ASSESSMENT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR FUTURE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS IN CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

The objective of this study was to assess the potential of emerging technologies for future navigation systems in the transportation sector during the next 25 years. The report is organized in four parts, as follows: (I) Navigation Requirements, Systems and Technologies; (II) Assessment of Enabling Technologies; (III) Assessment of Navigation Technologies; and (IV) Synthesis of Emerging Technologies. Part I opens with a description of the Canadian transportation environment so vital to the understanding of the unique navigation problems (Chapter 1). Discussed in Chapter 2 are the navigation requirements for the land, marine and air modes. The current navigation systems, themselves, are overviewed with the idea that they would be matched with the requirements, so that needs could be identified (Chapter 3). These needs would then be borne in mind when searching and assessing emerging technologies. As a closing section to Part I, and the setting of the stage for Parts II and III, technological developments are overviewed in Chapter 4. This is a key chapter as it identifies that we are in the midst of a technological surge which is part of the first wave of the information revolution. The prognosis for the future is bright especially for solving those problems involving navigation. In Part II the first of two groupings of technologies is assessed, namely that of enabling technologies. Enabling technologies are those that will make the development of new navigation systems possible. They are: RF technology (Chapter 5); time and frequency standards (Chapter 6); computer technology (Chapter 7); and communication technologies (Chapter 8). Part III consists of the second grouping of technologies, that of navigation technologies, proper. They are naturally grouped into inertial technology (Chapter 9); terrestrial navigation technologies (Chapter 10) which are essentially RF based, hyperbolic systems; satellite based systems (Chapter 11) which are of two main types - navigation and radio determination satellite service (RDSS); and data base, maps and charts (Chapter 12) which are vital to navigation in all three modes. The presence of the latter technology exemplifies the trend of the convergence and horizontal integration of technologies in the solution of navigation problems. Part IV contains a synthesis of the emerging technologies (Chapter 13) for two sub-systems - the positioning sub-system, and position reporting, dispatching, and route guidance sub-system. Scenarios for the future for the three modes are given in the closing part of Chapter 13. Conclusions arising from the assessment, and recommendations on a Canadian navigation research and development plan are given in Chapter 14.