We have a long history with safety critical product design and high integrity GNSS from working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop their ground reference infrastructure for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). WAAS is a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) that provides correction and integrity data for the aviation industry to navigate and land aircraft. We have delivered three generations of GNSS receivers with over two million hours of field service history for the FAA WAAS network alone. Using the experience and knowledge of designing for safety in the aviation space, we are reinventing its core technology to meet the safety and certification demands of new markets, like automotive, with stringent performance expectations.
How do we deliver high precision GNSS with added requirements of safety and integrity?
As we enter an autonomous world where vehicles drive themselves, the products and technologies in these vehicles need to be trusted. We have engaged with leading experts in the field of GNSS integrity monitoring and research to expand our deep understanding of GNSS integrity beyond aviation. Working with Stanford University and Illinois Institute of Technology, the leading experts in the field, we are analyzing the integrity case for automotive Precise Point Positioning (PPP) techniques in a phased approach.
Phase 1 of Integrity Study (2016-2017):
- Develop threat model for ground application
- Analyze algorithms for risk and protection against errors
- Develop fault tree to compute integrity risk
Phase 2 of Integrity Study (2017–2018):
- Continue to provide support and feedback to implementations of algorithms and recommendations delivered during Phase 1
- Develop threat models for ionosphere corrections and inertial navigation
- Techniques to improve GNSS integrity using Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)
The goal is to provide a safety-certified position solution that also outputs a quality indicator and provides a protection level to prevent a “hazard” scenario as illustrated below.
