A conventional Differential GPS (DGPS) techniques-based velocity and acceleration method (named here as ‘DVA’) may be difficult to implement in the Antarctic as there is a sparse distribution of reference stations over Antarctica. Thus, in order to overcome the baseline limitations and to obtain highly accurate and reliable velocity and acceleration estimates for airborne gravimetry, a network-based velocity and acceleration determination approach (named here as ‘NVA’), which introduces a wide network of stations and is independent of precise clock information, is applied. Here its performance for velocity and acceleration determination is fully exploited by using Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou observations. Additionally, a standalone receiver-based method named ‘SVA’, which requires precise clock information, is also implemented for comparison. During static tests and a flight experiment over Antarctica, it was found that the NVA method yields more robust results than the SVA and DVA methods when applied to a wide area network. Moreover, the addition of GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou systems can increase the accuracy of velocity and acceleration estimates by 39% and 43% with NVA compared to a GPS-only solution.

With the evolving Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) landscape, the International GNSS Service (IGS) has started the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) to produce precise products for new generation systems. Various analysis centres are working on the estimation of precise orbits, clocks and bias for Galileo, Beidou and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) satellites. However, at the moment these products can only be used for post-processing applications. Indeed, the IGS Real-Time service only broadcasts Global Positioning System (GPS) and Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) corrections. In this research, a simulator of multi-GNSS observations and real-time precise products has been developed to analyse the performance of GPS-only, Galileo-only and GPS plus Galileo Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The error models in the simulated orbits and clocks were based on the difference between the GPS Real-Time and the Final products. Multiple scenarios were analysed, considering different signals combined in the Ionosphere Free linear combination. Results in a simulated open area environment show better performance of the Galileo-only case over the GPS-only case. Indeed, up 33% and 29% of improvement, respectively, in the accuracy level and convergence time can be observed when using the full Galileo constellation compared to GPS. The dual constellation case provides good improvements, in particular in the convergence time (47% faster than GPS). This paper will also consider the impact of different linear combinations of the Galileo signals, and the potential of the E5 Alternative Binary Offset Carrier (AltBOC) signal. Even though it is significantly more precise than E5a, the PPP performance obtained with the Galileo E1-E5a combination is either better or similar to the one with Galileo E1-E5. The reason for this inconsistency was found in the use of the ionosphere free combination with E1. Finally, alternative methods of ionosphere error mitigation are considered in order to ensure the best possible positioning performance from the Galileo E5 signal in multi-frequency PPP.

Real-time Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has been evolved as a cost-effective technique for highly precise maritime positioning. For a long period, maritime PPP technology has mainly relied on the Global Positioning System (GPS). With the revitalisation of GLONASS and the emerging BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS), it is now feasible to investigate real-time navigation performance of multi-constellation maritime PPP with GPS, BDS and GLONASS. In this contribution, we focus on maritime PPP performance using real world maritime kinematic data and real-time satellite correction products. The results show that BDS has lower position accuracy and slower convergence time than GPS. The BDS and GPS combination has the best performance among the dual-constellation configurations. Meanwhile, the integration of BDS, GLONASS and GPS significantly improves the position accuracy and the convergence time. Some outliers in the single constellation configuration can be mitigated when multi-constellation observations are utilised.

Maritime accident statistics reveal that ship collisions are among the most frequent and severe accidents. The same statistics indicate that most of them are caused by human error, mainly due to breaches of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) and to the lack of communication between ships. There are also special situations where there is some ambiguity in the application of the COLREGs. In such occasions, and if there is no communication between the ships involved, compliance with the Rules may still end up in a collision. This article brings a new approach to Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) and presents the earliest stages in the development of safety functions for the reduction of ship-to-ship collision risk on the high seas. These functions will help the concerned ships achieve coordinated compliance with the COLREGs. Functional safety standards are applied and, in their implementation, real, accessible electronic programmable systems (hardware and software) will be used.

Modern ship simulators enable simulations of reality using available environment and ship models. When choosing a specific vessel from a catalogue, however, it is not always immediately apparent as to how true a simulation is to the original vessel. Its makers are required only to have software certificates, which does not ensure the exact modelling of a ship in the simulation. This paper presents research in continuation of previous work presenting a general methodology for the evaluation of the degree of accuracy of a simulated ship model compared to its real-world counterpart. In this paper, the results are shown of a comparative analysis based on actual measurements with the use of one of the methods of multi-criteria analysis. Furthermore, the methodology for the construction of ship models is presented. The paper concludes with a test verifying the accuracy of the assumptions.

Radiolocation systems for aviation based on Multi-Lateration (MLAT) typically use a set of synchronised ground sensors to receive radio signals broadcast by onboard transmitters. In most cases, the sensor synchronisation in Wide Area Multi-Lateration Systems (WAM) is provided by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. However, in the case of synchronisation failure, there is still a possibility to estimate the coordinates of the tracked aircraft by using the measurements of the time of arrival taken by non-synchronised sensors. The article presents the principle of operation and equations for calculating the coordinates of an aircraft in an asynchronous multi-lateration system, together with the results of a computer simulation allowing comparison of the accuracy of position estimation between the asynchronous and the typical, synchronous MLAT. This paper contains also some comments on the required stability of the clock source for the sensors working in an asynchronous MLAT system.

The accuracy and fault tolerance of filters are directly affected by the filter architecture and algorithm, thus influencing navigation performance. The chi square detection used in the conventional reset federated filter is not sensitive to soft faults, and it is easy to cause the health subsystem to be polluted through information sharing. It is a challenge to design an adaptive reset federated filter to improve the performance of the navigation system. Therefore, taking the Strapdown Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System/Celestial Navigation System/Synthetic Aperture Radar (SINS/GPS/CNS/SAR) integrated navigation system as an example, an adaptive federated filter architecture for vector-formed information sharing without a fault isolation module is designed in this paper. The proposed method uses the two-state chi square detection algorithm to calculate the parameters corresponding to each state, making the state with higher accuracy obtain a greater information distribution coefficient. In addition, according to the value of vector-formed information sharing, an adaptive coefficient of measurement noise is designed. This improves the adaptability of the navigation system to soft faults. Simulation results show that the accuracy of the proposed algorithm has the same performance compared with the conventional method under normal circumstances. When the sensor has a soft fault, the adaptive federated filter algorithm proposed in this paper can adaptively adjust the distribution coefficients, eliminate the influence of the fault information and improve the precision of the navigation system. The approach described in this paper can be used in multi-sensor integrated navigation. It will have better performance in engineering applications.

The Carrier-Phase (CP) technique used in the Global Positioning System (GPS) has proved to be a useful spatial tool for remote precise time transfer. Galileo is a Global Navigation Satellite System like GPS. However, currently, given the low number of satellites at any one observation epoch, Galileo's accuracy and continuity of time transfer leave much to be desired. To achieve better performance of time transfer for Galileo, this study has developed a new approach for Galileo CP time transfer, using prior constraint information such as precise coordinates and troposphere zenith delay constraints. The new approach was applied for precise time transfer in real-time mode and post-processed mode for short baseline and long baseline observations. For the short baseline time link in real-time mode, compared with the standard Galileo CP, the standard deviation improved by 51·4% for the troposphere zenith delay constraint, 47·6% for the station coordinates constraint, and 49·5% when considering both constraints simultaneously. At a 10,000 s time interval, in comparison to the standard CP, the three constraint approaches show stable results as well as improvements of nearly an order of magnitude. In post-processed mode, the constraint approach for Galileo time transfer showed little improvement compared to the standard CP technique for both the short baseline and long baseline time links.

A new unambiguous tracking technique based on combined correlation functions for sine Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) signals is proposed in this paper. The key to this method is to exploit two types of local reference signals: the BOC signal and a linear combination of a series of BOC signals with different delays. They are both correlated with the received signals. Then, a correlation function without any positive side peaks is obtained by multiplying the two correlation results to make tracking completely unambiguous. Theoretical analysis and simulation in the tracking stage show that the proposed method has the best code tracking accuracy among the method tracking BOC signals like Binary Phase-Shift Keying signals (BPSK-LIKE), the Pseudo correlation function based Unambiguous Delay Lock Loop (PUDLL), Symmetrical Pulse Ambiguity Removing (SPAR) technique, the method proposed by Shen Feng (SF) and the two methods proposed by Yan Tao (YT-V1 and YT-V2). In multipath environments, the proposed method has the best anti-multipath performance of all the tracking methods mentioned above. In conclusion, the proposed method can completely eliminate ambiguity and has significant performance advantages compared with the methods mentioned above.

X-ray Pulsar Navigation (XPNAV) uses the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) of the pulsar signal between the spacecraft and Solar System Barycentre (SSB) to determine position. In this paper, a novel method to improve the performance of XPNAV via exploiting the pulsar position vector is proposed. First, the field of view of the collimator is utilised to find the pulsar orientation direction. Then, a searching strategy based on the modified Powell method under given coordinate frames is proposed. We also mathematically prove the existence of the extreme value of the searching strategy. Subsequently, an observation model based on the pulsar radiation vector is presented and applied to formulate the observation function together with pulsar time transfer function. Finally, an Adaptive Divided Difference Filter (ADDF) algorithm is introduced to iteratively estimate the position and velocity of the spacecraft. Numerical simulations show that the vector searching method is feasible and the pulsar radiation direction can improve the navigation performance by 75%. The simulation results also show that the ADDF performs better than Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF) and DDF in position estimation.

Conventional visual ship tracking methods employ single and shallow features for the ship tracking task, which may fail when a ship presents a different appearance and shape in maritime surveillance videos. To overcome this difficulty, we propose to employ a multi-view learning algorithm to extract a highly coupled and robust ship descriptor from multiple distinct ship feature sets. First, we explore multiple distinct ship feature sets consisting of a Laplacian-of-Gaussian (LoG) descriptor, a Local Binary Patterns (LBP) descriptor, a Gabor filter, a Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) descriptor and a Canny descriptor, which present geometry structure, texture and contour information, and more. Then, we propose a framework for integrating a multi-view learning algorithm and a sparse representation method to track ships efficiently and effectively. Finally, our framework is evaluated in four typical maritime surveillance scenarios. The experimental results show that the proposed framework outperforms the conventional and typical ship tracking methods.

A new acoustic positioning method for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) that uses a single underwater hydrophone is proposed in this paper to solve problems of Long Baseline (LBL) array laying and communication synchronisation problems among all hydrophones in the traditional method. The proposed system comprises a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS), a single hydrophone installed at the bottom of the AUV and a single underwater sound source that emits signals periodically. A matrix of several virtual hydrophones is formed with the movement of the AUV. In every virtual LBL window, the time difference from the transmitted sound source to each virtual hydrophone is obtained by means of a Smooth Coherent Transformation (SCOT) weighting cross-correlation in the frequency domain. Then, the recent location of the AUV can be calculated. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method can effectively compensate for the position error of SINS. Thus, the positioning accuracy can be confined to 2 m, and the method achieves good applicability. Compared with traditional underwater acoustic positioning systems, the proposed method can provide great convenience in engineering implementation and can reduce costs.

An H∞ controller combined with an Artificial Potential Field Method (APFM) was applied to seabed navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), aimed particularly at obstacle avoidance and bottom-following operations in the vertical plane. Depth control and altitude control prevented the AUV from colliding with the sea bottom or with obstacles and prevented the AUV from diving beyond its maximum depth limit when bottom following. Simulation and laboratory trials with various seabed contours indicated that with the H∞ controller, the AUV was able to safely reach appointed destinations without collisions. Tests also showed that the H∞ controller was robust and suppressed interference, hence ensuring the precision of its navigation control. The proposed H∞ controller combined with the APFM has thus been proved to be both feasible and effective.

A high-precision line-of-sight extraction technique is essential for autonomous optical navigation during the Mars approach phase. To support future Mars exploration missions, an optical image simulation system is a necessary ground verification facility for Mars image generation and line-of-sight extraction algorithm tests. In this paper, an optical image generation procedure is first developed according to projection relationships, reference flight profiles and camera parameters. Next, a hybrid image processing and subpixel-level line-of-sight extraction algorithm is proposed through modification of moment-based sub-pixel edge detection and improvement of direct least-square fitting approaches. Finally, an optical image simulation system is established, and the experimental results show that the proposed procedure can effectively simulate the optical image in the field-of-view of a Mars spacecraft, and the hybrid extraction algorithm can obtain high-precision Mars centroid information.