Telespazio UK, a subsidiary of Telespazio (a 67/33% joint venture between Leonardo and Thales), is the prime contractor for the project and will be working with very strong and expert sub-contractors in Novocomms Ltd, Eutelsat OneWeb and Cranfield University.
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have become the primary means of navigation and source of Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) information for almost all modes of transport, general navigation and for timing purposes. Yet, all GNSS are vulnerable to natural interference, deliberate and accidental jamming, and spoofing. Moreover, because of the geometry of GNSS flying in Medium Earth Orbit and the number of satellites in the constellation, there are other issues. Where users are operating in so-called “urban canyons”, or within dense vegetation, or in deep valleys, they can have a limited view of the satellites and hence have trouble calculating a position. In these situations, multipath propagation is also a problem, causing receivers to calculate an incorrect position from erroneous and altered signals. Clearly, this is unacceptable when operating a safety-critical service, or when other safety parameters are paramount. Most administrations now advocate a system-of-systems approach to PNT provision, or “PNT as a service” in a multi-layered approach.
The proliferation of mega-constellations in Low Earth Orbit for global telecommunication coverage provides an opportunity for diversifying navigation signals from space without the need for additional dedicated satellites. The concept of SOOP Positioning allows a user to determine their position based on signals not designed for navigation. The advantages of utilising satellite SOOP signals are the large number of satellites offering diversity in the number of satellites in the constellation, orbit height, frequency diversity and bandwidth, as well as the signal structure. Newer broadband communications constellations operate at much higher frequencies than previously (typically in the Ku and Ka bands), offering advantages such as being able to estimate time of arrival of signals more accurately. Combining SOOP signals with other sensors such as Inertial Measurement Units and Barometers emphasises the System-of-Systems approach and offers further advantages in integrating these systems.
Work on SOOP has already been conducted by Telespazio in both academic and industrial contexts, though many of the developments have not been practically demonstrated in any meaningful way. Telespazio UK is bringing a consortium together which will take advantage of this work and then develop a practical Proof-of-Concept breadboard demonstrator which will utilise the advantages of Ku/Ka band SOOP and develop a small form factor user receiver and reference station, whilst developing a state-of-the-art antenna array in a project we are calling SATSOOP.
Geoff Busswell, Vice President of Business Growth at Telespazio UK, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to be part of this important ESA project which will build on the work that has already been done within the Alternative-PNT arena, especially with SOOP concepts. We are pleased to be leading such a strong team and look forward to developing new techniques that will help provide position resilience. This kind of resilience is vital for safety, security or defence-based applications, potentially making a difference to our daily lives in the future.”
Felix Abel, Technical Officer for the NavISP activity, said: “ESA is very pleased to award this contract, under its NavISP programme, to Telespazio UK and its sub-contractors. Telespazio has a great deal of experience working on PNT and the provision of alternative and complementary solutions to GNSS. We look forward to working with Telespazio UK and its sub-contractors on this important project for the resilience of PNT solutions.”