Project Trains Next Generation of Scientists and Engineers to Counter Solar Threats to Satellite Navigation
April 4, 2011
One of the major threats to our ever-increasing dependence on GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) comes from the sun. Solar-related phenomena and their effect on the Earth’s ionosphere, such as ionospheric scintillation, can be very disruptive, with serious consequential effects.
As we approach the next solar maximum in 2013, when ionospheric effects will be at their greatest, a network of internationally renowned experts, led by the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) at The University of Nottingham, are joining forces to help protect society from the effects of solar-related phenomena on GNSS signals. These experts will be training a new generation of young researchers as well as developing new research programs in the field of ionospheric perturbations and their mitigation.
At worst, solar outbursts can black out satellite signals altogether. They can also create positioning errors and rapid signal fading. These intermittent problems can affect all GNSS users including mission-critical and high-precision applications for air, rail, and marine transport, and even autonomous machinery in areas such as agriculture.
Testimony to the damaging effects of ionospheric interference were the serious service interruption and degradation caused by the so-called “Halloween storm” event that took place in October and November 2003, when one of the most intense solar flares ever was recorded: companies delayed high-precision land surveying, postponed airborne and marine surveys, cancelled drilling operations, and resorted to backup systems and commercial aircraft were unable to use GNSS-based systems for precision approaches.
TRANSMIT — Training Research and Applications Network to Support the Mitigation of Ionospheric Threats — is the first project of its kind in Europe. It is made up of a consortium of leading universities, research centers, and industry across Europe and as far afield as Brazil and Canada.
This €4 million initiative is being funded by the European Commission (EC) through a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN). ITNs are part of the FP7 People Programme and aim to improve the career perspectives of researchers who are in the first five years of their research career in both public and private sectors.
“Europe lacks robust counter-measures to deal with these ionospheric threats," said Marcio Aquino, coordinator and senior researcher in IESSG. "TRANSMIT will succeed in its aims because of the strong expertise and resources from its exceptional set of partners, encompassing both academic excellence and top-end users — including the aerospace and satellite communications sectors, GNSS system designers, service providers, major user operators and receiver manufacturers. The EC investment in projects like this confirms the importance Europe is giving to this new and exciting research area.”
The project will place Europe in a position to compete with state-of-the-art technology already being developed in North America.
Full partners in TRANSMIT are: University of Nottingham, Politecnico di Torino, Polish Academy of Sciences, Technische Universitaet Berlin, University of Bath, University of Nova Gorica, University of Zagreb, German Aerospace Center, IEEA SARL, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. Associate partners in TRANSMIT are: AXIO-NET GmbH, Consiglio Nazionale di Geometri e Geometri Laureati, EISCAT Scientific Association, Fugro Intersite B.V., International Center for Theoretical Physics, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, National Council of Researches, Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., Pildo Consulting S.L., Septentrio N.V., Spirent Communications plc, Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A, University of Leicester, University of New Brunswick, Sao Paulo State University Presidente Prudente.
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