Future Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Techniques: A Survey

The GNSS has been considered the first choice for providing PNT services to telecommunications, power industry, and transportation applications because of its advantages of wide coverage, high accuracy, and low cost. However, the GNSS is inherently vulnerable to intended or unintended radio interference, and this threat has become more serious because of the easy availability of GNSS jammers on the market. From the robustness and safety perspectives, PNT services should not solely rely on GNSS. APNT solutions must be made available in the case of a GNSS outage. In this article, we investigate APNT solutions for aerial vehicles for which highly standardized PNT services are required to ensure secure and safe transportation, including solutions that have been proposed by the FAA in North America. We discuss the basic principle of each solution and analyze and compare their characteristics under different application scenarios. Finally, we conclude the article by predicting future trends in APNT solutions.

[1]  Yrjo Neuvo.  The Application of Digital Techniques to a VOR Signal Generator , 1973, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[2]  Juan Blanch,et al.  Satellite Navigation for Aviation in 2025 , 2012, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[3]  Per Enge,et al.  Hybrid APNT: Terrestrial Radionavigation to Support Future Aviation Needs , 2014 .

[4]  Michael Schnell,et al.  Using the future L-band communication system for navigation , 2011, 2011 Integrated Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Conference Proceedings.

[5]  Shau-Shiun Jan,et al.  Evaluation of positioning algorithms for wide area multilateration based alternative positioning navigation and timing (APNT) using 1090 MHz ADS-B signals , 2014 .

[6]  S. Lo.  Pseudolite Alternatives for Alternate Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (APNT) , 2012 .

[7]  Euiho Kim.  Investigation of APNT optimized DME/DME network using current state-of-the-art DMEs: Ground station network, accuracy, and capacity , 2012, Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium.

[8]  Euiho Kim.  A Coverage Analysis Methodology for APNT Pseudolite Ground Network , 2011 .

[9]  M. Schnell,et al.  Modeling DME interference impact on LDACS1 , 2012, 2012 Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Conference.

[10]  Werner R. Lange.  Very precise synchronization of distributed pseudolites , 2012, 2012 European Frequency and Time Forum.

[11]  Leo Eldredge,et al.  Alternative Position , Navigation , and Timing-- The Need for Robust Radionavigation , 2012 .

[12]  R. H. Wu.  Alternative terminal navigation based on modified airport multilateration system , 2012, 2012 IEEE/AIAA 31st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC).

[13]  Fabio Dovis,et al.  Support infrastructures based on high altitude platforms for navigation satellite systems , 2005, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[14]  Daniele Borio,et al.  Design of a General Pseudolite Pulsing Scheme , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[15]  A. Azoulay,et al.  Coexistence between the future aeronautical system for continental communication L-DACS and the Distance Measuring Equipment DME , 2012, 2012 IEEE First AESS European Conference on Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL).