Thomas Hulsey is a U.S.
aircraft performance modeling, online Air Force Flight
sensor calibration, image processing, and Commander of
multi-sensor navigation. Operations Engineering.
He received a B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering
from Missouri University
of Science and Technology, an M.S. in
Aeronautical Engineering from the Air
Force Institute of Technology, and an M.S.
in Experimental Flight Test Engineering
from the United States Air Force Test Pilot
School.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 43

WORKING PAPERS

NAVIGATING
THE NOISE
How space receivers could defend against
ground-based jamming attacks.
SAHANA BANDAGADDE UMESHA, THOMAS KRAUS,
NIKOLAS DÜTSCH, DR. CLOVIS MAIA, PROF. THOMAS PANY FIGURE 1 Schematic representation of SeRANIS satellite: Visualization
INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE APPLICATIONS, of simulation results (Top left: nadir facing side; top right: velocity
side facing/zenith).
UNIVERSITÄT DER BUNDESWEHR, MUNICH

A
Global Navigation Satellite capabilities. Expanding upon [3], this capability enhances the reliability and
System (GNSS) aims to provide article thoroughly examines jamming effectiveness of small satellite missions,
Earth-based position and navi- effects on a space receiver, focusing on enabling them to fulfill their objectives
gation. Spaceborne GNSS receivers have factors like antenna pattern and link with greater resilience and efficiency [5].
become universal sensors for spacecraft budget. It is closely tied to the ongoing
navigation, especially in low Earth orbits development of Seamless Radio Networks Understanding SeRANIS:
(LEOs), often also supporting science for Internet of Space (SeRANIS) [4], a Mission-Specific Details
endeavors or acting as dedicated science LEO satellite mission at the University The SeRANIS satellite is called ATHENE
payloads [1]. This technology is crucial of the Bundeswehr, Munich. 1 and epitomizes a leading-edge advance-
for many missions, especially in improv- ment in LEO research, distinguished by
ing navigation systems. However, the Small Satellite Missions and its intricate technical specifications finely
rising threat of radio frequency (RF) the Need for Jamming Mitigation tuned for scientific exploration. With a
jamming hinders LEO satellite missions The SeRANIS satellite plays a pivotal payload capacity of 75 kg and a takeoff
that rely on precise positioning. Given role in various research domains, such weight of 200 kg, it features a versatile
this context, it is vital to consider the as space communications that include platform capable of accommodating a
following questions: Are space receivers broadband communications and Internet diverse array of more than 15 meticulously
most at risk from jamming? How does of things (IoT), radio science, high-level designed research experiments. Operating
jamming affect space receiver reliability? AI-based autonomy, GNSS technolo- at an altitude of approximately 550 km,
What mitigation techniques are available? gies (occultation, ref lectometry and ATHENE 1 executes precise orbital
Recent advancements, noted as of late jamming/spoofing monitoring), opti- maneuvers, facilitating the acquisition of
2021, have expanded interception capabili- cal and IR Earth observation as well as vital data essential for understanding int-
ties to include operations from the Earth's object detection algorithms, payload ricate phenomena. Its operational lifespan
surface, as detailed in [2]. These techno- operation concepts, modern structures, of five years ensures sustained observation
logies also can disrupt LEO satellites' RF innovative system-health-monitoring periods, enabling comprehensive critical
communications by deploying mobile techniques, and electrical-propulsion studies for advancing the understanding
platforms. It’s clear jamming GNSS sig- [5]. These applications rely heavily on of space dynamics.
nals is emerging as a significant threat. A GNSS for precise positioning, navigation This research benefited from the
comprehensive analysis of space receiver and timing (PNT). By incorporating imagery shown in Figure 1 courtesy
jamming is presented in [3] and delves jamming mitigation technology, these of LuxSpace [6], a prominent satellite
into techniques designed to enhance the small satellites can ensure uninterrupted provider, augmenting the authenticity
robustness of receiver tracking loops, thus access to accurate location/timing data and visual impact of our work.
mitigating the adverse effects of jamming even in challenging environments where The orbital parameters crucial for un-
while maintaining precise positioning jamming attempts may occur. This derstanding the satellite's trajectory and

44 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
WORKING PAPERS

mission profile, particularly within its recording units connected to zenith PVT unavailability or a degraded PVT
Sun Synchronous Orbit, are provided in and nadir antennas). As illustrated in solution will negatively impact the ability
Table 1. In the current phase, the satellite Figure 3, the SeRANIS satellite compri- to localize the jammer. Consequently, our
possesses two sets of orbital parameters ses three distinct antennas, consisting study centers on leveraging the capabili-
(options A and B). These alternatives of two zenith-facing antennas and one ties of Recording System 1 in combatting
will undergo evaluation and selection nadir-facing antenna, each linked to in- the effects of jamming. The up-looking
processes to determine the optimal con- dividual receivers/recording units. The zenith-oriented antenna 1 employed in the
figuration for the mission's objectives. recording system (Number 3) receives satellite comprises an L1/L5 patch antenna
possible interference signals from the design [11]. With a bandwidth of 20 MHz
Jamming Scenario nadir-oriented antenna. The system and a -3 dB beamwidth spanning 90°, it
Given its widely acknowledged status, samples the RF input signal and stores is meticulously engineered to optimize
jamming relies on power and spectral the IQ data in the internal memory. The reception efficiency while ensuring broad
occupancy to disrupt GNSS signals. IQ data signal contains the interference coverage to the GNSS constellation.
Following this, RF interference can furt- signal, which is transferred toward the Zenith antenna 2 and the space-quali-
her be divided into other categories such ground station via the X-band commu- fied GPS receiver are completely under
as chirp jamming, spoofing, matched nication link. In post-processing, with the responsibility of the satellite platform
code interferers and many others [7]. the help of software tools developed at provider LuxSpace. It is out of the scope
Monitoring the interference from LEO the institute, these signals are further of the analysis for this article, but it is
satellites instead of terrestrial receivers analyzed to geo-locate and extract the noted the space-qualified GPS receiver
provides the unique Earth viewpoint, interference source. The recording sys- chosen for the SeRANIS satellite provi-
with a global perspective on the inter- tem samples the RF input signal of the des accuracy with <10 m position and
ference patterns in a high resolution. zenith-oriented antenna 1 and stores the <20 cm/s velocity (1-sigma), operating
The focal point of the respective IQ data in the internal memory. After at a 1 Hz update rate in LEO.
SeRANIS experiment shown in Figure 2 downlinking the raw data, the institute’s
revolves around a system designed to GNSS software receiver (MuSNAT) [8-10] Simulation Environment
detect and localize terrestrial interfe- processes the data stream. Furthermore, A simulation of the SeRANIS satel-
rence signals, with a particular emphasis it can be configured to apply diverse jam- lite’s sun-synchronous orbit emplo-
on identifying jamming within the L1/ ming mitigation strategies. ying Keplerian elements, as specified
L5 frequency range. The payload can be In this article, emphasis is placed in Table 1 Option B, was initiated to
assigned the task of gathering raw IQ/ solely on interference signal reception create a jamming scenario at the
IF data, making it possible to conduct at zenith-facing antennas, as additional zenith antenna. This article introduces a
RF spectrum monitoring within the noise-like signals may superimpose the simulation environment. It elucidates a
L-band (L1 and L5). authentic GNSS signals and degrade the geometric relationship between a satellite
This system consists of three main performance of the PVT solution at the and an emitter with a focus on modeling
components (i.e., three different receivers/ satellite during post-processing analysis. received interference power at the satel-
lite’s zenith antenna. The framework in-
Keplerian Element Option A Option B corporates link modeling, free-space-loss
Semi-major axis 6892 [km] 6955 [km]
Eccentricity 0.03 0.03
Inclination 97.41 97.650
TABLE 1 Orbital parameters of SeRANIS satellite used for simulation.

FIGURE 2 Representative view of GNSS Interference Monitoring Scenario as it will be FIGURE 3 Representative view of GPS
conducted by ATHENE1. receivers installed on the SeRANIS satellite.

46 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
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WORKING PAPERS

Parameter Value Before proceeding with the link bud-

Receiver noise temperature (T ) -5 °C +33° C get analysis, it is imperative to evaluate
the Right-Hand-Circular-Polarized
Receiver noise (N0) -202.81 dBW/Hz -202.24 dBW/Hz
(RHCP) simulated antenna radiation
Noise at the receiver input (N) -129.81 dBW -129.24 dBW
pattern of the updated version of the
Receiver bandwidth (B ) 20 MHz scarabaeus antenna employed on the
Overall system noise figure (NF ) 1.5 dB SeRANIS satellite (red curve) and
Power of the emitter (CI) 3.5kW, 350kW and 3500kW measured radiation pattern of a GPS
Q factor (Q) 1 (0 dB) antenna installed atop a NovAtel Model
Parameters used for link budget calculation; temperature values are the
TABLE 2
503 choke ring [14] with ground-plane
considered min/max values for the controlled temperature zone of the satellite, where (blue curve) as displayed in Figure 5.
the LNA of the antenna is located. The SeRANIS antenna was simulated
with a ground-plane for the single ele-
ment with a size of 150×150 mm² [11].
This comparative analysis is critical as
it provides insights into the antenna's
directional characteristics and how
they are influenced by the presence of
a ground plane mimicking the satellite
platform. For comparative purposes with
the SeRANIS antenna, the normalized
gain values of the ground-plane antenna
in [14] were augmented by an additional
8.5 dB. The antenna pattern illustrated
demonstrates a significant decrease in
FIGURE 4 Web map of SeRANIS satellite trajectory and the position of the emitter. gain below the horizon.

calculation, azimuth, elevation angle Noise Environment

determination of the incoming wave at Naturally present thermal noise para-
the satellite, and zenith antenna pattern meters such as receiver noise bandwidth
modeling to consider different gains at (B), noise power density (N0), and the
different azimuth and elevation angles. components’ noise figure (band pass
By integrating these elements, the simu- filter, LNA and mixer) are considered
lation enables accurate analysis of the and listed in Table 2. They represent the
received power during a single overflight. degradation in the SNR from internal
The satellite plaform’s ground-based RF noise sources. The noise power density
interference shielding is modeled by (a) can be calculated based on:
simulating a ground plane and (b) taking
(1)
a choke ring antenna pattern from the
literature. Both yielded consistent results. where k is the Boltzmann’s constant
The web map (Figure 4) presents the (1.380649×10-23 J.K-1), and T is the FIGURE 5 Antenna radiation pattern (choke
SeRANIS satellite trajectory alongside an temperature in Kelvin (268.15K). ring Antenna versus antenna on SeRANIS).
emitter's location. It highlights potential
interference sources that could disrupt
satellite navigation signals, aiding in
vulnerability assessment against jam-
ming attacks.
With the aid of a Satellite
Communications Toolbox [12] in
MATLAB R2023a [13], and considering
the orbital parameters, the primary obser-
vables of identified interference measured
within the delay-Doppler domain include
distance, angle of arrival, azimuth, and
elevation data, which shall be used to
establish the link analysis. FIGURE 6 Emitter to satellite distance as a function of time.

48 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
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FIGURE 8 Received power over time under the effect of jamming.

In the radiation patterns, the maximum gain is usually

observed at the peak of the main lobe, which is at zero degree,
corresponding to the zenith direction in this case. Please note
the 180° elevation in the antenna radiation pattern (Figure 5)
corresponds to the -90° in the elevation profile (Figure 7).
The asymmetry in the pattern at negative elevation angles
(90 to 270°) can arise from factors such as antenna design,
mounting effects, and electromagnetic interference. Two powerful GNSS/INS
Figure 6 depicts the distance between the emitter and the
satellite, while Figure 7 shows the elevation angle of the in-
enclosures providing high
coming wave at the satellite. These plots serve as reference performance in SWaP-C
points for understanding subsequent plots detailing variations constrained applications.
in C/N0 and received power. Notably, around 8 minutes into
the scenario, the satellite is as close as 566.8 km to the emitter NavtechGPS sells hundreds of GNSS products,
at the zenith (i.e., at -90 deg). including receivers, antennas, inertial
Figure 8 investigates the impact of varying emitter power
systems, GPS jammer detectors, and more!
levels on received RF power within a GNSS receiver. At an
emitter power of 350 kW, the maximum received power reaches
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-127 dBW, contrasting with the minimum received power of
-136 dBW at the zenith. Considering the RF front end, no de-
gradation is expected through hardware with the given emitter
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power level of 3.5 kW, 350 kW and 3,500 kW. The maximum www.NavtechGPS.com
received power level from the zenith antenna is -118 dBW.
The LNA used for the satellite mission is the CMA-162LN+ Your ONE source for GNSS products and solutions
from Mini-Circuits, which has a 1-dB compression point for
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J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 49
WORKING PAPERS

dB, which results in the 1-dB compres- The variation in the carrier-to-noise aligning with the emitter's position. It is
sion point input power of -0.3 dBm or density ratio is calculated based on the worth noting the impact of interference
-30.3 dBW. The LNA will never saturate Q factor and other parameters: is most prominent in the periods im-
with the received power levels. Even the mediately preceding and following the
signal dynamic of the front end is only satellite's traversal of the zenith, rather
slightly increased by the interference. The (2) than during its direct passage above the
noise at the receiver input from Table 2 zenith. This observation underscores
is -129.2 dBW in the worst case of 33°C the temporal dynamics of interference
receiver noise temperature. This leads Figure 9 illustrates how the C/N 0 effects on the carrier-to-noise ratio.
to an increase in the signal dynamic of would vary for distinct levels of trans- In addition to high emitter power
11.2 dB. The used converter is a Σ-Δ mitted power (PRF) i.e., 3.5 kW, 350 kW levels, a very low emitter power level
ADC, which achieves at least 14 bits of and 3500 kW (EIRP), and a noise power of 3.5kW inducing a C/N0 degradation
resolution. This ADC is integrated into spectral density (N0) of -202.8 dBW/Hz. of 1 dB was considered. As mentio-
the dual RF transceiver AD9371 from The dips in the curve indicate reduced ned in [15], the use of 1-dB decrease
Analog Devices. signal quality due to decreased distance, in carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/
N 0) as the appropriate interference
protection criterion (IPC) for GPS
and other Radionavigation Satellite
Systems (RNSS). [15] provides a brief
explanation of the relationship between
a (post-correlation) 1-dB drop in C/N
and an interference-to-noise ratio (I/N)
of–6 dB.
In typical operational GNSS space
contexts, tracking thresholds are es-
tablished at C/N0 levels near 25 dB-Hz.
Considering a scenario with a nominal
GNSS signal strength of 40 dB-Hz,
coupled with a 25 dB interference loss,
the receiver encounters a significant
FIGURE 9 Variation of C/N0 over time under the effect of jamming.
challenge in achieving robust tracking.
Under these conditions, such a space
receiver becomes more vulnerable to
experiencing loss of lock in both code
and phase domains, indicating a notable
lack of resilience.

How can we mitigate the impact of

interference on receiver performance?
Given the possibility of a very large emit-
ter power of 3.5 MW and the consequent
degradation of signal strength of 25 dB,
SeRANIS may not continue to provide
FIGURE 10 Position accuracy: Completely unaided tracking loops.
reliable positioning results. However, it
is possible to implement robust tracking
loops, allowing the receiver to provide
continuous and accurate positioning
results.
The principal objective of external
aiding lies in acquiring velocity data by
predicting the satellite’s orbital motion,
which holds significant importance
in carrier tracking with a diminished
loop bandwidth (PLL bandwidth). By
converting this velocity data into the
FIGURE 11 Position accuracy: Carrier-Doppler-aided code tracking loop. line-of-sight, it becomes feasible to

50 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024
establish a Carrier-Doppler aiding in over an emitter and processing the Thomas Kraus is a
each channel, thereby delineating the jamming signals in a GNSS receiver research associate at the
line-of-sight domain between the user with the implementation of a Carrier- University of the
and the satellite. This Doppler-assisted Doppler-aided Code tracking loop. The Bundeswehr Munich
and works for the
carrier information can then be emplo- developed technique to mitigate the
satellite navigation unit
yed for code tracking, a phenomenon adverse effects of jamming has been LRT 9.2 of the Institute of
called Carrier-Doppler-aided Code proven to provide a higher degree of Space Technology and Space Applications
tracking [16]. From [3], it is proven that robustness as well as more accurate (ISTA). His research focuses on future
incorporating Doppler aiding enhances receiver positioning. The receiver ex- receiver design offering a superior
the receiver’s resilience against interfe- hibited robustness by converging to detection and mitigation capability of RF
rence and jamming. It is worth noting decimeter-level accuracy within the interferences. He has a master’s degree in
the SeRANIS satellite employs a very predicted 20-second convergence time. electrical engineering from the Technical
stable clock (a so-called ultra-stable Notwithstanding, it remains necessary University of Darmstadt, Germany.
oscillator) so the effects of clock jitter to ascertain whether these outcomes Nikolas Dütsch is a
can be neglected. remain applicable when accounting for research associate at the
As proof of this mitigation techni- atmospheric effects and other sources University of the
que, Figure 10 shows the positional of error in the simulation. Bundeswehr Munich
accuracy (comparing the position of Looking ahead, further research and works for the
SeRANIS under the event of jamming endeavors could explore enhanced satellite navigation unit
with a reference trajectory serving as mitigation strategies to bolster resili- LRT 9.2 of the Institute of
ground truth) in the case of a comple- ence against jamming attacks. By conti- Space Technology and Space Applications
(ISTA). His research focuses on the
tely unaided tracking loop. Figure 11 nuing to advance our understanding of
sensitive detection and geo-location of
illustrates the obtained positional ac- space-based interference detection and RF interference sources from low-Earth-
curacy under the implementation of a mitigation, we can fortify the integrity orbit (LEO) satellites. He holds a master’s
Carrier-Doppler-aided code tracking and reliability of GNSS services, ensu- degree in electrical engineering from the
loop. This comparison occurs under ring their indispensable role in modern Friedrich-Alexander-University of
the case of a completely aided tracking navigation systems. Erlangen/Nuremberg, Germany.
loop, demonstrating both robustness
Dr. Clovis Maia has
and "dm-level" accuracy in the obtained Acknowledgements worked as a research
position. In principle, this is a sophisti- This research is funded by dtec.bw– associate at the
cated tracking mechanism that capita- Digitalization and Technology Research University of the
lizes on carrier frequency information Center of the Bundeswehr SeRANIS. Bundeswehr Munich
to counteract Doppler effects, thereby since 2022, where he has
improving the precision and reliability References worked with software
of code tracking in various dynamic References available online. defined receivers for GNSS signal
communication and navigation systems. processing and positioning under
A comparative analysis of various aiding Authors electronic warfare conditions, as well as
mechanisms is provided in [3]. Sahana Bandagadde hybrid PNT technology with the use of
Umesha works as a LEO satellite constellations.
In addition to the outlined strategies,
other mitigation measures exist for research associate at the Prof. Thomas Pany is a
Institute of Space full professor at
SeRANIS concerning signal filtering
Technology and Space Universität der
and/or nulling interference based on Applications of the
both LHCP and RHCP signals from Bundeswehr München
University of the at the faculty of
zenith antenna 1. Bundeswehr Munich. Her research aerospace engineering
activities include GNSS receiver where he teaches
Conclusion and Future Direction technology, interference analysis, and satellite navigation. He focuses on GNSS/
This article delves into the critical realm aiding mechanisms for space receivers. LTE/5G signal design and processing,
of defending space-based receivers She holds a master’s degree in Earth software receivers and GNSS/INS/LiDAR
against jamming attacks, particularly Oriented Space Science and Technology fusion. He has about 200 publications
focusing on interference within the (ESPACE) from the Technical University of including patents and one monography.
GPS L1 frequency range for one of the Munich, Germany.
ATHENE 1 satellite’s zenith antennas.
A small simulation framework pro-
vided valuable insights into the chal-
lenges posed by jamming attacks and
verified the single-satellite single-pass

J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 51
 Woolven receiving the
2018 City of Richmond
Hill Innovation award
for Trimble Applanix.

All photos courtesy of Trimble Applanix

and Steve Woolven.
HUMAN ENGINEERING:

Making the Magic Happen

Steve Woolven’s early experience running his family’s resort coupled with his ambitious
academic pursuits helped lay the groundwork for a successful career in the PNT industry
and his current role as President of Trimble Applanix.
PETER GUTIERREZ

FRUITION IS A WORD THAT Young Woolven grew up playing line, so people could come up and
comes to mind when examining the football, Canadian football, which just literally drop off the grid.”
life and career of Steve Woolven. is very similar but not identical to
Experiences at an early age, at work American football. “The Ottawa Seeds Sown
and at school, left significant and Rough Riders were my favorite “My dad was occupied running
lasting impressions, preparing team,” he said. “I still watch the two businesses, so by the time I
him for a ground-breaking career Canadian Grey Cup.” was 14, maybe 15, he
in the research, development and By the time he got to basically handed me
commercialization of inertial high school, his career the reins of the family
positioning technology. had taken an academic resort. I ran it, with my
bent. Both his parents younger sister, with my
First, the Backdrop were very supportive of dad as a backstop.”
“I was born in Toronto, Canada,” his scholarly endeavors, The fact his father
Woolven told Inside GNSS, “and and that meant a lot to trusted him to take
then, as an infant, I moved to him, but his hands-on on the job says
Ottawa, the capital, with my involvement in the family something about young
parents. I can remember as a kid business had an equally HUMAN Woolven’s character.
the snowbanks being so high by telling impact. “My dad ENGINEERING His responsibilities
February that you could stand on was an entrepreneur and included looking after
them and touch the eavestroughs was quite proud of his real estate the guests, and much more. “I
of the roof.” He was already business,” Woolven said, “but they learned to do all kinds of repairs,”
reaching for the sky. “Th ings like also ran a family resort, with cottages he said, “plumbing, electrical and
that stick out,” he said. “We lived that we rented out. It was an idyllic outboard engines. We worked
in Ottawa until I was about 12, and place. I remember we had just one with tractors, launching boats,
then moved back to Toronto.” phone out there, and it was a party cutting hay, grading roads, so I got

52 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

a pretty wide set of experiences, sister—to graduate from university. In grad school, he was all
and learned to be self-sufficient.” He earned undergraduate and about integrated optics, blending
It was about problem solving: “You graduate degrees in engineering, lightwave theory in physical optics
had to do a lot of thinking on your including a doctorate, from with electronic digital signal
feet,” Woolven said, “when you had the University of Toronto. processing. “At the time, it was
guests standing at the door with a pretty leading-edge stuff,” he said,
hot water tank that was leaking, or “and to some extent it still is, and
a boat motor that wouldn’t start.” “The dream was inspiring, from day one my goal was to come
And about good business: “I to take a technology out of university with a Ph.D.”
guess today we would talk about developed for defense “We were working under contract
the customer success perspective; with one of the Canadian defense
if you do a good job, the guests applications and move it research institutes,” he recalled. “My
come back, and they came back year into the industrial space, thesis was around developing an optical
after year. We were tremendously the professional survey and computer for real-time target detection
successful at getting repeat and recognition. Woolven did a
customers. Today, we refer to this mapping space.” master’s and then a Ph.D. in accelerated
as recurring revenue. We didn’t use style. He was zeroing in on his true
that term back then, but that’s what “As an undergrad I did a calling, though he didn’t know it yet.
it was.” And that was something program called Engineering “That was really good practice
Woolven would remember. Science. It was a mix of pure for later commercial and industrial
sciences, two years of heavy physics experience,” he said. Indeed. “We
The Academic and math, and then four years faced the same kind of challenge
Unsurprisingly, the president of a of engineering specialization when I joined Applied Analytics
highly innovative technology firm crammed into the last two years. [now Applanix],”Woolven said,
was interested in math and science It was a tough undergraduate “where we wanted to take the
as a student, but also history, and degree, hugely broad, from research, IP technology, something
he credits a tough Grade 13 English general relativity, special relativity that you can demonstrate on a bench,
teacher with instilling in him an to thermodynamics, and then and move it into the field in a reliable
appreciation for the written word. all the engineering courses. product, something a customer can
Woolven became the first in And we had a terrific group of use to actually solve a problem.”
his family—though not the last; people, some of whom I still But we’re getting ahead of
he was followed by his younger run across in business today.” ourselves. Woolven first had to make

Helicopter-Integrated Navigation System (HINS),

1986-1993, the origin of POS. HINS deployed in a helicopter.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 53

HUMAN ENGINEERING

Steve Woolven’s Compass Points

Professional Path brilliant at that, being able to take an innovative, new
JANUARY 1988JULY 1992: RESEARCH ENGINEER, Department technology and present it to potential investors.”
of Electrical Engineering, University of Toronto.
Most Annoying Popular Notion About GNSS
AUGUST 1992JUNE 1995: SENIOR ENGINEER, Signal and The idea that GNSS should work everywhere—parking
Image Processing, Applied Analytics Corporation. garages, underground shopping malls: “While I agree that
JUNE 1995SEPTEMBER 1996: SENIOR ENGINEER, Engineering and would be great, without augmentation of some sort, GNSS
Production, Applanix (formerly Applied Analytics Corporation). technology will simply never work on its own everywhere.
SEPTEMBER 1996DECEMBER 1999: ENGINEERING To be fair, I’ve also heard people say, ‘how come I can get a
MANAGER, Engineering Department, Applanix. GNSS position on my phone, but can’t get a cell signal?’”

JANUARY 2000JULY 2002: DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING, GNSS Product, Application or Engineering

Engineering Department, Applanix. Innovation He Would Most Like to See
AUGUST 2002AUGUST 2005: GENERAL MANGER Woolven is looking forward to the next generation of ADAS
& VP OPERATIONS, Applanix Corporation. for consumer and transportation vehicles: “Technology
AUGUST 2005PRESENT: PRESIDENT, Trimble Applanix, has come a long way in helping drivers drive more safely,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Trimble Inc. but these systems can become unreliable in poor weather
conditions, just when they are most needed. There are a
Favorite Mathematical Formula number of technology innovations required to get to full
The Radon Transform, the transformation from a 2D vehicle autonomy, and these technologies can be used
function to its related 1D projections, can be defined as: incrementally to make our roads safer until we get there.”

Technologies He Works with Frequently

Inertial sensors, accelerometers, gyros, GNSS receivers,
Where and is a 2D position vector in image LiDARs, cameras, SLAM, RTOS, embedded systems,
space, defines the object, and is a unit vector over the air correction services, cloud and desktop
that makes and angle ϕ with respect to the x-axis. sensor fusion processing technologies.
“I spent 6 years of my university career working
on/with this formula to take it from the page How Engineering Has Influenced His Daily Life
and bring it to life on the testbench.” Woolven has spent a lifetime learning. “I’ve picked up so
many practical things in the engineering field and in the early
Mentor days of running my dad’s guest cottages. I still use those skills
Woolven cited the particular impact of his master’s and to design and execute all kinds of things, like a new water
Ph.D. supervisor, Professor V. M. Ristic: “In the academic filtration and treatment system, automation technologies to
world, once you become a professor,” Woolven said, “you monitor and control water supplies, dock de-icing and video
spend much of your career trying to secure funding, to monitoring functions for a remote cottage property.”
continue to advance the technology. Professor Ristic was

the big move. “The fact is, I had my Bruno Scherzinger. The person I survey and mapping space. I
mind set on a career in academia. knew thought I should meet them. Of remember leaving the interview,
I loved the research and teaching course, I didn’t know a thing about calling my wife and saying—”
and that’s what I wanted to do.” them. And I couldn’t Google them.” What a minute. Wife? We missed
It was the early 90s. “They’d come out something here, but we’ll catch up
From College to Applanix of Honeywell’s Advanced Technology with that half of the story later.
“The next step for me was post Ph.D. Center, here in Canada, and had won “—calling my wife and saying,
research work at U of T, extending the several defense research contracts, ‘I don’t know if these guys have a
research I’d already done, while also doing integrated navigation hope of succeeding, but this looks
lecturing graduate students. One of for industrial applications.” like it could be a really fun ride.’”
the people I was doing research with Woolven set up an interview Woolven joined Applied Analytics
at the defense institute happened to with Reid and learned they had full time in 1992 as employee No. 8.
be sitting across the hall from another a story and a vision. “The dream
researcher who was working with was inspiring,” he said, “to take a That first Applied Analytics
the founders of a new start-up. These technology developed for defense Technology
were the Applied Analytics founders, applications and move it into the “The company was using inertial
Blake Reid, Erik Lithopoulos and industrial space, the professional technology, GNSS technology and

54 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

other sensors to create what we now “These individuals knew market. “Dieter led us down the
call a sensor fusion engine,” Woolven path of taking this technology
said. “In other words, it was the
what the problems were and making it work in the digital
grandfather of the technology that is that needed to be solved photogrammetric space and the
in all Applanix products to this day. in the real world. They brand new aerial LiDAR space,”
It was a big five-foot rack back then, Woolven said. “And on the marine
what the first fielded Applanix POS
understood the hardware side, we partnered with Roger
systems came out of, written in Ada. we needed to work with Hutchins, who helped us understand
They were using it as a benchmark to and most importantly the marine hydrographic segment.
test the accuracy of new helicopter “These individuals knew what
navigation systems, and also in
the customer workflows. the problems were that needed to
underwater towed body research, We needed that practical be solved in the real world. They
using acoustics to look for—you can knowledge. Without it, I understood the hardware we needed
guess what they were looking for— to work with and most importantly
undersea bodies that are bigger than
don’t think we would have the customer workflows. We needed
a bread box but smaller than a car.” been anywhere near as that practical knowledge. Without
As the company grew, Woolven successful as we ultimately it, I don’t think we would have
went from research engineering to been anywhere near as successful
industrial engineering to project
have been.” as we ultimately have been.”
manager and eventually became head There was something about
of engineering. But the company still in key personnel, with the right Applanix, a certain, dare we say,
had a way to go. “We were a bunch experience and perspective, who “magic,” and the world of surveying
of really smart engineers,” he said, would ultimately help to transform and mapping was starting to feel it.
“but when it came to understanding the business. Dieter Zeuner joined
what the market needed, we probably Applanix out of Zeiss, formerly The Trimble Affair
thought we knew more than we did.” in East Germany, and helped the By the late 1990s, Applanix was
The company made a series company understand the pathway growing rapidly. “We had inertial
of thoughtful moves, bringing into the aerial photogrammetric technology down pat,” Woolven

The original POS development team,

Woolven second from left.

Early days with the team at Applanix,

Celebrating the launch of a new generation of POS systems for aerial vehicles. Woolven first to the left.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 55

HUMAN ENGINEERING

The Woolven family

at Krka National Park,
Croatia.

said, “but in order to push the products tended to live in the upper sense for your business model; that
performance and drop cost, we end of the price points,” Woolven was really the game changer.”
needed to get access to GNSS. Not said. “After the acquisition, we
just the boards, but to get into the worked to build out our portfolio, What’s That Magic?
actual IP of GNSS. We also knew to service customers from entry “One of the things that makes us
that Trimble had great technology level requirements right through special is the way we serve our
and great access to markets, to high end products, and we’ve customers, being there when they
customers and distribution.” continued to push that barrier. need us and finding solutions,”
To be sure, anyone who was “Our technology has demonstrated Woolven said. “Having great
around at the time knew Trimble the ability to work in really technology is crucial, but it’s the
was a big-time navigation and difficult GNSS or GNSS-denied ability to provide the whole product,
positioning company that had its areas,” he said. “Of course, open- from the hardware to the post-
act together. Discussions ramped sky technology is important, but processing software, and Trimble
up between the two companies in anybody can do GNSS in the middle RTX®, which is our advanced precise
early 2003, and by July of that year, of a farmer’s field. It’s a different point positioning technology, and
Trimble was able to announce that story once you get into more then we bring our entire customer
it had agreed to acquire Applanix, complex, urban environments. It success organization, where, when
and the rest, as they say, is history. took a lot of hard work. We did the customer has a problem, say
“The intent was always to bring testing in downtown San Francisco, you’ve got a survey vessel sitting at
Applanix technology into the for example, which is a nightmare the dock or an airplane sitting on the
Trimble fold,” Woolven said, “so for GNSS, and in many ports and tarmac and it can’t take off. We’re
that our sensor fusion engines harbors, where you’re in and around able to support those customers,
would become available right bridges, large vessels, big cranes walk them through things, whatever
across the Trimble product line, overhanging, constantly causing it needs, to limit their downtime.
and then to build, to integrate GNSS occlusion. It was those kinds of “And then, we’ve had those
their GNSS with our aided inertial issues that we couldn’t solve without true visionaries, Dieter, Roger,
technology.” The first generation tightly coupled algorithms. Then, to Erik Lithopoulos, who could
of tightly coupled technology, be able to take the technology into actually see that the industry was
after the acquisition, was dubbed, difficult areas, holding accuracy for a changing, moving toward digital
for internal purposes, mPOS. longer period of time, or giving you photogrammetry, for example,
Applanix was already known as high-accuracy, direct georeferencing knowing that LiDAR scanning
a premium, high-end brand. “Our data, at a price point that makes wasn’t going to work without

56 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

direct georeferencing. It’s about in Canada. “There was less sensor now 90, remains the rock-solid
knowing what those new businesses fusion back then,” Woolven said. foundation of the Woolven line,
are going to need, and mapping and he still enjoys keeping young
out what the end game is going No Place Like Home Woolven on his toes. “We still go
to look like. Then you can bring Woolven still lives in Toronto, where out hiking,” Woolven said. “Not
that vision back to engineers, so he has been and remains a family too long ago we went out to hike
we can go away and develop it.” man. It was his wife, readers will Zion National Park in Utah, like
Today, many people think of recall, in whom he confided, all we used to do when I was younger.
Applanix as a hardware company, those years ago, when it was time This time we took my son, so we
and it still is that, but Woolven to decide on his pathway forward. had three generations raising dust
said it’s much more. “We’re good “My wife has just as many degrees as out there.” To celebrate his dad’s
at making hardware, but that’s not I do,” Woolven said. “She’s a medical 90th, in 2023, Woolven took the
really our core IP. What we do is doctor, currently chief of Family family up to the Muskokas, near
make algorithms that solve people’s and Community medicine at one of Georgian Bay, for another week
problems. We code them up, make the downtown Toronto hospitals, so of hiking. It seems you can’t keep
embedded firmware, desktop and she’s got a few things on her plate. those Woolven boys down.
cloud software, and that, married She’s a well published author and The old family resort is still there,
with the hardware, is what makes the was just recognized as the family now under a different owner, the
magic happen. It’s the application medicine physician of the year here senior Woolven having sold it some
of those algorithms to solving in Toronto. She’s pretty accomplished 20 years ago. The descendants of
people’s real-world problems. and I’m pretty proud of her.” some of the guests Woolven used
That’s what we’re really good at.” The results of this stellar union to serve still come back every
were, among other things, two year. Credit his own proficiency in
Better Than Ever children, a boy, now 28, and a girl, attending to their needs. No doubt
Woolven has continued to work to now 25, who just graduated with a management of the place has suffered
move Applanix into new markets, master’s degree in Psychotherapy. since he ran it as a boy, but his
like the UAV market. “We launched “We had our hands full when attention was needed elsewhere. We
the Trimble PX-1 RTX, targeting the kids were young, two kids, think he’s kept the place with him, in
commercial drone navigation,” he two dogs and two active careers. his heart and in his head, the whole
said. This is the much lauded, robust, But we made it run by working time. He’s worked his own kind of
centimeter-level, continuous GNSS- as a team,” Woolven said. magic to help turn Applanix into a
inertial positioning engine with Woolven’s mother passed away very successful concern. Fruition,
over-the-air Trimble CenterPoint® several years ago, but his father, we said. Fruition, indeed.
RTX correction service.
“It’s meant a different approach
to our customers in that market,”
Woolven said. “Rather than a single-
sale type of product, it’s more like
a cell-phone business model, where
you buy the hardware for a small
amount of money, it gets integrated
into the UAV, and then you buy
the capability you need, depending
on what type of job you’re flying,
whether that’s a single-base type
solution, or you might want to use
CenterPoint RTX technology…It
allows our customers to tailor their
own business models so that the costs
fit the projects they’re trying to do.”
All that attention paid to
customers, understanding their
issues, solving problems on the
fly and keeping everybody happy,
sounds kind of like running a
family holiday resort as a teenager The Woolven men hiking at Parry Sound, Canada.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 57

 RADIO ASTRONOMY

ITU Radio Regulation and Recommendations.

The International Telecommunication
Union’s (ITU) Radio Regulation (RR)
and diverse international recommenda-
tions [5],[6] exclude lunar in-situ GNSS-
like systems in L-band, which initially
was supposed to leverage low Earth orbit
(LEO) and terrestrial GNSS receivers for
lunar applications. The authors recom-
mend using the 2,483.5 to 2,500 MHz
S-band in regard to the Space Frequency
Coordination Group (SFCG) and ITU
radio regulation and recommendation
on lunar frequency bands. Notably, this
S-band also allows leveraging LEO and
terrestrial GNSS receivers, mitigating
interferences with C/N0 based Binary
Offset Carrier (BOC) mainlobe(s) and
related filter selection algorithms and/
or with other interference mitigation
techniques like dynamically selectable
pulse blanking or spectral nulling. This
leveraging includes S-band receiving
parts of Indian Radio Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS), BeiDou-3 and
Photo courtesy of NASA.gov.
Globalstar [1] constellations, and later
Korean Positioning System (KPS), GNSS
augmentation System (UAE’s GNSSaS),
Synchrocube (France, a consortium
Protecting RA on the including Syrlinks and U-Space com-
panies, for timing applications), and
Shielded Side of the Moon FuturNav (European Space Agency), all
while ensuring the absolute integrity of
A look at lunar in-situ PNT GNSS-like frequencies and RA within the SZM. By choosing the
how we can open the “radio window” into the universe. GNSS S-band, the designers sidestep
harmful and global interference to RA
JEANLUC ISSLER, JEAN PLA, ROMAIN DESPLATS SZM, which includes the Far Side of that occurs if L-band is used across the
CENTRE NATIONAL D’ETUDES SPATIALESCNES the Moon. Three fundamental con- Moon surface [1]. This article also out-
cerns related to lunar in-situ PNT are lines why GNSS C-band should not be

R
adio astronomy (RA) in the highlighted: used for in-situ lunar PNT.
shielded zone of the Moon Unparalleled Opportunity for RA. Within Synergizing Lunar and Terrestrial GNSS
(SZM) is an exceptional sci- the SZM, an arena untouched by Earth's Signals. Concurrently receiving in-situ
entific opportunity to open the "radio radio interference, multiple RA space lunar GNSS-like signals in S-band and
window" into the universe. However, missions are planned for the short, “terrestrial” GNSS signals in L-band,
for lunar in-situ PNT, the GNSS L and mid and long terms [1]. One such mis- particularly over the Near Side of the
C bands pose important threats to RA sion is already active in the SZM, and Moon, opens doors to enhanced navi-
continuum and spectral lines observa- others will be soon [1]. SZM offers an gation capabilities in lunar operations.
tions. The 2,483.5 to 2,500 MHz Radio unmatched vantage to fully observe the This article underscores the sig-
Determination Satellite Service (RDSS) radio universe in terms of dynamic, nificance of a thoughtful and strate-
S-band is the optimal frequency band spectral lines and associated molecules gic approach to lunar navigation and
for lunar in-situ PNT, while protecting with a resolution significantly better communication, ensuring compatibility
RA in the SZM. than on Earth. Consequently, any lunar with RA within the SZM. Given the criti-
There is a need to meticulously design in-situ PNT and communication links cal importance of frequency selection,
forthcoming lunar in-situ PNT GNSS- (e.g., orbiter to surface, surface to orbiter, a fundamental query arises: Is there an
like systems [1]. This article focuses on surface wireless) must align with the alternative frequency band available in
the necessary RA protection within the imperatives of RA. addition to S-band?

58 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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RADIO ASTRONOMY

Exploring the Viability of the C-Band with Doppler shift above and below). and above 5,000 MHz. ASTRON has
SZM is defined by the ITU RR (Figure 1). The 4,990 to 5,000 MHz extended an apogee at 390,000 km (a « lunar »
The question is, can Radio Navigation band is used for Very Long Baseline distance), and a 10 meters deployable
Satellite Service (RNSS) C-band (5,010 Interferometry (VLBI) observations. parabolic RA antenna.
to 5,030 MHz) be used for lunar in-situ These two bands, 4,800 to 4,990 MHz It is essential for radio astronomers
PNT? By simply applying ITU Radio (secondary status on Earth) and 4,990 to to keep a quiet frequency band between
Regulation [5] and ITU recommenda- 5,000 MHz (primary status on Earth), 3,800 MHz and 5,150 MHz in the SZM to
tions (like [6]) related to frequency bands are observed by big radiotelescopes in perform continuum and spectrum line
in the SZM, C-band is not possible, in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK RA observations. For the moment, there
line with the interest of C-band for RA and Sweden, for example. Interests of RA is neither a lunar radiocommunication
in the SZM for radio astronomers (and observations of C-bands from the SZM band nor a lunar radar band between
the related protection granted through include their radio-pollution on Earth, 3,800 MHz and 5,150 MHz. Radio
ITU RR). the interferences in their neighborhood, astronomers must precisely keep wide
A terrestrial RA C-band (4,800 to and VLBI observations in 4,990 to 5,000 portions of spectrum free of interference
5,000 MHz) and its neighborhood are MHz considering Moon-Satellites-Earth in the SZM to perform continuum and
very important for RA on Earth and in baselines, for instance. RA observations spectrum line observations.
the SZM. This band contains a spectrum in 5,000 to 5,030 MHz (an RA band in There are about 60 resting spectrum
line used for fundamental studies of the SZM) and above are also important lines between 5,000 and 5,030 MHz and
interstellar clouds and the universe’s for RA in the SZM. For example, the more than 60 other resting lines between
dynamic formation. This is the H2CO ASTRON Russian Radio Astronomy 5,030 and 5,060 MHz. Most of these
line at 4,829.7 MHz (central frequency satellite made RA observations below lines are linked to carbon bio-chemistry.
Therefore, all what preceed, indepen-
dently of ITU Recommendations and
ITU RR, shows there is RA interest for
continuum, spectrum lines and VLBI
observations in 5,010 to 5,030 MHz
C-band in the SZM. This is a sufficient
reason to avoid C-band for in-situ lunar
PNT. This also means not only should
the 3,800 to 5,030 MHz band be pro-
tected for RA in the SZM, the 5,030
to 5,150 MHz band should be as well.

ITU-R Recommendations
According to ITU-R recommendation
RA.479-5 (protection of RA in the SZM)
FIGURE 1 Shielded Zone of the Moon as defined by ITU (not at scale). for the 3-20 GHz range: “The continuum
bands used by radio astronomers are in
the neighborhood of the following bands
allocated to the passive services: 4.99-
5.0 GHz, 10.68-10.7 GHz and 15.35-15.4
GHz.” The 5,010 to 5,030 MHz is clearly
within the neighborhood of 4,990 to
5,000 MHz; this is well correlated with
the RA interests previously mentioned
to observe red and blue shifts within
the terrestrial RA C-band, targeted blue
shifts as well as a number of spectrum
lines notably inside the RNSS C-band.
That is why ITU recommendation
RA.479-5 also provides a sufficient
reason to avoid 5,010 to 5,030 MHz
for in-situ lunar PNT.
According to ITU-R recommenda-
FIGURE 2 ASTRON Radio Astronomy satellite (which made observations in C-band) tion RAS.479-5 (protection of RA in the
before launch. SZM) in its Annex-2, “Resolution B16 of

60 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

the 1994 XXIIth General Assembly of the compared to the RA protection granted cause harmful interference to RA at
International Astronomical Union (IAU) by the Radio Regulation in the SZM. This any frequency, including in the 5,010
recommends that, once radio astronomy protection was already effective even when to 5,030 MHz band. Protecting RA in
observations in the Shielded Zone of the lunar surface based or orbiting RA ob- another band at 4,990 to 5,000 MHz
Moon (SZM) commence, radio transmis- servatories were not yet in place. In the from Out Of Band emissions at 5,010
sions in the SZM be limited to the 2.0-3.0 SZM, harmful interference to current to 5,030 MHz is irrelevant in the SZM.
GHz band, but that an alternate band and future RA is only permitted in the World Radio Conference (WRC)
at least 1 GHz wide be identified for frequency bands allocated to a small set Resolution 741 quotes the limits RA mis-
future operations on a time-coordinated of services, as mentioned in ITU Radio takenly applies in bands subject to RR
basis between radio astronomy and lunar Regulation articles [5]. 5.340 where all emissions are prohibited.
communication systems.” This ITU-R The RNSS bands can be used in space ITU Foot Note 5.443B and Resolution
Recommendation, RA.479-5, is one of or on the Moon, but such use may not 741 specifically refer to RNSS systems
the reasons the in-situ PNT 2,483.5 to
2,500 MHz has been chosen as a base-
line for LUNANET and adopted as the
sole lunar in-situ PNT frequency band
by the SFCG [3], including in the last
version of this recommendation issued
in June 2023 [3]. The communication
bands selected by LUNANET above 3
GHz are also compatible with SFCG [3].
Recommendation ITU-R RA.479-5
also recommends in its Annex-1 that
the 0 MHz to 30 MHz and the 300 MHz
to 2 GHz ranges should be reserved for
RA observations in the SZM, and active
services should avoid the range below 300
MHz. This explains why lunar in-situ PNT
sub-constellations from NASA, JAXA and
ESA are not planned in L-band [1], [3].
Moreover, a lunar in-situ PNT system in
L-band would create harmful interference
to reception of GNSS L-band “terrestrial”
signals in the lunar envrioment, which
at least these space agencies plan to use FIGURE 3 Example of a lunar in-situ PNT full constellation.
in addition to local S-band PNT signals.
LUNANET is an international frame- Parameter Value and unit Remark
work involving an interoperable lunar
RNSS frequency 5,023 MHz
communication and PNT infrastruc-
ture in which the U.S., European and RNSS wavelength 0.06 m

Japanese space agencies are involved, Considered PNT signal BPSK(5)

with hopefully other space agencies Lunar orbit altitude (r) 10,000,000 m
to come. LUNANET’s international 4 * ρ* r
2
1.26.1015 m2
designers have chosen the 2,483.5 to 10 * log (4 * p* r2) 150.99 dB
2,500 MHz S-band for lunar in-situ Transmitting antenna gain 16 dB
PNT as a baseline [2]. This S-band is
Transmitted RF power 23 dBW
the only band SFCG recommends for
EIRP 39 dBW
in-situ lunar PNT [3]. The question of
possibly using a third band for in-situ Free Space Losses 186.46 dB
lunar PNT that is neither L-band nor Received Power (0 dB Rx ant gain) -147.46 dBW
S-band has been raised. PFD (for total Tx power) -111.99 dBW/m2
PFD (in 10 MHz) -112.45 dBW/m2
Provisions of the ITU-R Radio PFD limit -171.00 dBW/m2 ITU-R RA.769-2
Regulation (RR) PFD Negative Margin -58.55 dB
The discussion around protecting the
TABLE 1 Interference link budget for one RNSS C-band lunar satellite to RA in the SZM
4,990 to 5,000 MHz band is a minor point

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 61

RADIO ASTRONOMY

which, as noted, may not cause harmful Tentative Constraints

interference to RAS at any frequency “Mitigating” Technique (no such constraint in S-band)
in the SZM. Filtering side lobes
No big reduction of interferences to RA in the SZM; would proclude narrow
ITU Foot Note 5.443B states that correlation

in order not to cause harmful interfer- Physical masking

Hardly work for RA in orbit or on the surface. In addition there will be several
lunar in-situ PNT systems, complicating maskings
ence to the microwave landing system
operating above 5,030 MHz, the aggre- Several final PNT constellations should have a global coverage for
safety reasons (each manned user shall ultimately see at least two
gate power flux density produced at the Temporal/operational “Communication+PNT” orbiters in view when no obstacle is present). There
Earth’s surface in the frequency band scheduling also will be human and/or mobile robots around the big radiotelescopes and
5,030-5,150 MHz by all the space sta- outposts. Switching OFF the PNT payloads over radiotelescopes or outposts
is unlikely.
tions within any radionavigation-satellite
The steared beam would illuminate the radio observatories, the outposts,
service system (space-to-Earth) operat- Orbiter’s PNT signal beam and other PNT users. The on-board cost would be significant, while a global
ing in the frequency band 5,010-5,030 stearing coverage of the fully operational PNT constellations is requested for safety
MHz shall not exceed −124.5 dB(W/m²) reasons.

in a 150 kHz band. To cause harmful Minimizing orbiter’s presence above the SZM with specific orbits (as in Figure
Orbit design 4) is not efficient to mitigate RA in the SZM, and would significantly degrade
interference to the RA service in the
PNT and communication overall performances.
frequency band 4,990 to 5,000 MHz,
TABLE 2 Not efficient potential interference to RA mitigating techniques in L or C band
radionavigation-satellite service systems
operating in the frequency band 5,010
to 5,030 MHz shall comply with the between GNSS L1 and C bands. We con- limits in the SZM than on Earth. ITU
limits in the frequency band 4,990 to sidered a transmitter antenna gain of 16 interference threshold levels for RA ob-
5,000 MHz defined in Resolution 741. dB for the lunar orbiter carrying the PNT servations on Earth have been defined
Point 1 of Resolution 741 resolves payload. We finally considered orbital for an integration time To of 2,000 sec-
that in order not to cause harmful altitudes from [4], with margins, that is onds. Current RA observations on Earth
interference to RA in the frequency band 10,000 km. An example of a lunar in- are done with a cumulated integration
4,990-5,000 MHz, the PFD (Power Flux situ PNT constellation [4] is provided time T1 of at least 2 weeks, the integra-
Density) produced in this frequency band in Figure 3. tion not necessarily being continuous.
by any Geostationnary RNSS network The interference link budget is pre- Cumulated integration Times T2 greater
operating in the 5,010-5,030 MHz fre- sented in Table 1. This link budget con- than T1 will be regularly necessary in the
quency band shall not exceed -171 dB(W/ siders a PNT orbiting payload on board SZM. CNES’s current hypothesis is T2=
m²) in a 10 MHz frequency band at any a satellite with a 10,000 km lunar orbital 2 months (as a minimum) because RA
radio astronomy station. altitude and transmitting a Binary Phase cumulated integration times on Earth
Point 2 of Resolution 741 resolves that Shift Keeing (BPSK) (5) GNSS-like signal are already close to one month. The
in order not to cause harmful interference that is a BPSK signal modulated by a protection factor P (dB) for RA in the
to RA in 4,990-5,000 MHz, over the whole Pseudo Random Noise (PRN) code of SZM compared to the ITU interference
sky, for elevations higher than the mini- 5*1.023 Mcps. The BPSK (5) signal is the thresholds level on Earth is therefore:
mum operating elevation angle specified baseline LUNANET PNT pilot signal
for the radio telescope, the epdf produced [2]. The considered related Equivalent (1)
in this band by all space stations within Isotropic Radiated transmitted Power
any non-geostationary system operating (EIRP) is 39 dBW. With a 3 dB only margin, we pre-
in 5,010-5,030 MHz shall not exceed -245 There would be a negative interfer- liminarily have P=20 dB, independently
dB(W/m2) in a 10 MHz frequency band ence margin of about -60 dB to RA in of the used frequency band (excepted
at any radio astronomy station for more the SZM due to a hypothetical lunar inside 2 to 3 GHz band, the “sanctuary”
than 2% of the time. in-situ PNT in C-band. This allows us band for lunar proximity communi-
Let’s consider the more favorable case to conclude that 5,010 to 5,030 MHz cations and PNT as recommended by
of PFD limit from a PNT system point cannot, in practice, be used for lunar Annex-2 of ITU REC RAS 479-5). The
of view [-171 dB(W/m2) in a 10 MHz in-situ PNT without harmfully interfer- principle of such a RA protection factor
frequency band], for our preliminary ing with RA in the SZM. in the SZM is therefore valid in UHF,
link budget assessing interference to RA Moreover, an additional protection L and C bands, for instance. The 5,010
for a potential in-situ lunar PNT GNSS factor P specific to the SZM (currently to 5,030 MHz band must be avoided
like system in 5,010 to 5,030 MHz. We between 10 and 20 dB according to dis- for a lunar GNSS-like system because
considered a transmitted PNT power cussions with the international radio the negative margin might become, in
of 23 dBW for this link budget that is astronomers in contact with CNES) is the most favorable case for lunar in-situ
13 dBW for GPS L1, to which 10 dB is necessary to provide RA with protec- PNT, -60 dB – (10 to 20 dB), that is -70
added, to represent an estimate of the tion levels that are better than on Earth. to -80 dB. Even a negative margin of
free space loss propagation difference This requires more constraining PFD -60 dB is already unacceptable.

62 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 Figure 4 shows a conceptual orbit de- (related to the constant visibility of at V of ITU RR article 22 on the protection
sign (Table 2) that is supposed to reduce least two "PNT+ communication relay" of RA in the SZM [5].
the time of interference to RA in the satellites) remain so the user can be con-
SZM. This orbit hypothetical design, nected even in case of a failure of one of ITU-R Report
with all the perigees in the SZM, does not these two satellites. For these reasons, ITU also issued a report (RA.2131) titled,
cope with the PNT or communication interference mitigation to RA thanks “Supplementary information on the
needs in the SZM. This orbit design cor- to the PNT constellation’s orbit design detrimental threshold levels of interfer-
responds to an attempt to optimize only is not efficient. ence to radio astronomy observations”
one design criteria (interference to RA in To sum up, the potential interference in Recommendation ITU-R RA.769.
the SZM) among many. Moreover, there mitigation techniques presented in Table This report mentions how to interpolate
could be several in-situ PNT systems on 2 for RNSS L or C band are not efficient between the table entries of RA.769 to
the Moon, and the safety requirements or credible ways to implement Section derive protection thresholds in bands
not explicitly mentioned. But 5,010 to
5,030 MHz is almost adjacent to 4,990
to 5,000 MHz. Articles 22.22 to 22.25 of
the ITU RR [5] apply to most frequencies,
including 5,010 to 5,030 MHz, which
therefore shall be excluded from the
candidate bands for in-situ lunar PNT.
The RA.769 tables of recommedna-
tion do not explicitely contain a RA
frequency band, but that is not why the
band is not protected. For instance, the
48.94 to 49.04 GHz RA band is Primary
on Earth and not present in said
tables, but this band shall obviously be
protected.

FIGURE 4 Hypothetical orbit design is not efficient to reduce interferences to RA in the SZM [4]. Global situation of L, S and
C GNSS bands
The global situation of the “terrestrial”
GNSS bands for in-situ lunar PNT, re-
lated to the protection of RA in the SZM,
is summed up in Table 3.
The GNSS C-band features several
technical drawbacks that GNSS L and
S band do not present [7],[8] (Table 4):
The number and types of drawbacks
for an in-situ lunar GNSS-like system
in C-band make this band inapropri-
ate, while some additional drawbacks
present on Earth but not on the Moon
include [7],[8]:
• Attenuation due to water vapor
and oxygen, rainfall attenuation
FIGURE 5 Example of reception of GNSS terrestrial signals in the lunar environment.
and clouds and fog are strongest

L-band (1,164-1,300 MHz and S-band C-band

1,559-1,610 MHz) (2,483.5-2,500 MHz) (5,010-5,030 MHz)
Compatibility with ITU-RR Article 22 section
Not compliant with RR Yes Not compliant with RR
V (5)
Compatibility with ITU REC RA.479-5 (6) Not compliant with RA.479-5 Yes Not compliant with RA.479-5
Compatibility of a global in-situ PNT system
No compatibility Yes No compatibility
with RA needs in The SZM
Compatibility with SFCG REC 32-2R5 (3) Not compliant with SFCG Yes Not compliant with SFCG

TABLE 3 “Terrestrial” GNSS bands and protection of RA in the SZM

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RADIO ASTRONOMY

in C-band. For instance, rainfall Drawback Reason it is a drawback

attenuation up to 4.6 dB must be Extra free space losses in C-band: 12 dB (resp 6 dB) higher than L (resp S)
Link budget and on-board
expected at C-band. power consumption
band. Power consumption of PNT global coverage payloads would be
• Typical values of foliage higher in C-band: extra cost.

attenuation at L- and C-band are 1 Sensitivity to manufacturing The higher the frequency, the more accurate the RF circuit
imperfections manufacturing shall be, which has an impact on costs.
dB/m and 2 dB/m, respectively [8].
• Tropospheric scintillation is larger One startup has one cubesatellite transmitting L- and C-band GNSS
No obvious RNSS mass market/ signals, and gave up C-band for its operational constellation. Another
in C-band. It includes amplitude leveraging (7) startup has two cube satellites transmitting uncrypted C-band signals,
scintillation (by a factor two larger and results are awaited.
at C-band compared to L-band) The smaller the wavelength, the higher the difficulty for carrier phase
and phase scintillation (by a factor Less ambiguity resolution ambiguity resolution (in conjunction with other measurements/
possibilities sensors), even if carrier multipath is smaller in C-band compared to L- or
of 3 larger) [8]. S-band.
In any case, augmenting lunar in-
C-band has been thought for GNSS “on Earth” despite its drawbacks
situ PNT with terrestrial L-band GNSS No accuracy gain because ionospheric delay, frequency shift and scintillations are
signals can be considered because these smaller: But the Moon has no ionosphere.
signals do not reach the SZM (Figure 5). It also was believed GNSS C-band "on Earth” would reduce the risk of
It’s important to note L-band lunar No inter-system interference inter GNSS system “interference” due to the number of GNSS or MSS
reduction systems on Earth in L- or S-band, despite some PNT systems like CAPS
in-situ PNT presents some specific tech- prototyped in C-band. But, there is no in-situ lunar PNT system.
nical drawbacks, like interference to Doppler (range and dynamic) is twice as high in C-band compared to
L-band terrestrial GNSS signals from Doppler range and Doppler
S-band (and 3 times higher compared to L1/G1 band) [8]. Hard/soft
dynamic
“near far effects.” acquisition and tracking is more complex in C-band.
The size of the interference zone Protecting science if in-situ
Continuum RA observations on the Moon are mentioned in the Artemis
depends on the link budgets, includ- Science Definition Report (in-situ PNT in C-band would preclude
C-band is avoided
efficient continuum observations in the 4,800 to 5,150 MHz band).
ing the frequency differences between
Indoor (Lunar Habitats, 5 GHz signals are attenuated more than in L- or S-band
“terrestrial” and “lunar” L-bands. These Vehicles, Lava tube entries…) (9 dB more than 1.5 GHz signals by a 12 cm concrete wall) [8].
interference zones would create a loss of
Poorer at C-band than at L- or S-band. It depends on thermal noise,
coverage and safety, and less terrestrial oscillator phase noise, vibration-induced phase noise, and dynamic
Carrier tracking robustness
L-band frequencies and constellations stress. Except for thermal noise, all influences are proportional to the
carrier frequency [8].
could be received (creating again a loss
of accuracy and robustness). Depends on effective C/N0, data rate, and oscillator phase noise. Due
Cycle-Slip Probability to increased phase noise and possibly smaller C/N0’s, the cycle-slip
In very specific cases for systems (out- probability at C-band is expected to be larger than at L- or S-band [8].
side LUNANET) where interoperability
TABLE 4 Technical drawbacks of GNSS C-band that GNSS L -or S-bands do not have
might not be a factor, frequency separa-
tion between different PNT signals may
be desired. Frequency separation could (in addition to L-band for one of the two shows regulatory difficulties for lunar
be achieved in GNSS S-band using a cubesats). Moreover, due to the technical in-situ PNT. The 2,483.5-2,500 MHz
BOC and a BPSK like signal with the difficulties and costs to obtain accuracy RDSS S-band is the sole viable option
same carrier frequency (for instance the and global coverage in C-band only with among the L, S and C GNSS frequency
two different IRNSS “terrestrial” signals cubesatellites, the C-band signal might bands. This is mainly because the GNSS
in S-band). If S-band was not desired in later be changed into a signal in S- or L and C bands pose important threats
these specific cases, the frequency band L-band and eventually a second signal in to RA in the SZM. Safeguarding RA
chosen could not be a GNSS one up until L-band, when not already existing, for in the SZM is an exceptional scientific
now because L- or C-GNSS bands are the expected operational constellation opportunity for opening the “radio win-
not acceptable for lunar in-situ PNT. mission related to autonomous vehicles. dow” into the universe.
It’s important to note the 2,483.5 GNSS L-band and GNSS+MSS S-band Adopting a common band, namely
to 2,500 MHz S-band is one of only have, from their side, many leveraging the S-band, is also essential to ensure
three SFCG bands common to lunar capabilities [1], [7]. interoperability of LUNANET’s in-situ
and Martian environments for in-situ All these findings allow us to derive PNT components [2]. This must be con-
orbit to surface links. This is interest- a global comparison table between the sidered in studies related to radiocom-
ing to consider as future Moon to Mars three types of GNSS frequency bands in munications in the lunar environment.
missions will need common interfaces. the frame of a lunar in-situ PNT GNSS- Interoperability among space agencies
C-band had no clear leveraging ad- like system (Table 5). not only saves design, development and
vantage until now because there are only operation costs, but also mitigates the
three GNSS Earth orbiting satellites (that Conclusions risks of operational errors. With open
is experimental LEO PNT cubesatel- The 5,010 to 5,030 MHz band presents MBOC “terrestrial” signals in L1 fre-
lites) transmitting a signal in C-band important technical drawbacks and quency bands, full interoperability

64 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 L-band (1,164-1,300 MHz
S-band (2,483.5–2,500 MHz) C-band (5,010-5,030 MHz)
and 1,559-1,610 MHz)
Interference to RA in the SZM (including
Mars issues), from scientific and regulatory Not compliant YES Not compliant
point of views
No frequency interoperability No frequency interoperability
Interoperability between in-situ systems YES
with systems in S-band with systems in S-band
Link budget/on board power consumption 0 dB + 6 dB + 12 dB
Technical drawbacks Table 2 YES Tables 2 & 4
Compatibility with Martian SFCG No compatibility
YES No
frequencies with SFCG
Leveraging mass market of RNSS and MSS YES (KPS, Globalstar, IRNSS, Synchrocube, Not compliant (only 3
YES (all GNSS systems)
receivers Beidou-3, GNSSaS, FuturNav , etc) cubesatellites)
No frequency interoperability No frequency interoperability
Interoperability between in-situ systems YES
with systems in S-band with systems in S-band
Spectral separation of some different PNT
YES YES YES
services if needed

TABLE 5 Global comparison of lunar in-situ PNT systems for the 3 current GNSS bands

between Galileo, GPS, Quazi Zenithal (4) Multi-Objective Design of a Lunar protection of RA in the SZM from
Satellite System (QZSS), BeiDou and GNSS; Filipe Pereira , Patrick. M. Reed and communication, radar and PNT
IRNSS has been achieved on Earth. Such Daniel Selva. NAVIGATION: Journal of transmissions. He is also involved in
achievements demonstrate the poten- the Institute of Navigation March 2022. optical space data links systems, and
provides technical supports on LEO PNT.
tial for a similar outcome on the Moon. (5) ITU Radio Regulation. Article 22
LUNANET’s international framework Section V. Protection of Radio Astronomy Jean Pla is currently an
and the 2,483.5 to 2,500 MHz in-situ in the Shielded Zone of the Moon. expert in frequency
lunar PNT band pave the way for this (6) ITU Recommendation RA. 479- management at CNES.
achievement while protecting RA in 5. Protection of frequencies for He was vice chair of
the SZM. radioastronomical measurements in ITU-R SG7, a study group
For future specific cases that eventu- the shielded zone of the Moon. dedicated to scientific
ally must work outside the 2,483.5 to radio services. He was
(7) Feasibility of using an S-band GNSS also European coordinator for previous
2,500 MHz band to be privileged, any carrier by comparing with L and C bands. world radio conference agenda items. He
current or future RNSS L- or C-band Kedong Wang, Shaoxiong Zhang, Jinling is chapter rapporteur of scientific agenda
must be avoided. Other currently non- Wang. Advance in Space Research, items for the next World Radio
RNSS bands may need to be studied, Volume 66, Issue 9, November 2020. Conference of 2027.
taking into account factors such as
(8) A vision on new frequencies, Romain Desplats is
propagation losses and hardware com-
signals and concepts for future GNSS currently head of Space
plexities. RA in the SZM, one of human- systems. Guenter W. Hein, Jose Angel
ity’s scientific assets, would then not be Spectrum Strategy at
Avila Rodriguez, Stefan Wallner, Bernd CNES. He works with an
threatened by such cases. Eissfeller, Markus Irsigler, Jean-Luc outstanding team of
Issler. ION GNSS September 2007. experts who are
References dedicated to developing
(1) Jean-Luc Issler et al, The Shielded
Authors and executing strategies related to the
Zone of the Moon: Protecting Radio allocation and use of spectrum for space-
Jean-Luc Issler has
Astronomy from RF interferences. based communication and other
been with CNES since
Inside GNSS Media & Research activities. Together, they work
1990. He is an expert in
LLC, USA, september 2021. collaboratively to ensure spectrum
space RF and optical
(2) LUNANET Interoperability transmissions, GNSS resources are optimally used to support
Specification (LNIS), Version systems, payloads, and emerging technologies and meet the
4 and draft version 5. signal processing. He ever-growing demand for space-based
was deeply involved in the Galileo signals communication services.
(3) SFCG; Recommendation 32-2R5: design, is one of the inventors of the
Communication and Positioning, CBOC Galileo signals, and invented the
Navigation, and Timing Frequency GNSS meta-signals. He studies the
Allocations and Sharing in the Lunar
Region. Issued in June 2023.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 65

 JNC

“Our service is going to be very,

very low cost and potentially rolled
into hardware, which means you
don’t have to maintain monthly
licensing or fee tracking,” said Said
Jackson, VIAVI’s general manager
and vice president. “You buy a piece
of equipment from us, you plug it in
and it just works. It can be bought as
a physical product as well as a module
to integrate into a system. It’s also
signal agnostic, an important feature.”
Photo courtesy of Renee Knight.

BAE Systems introduced

NavStorm-M, a gun-hardened
integrated anti-jamming and GPS
receiver with M-Code capability
that can be leveraged for artillery,
missiles and unmanned systems.
Answering the Call to Strengthen PNT With this launch, BAE Systems
has updated nearly all of its GPS
The spoofing and jamming threat continues to grow, making GNSS resiliency receivers with M-Code capability,
for warfighters a hot topic at ION’s JNC 2024. giving warfighters access to
equipment that is more resistant
RENEE KNIGHT
to spoofing and jamming.
MANY OF THE EXHIBITORS AT “When customers “When customers are ready for a
ION’s Joint Navigation Conference tech refresh or new build, we have
(JNC) had one thing in common:
are ready for a tech M-Code,” said Justin R. Wymore
they spent a lot of time talking with refresh or new build, we Sr., customer requirement manager,
attendees about solutions designed have M-Code. The user weapons PNT, navigation and sensor
to strengthen PNT by backing up systems. “The user equipment is
GNSS or thwarting spoofing and
equipment is available. available. Now, it’s just a matter
jamming attempts. Mitigating the Now, it’s just a matter of of integrating and fielding it.”
threat of nefarious actors is a top integrating and fielding it.”
industry concern, and that was Justin R. Wymore Sr., customer requirement manager,
New Ways to Detect and
evident in many of the solutions weapons PNT, navigation and sensor systems, BAE Systems Mitigate Jamming
displayed at the conference. UHU Technologies highlighted its
This year’s theme, “Robust, using the show as an opportunity Northstar and UHU1000 solutions
Resilient, Assured PNT for to unveil new solutions. VIAVI at JNC, generating a lot of interest
Warfighters and Homeland Defense,” was among them, introducing from attendees. Northstar detects
says it all. We’re at a critical point, the altGNSS GEO SecureTime spoofing and jamming in a matter
and now is the time to not only service. Available worldwide, the of seconds, Senior Design Engineer
develop, but also field technologies service aims to deliver improved Eric Hughes said, leveraging
that strengthen PNT. You can sense nanoseconds-accurate UTC timing advanced multi-element digital
the urgency in the industry, with via L-Band and Ku-Band satellite signal processing to spatially
many exhibitors like Lou Pelosi signals—becoming only the third identify and separate real GPS
of CAST Navigation saying this global independent capability that signals from fake ones. It calculates
year’s JNC, held in Convington, generates PNT signals locally. the angle of arrival (AOA), making
Kentucky, was one of the busiest in The service is independent of it possible to determine if the
recent memory. Users are looking traditional GPS and GNSS and, signal is from a valid satellite or
for solutions that give them that because it operates on the Ku-Band, a spoofer. AOA is the only signal
needed resiliency, and manufacturers it is difficult to jam or spoof. Its feature that can’t be spoofed.
are answering the call. Navigation Message Authentication Through this technology, the
(NMA) uses encryption to detect AOA is compared to the known
Show Launches spoofing in any signals, both satellite location for the signal.
About 60 exhibitors attended cooperative and non-cooperative, The box then spatially nulls
this year’s conference, with some received from any source. any spoofers or jammers.

66 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

 The UHU1000 has the same Cowan, chief engineer, avionics. and navigation grade IMUs, said
features but takes it a step further, “All the bits are proven and mature Mark Glover, retired U.S. Navy
both detecting and mitigating technology, but this is the first time Capt. and senior director of business
threats, Hughes said. it’s been put into a single package.” development for assured positioning,
“Traditional anti-jam systems The company also highlighted navigation and timing. An anti-
suppress at above the noise,” he its M-Code compliant 20-8000 jam antenna can be integrated into
said. “If a signal is faked below eight-element conformal CRPA the box for added protection.
the noise, they can’t see it. We can that’s designed to fit seamlessly “Th is is our most complex
look below the noise and see the into the skin of an aircraft, as well box,” Glover said, “because of the
spoofi ng and suppress it using as the more compact four element number of integrated sensors.”
advanced bellow the noise nulling.” conformal CRPA, the 20-7550. The Companies continue to collect
The solution has two radio customizable antenna is M-Code data to enhance current and future
frequency (RF) outputs, Hughes said, compatible, operates across GPS solutions designed for GNSS
with traditional anti-jam and the L1 and L2 bands and is designed to contested environments. VectorNav
company’s anti-spoofi ng technology. work in demanding environments. Technologies, for example,
It has seven inputs and works with AEVEX Aerospace highlighted announced its participation in the
both SAASM and M-Code. its Geo-APNT, a fully integrated USAF’s NAVFEST 2024 Test Event.
PSIONIC also takes a different GPS-aided inertial navigation The event was hosted by the 746th
approach to RF and jamming solution that offers users the Test Squadron at Holloman Air
mitigation, with its new laser- assured position, navigation and Force Base, New Mexico, and held at
based sensor, SurePath. The sensor timing their use cases require, White Sands Missile Range (WSMR).
features a proprietary navigation even when GPS isn’t available. During the event, VectorNav
fi lter that uses real-time velocity Geo-APNT features in-motion evaluated a range of its single and
vectors to correct IMU sensor dynamic alignment and is available dual-antenna GNSS-Aided INS
errors, enabling it to provide with M-Code/SAASM or commercial products, including the VN-210,
information in one platform GPS receivers. It also supports a VN-310, VN-210-S, VN-200,
that typically requires multiple. variety of inertial measurement units VN-300, VN-210E, and VN-310E in
And, according to the company, (IMUs) based on user need, including various configurations. The products
the undetectable velocimeter MEMS, fiber optic gyroscopes were also tested in combination with
can’t be spoofed or jammed. (FOG), ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) a variety of additional PNT systems.
SurePath takes multiple line-of- The data collected is being
sight measurements to determine analyzed to further refi ne and
the vehicle’s surface relative velocity enhance VectorNav’s solutions in
vector. Measurements are made GNSS-contested environments.
Photo courtesy of Safran.

from the vehicle against the surface’s

reference frame, with surface relative Advanced IMUs
velocity measured in real time. Safran Federal Systems also made
“It measures velocity directly in a few announcements at JNC,
the Doppler Effect,” Senior Staff Safran introduced new IMUs and announced the addi- launching two new IMUs that
Scientist Jeff Monaco said, “so you tion of M-Code to its HRG based Geonyx INS at JNC. leverage advanced MEMS and core
know not just how fast it’s going but
in what direction. Other solutions
just give the speed measurement.
Th is provides the velocity vector.”
Chelton displayed various anti-jam
solutions at the meeting, including
the DACU4c. Th is high-performing
system integrates a four-channel
controlled reception pattern
antenna (CRPA) with advanced,
Photo courtesy of AEVEX Aerospace.

miniaturized GNSS anti-jam

processing electronics. It integrates
easily and is suitable for retrofitting.
“We’re taking the existing
building blocks and putting it
all in one package,” said Andew The AEVEX Aerospace team works closely with customers to ensure they provide the solutions they need.

www.insidegnss.com J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 67

JNC

Hemispherical Resonator Gyro as “the world’s smallest,” offering INS with Attitude and Heading
(HRG) technology: Iconyx and the low power customers need. Reference System (AHRS), MRU
the Small Tactical IMU (STIM). “All our products are lower and a FOG IMU-based AHRS. It can
The tactical grade IMUs power, which is beneficial when determine position, velocity, vertical
are designed to bring high power is at a premium,” Tua and horizontal displacements
performance to unmanned said. “And to make it easy for and absolute orientation on
applications and space-based buying, they’re all ITAR free.” any device it’s mounted on.
operations. Safran also announced The company offers various options The FI 210 IMU is a high-
that Geonyx, the company’s and performance parameters, Tua performance IMU that
HRG based inertial navigation said, and can be used in autonomous integrates three FOGs and three
system (INS), now features anti- vehicles and drones as well as for accelerometers, while the FG
spoofi ng M-Code capability. gimbal and camera stabilization. 150 is a single axis FOG for
The HRG Crystal offers a lower The small cylindrical FOG IMU stabilization applications such
size, weight and power (SWaP) U123D, for example, offers 1°/h bias as antennas, aircraft cameras
capability than traditional options stability and 0.05°/√h ARW and low and armored vehicles.
like FOGs and RLGs, said Jon power consumption of 1.5W, while The navigation grade units are
Leombrone, executive vice president the G181 and G121 three-axis FOGs ITAR free, U.S. Branch Manager
of navigation systems. Th is next deliver low noise performance in Richard Ryu said. They’re also
generation of gyro technology ultra-compact and lightweight units. competitively priced and have a
doesn’t need to increase in size Fiberpro also displayed its FOGs shorter lead time than other options.
to achieve better performance. and three-axis IMUs. The company’s
“Th is technology [HRG] FN 200C box, for example, is a GPS- A well-rounded conference
always stays the same size,” aided INS that leverages tactical- Other exhibitors included CAST
Leombrone said. “The SWaP is grade FOG technology. It combines with its simulators, such as CAST
part of the value proposition.” Navigation Jammers and CAST-
Enertia Micro highlighted its CRPA simulation systems, Tualcom,
HRG technology at the conference. TRX Systems, Honeywell, Inertial
The company’s Birdbath Resonator Labs, Hexagon | NovAtel, oneNav,
Gyroscope (BRG) is the result of ANELLO Photonics, Septentrio,
20 years of R&D at the University NavtechGPS, Ideal Aerosmith,
of Michigan, under the support Photo courtesy of PSIONIC. GPS Networking and Xona Space
of DARPA, Enertia Micro Vice PSIONIC’s SurePath velocity sensor protects Systems. Attendees also had the
President of Engineering Jong against RF interference and jamming. opportunity to network and take
Kwan Woo said. The company’s two in various sessions, with topics
solutions serve as dead reckoning including Complementary PNT,
IMUs for autonomous vehicles and inertial navigation technologies,
drones, with BRG-5 near aviation field testing PNT technologies, PNT
grade and BRG-10 aviation grade. for uncrewed systems AI/machine
The BRG products provide better learning for PNT and anti-jam
accuracy at a lower cost, size and and anti-spoofi ng technologies.
Photo courtesy of Renee Knight.

weight than other gyroscopes, Next year’s JNC is slated for June
Woo said, because of the fused- 2 to 5 at the Northern Kentucky
silica MEMS resonator. Convention Center, where the focus
“There’s lots of interest to test on mitigating spoofi ng and jamming
this device; there are a lot of threats and backing up GNSS are
The ultra small VG221 fiber optic
companies and government agencies sure to once again be hot topics.
gyroscope from Fizoptika Malta.
looking for this,” Woo said. “We
can make the device small, so it
fits in a lot of applications.”
Fizoptika Malta highlighted
Photo courtesy of UHU
its miniature 3-axis FOGs, Technologies.
which are combined with MEMS
accelerometers, and FOG-based
inertial measurement units.
Managing Director Ing. Aruthur
Tua described the company’s FOGs Northstar from UHU Technologies quickly detects spoofing and jamming.

68 J U LY/AU G U S T 2024 www.insidegnss.com

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