Satellite positioning improvements evaluated in Australasia

Satellite positioning is a major component of many connected and automated vehicle applications, especially needed for autonomous vehicles (AVs).

It’s usually known as GPS (global positioning system), or GNSS (global navigation satellite system), but the accuracy of such systems in Australia and New Zealand is not as good as it could be.

Improved positioning services, such as satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), are midway through a two-year evaluation by the New Zealand and Australian governments.

Initially, both governments considered the several hundred million dollars in cost of developing and operating SBAS outweighed any benefits.

But now Australia is providing A$12 million and New Zealand A$2m towards the two-year trial due to finish in June 2019, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) positioning and resilience group manager Graeme Blick told ITS NZ’s “T-Tech” conference in Auckland on March 19 and 20.

More than 30 projects have been commissioned to demonstrate the potential of SBAS technology across various sectors, including road, rail, aviation and maritime transportation, agriculture and construction.

Blick says the study will determine whether a business case can be established to invest further in a fully operational system.

He says GPS (GNSS) is accurate to within about 10 metres, whereas SBAS improves the accuracy, integrity and availability of satellite information, bringing accuracy down to a metre or less.

One reason for the trials is the increased technical componentry in new vehicles which would utilise such information, including mapping and improving safety.

“If someone is in the wrong lane on the motorway or the wrong side of the road they can be warned.”

Blick says many other countries already have similar well-developed systems, such as the Galileo global navigation satellite system in Europe, which vehicles may be tailored for.

He says SBAS can be used to better chart harbours and ship locations, improving navigational efficiency.

Train companies can also use it to determine what track a train is on and improve services.