Editorial Advisory Board: GNSS constellations and receivers

June 1, 2023  - By

Which GNSS constellations do most receivers currently use? How is that mix changing?

Ellen Hall

“Most modern commercial receivers today are moving to receive all GNSS signals: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, IRNSS and so forth. Also important, in which bands does the receiver operate, and how many channels does it have for optimum accuracy and quicker cold start? Application and location for local stability are also factors. If the operation is in India, IRNSS would be important, in Japan QZSS, and so forth.”

— Ellen Hall
Imminent Federal


Jean-Marie Sleewaegen

“The current standard in commercial receivers is to exploit the interoperability between the various GNSS signals and to make use of all satellites in view, regardless of their constellation. While the L1/E1/B1 frequency band continues to be the primary frequency in almost all GNSS systems, the legacy L2 band is gradually losing its importance as most satellites are already broadcasting more advanced signals in the L5/E5 band.”

— Jean-Marie Sleewaegen
Septentrio


Bernard Gruber

“The newest phones offered by Google and the largest manufacturers in the world — Apple, Samsung, OPPO and Vivo — support the following positioning systems: Google — Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, and other // Apple — iPhone 14: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou // Samsung — S23 and most other recent versions: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou // Xiaomi — Xiaomi 13 Pro: GPS (L1+L5), Galileo (E1+E5a), GLONASS (G1), BeiDou, NavIC (L5A-GPS supplementary positioning) // OPPO — F21: GPS, A-GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS // Vivo — Vivo X90: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, NavIC, Cell ID, Wi-Fi. // For farming, John Deere’s SF-RTK uses GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo.”

— Bernard Gruber
Northrop Grumman


Bradford W. Parkinson “All modern generation cell phones use virtually all GNSS signals. This includes GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou. In addition, they receive the correction signals, such as WAAS and EGNOS. This capability is embedded in the chips that are currently used. We are told that they have the capability to track on the order of 50 satellites at once. We expect that dual frequency is close to realization and the use of the new civil L5 signal will make cell phones even more capable.”

— Bradford W. Parkinson
Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time 

About the Author: Matteo Luccio

Matteo Luccio, GPS World’s Editor-in-Chief, possesses more than 20 years of experience as a writer and editor for GNSS and geospatial technology magazines. He began his career in the industry in 2000, serving as managing editor of GPS World and Galileo’s World, then as editor of Earth Observation Magazine and GIS Monitor. His technical articles have been published in more than 20 professional magazines, including Professional Surveyor Magazine, Apogeo Spatial and xyHt. Luccio holds a master’s degree in political science from MIT. He can be reached at mluccio@northcoastmedia.net or 541-543-0525.