Editorial Advisory Board PNT Q&A: Receiver grades defined

We used to divide GPS receivers into consumer grade, resource grade and survey grade. Have these categories been replaced by a continuum of GNSS capabilities?

Clem Driscoll

“In the U.S. commercial telematics market, GPS remains the primary source of location data, with very little reliance on other GNSS networks. A bigger issue is the generation of cellular networks used to transmit GPS data, with 3G network sunsets pending and 5G on the horizon. As autonomous commercial vehicles become closer to a reality, multiple GNSS networks and differential techniques will become essential. These solutions are currently in development.”
Clem Driscoll
C.J. Driscoll & Associates

Greg Turetzky

“No. These categories still define important hardware distinctions (such as antenna) and required correction services that define the achievable specifications. Although they all have correlators, they have very different architectures; however, resource and survey have a blurrier line.”
Greg Turetzky
Consultant

Members of the EAB

Tony Agresta
Nearmap

Miguel Amor
Hexagon Positioning Intelligence

Thibault Bonnevie
SBG Systems

Alison Brown
NAVSYS Corporation

Ismael Colomina
GeoNumerics

Clem Driscoll
C.J. Driscoll & Associates

John Fischer
Orolia

Ellen Hall
Spirent Federal Systems

Jules McNeff
Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc.

Terry Moore
University of Nottingham

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

Jean-Marie Sleewaegen
Septentrio

Michael Swiek
GPS Alliance

Julian Thomas
Racelogic Ltd.

Greg Turetzky
Consultant