Glonass: Has Russia's sat-nav system come of age?

[DesiGuy]

With the Glonass satellite-navigation constellation nearly complete, Russia's plan to wean itself off the US Global Positioning System (GPS) appears to be coming to fruition.

But Moscow now says it wants the Russian system to work hand-in-hand with GPS rather than being a direct competitor.

A major Russian producer of navigation technology, KB Navis, also claims that it has developed the world's first revolutionary chipset capable of receiving signals from the GPS, Glonass and other navigation systems.

The head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said his country had chosen to go down a path of integrated compatibility with the platform operated by its former Cold War foe, as well as with the European Union's Galileo system and China's Compass network.
Glonass satellite at Baikonur Cosmodrome in December 2009 (Getty)
At least 24 Glonass satellites are required for global coverage

"We now use a two-signal receiver that supports both GPS and Glonass. For instance, in the northern latitudes getting a GPS signal is problematic - we therefore use the Russian system," Anatoly Perminov, the chief of Roscosmos, said in an exclusive interview with BBC News.

"This makes our receivers a lot more accurate and reliable.

"Moreover, we are now working towards reaching similar compatibility with Europe's Galileo and hopefully with China and India as well."

But Glonass is also vital for national security, he added, so that America does not deliberately alter or blur Russia's GPS signal - for instance, during a military conflict. One of the times such allegations surfaced was during the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008.

The Russian navigation technology may be more accurate and reliable but is it available to ordinary people, keen on finding their way around?

At first intended for army use in the late 1970s, the Glonass Global Navigation Satellite System later became a dual military and civilian project. Just like GPS, it determines an object's exact terrestrial position using satellite signals from space.

With 18 functional satellites in orbit and three more positioned to start working in the coming weeks, Glonass now covers the entire territory of Russia and more than two-thirds of the Earth. To ensure global coverage, there should be at least 24 satellites and Moscow has promised to get there by the end of 2010.


BBC News - Glonass: Has Russia's sat-nav system come of age?

 

[sparklingway]

I happen to have seen a GLONASS device and although it was pretty bulky, it was pretty sweet.

Galileo is expected to be operational by 2013 and is extremely promising. Compass is looking like yet another high on fan fare yet failed Chinese project.

Any Indian fellow willing to update me on the IRNSS?

 

[Jade]

India to build a constellation of 7 navigation satellites by 2012

K. Raghu

Bangalore: India will invest Rs1,600 crore to build a constellation of seven satellites for navigation in the subcontinent, joining countries such as the US, China and Russia that have their own systems that help in accurately giving directions for vehicles and aircraft.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, the Indian version of NAVSTAR, the US-run global positioning system, is expected to be functional by 2012.

The Indian Space Research Organisation or Isro, the country’s space agency, is building the satellites, the first of which is to be launched in 2010 on a homegrown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It will be used for surveying, telecommunications, transport, identifying disaster areas and public safety among others functions.

The Indian satellites will be placed at a higher so-called geostationary orbit to have a larger signal footprint and lower number of satellites to map the region.

“We need only a minimum number of satellites. Seven satellites will do this job,” said Madhavan Nair, secretary, department of space, and chairman, Isro.

The geostationary orbit is the space 36,000km above earth where communication satellites are parked to transmit signals.

“If you want to have a global coverage, we have to have a constellation of nearly 24 satellites which have to be going around all over the world at around 20,000km above the earth,” said Nair. NAVSTAR, originally designed for the US military, has a constellation of 24 medium earth observation satellites, orbiting around 20,200km in space.

While India’s plans are regional, China, the European Union and Russia are building systems that are as big as the US network to link every part of the globe.

India will launch three satellites of Glonass, the Russian satellite navigation system, which is partially operational, that will eventually see around two dozen satellites covering the globe by 2009.

The European Union’s satellite navigation system, Galileo, will have around 30 satellites that will circle the globe for around 12 years, but the progress of the programme is uncertain after a consortium of industries backed out in June to share risk money in the €2.4 billion or Rs13,300 crore venture. The EU parliament had hinted at funding it as a public project, but a final decision will be made by November.

“The first operational satellite will be by 2012, provided we have political consensus by this fall,” said Jeremie Godet of the European Commission at a conference on Global Navigation Satellite Systems in Bangalore on Tuesday.

China is building Compass or Beidou Satellite Navigation and positioning system with around 30 medium earth observation satellites to track the entire globe, while five geostationary satellites, three of which are in orbit, will track the country locally.

The first of the 30 medium observation satellites was launched in April, but an official of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. said a deadline has not been set for the remaining satellites. “Our programme would cost almost the same as Galileo,” said Meng Bo, vice-president of the Chinese agency.

India to build a constellation of 7 navigation satellites by 2012 - Technology - livemint.com

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/icg/2008/expert/2-3.pdf

 

[applesauce]

Compass is looking like yet another high on fan fare yet failed Chinese project.

what makes you say that, i am curious for as far as i know beidu 2 is on track currently(target 2017-18 full service) and launches have already started with currently having limited(experimental) local(china) service

 

[sparklingway]

what makes you say that, i am curious for as far as i know beidu 2 is on track currently(target 2017-18 full service) and launches have already started with currently having limited(experimental) local(china) service

I apologize if it offended you in any way.

What I was referring to was the accuracy expected from Compass and Beidou as of now. Beidou as far as I remember is currently promising only upto 10m of accuracy and it can be as worse as 20m. Obviously with increasing number of satellites and upgradation this will improve, but I was expecting something far better as other systems are performing much better.

GPS enhancements like DGPS are old as well and without going into climate errors and confidence intervals and circular error probables, I'll make some highly generalized statements.

While GPS can get as worse as 7-8m, DGPS promises errors within half a meter (if within 100km of broadcasting tower) and that is pretty slick of such an old system.

GLONASS is expecting a worst case 2.8m accuracy by 2011. Galileo is promising better coverage in dense urban areas with a meter of accuracy on its free service.

I might as well be wrong, hence you are free to correct me

 

[applesauce]

I apologize if it offended you in any way.

dont worry, i just wanted to know ur reason.

What I was referring to was the accuracy expected from Compass and Beidou as of now. Beidou as far as I remember is currently promising only upto 10m of accuracy and it can be as worse as 20m. Obviously with increasing number of satellites and upgradation this will improve, but I was expecting something far better as other systems are performing much better.

that's that stated accuracy for beidou 1, a current local service using just 4 sats. beidou 2(not built upon beidou one) is suppose to have free service of accuracy in the 0.5 to10 meters range(probably around 5-10 most of the time), restricted service accuracy is classified(heard its closer to 0.5m)

GPS enhancements like DGPS are old as well and without going into climate errors and confidence intervals and circular error probables, I'll make some highly generalized statements.

While GPS can get as worse as 7-8m, DGPS promises errors within half a meter (if within 100km of broadcasting tower) and that is pretty slick of such an old system.

GLONASS is expecting a worst case 2.8m accuracy by 2011. Galileo is promising better coverage in dense urban areas with a meter of accuracy on its free service.

I might as well be wrong, hence you are free to correct me

in the civilian market with 4 gps systems online(chinese, US, russian, EU) average person will have over 75 sats for GPS, whats important is the military signal accuracy beidou from what i have heard is supposedly pretty good in that regard thus i do not see this as any sort of a failure in the making, plus having dropped out of Galileo china must build its own or have no independent gps system which is a strategic concern.

 

[sparklingway]

in the civilian market with 4 gps systems online(chinese, US, russian, EU) average person will have over 75 sats for GPS, whats important is the military signal accuracy beidou from what i have heard is supposedly pretty good in that regard thus i do not see this as any sort of a failure in the making, plus having dropped out of Galileo china must build its own or have no independent gps system which is a strategic concern.

GPS has its higher accuracy military precision like all others as well. Galileo and GLONASS also have restricted and higher accuracy military bands. Beidou 2 obviously will have a higher accuracy military band but with Biedou 1 not delivering much, I was doubting.

Let's see how the tales unfold. I might just be completely wrong and Beidou 2 might just be a system of epic accuracy.