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UK doing its own "GPS"

The Space Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Programme

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I can’t see anything there about what exactly is being proposed – whether it is a full constellation of orbiting satellites (highly unlikely, surely!), or a small number of geostationary ones. The latter would also replace EGNOS which is currently being denied by Brussels for LPV and which could probably be set up fairly quickly. Not many people know that geostationary ones can be used not only for SBAS (WAAS,EGNOS, etc) but for positioning too, within the signal cone; this is what the US does with its WAAS ones but the EGNOS ones don’t do it.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

How could it replace EGNOS for LPV?! Are they saying that Garmin and Avidyne will include a separate channel for British satellites?

EGTR

Each satellite, whether orbiting or geostationary, is assigned a number (PRN). A load of these have been preassigned for both types of satellites – e.g. here.

If the UK launched its own SBAS satellites (whether or not these did positioning also) they would pick up some of these currently unassigned PRNs.

What I don’t know is to what extent Garmin and Avidyne (there are no other current players in light GA navigation) and then firms like Honeywell, Collins and such for the bigger stuff have hard-coded this stuff, and would auto detect these new sats and “just work”, or would need firmware upgrades. They probably would need new firmware, even just to label the new sats meaningfully.

Obviously it is not rocket science because right here I have a £30 GPS which supports every SBAS system around the world and can track about 30 sats at the same time…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

or a small number of geostationary ones

I understand that you can only have geostationary sats over the equator.

I can’t imagine that would be much use for triangulating a position.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

Satellites?

It literally is rocket science :-)

EGLM & EGTN

Graham wrote:

Satellites?

It literally is rocket science :-)

Last Edited by Dimme at 11 Apr 09:09
ESME, ESMS

I can’t imagine that would be much use for triangulating a position.

You should be able to do it. The US gets useful position data from their WAAS satellites, apparently. You don’t need satellites “all around” you; for example right now I am getting 2m position error with an indoor antenna which is picking up sats out of about a 30 degree cone of the sky.

The website is basically a load of corporate-speak bull, just like the Galileo one (used to say “100k jobs will be created”, etc). This is a complete non-statement:

These space projects seem to attract certain types Or more likely, projects which might get nice R&D grants attract these types.

The sensible thing to do would be to do one’s own SBAS, and use the US system for positioning. The US will never be UK’s enemy. If it were to become one, to the point of denying GPS coverage to the UK and much of Europe at the same time, then GPS is the least of one’s problems.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

The sensible thing to do would be to do one’s own SBAS, and use the US system for positioning.

The sensible thing would be to work out an agreement with EGNOS.

KUZA, United States

NCYankee wrote:

Peter wrote: The sensible thing to do would be to do one’s own SBAS, and use the US system for positioning.

The sensible thing would be to work out an agreement with EGNOS.

Come on! That would be way too sensible…

EGTR

EGGNOG would be better.

EGLM & EGTN
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