WA researchers improve SatNav accuracy

Mine applications

Soon... one receiver that can mix signals from multiple satellite systems?

Professor Teunissen indicated the concept had already been tested at an undisclosed open pit mine, using a combination of Compass/BeiDou, GPS and Galileo satellite signals.

The researchers found they were able to manoeuvre around the blocking impact of the mine's walls to improve the ability to perform positioning from within the pit.

Miners like Rio Tinto that are turning to driverless truck systems also increasingly rely on GPS technology to define and map the courses on which the vehicles move.

Being able to take advantage of more than one satellite system may not only increase the accuracy of such driverless truck movements, but also the "integrity and reliability" of the automated systems, Professor Teunissen noted.

"The redundancy in your signals increases a lot, meaning that you can have self checking systems," he said.

GNSS hotspot

By chance, Australia is well-positioned to take advantage of the ability to mix different satellite systems, Professor Teunissen said.

"We are really well located in order to take early advantage of these developments, both from a research point of view but later on also from an applications point of view," he said.

"We actually have a sort of GNSS hotspot which is going to be created here in the Asia Pacific region [almost] on top of Singapore.

"The BeiDou system, which ultimately is going to be a global system, is being developed in phases. The second stage is a regional system, and that regional system is servicing China, but because the orbits are in a figure eight type of shape, half of that is lying over Australia.

"Japan is developing its regional system, QZSS — we are taking advantage of that. And the same for the Indian system."