How to back up GNSS using 5G Broadcast terrestrial infrastructure
Start date: 15/02/2023 10:00
End date: 15/02/2023 11:30
Register for the Final Presentation of the NAVISP EL2 112 Project “Resilient PNT based on 5G broadcast”
Modern mobile technologies including 5G clearly hold the promise of original technological and business opportunities. 5G Broadcast is bringing new capabilities to the whole ecosystem while creating high spectral and energy efficiency as well as reduced costs. Hence enabling a sustainable and better-connected world. 5G Broadcast is based on 3GPP technology that is used for cellular 4G and 5G networks making a reuse of the already established broadcast deployments. This enables mobile reception of audio- visual content using a highly efficient broadcast mode. Although live video distribution is very important, 5G Broadcast is not only restricted to linear and live content distribution. In fact, for network operators and media content providers, this means a completely new range of business models are now possible for delivering content or data to large numbers of consumers and without affecting the regular cellular 5G mobile network. In relation to that, 5G Broadcast terrestrial infrastructure using broadcasting towers can play an important role in backing-up a GNSS system in case of a limited or a non-availability. As it natively provides a Free-to-Air distribution model, without SIM card subscription, the terrestrial-based 5G Broadcast solution provides the same signal to a multitude of mobile and fixed receivers simultaneously like smartphones, tablets, cars and wearables. So here, Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) can be provided with similar GNSS known accuracies, independently of the GNSS signals via providing a terrestrial back-up solution which emphasized the sovereignty of territories.
In this project, the company Rohde & Schwarz developed a demonstrator of a GNSS-backup system based on using the existing terrestrial TV/Radio transmitters by improving the synchronization between transmitters, adding special positioning reference signals, the UTC time and the transmitter locations to the signals of the 5G broadcast transmission. These transmitted signals need no longer be considered a “signal-of-opportunity” but become fully functional navigation signals.
The project was carried out in the frame of NAVISP Element 2, which is devoted to supporting competitiveness of European industries.