Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017 - 3

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2017.178001

From the Editors of the Navigation and Positioning
Systems Special Issue
Andrew Dempster, University of New South Wales
Michael Braasch, Ohio University

Andrew Dempster

Michael Braasch

AUGUST 2017

his special issue on Navigation and Positioning Systems was proposed by the editors at an interesting time for satellite navigation. Independent satellite-based positioning systems have been developed
including Glonass by Russia, Galileo by the European Union, Beidou by China and IRNSS by India.
As the newer GNSS constellations are gradually populated, a variety of research is being conducted to
investigate performance. Multi-constellation GNSS receivers, for example, are being developed to provide
users with increased robustness.
Additionally, concerns over the vulnerability of GNSS to interference and jamming have spurred research in the area of interference detection and mitigation. Furthermore, there has been a push for the development of so-called alternative positioning, navigation and timing systems (APNT) to serve as independent
backups to satellite-based systems. The highly complementary nature of inertial navigation has ensured
that hybrid GNSS/inertial systems continue to be developed and deployed. Recent developments include
the integration of GNSS with MEMS inertial sensors in applications varying from unmanned aerial vehicle
guidance and control to smart phone navigation. At the other end of the inertial spectrum, miniature, but
highly precise (e.g., so-called 'navigation grade') inertial sensors are being developed that may eventually
replace the current generation of ring-laser gyros and fiber-optic gyro-based inertial systems.
The articles selected contribute across this range of topics, and reflect some of the hot topics in GNSS:
Safety, PPP, new signals and spoofing as well as perennial topics such as GNSS/INS integration which continues after many years to be important. The first two articles relate to aviation, with the first a study of how
some avionics systems can be better used to achieve higher safety outcomes. The second aviation article
and that following both examine the use of satellite navigation, and inertial systems together. The first article examines airborne geodesy, i.e. extremely accurate positioning using integrated techniques where slow
convergence of precise point positioning is improved by addition of inertial sensors. The following article
also uses an airborne platform (a UAV) and integrates satellite and inertial sensors with simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) techniques to good effect. The fourth article examines the best way to navigate
using inertial systems with no gyros, only accelerometers. The fifth article addresses a classic problem in
GNSS receiver design - acquisition, here applied to signals with secondary codes. Performance of existing
methods are compared for use in FPGA, and a new efficient method is proposed. The final article proposes
a new method for detecting spoofing of GNSS signals.
Positioning and navigation is a broad and rewarding area of research, and the articles in this special
issue reflect this. We commend them to you.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017