A next-generation satellite navigation system is being developed to overcome the limitations of existing Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS. The new system promises greater accuracy, enhanced security against jamming and spoofing, and improved indoor signal penetration.

Tyler Reid, chief technology officer and cofounder of Xona, explains the advantages of their approach: “Just because of this shorter distance, we will put down signals that will be approximately a hundred times stronger than the GPS signal,” says Tyler Reid, chief technology officer and cofounder of Xona. “That means the reach of jammers will be much smaller against our system, but we will also be able to reach deeper into indoor locations, penetrating through multiple walls.”

A Modernized Satnav for Critical Applications

As its inception in 1993, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become integral to global infrastructure. Its precise positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) signals support a wide array of applications, from guiding offshore drilling to synchronizing financial transactions and power grids.

However, GPS is vulnerable to signal disruption from various sources, including space weather, 5G interference, and readily available jamming devices. This susceptibility has become increasingly apparent, notably with the rise of drone warfare, where GPS jamming and spoofing are used to neutralize drone attacks.

“GPS has the superpower of being a ubiquitous system that works the same anywhere in the world.”

The core issue lies in the distance the signals must travel.The GPS constellation orbits approximately 12,550 miles (20,200 kilometers) above Earth, resulting in weak signals that are easily overpowered by interference. Other GNSS constellations, including Europe’s Galileo, Russia’s GLONASS, and China’s Beidou, face similar challenges due to their comparable architectures.

Xona space Systems, founded in 2019 by Reid and Brian Manning, initially aimed to enhance autonomous driving capabilities. Their vision was to create a more precise satellite navigation system that could reduce reliance on expensive sensors like high-resolution cameras and lidar, thus making autonomous vehicles more accessible. The enhanced accuracy would also enable vehicles to share positioning data, improving overall safety and coordination. Current GPS accuracy is insufficient for maintaining lane discipline and avoiding collisions, especially in dense urban environments where signals are prone to reflection and error.

AEROSPACELAB

“GPS has the superpower of being a ubiquitous system that works the same anywhere in the world,” Reid says.”But it’s a system that was designed primarily to support military missions,virtually to enable them to drop five bombs in the same bowl. But this metre-level accuracy is not enough to guide machines where they need to go and share that physical space with humans safely.”