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Tuesday 24th July, 2001

GPS High Precision Positioning

H1:  -  8.30-10.30am     Fundamentals of GPS and Differential GPS - (Instructor Dr. Nick Talbot) -  Lake Hackone Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides an unlimited number of users with accurate position and time information anywhere on the earth. Users need a solid foundation in GPS so that they can adopt the most appropriate positioning technique for their needs. The following topics will be covered in the presentation:

§         three segments of GPS
§         point positioning
§         calculation of time
§         dilution of precision
§         differential GPS
§         local /wide area GPS
§         communication options
    

H2:  -  10.45-12.45pm     Real Time Kinematic Positioning (Prof Will Featherstone) -  Lake Hackone Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

This course will cover the following topics in real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning from satellite-based systems:

§         Principles (fundamental concepts, modes of operation, satellite systems, error
        sources their mitigation)

§         Equipment (basic configurations, hardware and software, communication options, what to look for when purchasing an RTK system)

§         Methods (classical, semi-kinematic and OTF techniques, practical tips, quality control and quality assurance, accuracy expectations, coordinate transformations)

§         Problems and best-practice procedures (data latency, OTF ambiguity resolution, radio communications, field calibrations, datum definition, occupation time)

§         Applications (vehicle navigation - land sea and air, topographic and hydrographic surveying, machine guidance)

§         Future developments and accuracy expectations (new satellite systems, integration with complementary sensors, long-range RTK positioning)

Course attendees may also bring RTK data or case studies to be discussed in the course.  If you intend to do this, please contact the presenter (08-9266-2734, W.Featherstone@curtin.edu.au) at least one-week before the course.

H3:  -  1.00-3.00pm      Coordinate Systems and Datums for GPS (Instructors Ramesh Govind and Jim Steed) -  Lake Hackone Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

§         The International Terrestrial Reference Frame 1992 (ITRF92)– the definitions.

§         International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000 (ITRF2000)– the definitions

§         World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84)

§         Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994 (GDA94)

§         Map Grid of Australia 1994 (MGA94)

§         Australian Geodetic Datum 1966 and 1984 (AGD66&AGD84)

§         Transformations AGD/GDA

H4:   -  3.15-5.15pm      The AUSLIG Online GPS Processing Service (Instructor Ramesh Govind)  -  Lake Hackone Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

Learn how to use the AUSLIG on-line GPS processing service.  We discuss:

§         High accuracy GPS Processing: Reference frame and modelling issues; Important sources of error; Limitations and accuracy

§         Regional and Global GPS Networks: The Australian Regional GPS Network (ARGN) and its  Data availability; International GPS Service (IGS) and its Data availability; Products

§         RINEX: Translating GPS data into RINEX

§         Submitting data to the AUSLIG Processing Service: System overview; Antenna Types; Antenna heights

§         Understanding the results: International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF); Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA)

§         Users and applications

Objective:

This series addresses the high accuracy GPS positioning concepts, and various services available to obtain high accuracy positions.

Instructors:

Dr. Nick Talbot: Senior software engineer with Trimble Navigation since 1991,involved in the development of high-precision positioning equipment. He holds 8 U.S. patents for inventions relating to GPS and has over 10 years experience lecturing in the field of satellite positioning.

Professor Will Featherstone; Department of Spatial Sciences, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, WA. D.Phil. in Geodesy from the University of Oxford. Expert in physical geodesy, satellite positioning and coordinate systems. He defined AUSGeoid98, the new national geoid model, and tests for the integrity of real-time kinematic (RTK) systems. He advises Main Roads Western Australia to set standards and best practices for RTK GPS surveys.

Ramesh Govind: is the Director of the Space Geodesy Analysis Centre in the Geodesy Program of the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) in Canberra - BSc (Surveying), Master of Surveying Science and PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Jim Steed  - Surveying degree from the University of NSW, has worked with the Commonwealth Government where he has played an important part in the introduction of Australia’s new coordinate system, the Geocentric Datum of Australia. He is currently the Director of AUSLIG’s Geodetic Information Centre.

Who should attend:

Surveyors, Engineers, Scientists and others concerned with using GPS for achieving high precision accuracies.

Tuesday 24th July,2001

New Systems and Products

G1:   -  8.30-10.30am      Galileo Developments (Instructor Andreas Schwer) -   Lake Geneva Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

Learn about the European Alternative to GPS:

§         Galileo Guidelines

§        What shall Galileo be

§         Galileo Services

§        Multimodal users

§        Galileo Master Schedule

§         Galileo Program organisation

§         Status of Galileo program

§         Galileo application requirements

§         Third countries negotiations

§         Public Private Partnership

§         Galileo Architecture

G2:  -  10.45-12.45pm      GPS Receiver Technology (Instructor RodBryant)  -   Lake Geneva Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

This course will review the fundamentals of GPS receiver design with reference to the past, present and future.  Elements of the discussion will include:

§         GPS Receiver Hardware Blocks - yesterday, today and tomorrow,

§         GPS Correlator Hardware concepts,

§         GPS Receiver Signal Processing options,

§         Navigation Filter options,

§         Carrier Smoothing Filter concepts,

§         Embedded GPS,

§         Weak Signal GPS – what is it and what are the implications of it?

The level of detail will be sufficient to provide practicing electronics and software engineers and other experienced GPS professionals with an oversight of GPS receiver technology.

G3:  -  1.00-3.00pm          Inertial Navigation Systems (Instructor Joe Elchynski)  -   Lake Geneva Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

Inertial Navigation is a very important alternative or supplement to GPS. However, its performance and operation principles are much less understood. This course gives a solid foundation in Inertial measurement so that the users can adopt the most appropriate system for their needs. The following topics will be covered in the presentation:

§         Explanation of the performance parameters of modern Inertial Measurement Units

§         Principles of operation of modern INU's (RLG, FOG, DQI and others ) incl performance

§         IMU/GPS Integration

§         Overview over vendors and their products

G4:  -  3.15-5.15pm            Pseudolites (Instructor Professor Chris Rizos)  -   Lake Geneva Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

Pseudolites are ground-based transmitters of GPS-like signals ("pseudo-satellites") that can significantly enhance the receiver-satellite geometry in circumstances where complete sky coverage is not available.  In such cases pseudo-range and carrier phase measurements on the pseudolite signals can augment the GPS observations, leading to improved accuracy and reliability of positioning results.  In principle pseudolites can even replace the GPS satellite constellation completely, making feasible indoor positioning using standard (or slightly modified) GPS receivers.  This course will:

§         introduce the pseudolite technology,

§         discuss the modelling issues associated with GPS+pseudolite systems and pseudolite-only systems,

§         describe the implementation issues,

§         discuss some of the scenarios in which such systems may be deployed, and

§         mention some of the current and future applications of pseudolite systems.

Objective

This series describes the various alternative hardware systems available for navigation, such as GPS, the European Alternative GALILEO, Inertial Navigation and Pseudolites.

Instructors

Andreas Schwer:  Head, Satellite Navigation Programmes; Daimler Chrysler Aerospace - Dornier Germany.  PhD University Stuttgart 1997.  Currently working on GALILEO System Design and Development.

Dr. Rod Bryant:  CEO and CTO of Sigtec Navigation, Director of  Sigtec Pty Ltd, worked with Auspace for 8 years in development roles associated with Satellite Engineering.  He was awarded a William Culross Prize for his Ph.D. research on the related topic of Optimal Systems For Echo-Location

Joe Elchynski:  Senior Principal Systems Engineer with Honeywell Guidance and Navigation Operations in Clearwater Florida.  15 years experience in GPS/INS navigation systems design for Military aircraft applications.

Professor Chris Rizos:  Professor School of Geomatic Engineering, University of New South Wales.  He is also leader of the Satellite Navigation and Positioning group, specialising in research on precision applications of GPS and other navigation technologies.   He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Navigation and a Fellow of the International Association of Geodesy.

What you will learn

Understanding of the technical aspects of the various navigation system technologies, performance capabilities, architecture and system design principles.

Tuesday 24th July, 2001

GPS Applications for Professionals

N1:   -  8.30 – 10.30am       DGPS After Selective Availability (Instructor Matt Higgins)  -  Lake Nyanza Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

On May 1 2000, the United States announced a decision to discontinue Selective Availability, dramatically increasing the accuracy available when using a GPS receiver in stand-alone, point positioning mode. This course will examine DGPS after Selective Availability, through issues such as:

§         What was selective availability?  

§         How did SA affect the three levels of GPS accuracy; point positioning, DGPS and GPS Surveying?  

§         How much better are these techniques with SA set to zero?

§         What is the future for DGPS?

§         What will be the impact of future system developments, such as GPS modernisation and the introduction of Galileo?

The instructor and representatives of current DGPS Service Providers will address the practical and commercial aspects of current and future DGPS practice.

N2:  -  10.45-12.45pm         Intelligent Transport Systems (Instructor Dr. Hussein Dia)  -  Lake Nyanza Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

New technologies have recently created more opportunities to address transport problems through the application of communications, electronics and computer software and hardware to all modes of transport. Collectively known as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), these technologies aim to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety, economic productivity and environmental quality by emphasising the efficient and safe use of existing transport infrastructure. This course is aimed at expanding the breadth of knowledge about the role of advanced technologies, with particular emphasis on GPS, in improving the performance of the transportation system. Participants from State road and transport authorities, local government, consultants, research organisations, public transport agencies and commercial vehicle operators will find this course useful and relevant. Some of the topics to be covered include:

§         Advanced Traffic Management Systems

§         Advanced Traveller Information Systems

§         Advanced Public Transportation Systems

§         Commercial Vehicle Operations

N3:  -  1.00-3.00pm         GPS in the Aviation Industry (Instructor Professor Brian O’Keeffe AO)  -   Lake Nyanza Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

This course gives an Overview of SatNav Operational Requirements and the Regulatory Environment.

Satnav in a Multi-sensor Environment. Elements of the discussion will include:

§         Augmentation

§         En-route and Terminal Area Operations

§         Non-precision and Precision Approaches

§         Future Developments

§         Conclusion

N4:  -  3.15-5.15pm         GNSS Augmentations (Instructor Keith McPherson)  -   Lake Nyanza Room 1st Floor, Rydges Lakeside

The course explains:

Space Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS): Status of ICAO Approval Process for SBAS; Basic Theory of Operation/Current Status of US Wide Area Augmentation System, Japanese Multi-transport Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS)

Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) Category 1: Status of ICAO Approval Process for GBAS; Theory of Operation (Precision Approach, Guided Take-off, Guided Missed Approach, Surface Movement Guidance); Test Results from Australia; Norfolk Island Installation; Commercial Availability; Potential Markets

Aircraft Based Augmentation Systems (ABAS): Types available;  Future of ABAS

Ground based Regional Augmentation System (GRAS): Status of ICAO Approval Process for GRAS; Theory of Operation (Enroute, Approaches to Airports), Test Results from Australia;  Potential Markets

Objective

The day focuses on using GPS in a variety of application environments

Instructors

Matt Higgins, Senior Surveyor, Survey Infrastructure Services, Department of Natural Resources, Queensland, Australia. Matt is Vice Chairman of FIG Commission 5 on Positioning and Measurement for the period 1998 to 2002. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of GPS World Magazine and is Queensland representative on the Geodesy Group of Australia's Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping.

Dr Hussein Dia;  MSc (Purdue) PhD (Monash) is currently with the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Dia has over 15 years of experience in public & private sector organisations in Transportation and Decision Support Systems. He currently is the Queensland Director for the ITE Australia and Newzealand Section.

Prof. Brian o’Keeffe, AO: Adjunct Professor in Communications Engineering at the University of Canberra. Earlier assignments included Special Technical Adviser to the Chief Executive of Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of the ICAO Special Committee on Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) and member of the US Government-Industry Free Flight Steering Committee. He was awarded the US Institute of Navigation’s Weems Award in 1998.

Keith McPherson:  22 years navigator in the RAAF, flight test navigator and program manager responsible for GPS testing.  Assigned to the USAF GPS Joint Program Office at Los Angeles AFB 1990-92. He is the GNSS Program Manager for Airservices Australia where he is managing the development of a new GNSS augmentation system.

Who should attend

Professionals and Engineers who need a rapid introduction to the applications of GPS in their field of work.