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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TREASURE (Training REsearch and Applications network to Support the Ultimate Real time high accuracy EGNSS solution)

Teaser

Summary

TREASURE focuses on the emerging area of European GNSS (EGNSS). GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) include systems such as the established US Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS, as well as new systems like Chinaâ€™s Beidou and most importantly Europeâ€™s Galileo. Galileo is what we call EGNSS and will be fully operational in 2020, when all of its 30 satellites will be in place, in a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Galileo will provide data of unprecedented accuracy and a guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control.

GNSS have a multi-billion Euro world-wide industry â€“ the EC predicts an annual global market for GNSS of â‚¬300bn by 2020. However, GPS has been the frontrunner of all these systems, dominating the market for more than two decades - EGNSS (Galileo) aims to change this unbalance. The EUâ€™s ambition for EGNSS is to strongly impact European industry and society by incentivizing the various application segments and creating jobs. It is a priority to develop this technology in Europe, and that is why the training of young scientists in this niche area is at the top of the European economic agenda.

Combining GNSS systems to operate together is known as multi-GNSS, which is key to provide instantaneous, high accuracy positioning anywhere in the world. Although GNSS is routinely used in smartphones and in-car navigation with an accuracy of a few meters, it can deliver centimetres in real time if advanced techniques are employed in a multi-GNSS approach. This is the focus of TREASURE, in a bid to boost the use of Galileo worldwide in support of a range of applications and to inspire new ones. Although Galileo will rival GPS, it will also be interoperable with it, as well as with Beidou and GLONASS. The development of EGNSS and its integration with these other satellite systems is key for Europeâ€™s competitiveness in this market, therefore the EUâ€™s interest in funding projects like TREASURE.

An example of a remarkable market is the global Agri-Tech field. By 2025, the worldâ€™s population will reach 9 billion people, a surge in growth that presents a unique challenge â€“ global food production must increase by 70% to feed the world. Precision agriculture relies on GNSS to address this challenge, giving farmers access to real-time precise data gathering and analysis, maximising production, reducing costs and minimising environmental impact. Precision agriculture needs instantaneous positioning accuracy of just a couple of centimetres. Another area of interest is high accuracy positioning for offshore operations, such as seabed exploration, tide and current estimation, and oil exploration/production, where demands are constantly growing.

TREASURE overall research objective is to develop, validate and implement new models that can advance the state of the art in real time high accuracy GNSS positioning. The focus is on two existing GNSS techniques known as PPP (Precise Point Positioning) and RTK (Real Time Kinematic), which currently mostly use GPS and GLONASS. TREASURE aims to enable and enhance the use of Galileo within this context. Some of TREASURE industrial partners already offer services that exploit these techniques, but the expectation is that both techniques will potentially meet future real-time high accuracy positioning demands when Galileo is fully integrated, and this is where TREASURE aims to make a significant and timely contribution.

Work performed

TREASURE involves 13 research fellows, each in charge of an individual sub-project, coordinated through dedicated Work Packages (WPs). In TREASURE we are studying and modelling all the errors that degrade GNSS positioning accuracy and incorporating these models into specialised high accuracy positioning techniques such as PPP and RTK. Significant progress was obtained in all fronts of the research through the 13 coordinated projects, carried out at PhD level by the fellows. Just to mention one example, a key aspect of the research is to mitigate the effects of the atmosphere, in particular related to space weather, which can often create impairing conditions in the atmosphereâ€™s upper, ionised layer, the ionosphere. These effects disturb satellite signal propagation, vastly reducing satellite communication and positioning accuracy. Progress in this area has been achieved in TREASURE by improving existing forecasting algorithms and by suitably tweaking the use of a specialised tomographic software. Concurrently, regarding the lower, neutral layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, a new statistical testing approach has been implemented to counter the effect of severe terrestrial weather that can also pose a major threat to high accuracy GNSS positioning. Achievements in the other inter-related research areas have also been significant, including the initial development of novel positioning algorithms that take advantage of the new modelling cited above. Also, to demonstrate the TREASURE vision and its market prospects, fellows are developing a conceptual prototype of a service that can offer the enhanced real-time high accuracy positioning that we aim to achieve, desperately needed by markets such in the Agri-Tech and offshore operations, and potentially many others that will become apparent as the project evolves. Results have been disseminated in peer reviewed journal papers, as well as in conferences. The project successfully organised two seasonal schools and one workshop open to the community.

Final results

The initial impact of the action so far has been very positive, with comprehensive networking and transfer of knowledge. TREASUREâ€™s cohort based training is a highlight of the project and will continue strong. Through their constant interaction and joint participation in the project workshops and summer schools the TREASURE fellows have been able to design and develop their research from a much wider, multidisciplinary and integrated perspective. This has been supported by the strong academic and industrial nature of the TREASURE network, including beneficiaries and associated partners contributing with secondments and enthusiastic co-supervision. Initial progress beyond the state of the art can be measured by novel approaches that are being pursued in atmospheric forecasting and modelling, satellite orbit prediction, signal tracking, interference mitigation and preparation for their integration into real-time high accuracy positioning algorithms. This is a major achievement and results from the coordinated work among the fellows. The second phase of the project will see a shift from initial, preliminary model development and integration design to the delivery of final solutions, with actual integration into positioning algorithms that will be implemented and tested in real life experiments, for validation in close collaboration with TREASURE industrial partners. Additionally, over the next two years a final and comprehensive market analysis will be completed and the conceptual prototype of a potential service will be developed. The project is on track to fulfilling its expected impact, both with regards to its research and market analysis outcomes, but more importantly in what concerns the career development of the TREASURE fellows.