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Pre-Conference Tutorials
All courses will be taught by leading GNSS educators in a classroom setting at the Nashville Convention Center. Paper course notes will be provided to attendees by the instructor the day of your course. Electronic notes may be made available at the discretion of the instructor.
TUTORIAL REGISTRATION:
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Tutorial Registration Rates:
After August 15: $425 per course unit
Fundamentals of GNSS 1
Dr. Chris Bartone
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner
This course emphasizes the fundamentals of GNSS with emphasis on GPS. The course begins with an overview of GNSS and GPS. Presentation of coordinate frames and spread spectrum techniques used in GNSS are illustrated. GNSS signal structures for GPS (legacy and modernized) and new GNSS modernized formats will be discussed; Modernized GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Compass, and QZSS will be discussed. This course concludes with examining the details of the data format and data encoded on the GPS. Topics to be covered include:
- Introduction to positioning systems
- A brief historical timeline of GNSS
- GPS Segments
- space segment and SV blocks
- ground control & improvement programs
- user segment and applications
- GPS Link Budget
- Fundamental concept of GNSS position and time determination
- Coordinate frames and datum's used in the
application of GNSS
- Earth Centered Inertial
- Earth Centered Earth Fixed
- Latitude, Longitude, Height
- Height: MSL/Orthometric height, Ellipsoidal height, Geoid Undulation
- WGS-84 and the International Terrestrial Reference Frame
- Local Level Tangent
- Coordinate Conversion
- GNSS signal structure formats; legacy and
modernized signals
- Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
- Auto and cross correlation
- Legacy GPS: C/A, P(Y) code formats
- Motivation for modernized signal formats
- Modernized GPS
- L2C signal format, status
- L5 signal format, status
- Galileo - the systems, signal formats, status and plans
- Glonass-System overview, signal formats, and status
- Glonass-M, Glonass-K and modernization efforts
- Compass - status, signal formats, phases, and plans
- QZSS - system overview, signal formats, and coverage
- GPS Navigation Message Data Format Descriptions
Dr. Chris Bartone, P.E. is a professor at Ohio University
with 29 years of professional experience.
He received his Ph.D.EE from Ohio University, a
MSEE from the Naval Postgraduate School, and
BSEE from Penn State. He previously worked for
the Naval Air Warfare Center, performing RDT&E
on CNS systems. Dr. Bartone has developed
and teaches a number of GPS, radar, and wave
propagation and antenna classes. His research
concentrates on all aspects of navigation.
GNSS Receiver Design 1: RF Front-End Theory
and Design
Dr. Sanjeev Gunawardena
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
First of a two-part sequence covering the design and practical implementation of GNSS receivers using the latest RF and digital signal processing technologies. Applicable to a wide range of GNSS user equipment design from reference receivers through aviation-grade, military, and low-power consumer-grade singlechip devices. Material presented from both a theoretical and practical perspective with case studies as well as overviews of the latest commercial GNSS chipsets. This section (Part 1) covers the design of GNSS RF front-ends from LNA to ADC. Following course, each registrant will receive a MATLAB®-based configurable GNSS IF signal simulator and pre-correlation visualizer execute-only software tool that demonstrates major concepts covered in this course. Topics include:
- Overview of received GNSS signals: Link budget and system noise figure, signal structures, PSD, spreading codes and their auto and cross-correlation properties
- Front-end architectures: Single vs. multi conversion, analog vs. digital downconversion, direct RF sampling. Baseband vs. IF sampling
- Frequency planning and control: image frequencies, bandwidth and filter selection, reference clock types and parameters, PLL synthesizers, and cost-performance tradeoffs
- RF/IF component parameters important to GNSS signal processing including selection guidelines
- Implementation intricacies: Factors affecting the performance of GNSS receivers such as component-induced multipath
- Sampling subsystem: AGC, ADC specifications and dynamic range considerations
- GNSS front-end implementation options including PCB-level design and commercial GNSS MMICs
- Overview of demo software and examples
Dr. Sanjeev Gunawardena is a Senior Research
Engineer and principal investigator with the
Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center
(AEC) where he is the primary developer
of multi-frequency instrumentation-grade
GNSS receiver front-ends, FPGA-based nextgeneration
GNSS processors, and multi-sensor
data collection systems for scientific research.
He received the 2007 RTCA William E. Jackson
Award for outstanding contribution to aviation
for the application of transform-domain
technology for high-fidelity GNSS performance
monitoring. Dr. Gunawardena received B.S. in
engineering physics, B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E. and Ph.D.
in electrical engineering from Ohio University.
Using GNSS to Study Space
Weather
Dr. Anthea Coster
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Advanced
(Suitable for All Levels)
Most of us know GNSS as a means to track locations and times of events on Earth, and for such applications, ionospheric and magnetospheric effects are error sources that must be eliminated. However, for space physicists, the situation is reversed: the very effects that disrupt ground-based applications of GNSS present dramatic new ways to observe the space environment. Since 2000, total electron content (TEC) maps derived from the global set of GPS/GNSS data have provided a paradigm shift in the ways that Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere are observed. This course will begin with a focus on GPS data, and conclude with a description of space weather measurements and effects on other GNSS systems. By combining individual measurements from multiple GPS receivers, high resolution temporal and spatial information is available on a global scale. An introduction to space weather and its effects on GPS, including a discussion of scintillation, range errors, and solar radio bursts will be provided. GPS fundamentals will be reviewed, with a focus on how GPS is used in both ground-based and space-based systems to measure properties of the atmosphere. A description of how TEC maps derived from GPS data were used for the first time to observe aspects of large-scale geomagnetic storms will be provided. The combination of GPS data with radar and magnetometer data from extensive networks of observatories has provided a big picture view of geomagnetic storms and their impact on the upper atmospheric regions. The course will conclude with a discussion of more general aspects of space weather and the implications for all GNSS systems.
Dr. Anthea Coster is a research scientist in the
Atmospheric Science group at MIT Haystack
Observatory, where she leads a number of GPS/
GNSS projects. Her professional interests include
physics of the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and
thermosphere, GPS positioning and measurement
accuracy, space weather and storm time effects,
and magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling.
An Introduction to GNSS Signals
Dr. Christopher Hegarty
Monday, September 17, 2012
- 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
This course provides an overview of digital modulation techniques used for satellite navigation systems. Important signal characteristics including autocorrelation/crosscorrelation properties, power levels, and polarization are described. The present and future signals of the Global Positioning System (GPS), including C/Acode, P(Y)-code, L2 civil (L2C), L5, M-code, and L1 civil (L1C) are detailed, as are the signals for GLONASS, GALILEO, satellitebased augmentation systems (SBAS), and other emerging satellite navigation systems. Attendees are assumed to have a familiarity with the basic concepts of satellite navigation.
Dr. Christopher J. Hegarty is the Director for
CNS Engineering & Spectrum with The MITRE
Corporation. He is the chair of RTCA's Program
Management Committee, co-chair of RTCA
Special Committee 159, and associate editor
of NAVIGATION: The Journal of the Institute of
Navigation. He was a co-recipient of the 1998
ION Early Achievement Award and the recipient
of the 2005 ION Johannes Kepler Award.
He served as ION President in 2008. He is a
Fellow of the ION, the IEEE, and the co-author/co-editor of the textbook Understanding GPS:
Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition.
Fundamentals of GNSS 2: User Functions and Solutions
Dr. Chris Bartone
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Second of a two-part series, this course emphasizes the fundamentals of GNSS user functions with emphasis on GPS. The core functions that need to be performed in obtaining a user solution using GPS in an error free environment will be explained. Atmospheric effects from the ionosphere and troposphere as well as error mitigation techniques from a standalone GNSS user perspective will be covered. Various common receiver data output formats will be presented. A case study will illustrate the user state solution errors and performance metrics (i.e., DOPs). The course will conclude with a typical error budget for GPS. Topics to be covered include:
- Overview of GNSS antenna technologies
- Antenna technologies vs. performance vs. application
- Applications in space, aviation, survey, consumer, automotive, general purpose
- Antenna Technologies: dipoles, helix, patches, multi-band GNSS
- Ground plane effects and the like
- Overview of GNSS receiver technologies
- Carrier tracking loops (frequency and phase lock loops)
- Code tracking loops (order and delay variations)
- GNSS Observables: code, carrier, and date
formats
- RINEX formats
- NMEA formats and messages
- Manufacture unique file formats
- Calculation of the GPS space vehicle (SV) position using the broadcast Kepler parameters (ephemeris and almanac)
- SV clock, relativistic and single-frequency corrections
- Transit time (i.e., Earth rotation) correction
- GPS Time Considerations: GPS week number, time of week, local time, UTC and the leap second
- Calculation of user state (i.e., position,
velocity, and time)
- Ordinary-least squares solution (un-weighted and weighted)
- Associated user solution performance parameters (i.e., dilution of precision terms)
- Case Study: Stand-alone performance illustration (no atmospheric corrections)
- Atmosphere Errors ("stand-alone" perspective)
- Troposphere error sources and characterization, models and mitigation;
- Ionosphere error sources and characterization, models and mitigation including GPS Broadcast/Klobuchar model & dual-frequency mitigation
- Case Study: Stand-alone performance illustration (with atmospheric corrections)
- GPS error budget
Dr. Chris Bartone, P.E. is a professor at Ohio University
with 29 years of professional experience.
He received his Ph.D.EE from Ohio University, a
MSEE from the Naval Postgraduate School, and
BSEE from Penn State. He previously worked for
the Naval Air Warfare Center, performing RDT&E
on CNS systems. Dr. Bartone has developed
and teaches a number of GPS, radar, and wave
propagation and antenna classes. His research
concentrates on all aspects of navigation.
Mr. Tom Stansell
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Expert
The government's Broadband Policy seeks to reallocate 500 MHz of radio spectrum to wireless broadband. The recent attempt to use 40 MHz of L Band spectrum next to GPS for LightSquared to provide a wireless broadband service resulted in a "battle royal" involving many commercial and government organizations. Tens of billions of potential broadband revenue were at stake; millions were spent in test programs, web sites, advertisements, lobbying, legal fees, etc. The threat to GPS from LightSquared has been avoided – for the moment. However, the government still intends to reallocate spectrum to the "most valuable use", and L-Band is prime real estate.
Spectrum managers are accustomed and trained to think about spectrum from a communications perspective and to value spectrum as a communications highway. However, GNSS is not primarily a communications system. It is more like precise Radar. Sufficient protected bandwidth is needed to make highly precise ranging measurements. The FCC wants to allow new communication technologies and services, but GNSS also is evolving and will provide new PNT technologies and services.
This course reviews the lessons learned from the LightSquared saga and contrasts communication spectrum management principles with what is needed for PNT. It addresses not only GPS but also Galileo, BeiDou, and GLONASS. The DOT perspective on preserving and protecting GNSS spectrum is presented as well as an overview of the complex spectrum management process, the many international agencies involved, and a view of their differing objectives.
When GPS began, no one predicted it being in a billion cell phones or that fields could be planted and cultivated to four inch accuracy. Similarly, we can't predict what GNSS will be doing in 15 years. This course shows the maximum accuracy which can be obtained from each defined GNSS signal, the protected spectrum needed to achieve that accuracy, and the levels of interference current and future receivers should be expected to tolerate.
Thomas (Tom) Stansell heads Stansell Consulting. He has been deeply involved in the LightSquared issues and is a GNSS consultant to government, industry, and the United Nations. He is an ION Fellow and a recipient of the ION Weems and Kepler awards for his lifetime achievements and contributions to GNSS.
Karen Van Dyke serves as Director for PNT in the U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). She is an ION Fellow and former President of ION and is a recipient of the Award for Meritorious Achievement from the Secretary of Transportation.
Donald Jansky is president of Jansky/Barmat
Telecommunications, Inc., which provides
consulting services for international and
domestic radio spectrum-related matters. He
was previously an Associate Administrator for
federal systems and spectrum management
at NTIA and associate professor at George
Washington University.
GNSS Receiver Design 2: Baseband Signal
Dr. Sanjeev Gunawardena
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Second of a two-part sequence covering the design and practical implementation of GNSS receivers using the latest RF and digital signal processing technologies. Applicable to a wide range of GNSS user equipment design from reference receivers through aviation-grade, military, and low-power consumer-grade single-chip devices. Material presented from both a theoretical and practical perspective with case studies as well as overviews of the latest commercial GNSS chipsets. This section (Part 2) covers digital signal processing from sample correlation through the formation of range measurements and the implementation of these techniques using hardware, software, or reconfigurable logic (i.e. FPGA) processors. Following course, each registrant will receive a MATLAB®-based configurable multi-channel GNSS IF sample processor execute-only software tool that demonstrates major concepts covered in this course. Topics include:
- Overview of received GNSS signals: Signal structures of GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. BPSK, BOC modulation and their variants.
- Signal correlation: Time, frequency and transform-domain techniques. Advanced correlator architectures for multipath mitigation and signal deformation monitoring.
- Complexity reduction for realtime implementation and impacts thereof.
- Signal acquisition algorithms, fast acquisition techniques, transition to tracking, and bit synchronization.
- Tracking: FLL/PLL and DLL, loop tightening techniques, noise bandwidth, tracking performance, block processing and open-loop tracking techniques
- Measurement computation: Navdata extraction/decoding, TOT and TOR counters, and formation of pseudorange and carrierphase.
- Implementation techniques and platforms from MATLAB® to dedicated hardware.
- Overview of demo software and examples
Dr. Sanjeev Gunawardena is a Senior Research
Engineer and principal investigator with the
Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center
(AEC) where he is the primary developer
of multi-frequency instrumentation-grade
GNSS receiver front-ends, FPGA-based nextgeneration
GNSS processors, and multi-sensor
data collection systems for scientific research.
He received the 2007 RTCA William E. Jackson
Award for outstanding contribution to aviation
for the application of transform-domain
technology for high-fidelity GNSS performance
monitoring. Dr. Gunawardena received B.S. in
engineering physics, B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E. and Ph.D.
GNSS Systems: Galileo Emphasis
Prof. Terry Moore
Dr. Charles Dixon
Monday, September 17, 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
(Registrants are expected to have a reasonable
level of understanding of the fundamental
principles of GNSS, and in particular a basic
understanding of the current GPS.)
This course will describe, compare and contrast the current and planned Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The current status and proposed modernization of GPS will be described with an emphasis on the benefits that the developments and new signals will bring to a variety of user domains. In a similar manner, the Russian GLONASS will also be described documenting the evolution to the systems current status and the planned developments. Comparisons will be drawn between the technical characteristics of the two systems and their uses. The European Galileo system will be described in depth, covering the institutional, financial and technical aspects of the program and the system. The new proposed signals will be described along with consideration of the international efforts directed towards interoperability of Galileo with GPS and other systems. Other nascent and proposed systems will also be described, such as COMPASS, IRNSS and QZSS. In additional Space-Based Augmentation Systems; WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN and SDCM will be introduced.
Prof. Terry Moore is Director of the Nottingham Geospatial Institute at the University of Nottingham; where he is the Professor of Satellite Navigation. He holds a BSc degree in Civil Engineering and PhD degree in Space Geodesy, both from the University of Nottingham. He has almost 30 years research experience in surveying, positioning and navigation technologies and is a consultant and adviser to UK and European governments and industry. He is a Member of Council and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation; a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors; and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Dr. Charles Dixon is the founder of Navigation
Unlimited, a consultancy specializing in navigation
business and technology. He has developed
and implemented GNSS Systems, Services and
Applications for 25 years. He has academic and
industry experience at the GNSS Research &
Applications Centre of Excellence, at Astrium
as Head of Future Navigation Programs and as
Systems Authority for the Galileo User Segment,
and at Nortel Networks as Head of Satellite
Applications. He has authored patents, open
papers and publications on GNSS, is a Fellow of
the Royal Institute of Navigation, Chair of the
R&D Special Interest Group, and a member of
the Institute of Navigation.
Dr. James L. Farrell
Dr. Wouter Pelgrum
Monday, September 17, 2012 -
6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
(The course is at the beginner-level and
will enhance understanding of inertial
mechanization at the intermediate level)
Principles of inertial navigation are explained through equations and hands-on processing of gyroscope and accelerometer measurements collected during the course. Topics include accelerometer and gyroscope operation and error sources; drift and random walk; coordinate frames; navigation in one, two, and three dimensions; initialization; strapdown terminology; movement over ellipsoid, attitude, position, and velocity updating; zero-velocity updates; Schuler effect; coning and sculling. Processing will start with delta-velocity and delta-theta measurements from accelerometers and gyroscopes, respectively, followed by the initialization and implementation of inertial mechanization equations to arrive at attitude, velocity and position-change estimates.
Dr. James L. Farrell is a Fellow of The ION and author of over 80 journal and conference manuscripts. He authored Integrated Aircraft Navigation (Academic Press, 1976) and GNSS Aided Navigation and Tracking (2007). His technical experience includes teaching appointments at Marquette and UCLA, two years each at Minneapolis Honeywell and Bendix-Pacific, and 31 years at Westinghouse in design, simulation, and validation/test for modern estimation algorithms in navigation and tracking applications, and digital communications system design. As President and Technical Director of VIGIL INC. in Severna Park MD., he has continued his teaching and consulting on inertial navigation and tracking for private industry, DOD, and university research. His 1.5-hr tutorial on GPS/GNSS & Inertial Navigation is available at www.ion. org/tutorials/.
Dr. Wouter J. Pelgrum is an Assistant Professor
of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University
where he teaches electronic navigation-related
courses. His research programs include GNSS,
Inertial, DME, Loran, Time and Frequency
transfer, integrated navigation systems, and
advanced ground/flight test instrumentation
systems. Before he joined Ohio University in
2009, Wouter worked in private industry where
he contributed to the development of an
integrated GPS-eLoran receiver and antenna.
From 2006 until 2008 he operated his own
company specializing in navigation-related
research and consulting.
Fundamentals of GNSS 3: Error Characterization and Mitigations
Dr. Chris Bartone
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
(This course is more advanced than a simple
user's introductory course; but not too detailed
for the beginner.)
This course emphasizes the fundamentals of GNSS with emphasis on GPS in the presence of various error sources and covers various error mitigation techniques for improved performance. The course provides details on the source and nature of various error sources in satellite navigation systems, their impact, and methods for mitigation. Differential GNSS will be presented to include several correction-based, measurement-based, single, double, and triple differencing techniques for various baseline lengths. Accuracy consideration for high accuracy users will be discussed including error mitigation approaches to enable high accuracy performance. The course includes several case study illustrations of an error mitigated user state calculation with real GPS data. The course will conclude with an introduction to carrier phase ambiguity resolution. Topics to be covered include:
- Error characterization for a "stand-alone" user
- Satellite orbit and clock errors, and mitigation methods
- Signal multipath error characterization and mitigation techniques
- Code-minus-Carrier and Code-Carrier- Divergence Analysis
- Smoothing (single & dual frequency methods)
- GNSS Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring -overview
- General Types of Augmentation
- Precise Point Positioning (concepts, implementation, and limitations)
- Assisted-GPS
- Differential GNSS and different ways to
implement it
- Correction-based methods (illustrated DGPS examples)
- Measurement-based methods (single, double, and triple differencing techniques)
- Case Study: DGPS performance illustration
- Accuracy consideration for high accuracy users
- Advanced error mitigation techniques (ionosphere, troposphere, code biases, & antenna variations)
- Carrier phase ambiguity resolution - overview
- Case Study: Carrier phase DGPS performance illustration
Antennas for GPS Receivers and Their Calibration
Dr. Inder "Jiti" Gupta
Dr. Andrew O'Brien
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
This course will discuss various antennas that are being used with GPS receivers. The discussion will include simple, small, microstrip patch antenna, antennas with well designed ground plane, choke-ring antennas, antennas with multiple elements where the antenna weights are pre-determined to obtain the desired spherical coverage, and controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPA) or adaptive antennas. In adaptive antennas, the antenna weights or pattern are adjusted on-the-fly in response to the incident RF signals.
Most of the course will be devoted to the calibration of GPS receiver antennas. Currently, there is a growing demand to use GPS receivers in precise navigation where one is looking for accuracies on the order of decimeters. It is well known that antennas can cause biases in code phase and carrier phase measurements obtained from GPS receivers. These biases are direction dependent in that the biases vary from one satellite to the next. This results in errors in the position and time solutions. Thus, for precise geo-location and navigation, GPS antennas need to be calibrated. We will describe various approaches for calibration of GPS antennas. These approaches include the use of differential GPS receiver measurements with a short baseline to a reference station as well as antenna radiation pattern measurements. We will include antennas with a single element as well as antennas with multiple elements. For multiple element antennas, we will discuss fixed reception pattern antenna (for a given satellite direction, the antenna weights are fixed) as well as controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPA) where antenna weights are adjusted on-the-fly to null the interfering signals and/ or mitigate signal multipath. It will be shown that to calibrate a CRPA, one need to know the response of individual antenna elements over the frequency bands of interest. We will discuss how the differential GPS measurements can be processed to obtain this information.
Prof. Inder "Jiti" Gupta is a Research Professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of The Ohio State University. He is an ION, IEEE and AMTA Edmond S. Gillespie Fellow. He has received the AMTA Distinguish Achievement Award ('07) and Ohio State's University College of Engineering Lumley Research Awards. He has worked for 15 years on GPS antennas and antenna electronics, and their effects on GPS receiver performance.
Dr. Andrew J. O'Brien received his Ph.D.
degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering
from The Ohio State University. Currently,
he is a Senior Research Associate at the Ohio
State University ElectroScience Laboratory.
His primary interests include GNSS receivers,
antennas, antenna electronics, and adaptive
filters. Dr. O'Brien is a winner of two ION Best
Presentation Awards.
The FAA Alternative Position Navigation Timing (APNT) Program
Dr. Sherman Lo
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
This course will present an overview of the FAA Alternative Position Navigation Timing (APNT) program, specifically focusing on the architectures and technologies being examined. APNT will provide means to continue many of the NextGen operations supported by GPS. The course goals are to provide an understanding of the purpose, constraints, and technologies in APNT. The primary areas covered are the major APNT architectures, technologies, resources for supporting each architecture, and robust timing and synchronization.
The first part covers background on the APNT
and the NextGen. It goes over the reasons,
goals, and targeted performance for APNT.
Then it examines the three major APNT
architectures:
1) Two way ranging (DME/DME);
2) Wide Area Multilateration; and
3) Passive Ranging.
The benefits and drawbacks of each are discussed. Resources and constraints to developing these architectures for APNT are covered.
The second part covers technologies that are being considered to support APNT architectures. These include use of distance measuring equipment (DME), automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) signals (UAT and Mode S ES), VHF, and others. Detailed discussion of DME and ADS-B will be provided. How these signals can be used for APNT will be considered. Specific considerations for each signal include coverage, capacity, integrity, accuracy and other requirements.
The final part covers robust timing needed to support these architectures and other FAA capabilities. It overviews three means of timing examined by APNT: terrestrial broadcast, network, and satellite broadcast. The capabilities, benefits and drawbacks of each are discussed. More detailed discussions and examination of network and satellite based timing will be given.
This course is designed for individuals interested in learning about APNT, DME, and ADS-B. It will also have background material for people interested in aviation surveillance technologies, NextGen, and precise timing technologies. It is suitable to individuals with some background on navigation and GNSS
Dr. Sherman Lo is a senior research engineer
at the Stanford GPS Laboratory and is the
Associate Investigator for their work on the
FAA alternative position navigation and timing
(APNT) program. His research focuses on robust
and secure navigation based on terrestrial and
satellite systems. He has 15 years of experience
in navigation and communications and is a
recipient of the ION Early Achievement Award.
He has over 80 technical publications. He has
been a Technical Chair for ION GNSS, ION/IEEE
PLANS and the ILA Symposium.
Exploiting Natural Signals for Navigation
Dr. Michael Veth
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner
This course presents an overview of alternative navigation techniques which leverage natural signals for seamless operation in environments where GNSS or other manmade signals are unavailable or denied. The course begins by identifying and developing various methods for exploiting natural navigation signals, including, but not limited to: inertial, imaging and video, gravity, proprioceptic, magnetic field, olfactory, and celestial navigation. Multiple Matlab examples are provided which demonstrate the information content in the signals of interest as well as techniques (e.g., Kalman filter, unscented Kalman filter, and particle filter) for extracting navigation information. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of various approaches are compared and a robust, multi-sensor integration architecture is developed. Applicable references are provided for further study.
This course will be presented at a conceptual level and is appropriate for engineers, managers, and executives in the navigation and military industries who are interested in alternative navigation techniques and strategies for implementing these methods into existing products.
Dr. Michael J. Veth, Ph.D., is currently the
Deputy Director of the 46th Range Group, Eglin
Air Force Base, Florida. Previously, he served as
an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering
at the Air Force Institute of Technology.
His research focus is on applying advanced
estimation theory to combine inertial sensors
with non-traditional, bio-inspired sensors for
non-GPS navigation and control applications.
He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical
Engineering from the Air Force Institute of
Technology and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering
from Purdue University. Dr. Veth has authored
and co-authored over 40 technical articles,
presentations, and book chapters in areas
relating to computer vision, navigation, and
control theory. He is a member of the Institute
of Navigation, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and
a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School.
Mr. Phillip Ward
Tuesday, September 18,
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner
This course addresses the vulnerability of GNSS receivers to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). It provides an overview of various types and sources of RFI as relevant to civil GNSS signals, the effects of RFI on GNSS receiver performance, and receiver design methods to detect and mitigate these effects. Specific topics covered include descriptions and definitions of intentional and unintentional RFI that fall into two general categories: wideband and narrow-band RFI. Specific types of wideband RFI are described including bandlimited white noise, matched spectrum and pulsed. Narrow-band RFI examples described include continuous-wave (CW) and modulated CW, such as swept and chirp CW. Differences between jamming and spoofing of GNSS receivers are briefly described. The course continues with a detailed description of the effects of interference on the code, frequency and carrier-tracking loops for current and forthcoming modernized GNSS signal structures (i.e., GPS L1, L2 and L5 and Galileo L1 and E5). Interference detection and mitigation strategies are then addressed including adaptive antenna designs, front-end designs, signal processing and advanced signal tracking techniques, aiding from external sources and integration with other sensors such as inertial sensors. Examples of these techniques are given using data from a software-defined radio. This course is presented at the beginner-level in RFI effects but requires a basic understanding of GNSS, particularly GNSS receiver design. It is also suitable for intermediate-level attendees desiring to refresh or expand their knowledge of RFI basics.
Phillip W. Ward, P.E., is President of Navward GPS Consulting. He specializes in robust GNSS receiver design techniques. Mr. Ward received the ION Kepler Award in 2008 and the ION Thurlow Award in 1989. He was the first ION Congressional Fellow (2001), Chair of the ION Satellite Division (1994-'96) and ION President (1992-'93). He is an ION Fellow, an IEEE Senior Member and a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas.
Acknowledgement: Phillip W. Ward will be
teaching this course for Dr. Maarten Uijt de
Haag who developed the course and course
materials that will be used.
Kalman Filter Application to Integrated Navigation 1
Dr. Woulter Pelgrum
Dr. James L. Farrell
Tuesday, September 18,
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
The focus of this course is on the basic theory, an intuitive understanding as well as practical considerations for the design and implementation of Kalman filters. Although many new types of filters are published in the literature, the Kalman filter is still the optimal and most efficient solution for the majority of integrated navigation systems. The course starts with a review of statistics and detailed insights into the most important noise processes, including random walk and Gauss- Markov processes. This is followed by a review of state variables and an overview of Kalman filters, including linear, linearized and extended filters. Matlab®-based examples are provided to facilitate hands-on experience with Kalman filters for integrated navigation applications.
Dr. Wouter J. Pelgrum is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University where he teaches electronic navigation-related courses. His research programs include GNSS, Inertial, DME, Loran, Time and Frequency transfer, integrated navigation systems, and advanced ground/flight test instrumentation systems. Before he joined Ohio University in 2009, Wouter worked in private industry where he contributed to the development of an integrated GPS-eLoran receiver and antenna. From 2006 until 2008 he operated his own company specializing in navigation-related research and consulting.
Dr. James L. Farrell is a Fellow of The ION
and author of over 80 journal and conference
manuscripts. He authored Integrated Aircraft
Navigation (Academic Press, 1976) and GNSS
Aided Navigation and Tracking (2007). His
technical experience includes teaching appointments
at Marquette and UCLA, two years each at
Minneapolis Honeywell and Bendix-Pacific, and 31
years at Westinghouse in design, simulation, and
validation/test for modern estimation algorithms
in navigation and tracking applications, and
digital communications system design. As
President and Technical Director of VIGIL INC. in
Severna Park MD., he has continued his teaching
and consulting on inertial navigation and tracking
for private industry, DOD, and university research.
His 1.5-hr tutorial on GPS/GNSS & Inertial
Navigation is available at www.ion.org/tutorials/.
Augmented GNSS: Fundamentals and Keys to Integrity and Continuity
Dr. Sam Pullen
Tuesday, September 18,
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
This course will describe several approaches to GNSS augmentation based upon broadcasting differential ranging corrections and associated integrity information to GNSS users. These methods include local-area augmentation using code-phase corrections (Ground Based Augmentation Systems, or GBAS) and carrier-phase corrections as well as wide-area augmentation (Space Based Augmentation Systems, or SBAS). These systems will be introduced from the common starting point of un-augmented "standalone" GNSS so that the relationships between each method are clear. Once the fundamentals are explained, the focus will turn to how GBAS and SBAS ensure the integrity, or safety of use, of the resulting navigation information while at the same time protecting continuity by limiting the probability of unexpected loss of navigation. Much of the difficulty in designing and validating GBAS and SBAS is showing that both of these competing requirements are met simultaneously with a very high probability, or availability, of the navigation service.
Augmented GNSS integrity verification has three key components: integrity monitor algorithms targeted at specific anomalies or failure modes, an "executive" monitor that converts monitor outputs into system responses, and protectionlevel calculations that determine whether the user's augmentation information and satellite geometry provide acceptable safety. These principles will be explained in general terms and then applied to specific integrity threats for both GBAS and SBAS.
This course is suitable for all interested parties who have at least an introductory knowledge of satellite navigation. A brief review of the elements of GNSS most relevant to augmentation systems will be provided. No previous knowledge of differential GNSS, augmentation systems, or integrity algorithms is needed.
Dr. Sam Pullen is the technical manager of the
Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS)
research effort at Stanford University, where
he received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and
Astronautics in 1996. He has supported the
FAA and other service providers in developing
system concepts, technical requirements,
integrity algorithms, and performance models
for GBAS, SBAS, and other GNSS applications
and has published over 100 research
papers and articles. He has also provided
extensive technical support on GNSS, system
optimization, decision analysis, and risk
assessment through his consultancy, Sam Pullen
Consulting. He was awarded the ION Early
Achievement Award in 1999.
Dr. Mark Petovello
Tuesday, September 18,
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate to Advanced
This course presents the key principles associated with high accuracy real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS positioning. After briefly reviewing the relevant concepts of GNSS positioning, the course presents the different measurements and error sources that limit positioning accuracy. The geographic and temporal variability of the errors will be addressed, as appropriate. Once the GNSS errors are understood, focus turns to mitigation of these errors through measurement differencing and linear measurement combinations. The motivation for these approaches will be explained in the context of trying to resolve the carrier phase ambiguities. To this end, ambiguity resolution strategies in the position and ambiguity domains are discussed. Mathematical formulations for the various approaches are introduced. Geometry-free ambiguity resolution is discussed along with its advantages and disadvantages relative to geometry-based approaches. The benefit of using different linear phase combinations and/or ambiguity values is presented.
The course concludes with a look at how to predict the success of the ambiguity resolution process, the role of additional frequencies and systems in ambiguity resolution, and a brief look at multiple reference station approaches. Case studies will be included in electronic format only.
Users and programmers will gain knowledge in the wide range of aspects that need to be considered when trying to achieve high positioning accuracy with GNSS.
Dr. Mark Petovello is an associate professor
in the Position, Location and Navigation
(PLAN) group in the Department of Geomatics
Engineering, University of Calgary. Since
1998 he has been involved in a variety of
navigation research areas including satellitebased
navigation, inertial and dead-reckoning
navigation, ambiguity resolution, reliability
analysis and software-based GNSS receivers.
He has extensive experience in navigation
algorithm development, implementation
and refinement, and is co-creator of several
navigation-related software packages. Dr.
Petovello has received several awards for his
research and teaching.
Dr. Jade Morton
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate to Advanced
In the past decade, high sensitivity GNSS gained increasing attention due to the need for navigation in physically and electromagnetically challenged operation environment such as urban canyon, indoors, under forest canopy, etc. This tutorial will focus on high sensitivity algorithms for stand-alone GPS receivers as there will be other sessions devoted to integrated GNSS and non-GNSS navigation sensing systems. It will provide an analysis on the fundamental constraints on GNSS receiver sensitivity limit, followed by strategies to improve the receiver sensitivity at the acquisition and tracking stage of the receiver signal processing. Extended coherent/ non-coherent integration approaches will be discussed to enhance a receiver's acquisition sensitivity. The issue of self-interference or multi-access noise is investigated and a partitioned subspace project method will be presented to demonstrate its effectiveness in mitigating the self-interference often encountered in urban environment acquisition. Finally, an analysis of the error sources in receiver tracking loop will be presented to illustrate high sensitivity tracking loop design limitations and means to overcome these limitations.
Dr. Jade Morton is a Professor in the
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at Miami University. She holds a
PhD in Electrical Engineering from Penn State
and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the
University of Michigan Space Physics Research
Laboratory. Her current research interests are
advanced GNSS receiver algorithms, ionosphere
effects on GPS performances, software defined
UWB radar for navigation, and navigation
sensor integration and applications research.
Image Aided Inertial Navigation: Design, Analysis and Alternatives
Dr. Michael J. Veth
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
This course builds upon the concepts presented in Exploiting Natural Signals for Navigation and focuses on the rapidly growing area of image and video based navigation techniques. The topics will include detailed descriptions of camera calibration and removal of image distortion, feature extraction techniques including: SIFT, SURF, FAST, and Shi-Tomasi, methods for solving the correspondence problem, and extracting navigation information including essential/fundamental matrix techniques as well as feature tracking techniques. Methods for implementing various image navigation algorithms in a multi-sensor environment using extended and unscented Kalman filters as well as particle filters are discussed and compared. Strategies for implementing these algorithms using various software products including Matlab and OpenCV are presented as well as illustrations of real-time systems. Because of the more detailed nature of this class, additional time in the syllabus will be provided for in-depth question and answer sessions as well as Matlab-based examples. Applicable references are provided for further study.
This course will be presented at an engineering level with the goal of understanding the various components and algorithms required to construct a multi-sensor image aided navigation system. The course is appropriate for engineers with experience in the navigation field with an interest in developing or generating detailed requirements for alternative navigation systems.
Dr. Michael J. Veth, Ph.D., is currently the
Deputy Director of the 46th Range Group, Eglin
Air Force Base, Florida. Previously, he served as
an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering
at the Air Force Institute of Technology.
His research focus is on applying advanced
estimation theory to combine inertial sensors
with non-traditional, bio-inspired sensors for
non-GPS navigation and control applications.
He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical
Engineering from the Air Force Institute of
Technology and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering
from Purdue University. Dr. Veth has authored
and co-authored over 40 technical articles,
presentations, and book chapters in areas relating
to computer vision, navigation, and control
theory. He is a member of the Institute of
Navigation, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a
graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School.
Prof. Richard B. Langley
Tuesday, September 18,
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
This course will introduce the concepts of GNSS positioning using measurements from a single GNSS receiver supplemented by measurements from one or more additional receivers or data in the form of corrections to measurements or higher accuracy satellite orbit and clock products to achieve positioning accuracies higher than those afforded by the standard positioning services. Techniques using both pseudorange and carrier-phase observations will be covered. Topics will include differential GPS using low-frequency radio beacon signals, satellitebased augmentation systems such as the Wide Area Augmentation System and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, post-processed carrier-phase differential positioning, real-time kinematic positioning, and precise point positioning. The algorithms and methods used by the various techniques will be overviewed with particular attention given to how the different error sources are ameliorated. Where appropriate, both GPS and GLONASS observation techniques will be covered. Links to supplementary reading material in the form of relevant GPS World Innovation columns will be provided in addition to a printed copy of the course notes.
This course will be of interest to students beginning a research career in advanced GNSS positioning and to professionals in a variety of fields wanting to know how to achieve higher positioning accuracies than those available using standard positioning services. A basic understanding of how GPS works will be sufficient for successfully undertaking this course.
Dr. Richard B. Langley is a professor in
the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics
Engineering at the University of New Brunswick
in Fredericton, Canada, where he has been
teaching and conducting research since
1981. He has a B.Sc. in applied physics from
the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. in
experimental space science from York University,
Toronto. He spent two years at MIT as a
postdoctoral student. Prof. Langley is a fellow
of The Institute of Navigation (ION), the Royal
Institute of Navigation, and the International
Association of Geodesy. He received the ION's
Johannes Kepler Award in 2007.
Kalman Filter Application to Integrated Navigation 2
Dr. Frank van Graas
Dr. James L. Farrell
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 -
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Course Level: Intermediate
Integration of GPS with an Inertial Measurement Unit (GPS/IMU) is used to illustrate the application of Kalman Filtering to integrated navigation. The course starts with a brief summary of the Kalman Filter followed by the steps required to implement the filter, including the selection of the state variables, observability, error sources, sensor bandwidth, update rate, time synchronization, lever arm, and identification of the noise processes. At the conclusion of the course, participants should be able to understand the underlying principles that lead to the successful design and implementation of Kalman filters for integrated navigation applications.
The course is designed to follow Kalman filter Applications to Integrated Navigation 1 and Inertial Navigation, and will also be of benefit to intermediate-level attendees who are familiar with filtering concepts and inertial navigation principles.
Dr. Frank van Graas is a Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. He is a Past President of The ION (1998-'99) and currently serves as The ION Treasurer. He served as the ION Executive Branch Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Space Communication and Navigation Office at NASA Headquarters during the 2008- 2009 academic year. At Ohio University, his research includes GNSS, inertial navigation, low-frequency signals, LADAR/EO/IR, surveillance and flight test. He is an ION Fellow and has received the ION's Johannes Kepler (1996), Distinguished Service (1999), Colonel Thomas L. Thurlow (2002), and the Dr. Samuel M. Burka (2010) awards.
Dr. James L. Farrell is a Fellow of The ION and
author of over 80 journal and conference manuscripts.
He authored Integrated Aircraft Navigation
(Academic Press, 1976) and GNSS Aided
Navigation and Tracking (2007). His technical
experience includes teaching appointments at
Marquette and UCLA, two years each at Minneapolis
Honeywell and Bendix-Pacific, and 31
years at Westinghouse in design, simulation,
and validation/test for modern estimation algorithms
in navigation and tracking applications,
and digital communications system design.
As President and Technical Director of VIGIL
INC. in Severna Park MD., he has continued his
teaching and consulting on inertial navigation
and tracking for private industry, DOD, and
university research. His 1.5-hr tutorial on
GPS/GNSS & Inertial Navigation is available at
www.ion.org/tutorials/.
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