Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and the European Union’s Galileo were initially deployed for defense navigation but have become essential to everyday life. The range of application of satellite- derived navigation spans numerous market segments such as science, transport, agriculture, safety and of ever-increasing importance, autonomous vehicle navigation. 

As useful as these sources of navigation are to everyday life, these systems are surprisingly vulnerable to signal degradation, elimination, jamming and spoofing. Over the past decade the United States government has become increasingly aware of the vulnerabilities of GNSS and is investing tens of millions of dollars in public and private research to find Alternative Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) solutions to augment GNSS. 

This introductory seminar will outline GNSS vulnerabilities and their impact, and outline some of the prevailing A-PNT approaches. Core to many of the A-PNT solutions is multilateration (MLAT) and hyperbolic positioning techniques. These techniques will be introduced with examples. Factors that impact the accuracy of MLAT techniques, such as Geometric Dilution Of Precision (GDP), time synchronization and noise will be outlined. One of the up-and-coming promising A-PNT techniques, “Signals Of Opportunity (SOOP)” will be introduced with example terrestrial and LEOS satellite use cases.

Bio

Serial entrepreneur Dr. Charles Barry has devoted 40 years to develop and deliver IP networking and synchronization products that have elevated the performance of top global service providers, financial trading networks, and more.

Dr. Barry, continues to put his singular vision into play as founder and CEO of Luminous Cyber Corp. Luminous Cyber applies data science to improving network performance, security, and geospatial intelligence. Most recently, Luminous Cyber Corp received SBIR funding from US Department of Energy and US Air Force for advanced network research in network analytics, synchronization and Alternative Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT).

Previously, Dr Barry played key roles at Jolata, Brilliant Telecommunications (acquired by Juniper Networks NASDAQ: JNPR), and Luminous Networks (acquired by Adtran NASDAQ: ADTN), among others.

Dr. Barry holds a Ph.D. and a MSEE from Stanford, a B.S. in Physics from MIT and has co-authored more than a dozen patents.