The GLONASS of Tomorrow Will Not Solve All The Positioning Problems of Today

­Billions of dollars are going to be spent improving and launching different GNSS systems over the next 5 years. However, some of the positioning shortcomings can be addressed by alternative location technology costing just a few dollars.

As part of the GLONASS system development Russia is keen to push ahead with its plan of putting six more satellites into orbit by Christmas 2009. The EU plans to push 30 additional satellites into operation by 2013 for the Galileo GNSS system. China launched the second satellite for its COMPASS system in March 2009 with plans to have 10 in orbit by the end of 2010, ear-marking over a trillion Yuan for the project. With all this activity, GNSS chip manufacturers are keen to design products with these systems in mind, and are fervently working towards adding multi-mode GNSS receivers to their portfolio of products.

The next three years may see the number of GNSS satellites in the sky double. However Tom Arran, a Research Analyst at IMS Research cautions that these systems will still not meet the needs of many location applications. Arran stated "The additional satellites will provide a range of benefits to multi-mode GNSS receivers including a faster time to first fix; better tracking; better accuracy; and solving some of the drifting issues with current GPS.

However, space-based positioning systems cannot solve the problem of indoor location, regardless of how many satellites are in the sky. Whilst a greater number may help in previous borderline coverage areas such as urban canyons, in building coverage is still going to be minimal."

A recent report from IMS Research looks into the leading 10 wireless technologies that can be utilised by a location engine to address these shortcomings, and forecasts how they are going to penetrate into the largest consumer portable device markets.

"One of the key report findings demonstrates that indoor positioning engines can be offered at a low price, particularly compared with the cost of a GNSS chipset. The other driving factor is that some positioning engines can be offered as a piece of software, requiring no development by the device OEM whatsoever."

"2008 saw over 20 million cellular handsets sold with indoor location engines included, demonstrating that handset OEMs are serious about augmenting GPS to make up for its failings. Unfortunately no single technology suits all the applications for indoor location, which means that hybrid location comes into play. IMS Research projects a mix of 802.11 WLAN, cellular, GPS, sensors and even IMES location technology to be used going forward."

In conclusion, given the myriad of technologies, hybrid combinations and markets vying for attention, it is difficult to identify the best approach to adopt.

Posted to the site on 22nd October 2009