„Online GNSS service with scalable

positioning accuracy“

Stuttgart, 27.03. 2012

Jürgen Alberding, Alberding GmbH

Dr. Jens Wickert, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

Overview

ZIM program

• ZIM - program of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology

• Goals of the ZIM-program: – Stimulation of companies to force market oriented R&D – Transfer of R&D-results into innovative products – To strengthen the cooperation between companies and research institutes – To increase the technology transfer from institutes to companies – To encourage companies to start R&D cooperations – Improvement of the potential in companies for innovation, cooperation and

networking

– Creating and maintaining innovative jobs in the region – Getting money back from the investment in research institutes (ROI)

„Online GNSS service with scalable positioning accuracy“

• Project part 1: GFZ-Potsdam (Dr. Wickert) – „sPPP – system algorithm“ (2 employees) – 100 % financed by ZIM

• Project part 2: Alberding GmbH (J. Alberding) – „sPPP – development of a user box and service delivery“ (3 employees) − 50% financed by ZIM

• Project time frame: 01.11. 2010 – 31.03.2012

• Cooperation contract between Alberding GmbH and GFZ Potsdam

ZIM cooperation project

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum

GFZ Potsdam

The German Research Centre for Geosciences

„Helmholtz Centre Potsdam combines all solid earth science fields including geodesy, geology, geophysics, mineralogy and geochemistry, in a multi-disciplinary research centre“ (from: Homepage Helmholtz Association)

Nearly 1000 employees including 350 scientists and 100 doctoral candidates

Annual budget of 76 million Euro (90% from BMFT, 10% from Land Brandenburg)

Helmholtz-Zentren in Deutschland

Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum – GFZ

Structure GFZ-Potsdam from Homepage www.gfz-potsdam.de

ZIM-Project cooperation partner

GFZ Potsdam Section 1.1

Background: Use of GNSS satellites for Geoscience

- GNSS satellites - a powerful tool for earth observations - Monitoring of continental plates movements - Monitoring of the ice surface - Water tomography - ….

- Strength of GFZ: - Modelling (instead of eliminating) of the single GNSS error sources

- Sattelite clock and orbits - Ionospheric and tropospheric models

GFZ Potsdam Section 1.1

GFZ moves to real-time GNSS data processing:

- GITEWS – German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System

- International GNSS Service (IGS) Analysis Center - GFZ is maintaining a network of 23 globally distributed GNSS stations, an operational Data Centre and an Analysis Centre - From 2003-2007 GFZ has been the analysis coordinator within IGS - Generation and maintenance of the ITRF - Provision of precise satellite orbits, clocks and Earth rotation parameters

Alberding GmbH 1994 Founded in Leipzig (Saxony) by Jürgen Alberding

Distributor for Trimble Surveying and MGIS products in Eastern Germany (former DDR/GDR area)

2003 GNSS software developments Move from Leipzig to Schönefeld (near Berlin) Separation from the Trimble sales Start with own GNSS software developments

2007 New company name: Alberding GmbH Trademark problems with the names „EuroNav Service“ and „EuroNik“

2011 Currently 6 employees (engineers)

Alberding GmbH

Products for GNSS service providers

GNSS reference station software „EuroRef“ Generating RTCM and CMR from raw data (New: RTCM MSM) Supporting data transfer via Ntrip (Ntrip Server, Caster, Client) Web-Interface for GNSS receiver control

Real-time GNSS data handling Real-time GNSS data streaming Networking of GNSS reference stations Real-time GNSS data format conversion (i.e. raw data to RTCM or RTCA to RTCM) GNSS data management (Ntrip caster)

GNSS service monitoring tools PPP-Monitoring of GNSS reference stations coordinates Inspect RTCM for GNSS data check Ntrip caster monitoring (availability)

User access management via Ntrip caster

RTCM for Galileo (Alberding GmbH)

GNSS raw data

Standard RTCM 3 1001-1013, 1019-1020,

1029, 1032, 1033

MSM 1071-1077, 1081-1087, 1091-1097

Galileo Ephemeris 1045, 1046

MSM GLONASS Frequency Index

4011

GPS

SBAS

GLONASS

GIOVE

Galileo

L1 L2

L5

E1

E5a

E5ab

E5b

E6

M+L

A+B

B+C C/A

P(Y)

M

L I

Q

I+Q

A

B

C

A+B+C

QZSS

Source: Dr.-Ing. Georg Weber (BKG): Real-Time PPP based on CONGO and RTCM’s Multiple Signal Messages

Alberding GmbH

Products for GNSS users

GNSS monitoring software Support of multiple GNSS receiver hardware Near-online processing and RTK Web-Interface and statistics Alarming via SMS and/or E-Mail

Machine positioning using RTK receivers and tilt sensors

DGNSS processing algorithm DGNSS processing for GPS and GLONASS raw data On the mobile site and at a server (reverse) Support of low cost GNSS with raw data output

Java Ntrip Client for mobile phones Receives Ntrip via mobile internet , converts the data to RTCM and sends it to the mobile GNSS receiver

Alberding GNSS solutions

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

2008: GNSS_PPP validation (GEOkomm networks)

Partner: Alberding GmbH, GFZ, ZALF

Technical study of the basics to realize an online GNSS positioning service using the PPP approach

Practical tests on the test area of ZALF in Müncheberg (June 2008) GNSS test data processing (real-time simulation)

GFZ: PPP-Approach

Alberding: DGNSS-Approach Commercial review for a global online GNSS service using the PPP approach

Project preparation

Comparison of different GNSS receivers (scalable) Use of GNSS-receivers in different price and performance segments with a Trimble Zephyr antenna

Trimble R7 GNSS (15 T€) Septentrio AsteRx1 (1500 €) U-Blox LEA 4T (150 €)

Test area with free horizon and with obstructions (trees)

RTK - positions used as true coordinates (local base station)

DGPS - processing -> Alberding

PPP - processing -> GFZ-Potsdam Results of the tests encouraged us to continue with a following project (ZIM)

Project preparation

Why does Alberding GmbH invest money into a GNSS infrastructure project?

The new PPP (precise point positioning) approach changes the way of GNSS positioning in many applications World wide available Scalable (GNSS receiver, regional augmentation)

PPP was mainly developed and used by research organizations (i.e. GFZ) who tried to separate the GNSS errors for earth determination purposes

There is a market for world wide GNSS services and for precise positioning algorithms

There is a chance to enter this market today because the „global players“ of differential positioning (DGPS, RTK) have to start with the PPP approach

Motivation for Alberding GmbH

Why does GFZ cooperate with Alberding GmbH (SME) in the ZIM-project?

To improve the GFZ algorithms for their own scientific applications with additional stuff dedicated to the project

To develop a field proven solution i.e. for global monitoring projects

To take advantage of Alberding´s real-time communication and data handling solutions (i.e. Alberding Ntrip caster)

To follow the political strategy of technoloy transfer to commercial

companies

Motivation for GFZ

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

Precise Point Positioning (PPP)

GNSS reference stations

GNSS-satellites

EPOS-RTGeneration of correction

informationOrbit, clock, iono. UPD Internet connection

User terminal with GNSS receiver and communication unit and PPP software

INTERNET Caster

Geostationary Satellite

Correction data stream

GNSS observations

Scalable Positioning Service

Corrections to the satellite clock and orbits derived from a world wide network of GNSS reference stations (M. Ge, GFZ)

Advantages of PPP vs. differential methods

World wide positioning approach No need for local GNSS reference stations ITRF based coordinate determination

Disadvantages of PPP vs. differential methods RTK accuracy is higher (1-2 cm) RTK has faster initialization times (< 1 min.) PPP algorithms are still under development

PPP vs. DGNSS

Performance of PPP

1.) Satellite clock & orbit corrections (standard PPP)

~ 15cm positioning accuracy (2D) with 20 minutes initialization time (dual frequency GNSS receivers) 2.) Satellite clock & orbit + ionospheric corrections for

single frequency receivers and faster initialization times 3.) Satellite clock & orbit + ionospheric corrections + UPD

basic for PPP carrier phase ambiguity fixing (~ 15 min.) 4.) Sat. clock & orbit + iono + UPD + regional augmentation

additional data from regional reference stations (res.) - ambiguity fixing < 1 min. (GFZ) -> scalable service

Technical project goals

Complete PPP solution (Server & Client): Global positioning accuracy of the PPP-service < 50cm with single frequency GNSS receivers (ionospheric model)

< 10cm with dual frequency receivers (initialization time < 5 minutes)

< 5cm by solving the ambiguities

Data gap handling – no reinitialization due to data gaps up to 3 minutes (prediction)

Project milestones: Server

Server:

Availability of reliable and precise satellite clock & orbit corrections + ionospheric models + UPD in real-time (GFZ)

Improvent of the stabiliy and functionality of EPOS-RT

Integration of regional ionospheric models in real-time

Service Provider Software (Alberding)

Data distribution in real-time (Ntrip)

Data encryption using SSL-technology

User management

Conditional access to the service

Customer information, Monitoring (Alberding)

Project milestones: PPP-Client

Client

Separation of the PPP client software from the total EPOS-RT software package

Improvement of the functionality (convergence time, reliability)

Implementation of UPD´s, data gap handling

Implementation of the PPP client software in Alberding´s mobile processing solution

Mobile access to the server data (Ntrip client)

Decryption of the PPP-server data streams

Improvement and integration of the DGNSS processing and the Kalman Filter algorithm

Project milestones: Integration

PPP-Integration:

Development of a PPP user box:

GNSS receiver

GPRS modem

Processing capability (i.e. Linux board)

-> machine applications Development of a PPP-DLL

-> To run on tablet PC and PDA - integration in third party software (GIS)

-> later: PPP-App for smartphones

Products

Positioning service:

Subscriptions to the online positioning service PPP-Client licences (DLL) User box with GNSS receiver and PPP client GNSS service providers

PPP service software in modules or a complete package

Target markets

Manufacturers of machines with world wide positioning focus

Agriculture Construction Logistic

Mobile personal positioning solutions

GIS Pedestrian navigation Geocatching Military

Maritime applications

Precise off-shore positioning Governmental organizations or private companies

-> service infrastructure

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

Project status

Project period: 01.11. 2010 to 31.03. 2012

Kick-off meeting: 11.01. 2011

Project team:

GFZ Potsdam

J. Wickert (wickert@gfz-potsdam.de) J. Chen (junping.chen@gfz-potsdam.de) M. Ge (maorong.ge@gfz-potsdam.de) X. Li (lixing@gfz-potsdam.de) G. Gendt (gendt@gfz-potsdam.de) J. Dousa (jan.dousa@gfz-potsdam.de) Alberding GmbH:

J. Alberding (alberding@alberding.eu) D. Stöcker (stoecker@alberding.eu) S. Klose (klose@alberding.eu) C. Clemen (clemen@alberding.eu)

Project team 11.01. 2011

Project status

Server:

Satellite clock & orbit corrections

Integration of a regional ionospheric model and UPD – in testing

Data distribution and encryption of the correction data

User management PPP-Client:

Separation of the PPP-client from EPOS-RT package

Improvement in functionality – ongoing

Integration of the PPP client software in the mobile processing solution of Alberding GmbH – in testing Improvement of the DGNSS processing algorithm

Integration of a Kalman filter algorithm – in work

Decryption of the PPP-server data streams

Mobile access to the server data (Ntrip client)

Project status

PPP-Integration:

GNSS-PPP user box – Alberding A17

Scalable GNSS receiver (GPS L1 to GPS, GLONASS, Galileo Heading)

GPRS Modem

800 MHz Processor

Integration of the algorithm in the user box -> has to be optimised

800 MHz processor to run application software Development of a PPP-DLL - in work

PPP-App for smartphones – not started

A17

Project status

Still to do:

Successfully finishing the software developments

Server (ionospheric modelling)

PPP-Client (integration in Alberding software)

Kalman filter algorithm

PPP-DLL

Optimization of the software components as standalone programs and in combination

Intensive testing of the system performance in the field (with Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin)

Start to promote the project and the developments on conferences, trade shows, etc.

Find cooperation partners and customers for the innovative GNSS solution

ZIM-Project

Background of the project partners

Project preparation and motivation

Project goals

Status of the project

Outlook

Outlook

Precise Point Positioning (PPP) will be the dominating professional GNSS processing technique in the near future

The performance of PPP will increase by using ionospheric models, UPD and regional augmentation (RA)

Dense reference station networks like SAPOS will be used in niche markets like surveying

Future satellite systems (i.e. Galileo) and satellite signals (i.e. GPS L5) will allow faster initialization times with cheaper professional GNSS receivers

World wide operating machine manufacturers can rely on one unique service with a proven service quality

There will be a market for PPP-service, PPP-client software and system solutions

-> Alberding GmbH wants to address this market !

Thank you for your attention!

Contact address: Jürgen Alberding Alberding GmbH Lilienthalstr. 25 D-12529 Schönefeld Tel.: +49 30 6782 6060 Fax: +49 30 6782 6066 Web: www.alberding.eu E-Mail: ja@alberding.eu