NDGPS Reference Station and Integrity Monitor Architecture Modernization

Kendall Ferguson, Michael Albright, Benjamin W. Remondi, Allen Cleveland and Michael Parsons

Abstract:	The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has identified a need to re-capitalize the Reference Station (RS) and Integrity Monitor (IM) equipment used in the Nationwide Differential Global Position System (NDGPS). Commercially available off-the-shelf differential RS and IM equipment lacks the open architecture required to support long-term goals that include future system improvements such as use of new civil frequencies on L2 and L5 and realization of a higher rate NDGPS beacon data channel intended to support RTK. The first step in preparing for the future NDGPS is to port current RTCM SC-104 compatible RS and IM functionality onto an open architecture PC-based platform. To achieve this short- term goal, The XYZs of GPS, Inc. and the U. S. Coast Guard have joined in a partnership project aimed at the development of a PC-based software driven engineering prototype RS and IM. Fundamental requirements for this effort are that it be sufficiently flexible in hardware and software design to support fluid growth and exploitation of new signals and technologies as they become available, yet remain backward compatible with legacy user receivers and existing site hardware and system architecture. These three fundamental goals place an implicit adaptability requirement on the design of the replacement RS and IM. Additionally, project engineers must remain focused on sustaining the high level of quality Differential GPS service that 1.5 million legacy users have come to depend on. This paper will present a promising new hardware and software architecture for the next generation NDGPS RS and IM. This innovative approach to engineering on an open architecture PC-based platform allows the system to continue to fulfill legacy NDGPS system requirements, allows the USCG to pursue a scalable hardware re- capitalization strategy, and simplifies future implementation of Enhanced DGPS (eDGPS) system configurations.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2004) June 7 - 9, 2004 Dayton Marriott Hotel Dayton, OH
Pages:	729 - 740
Cite this article:	Ferguson, Kendall, Albright, Michael, Remondi, Benjamin W., Cleveland, Allen, Parsons, Michael, "NDGPS Reference Station and Integrity Monitor Architecture Modernization," Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2004), Dayton, OH, June 2004, pp. 729-740.
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