BAE Develops GPS Alternative

BAE Systems has developed a navigation system intended to complement the Global Positioning System (GPS), and which could also potentially replace the US-controlled satellite technology.

Unlike GPS and rival navigation systems under development in Russia, China and the EU, BAE Systems’ Navigation via Signals of Opportunity (Navsop) doesn’t rely on any single satellite infrastructure.

Uses existing networks

Instead, the system picks up signals from existing wireless systems, including television, radio, Wi-Fi and mobile phone networks, and uses these to gradually identify the user’s position within a few metres.

While Navsop relies on a system such as GPS initially, once it has “learned” to use other networks, it can continue to function even if GPS is jammed, disrupted, spoofed or otherwise unavailable. Under some conditions the system can even use the signals from GPS jammers to aid navigation, according to BAE Systems.

Dr Ramsey Faragher, a principal scientist from BAE Systems’ Advanced Technology Centre in Chelmsford, pointed out that in spite of European society’s dependence on GPS, it is relatively prone to disruption by natural events such as solar flares or criminals with jamming equipment.

“The potential applications of this technology are already generating huge excitement in both civilian and military circles,” Dr. Faragher said. BAE Systems did not disclose when it expects the technology to go on the market commercially.

GPS complement

Last year a military exercise was forced to stop using GPS jamming technology due to safety fears for local fishermen, illustrating the UK society’s dependence on the American technology.

The technology can operate in areas that GPS can’t reach, such as dense urban areas and deep inside buildings, and can use signals from low Earth orbit satellites and other civilian signals to function in remote areas such as the Arctic.

Uses could include aiding soldiers in remote or dense urban areas or helping unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) resist jamming attempts.

On the civilian side BAE Systems said the technology could help fire and rescue services to navigate or improve the safety of lone workers and security staff.

While the end user devices are still at the prototype stage – including an in-car system and a handheld device – the infrastructure to make Navsop work is already available, BAE Systems said.

Rival systems

The EU is separately working on the Galileo system, which is a direct counterpart to GPS, with the first two Galileo satellites launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket in French Guiana last autumn.

Earlier this year Sony revealed that its Xperia S smartphone will be able to use the Russian-based satellite navigation system GLONASS in addition to GPS.

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