The Australia and New Zealand Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) has called for organisations to participate in the recently announced satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) testbed. Through an expressions of interest process, organisations operating in Australia and New Zealand will be able to assess new and innovative positioning applications and help build the case for further investment.
CRCSI is seeking interested organisations and companies across Australia and New Zealand to test the positioning signals on the SBAS testbed. Participation is sought across a range of sectors including: agriculture, aviation, construction, maritime, resources, rail, road, spatial, utilities and consumer. The testbed has been established to demonstrate and quantify the benefits of SBAS technology in the region, particularly through the early adoption in emerging application domains.
As announced in February 2017, CRCSI partners Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand, together with global companies GMV, Inmarsat and Lockheed Martin will implement the SBAS testbed to evaluate three positioning signals for improved positioning accuracy and integrity.
The SBAS testbed provides a first step towards improving the accuracy of GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The application of SBAS technology offers a range of potential safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental benefits to many industries, including transport, agriculture, construction and resources.
The goal is for high accuracy, high integrity positioning information to be accessible anytime and anywhere across the region. CRCSI has estimated that SBAS will provide a cost-effective way to improve GPS signals from around 5m in accuracy to less than 1m.
The adoption of SBAS will bring Australia and New Zealand into line with the United States, Europe, China, Russia, India and Japan.
First transmissions of a single frequency SBAS signal are expected in June 2017, with a precise point positioning signal (PPP) available from August and the next generation dual-frequency, multi-constellation (DFMC) SBAS signal coming on-line from October. This will be the first time in the world DFMC is available for operational evaluation.
The EOI form, technical specifications, project requirements and the timeline for submission can be found at: www.crcsi.com.au/sbas.
This research is supported by a $12 million investment from the Australian Government and a further $2 million from the New Zealand Government bed as announced in February 2017.
The adoption of the SBAS technology will bring Australia and New Zealand into line with the United States, Europe, China, Russia, India and Japan who have already deployed SBAS technology and are driving new market applications at the interface of precise positioning, productivity and innovation.
Widespread adoption of improved positioning technology has been shown to have the potential to generate $73 billion in value to Australia alone by 2030.
The CRCSI expressions of interest process will close at the end of April, after which a selected number of projects will be invited to submit full proposals. The testbed trials are anticipated to run until January 2019.
