Overview on South American networks and questionnaire

F. Dovis and R. NotarpietroPolitecnico di Torino – Dept. of Electronics and

TelecommunicationsLucilla Alfonsi, Luca Spogli

INGV

Outline

• Introduction of Poli-TO and NavSAS group

• Some outcomes of the preliminary survey

• Call for contributions

Politecnico di Torino

• For more than 150 years, the Politecnico di Torino has been one of the most prestigious public institutions at both the International and the Italian levels concerning education, research, technological transfer and services in all sectors of architecture and engineering.– 32000 students, 28 Bsc and 32 Msc programs– 11 Departments

• The Department of Electronics and Telecommunications is the largest of Politecnico and has a good worldwide reputation for the activities in communication and signal processing

• The NavSAS people apply the communication background to the navigation and positioning field

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The NavSAS Research Group

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At present, the NavSAS is composed of 24 members, most of them owning a Ph.D. in electronics engineering

The NavSAS group believes in international cooperation and promotes exchange programs with universities and research institutes, hosting Ph. D. students and visiting researchers

The Navigation Signal Analysis and Simulation (NavSAS) research group, a joint team between Politecnico di Torino and Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB)

The NavSAS research interests

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GNSS Core Algorithms: GPS/Galileo receiver design,

prototyping, software radio technologies

GNSS Platform for Safety and Environment : safety and

liability critical applications, GPS/Galileo-based critical

infrastructures, GPS scientific applications

Higher Education: organization of a specializing Master in

Navigation and Related application. Initiative supported by the

United Nation – Office for Outer Space Affairs

Navigation, Signal Analysis and Simulation group

NavSAS tools

N-Gene is a real time software receiver for GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals

Useful as data recorder, storing raw data samples to hard disk and for post-mission analysis

Enables processing of simulated (GPS and Galileo)

SOPRANO: fully software receiver, made by a collection of routines written in C language, for GNSS signals post-processing

conceived as a lab instrument for algorithm testing and validation

Non patented; open-source and fully customizable User-friendly code structure

N-FUELS: digital navigation signals simulator MATLAB®-based GNSS signal/disturbance generator and

analysis tool for all GPS and Galileo bands physical layer signals after A/D conversion

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Higher education: MNRA

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• Specializing Master

• 1 year full-time with a final internship

• Completely in English• 117 students from 35 countries in 8 editions.

The 9th edition started in Fall 2011.

The Master in Navigation and Related Applications is a joint Specializing Master between Politecnico di Torino and ISMB. The MNRA is supported by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

AFRICA EUROPA ASIA AMERICA LATINA

OCEANIA0

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Draft competence survey

• The first task of the MIMOSA project included: – a survey of the existing ionospheric monitoring

stations/networks, with particular reference to those equipped with GNSS receivers;

– a review of the relevant literature in the area with the identification of the related scientists;

– an initial interaction with local institutions that may be interested in hosting stations, using data for scientific purposes and/or in exploiting data.

Draft competence survey

• The first task of the MIMOSA project included: – a survey of the existing ionospheric monitoring

stations/networks, with particular reference to those equipped with GNSS receivers;

– a review of the relevant literature in the area with the identification of the related scientists;

– an initial interaction with local institutions that may be interested in hosting stations, using data for scientific purposes and/or in exploiting data.

Literature review

• The review started with a collection of recent (since 2000 up to 2012) papers.

• The collection counts 59 papers describing investigations based on observations performed by GPS receivers, optical measurements (scanning photometer and all sky imager), magnetometer, ionosondes, radars and GPS Radio Occultation.

• A list of about 75 relevant scientists in the field that was used to interact with the local entities

The literature survey

• collection of information (if any) such as: – identification of the Organization and Country of

the first author; – type of Instrument used;– observation period;– observing strategy (Field of view, Cut-off Angle,

Scan/No scan, etc.); – site/location of the instrument; – type of data, product, file format and storage

Information.

The literature survey

• collection of information (if any) such as: – identification of the Organization and Country of

the first author; – type of Instrument used;– observation period;– observing strategy (Field of view, Cut-off Angle,

Scan/No scan, etc.); – site/location of the instrument; – type of data, product, file format and storage

Information.

Instrumentation

Instrumentation

The vast majority of the papers reviewed, about 53%, report observations coming from Brazil and consider mainly the monitoring of the EIA southern crest. This results mainly from the efforts of EMBRACE, the Brazilian Space weather program at INPE, which takes care of scientific and application oriented aspects of the ionospheric perturbation over South America, with particular reference to the impact on GNSS operations.

Initial Remarks on the findings

• As far as the instrumentation is concerned, the preliminary survey suggests that the distribution of the instruments over the South American continent allows for a fairly complete monitoring of the ionosphere over this region.

• Several networks are deployed, even it is not clear if all the stations are continuously operating.

• The level of sharing of the collected data is not clear, and this aspect has to be further investigated and may suggest the need for future activities in the field of an improved data management.

Call for help and contributions

• In order to “complete the picture” a contribution of everyone to support MImOSA is welcomed

– fill the competence survey form (online or printed version),

– show interest on specific project, – provide ideas in round table or by email, – provide additional publications not yet identified, – indicate details of current specific activities not known

yet…

The Questionnaire - General• Could you please describe the type of organization you are working

for? (Private company, Research Lab, University, National Institution, other)

• Is/has your company/institution involved/been involved in particular GNSS Regional Initiative(s) or other European projects related to Satellite Navigation? If Yes, could you please indicate the name of this (these) initiative(s) / project(s)?

• Do you agree to contribute/support coordination plan in your Country related to the experimental facilities in this framework (ionospheric monitoring)? If yes, please provide some details on your possible contribution.

The Questionnaire - IONOSPHERIC MODELING

• 1. Have you got relevant experience in ionospheric scientific investigation and/or modelling? If yes please specify.

• 2. Have you got relevant experience in scientific use of GNSS? If yes please specify.

Questionnaire - PROJECTS

• 1. Could you please mention national/international projects on ionospheric monitoring and/or modelling in which you have actively participated?

• What has been your contribution to such projects (theoretical/modelling, provision of data/measurements, operation of instrumentation, data analysis)?

• 3. Is your institution interested in hosting and maintaining new ionospheric GNSS receiver in the frame of agreements or projects?

• 4. Are you interested in joining future international proposals for developing ionospheric experimental and research activities in your Country?

Questionnaire – OPEN FIELDS

• RECOMMENDATIONS

• COMMENTS

TECHNICAL SURVEY (OPTIONAL) • Ionospheric monitoring: facilities and procedures • 1. Which kind of instrument(s) for ionospheric observations you

exploit/manage or is available in the facility/observatory/organisation you are working in?

• 2. Could you provide the main technical characteristics of such observing systems (type of instrument/network, location, observing strategy, geographical coverage, field of view, sample rate, etc...). Please provide a short technical description for each instrument.

• 3. Which kind of data/measurements are you collecting (input, output, data format, ...)?

• 4. What is the data management policy (open or restricted access)? Does the data provision take place through a web site or a remote access server?

TECHNICAL SURVEY (OPTIONAL)

• 5. Do you provide a user service with the data collected by your instrumentation? Does the service provision take place through a web site or a remote access server?

• 6. Which kind of instrument do you need or which changes in the instrumentation do you think are necessary in order to improve your Ionospheric observations?

• 7. Which data (coming from other instruments available in other areas) are necessary or are of interest to complete/complement your research?

Thank you in advance for your time filling in the questionnaire and for your contributions!!

Fabio Dovis- Politecnico di Torinofabio.dovis@polito.it