National PNT Architecture - Interim Results

Shawn M. Brennan and Karen Van Dyke

Abstract:	The purpose of the National Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Architecture effort is to help guide future PNT system-of-systems investment and implementation decisions. The objective is to provide more effective and efficient PNT capabilities focused on the 2025 timeframe and an evolutionary path for government-provided PNT systems and services. U.S. Space-Based PNT Policy states that the U.S. must continue to improve and maintain GPS, augmentations to GPS, and back-up capabilities to meet growing national, homeland, and economic security needs. PNT touches almost every aspect of people´s lives today. PNT is essential for military and civilian applications ranging from the Department of Defense´s (DoD) network centric and precision operations to the transportation and telecommunications sectors, improving efficiency, increasing safety, and being more productive. However, the extent of dependence on systems such as GPS, or possible alternate systems for PNT, is not explicitly understood. Absence of an approved PNT architecture can result in uncoordinated research efforts, lack of clear developmental paths, potentially wasteful procurements and inefficient deployment of PNT resources. For example, possible alternatives or improvements to GPS to avoid single point failures have not always been considered from an enterprise perspective. In January 2006, the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee directed the National Space-Based PNT Coordination Office to initiate an effort with the National Security Space Office (NSSO) to develop a national PNT architecture. This effort is being conducted in conjunction with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (OASD(NII)) and the U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to represent the military and civil communities respectively. The national PNT architecture effort is evaluating alternative future mixes of global (space and non spacebased) and regional PNT solutions, PNT augmentations, and autonomous PNT capabilities to address priorities identified in the DoD PNT Joint Capabilities Document (JCD) and civil equivalents. The results will support future decisions of bodies such as the DoD PNT and Civil Pos/Nav Executive Committees, as well as the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee (EXCOM). This paper will describe the data gathering, concept development and analysis and assessment phases of this project that will provide its architecture recommendations in the July 2007 timeframe.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2007) April 23 - 25, 2007 Royal Sonesta Hotel Cambridge, MA
Pages:	614 - 623
Cite this article:	Brennan, Shawn M., Van Dyke, Karen, "National PNT Architecture - Interim Results," Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2007), Cambridge, MA, April 2007, pp. 614-623.
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