On February 7, 8 and 9, Australia hosted the latest IGNSS symposium, the premier event in the sector of satellite-positioning GNSS applications and innovations.

One of the sessions dealt with Australia and New Zealand’s new-generation, satellite-based, precise point positioning system, a project in which GMV is responsible for the development, deployment and installation of the processing platform in charge of generating the system’s precise corrections and integrity parameters.

The two-year project is being coordinated by Geoscience Australia; other industrial partners besides GMV include Lockheed Martin, which is providing the GEO satellite access system, and Inmarsat, which is inputting the SBAS payload of the 4F1 satellite for sending corrections to users. Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand are providing the network of reference stations that feed the processing system while, finally, CRC SI is coordinating diverse demo pilot projects as well as analyzing the system’s cost benefit.

In the session dealing with the Australian system, Lockheed Martin gave an overview of project goals, the characteristics of the services offered to the various sectors of the region plus the benefits afforded by the diverse positioning technologies used, pride of place here going to a groundbreaking, dual-frequency, multi-constellation SBAS correction service. The presentation included a demo of the system’s user terminal specifically developed by GMV to support scheduled demonstration and testing plans.

Apart from this demonstration, two additional GMV papers stressed the technical aspects and results achieved in system services, including the satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) and precise point positioning (PPP).

As well as its wide-ranging participation in Europe’s EGNOS and Galileo navigation programs, GMV has also carried out diverse SBAS and PPP promotion projects. Back in 2010 it ran an SBAS viability study in the Caribbean, Central-American and South-American region (SACCSA), including the rollout of a demonstration system. In 2012 it ran a similar feasibility study in South Africa as part of the SATSA project (SBAS Awareness and Training for South Africa). In 2016 GMV completed the first stage of the SBAS-Africa project, which set up an SBAS testing system in the south of this continent. Currently, GMV is taking part in diverse projects to demonstrate SBAS technology and bring it to wider notice in various parts of the world.

As part of its catalogue of GNSS solutions, GMV also offers real-time and post-process precise point positioning (PPP) systems. Since 2007 GMV has been contributing to the International GNSS Service (IGS), inputting its correction channel for IGS’s real-time service.