Receiver-level robustness concepts for EGNSS timing services

Martti Kirkko-Jaakkola, Sarang Thombre, Salomon Honkala, Stefan Söderholm, Sanna Kaasalainen, Heidi Kuusniemi, Hein Zelle, Henk Veerman, Anders Wallin, Kjell Arne Aarmo, Juan Pablo Boyero

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    GNSS-based time transfer is utilized in various critical infrastructures as it provides important advantages which are being increasingly exploited. In this paper, we present the various implementation options for robust timing service concepts based on European GNSS (EGNSS), i.e., Galileo and EGNOS, that are expected to further foster the use of EGNSS timing; this concept can make use of the redundancy of measurements and of available GNSS constellations. The stability properties of the local oscillator, which are known to the designer, are also exploited. The algorithms are developed to account for cases where several measurement faults occur simultaneously, which is a possible scenario in land-based reception conditions. Furthermore, we derive time protection level equations to quantify the integrity of the GNSS time solution as a function of the false alarm and missed detection probabilities as well as the maximum number of simultaneous outliers to be accounted for. Some of the considered fault scenarios can only be detected but not rectified by the algorithms: in such case, holdover, i.e. processing based on the local oscillator alone, is triggered. Thus, the performance in these scenarios is dependent on the stability of the local oscillator; in this paper, the analysis is based on a low-cost temperature-compensated crystal oscillator. The effect of the robustness concepts is illustrated with a set of experiments which show that when implemented in a timing GNSS receiver, the algorithms presented can deal with failures that affect individual satellites or even an entire constellation. Local disturbances affecting the receiver can also be effectively detected. Specifying EGNSS timing as proper services along with well-defined procedures for testing receiver compliance paves the road for standardizing and certifying robust EGNSS timing receivers, which would be beneficial for many applications and in particular in safety or liability critical use cases.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation
    Subtitle of host publicationION GNSS 2017
    PublisherInstitute of Navigation ION
    Pages3353-3367
    Number of pages15
    Volume5
    ISBN (Electronic)978-151-08533-1-7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017
    MoE publication typeA4 Article in a conference publication
    Event30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation, ION GNSS 2017 - Portland, United States
    Duration: 25 Sept 201729 Sept 2017
    Conference number: 30

    Conference

    Conference30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation, ION GNSS 2017
    Abbreviated titleION GNSS 2017
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityPortland
    Period25/09/1729/09/17

    Funding

    Sarang Thombre is a Research Manager and deputy leader of the Satellite and Radio Navigation research group at the Department of Navigation and Positioning of FGI. He earned his D. Sc. (Tech) degree in April 2014 from Tampere University of Technology, Finland. He is an External Project Reviewer for the European GNSS Agency within the Horizon 2020 Galileo programme, and a member of the Board of the Nordic Institute of Navigation. His research interests are in multi-GNSS, multifrequency, and Timing receiver implementation and performance validation, interference detection, and maritime situational awareness. Heidi Kuusniemi is a Professor and Director of the Department of Navigation and Positioning at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI) and a docent (Adjunct Professor) at Aalto University and Tampere University of Technology, Finland. She received her doctoral degree from Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland, in 2005. Part of her doctoral research was conducted in the PLAN group of the Department of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada. From January to March 2017 she was a visiting scholar at the GPS laboratory of Stanford University. Juan Pablo Boyero is since 2012 working at the EC in the definition of the evolution of the Galileo and EGNOS missions. Before he worked within the Galileo System Performance area and acting both as System Prime as well as Technical Support to System Prime. He received a M.Sc. by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He has passed the course on Safety Critical Systems by the University of Oxford, UK. This research has been conducted within the project “Advanced Mission Concepts: R&D for Robust EGNSS Timing Services” funded by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG-GROW) of the European Commission.

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Receiver-level robustness concepts for EGNSS timing services'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this