This paper presents the preliminary study of a stratospheric segment within a satellite navigation system of present and future generation (GPS and Galileo) implemented by means of High Altitude and Very long Endurance (HAVE) platforms. The paper discusses a possible scenario in which the main features of the HAVE platform are exploited to define an innovative Aerial-Based Augmentation System (ABAS) for the provision of differential services. This particular local segment improves the provision of a differential navigation service. It is suited to the broadcasting of differential corrections in critical areas such as mountainous and sea regions where, to guarantee wide coverage, a large number of terrestrial reference stations would otherwise be required. The study includes a description of the proposed DGPS augmentation system, and a discussion of the system architecture and expected performance.

This paper presents the results of a research project that investigated the potential benefits of a combined Galileo/GPS navigation system. The research addressed in detail the two key required navigation performance (RNP) parameters of accuracy and integrity. The project was supported by Alcatel Space and was a contribution to the Galileo definition studies (supported by the European Community under the GALA project). The results show significant improvements in both accuracy and integrity (achievable through RAIM) when a combined constellation is used rather than Galileo alone.

This and the following paper were first presented at the RIN01 Conference held in Oxford under the auspices of the Animal Navigation Special Interest Group, April 2001.

Flight paths of homing pigeons were measured with a newly developed recorder based on GPS. The device consists of a GPS receiver board, a logging facility, an antenna, a power supply, a DC-DC converter and a casing. It has a weight of 33 grams and works reliably with a sampling rate of 1 Hz for an operating time of about three hours, providing time-indexed data on geographic positions, ground speed and altitude. The devices are fixed to the birds with a harness, and the data are downloaded when the bird is re-captured. The measured flight paths show many details : for example, initial loops flown immediately after release and large detours flown by some pigeons. Three examples of flight paths are presented from a release site 17·3 km northeast of the home loft in Frankfurt. Mean speed in flight, duration of breaks and total length of the flight path were calculated. The pigeons chose different routes and have different individual tendencies to fly loops over the village close to the release site.

An integrated GPS/INS navigation system can employ inertial velocity information to produce a more robust system. For a stand-alone GPS receiver, decreasing the receiver tracking loop bandwidth reduces the probability of losing lock in a jamming or interference environment if vehicle dynamics are low. However, reduced bandwidth increases tracking errors when dynamics are present. Beyond a certain limit, it causes a serious degradation in the dynamic tracking loop performance. Providing inertial velocity aiding to the receiver tracking loops is an effective and popular treatment to help resolve this problem. In this paper, performance of the GPS receiver tracking loops using inertial velocity aiding will be investigated. Different types of tracking loops, from 1st to 3rd order, are covered. Following the discussion of the system architecture and derivation of the related transfer functions for the tracking loops, both with and without aiding, the system performance, including transient response, steady-state error, and noise bandwidth is evaluated.

Any vehicle such as a vessel or aeroplane has three attitude parameters. These are most commonly defined as pitch, roll and heading from true north. In hydrographic surveying, determination of these parameters is essential for the correction of multi-beam echo sounder measurements. In the study on which this paper is based, two of the three parameters, the pitch and roll angles, were measured with an inexpensive IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) device. The third was calculated from GPS carrier phase measurements that were collected from two antennas on the boat. The GPS antennas depart from the vertical when they are subject to pitch and roll effects. In this case, the coordinates derived from GPS will be erroneous. Thus, if heading is to be calculated accurately, the horizontal coordinates have to be corrected for pitch and roll. This paper defines an algorithm for the purpose that enables pitch and roll angles to be measured with an accuracy of about 0·003 arcdeg and headings computed with an accuracy of about 0·010 arcdeg.

To encourage compatibility of national and global precise positioning of GPS surveys in Great Britain, Ordnance Survey is providing access at no cost to the new National GPS Network, via a website first available in June 2000. By requiring the use of this infrastructure to provide ETRS89 control station coordinates at a stated level of precision, survey clients can be assured that any commissioned survey will be precisely consistent with any other, even if the two are widely spaced in location and time. All such surveys will also be precisely consistent with the Ordnance Survey large-scale base mapping, using the precise National Grid Transformation and National Geoid Model. This is now the Ordnance Survey recommended ‘standard method’ of creating new National Grid coordinate datasets, eventually to replace completely the traditional national control networks of triangulation stations and height bench marks.

Inertial measurement technology can make a valuable contribution to the development of autonomous, sole-means Satellite Navigation Systems. The integration of inertial measurement technology and GPS can enable a significant performance improvement to the various configurations of GPS, WAAS and LAAS. This paper provides a conceptual discussion of the safety and performance benefits that inertial measurement and integration technology can bring to the satellite navigation environment.

Over the last few years, on-the-fly integer ambiguity resolution for GPS has proven to be successful over short baselines (<20 km). However, the remaining challenge has been to extend the length of the baseline between the reference station and the mobile receiver, whilst still maintaining the capability of on-the-fly resolution and true carrier-based kinematic positioning. The goal has been to achieve centimetric level positioning at ranges of over 500 km. New techniques have been developed at the University of Nottingham to allow very long baseline integer ambiguity resolution, on-the-fly. A major problem with the use of carrier phase data is that posed by cycle slips. A technique for detecting and correcting cycle slips has been developed, and its use is discussed in this paper. The new technique has been proven through a series of trials, one of which included two flights to the North Pole, performing centimetric level positioning all the way to the pole. For many years, the GD Aero-Systems Course of the Air Warfare Centre based at RAF Cranwell executed a series of equipment flight trials to the North Pole, called the ARIES Flights. In May 1996, the authors were fortunate to take part in both flights, via Iceland and Greenland, to the North Pole. Based on reference stations at Thule Air Base, integer ambiguity resolution was accomplished, on-the-fly, and centimetric level navigation maintained throughout the flights. Earlier trials detailed in the paper demonstrate that the technique can resolve integer ambiguities on-the-fly within a few seconds over a baseline length of approximately 134 km, resulting in an accuracy of 12 cm. The majority of the residual error source for this being the ionosphere.