An Australian venture is building a satellite navigation system which will provide a local alternative to the US-owned Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
RMIT University is partnering with Australian air traffic management company Skykraft and microchip manufacturers in India to scale up the innovation.
Professor Suelynn Choy said the new system incorporated light-based microchip technology and the collaboration would help embed it in low Earth orbit applications.
Professor Choy said the technology was expected to enable smaller, more affordable positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities for low Earth orbit satellites that could complement both GPS and alternative navigation satellite systems.
She said developing alternative, sovereign navigation systems ensured that countries had back-up systems and were not solely reliant on external providers in the United States and Europe for critical PNT infrastructure.
“The global reliance on GPS makes entire regions vulnerable to losing positioning, navigation and timing data if the system fails.
“Australia and India have some very specific challenges and opportunities – particularly our large land mass, vast borders and primary industries relying on positioning, navigation and timing data – GPS may not be the right technology for all of these needs.”
Professor Choy said low Earth orbit satellites were easier and less expensive to launch, and allowed for more flexibility by being able to be deployed where coverage was needed most.
She said while GPS and other existing satellite navigation systems were accurate, these systems could lack resilience, struggled to function in built up environments and were vulnerable to interference.
“Low earth orbit PNT technology could deliver stronger signals that were less vulnerable to interference,” she said.
