ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9705
Open Date: 01/02/2019
Closing Date: 18/03/2019 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 19.154.01
Prog. Ref.: NAVISP Element 1
Budget Ref.: E/0365-10 – NAVISP Element 1
Special Prov.: BE+DK+DE+NL+CH+GB+AT+NO+FI+CZ+RO
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Techology Domains: RF Systems, Payloads and Technologies / Radio Navigation Systems/Subsystems / Navigation System Tools
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Navigation
Department: Strategy and Programme Department
Division: NAVISP Programme Office
Contract Officer: Papaioannou, Maria
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 01/02/2019
Update Reason: Tender issue

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSes) can provide centimetre-level location accuracy worldwide under open-sky, however theysuer from signal attenuation, multi-path and phase cycle-slips in dense urban canyons or harsh rural environments. So far, no single sensor or technology can provide the desirable precise localisation in such environments under reasonable costs and aordable infrastructures. Therefore, for the navigation in these challenging environments, combining sensors (i.e. sensor-fusion) is highly beneficial. In particular, sensors commonly used to augment or replace GNSS in complex environments include Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), range sensors and vision sensors. The sensor fusion approach allows to combine advantages of dierent positioning techniques. Since each sensor/technique has its own limitations, the combined approach allows to mitigate them and provide a robust positioning solution.In most hybrid PNT systems, GNSS is rightly considered the primary source of high-accuracy positioning, including in urbanenvironments. Hence, current techniques and RD efforts rely on GNSS as the primary source of high accuracy for both absolute and relative positioning. Currently, an accuracy target of few decimeters in an urban environment seems a realistic achievement with multi-GNSS PPP or RTK capabilities. A significant RD effort is ongoing to reach this target in operational products, using carrier phasepositioning (PPP, RTK and PPP-RTK) with Integer Ambiguity Resolution (IAR).The activity focuses on developing innovative combinations of motion and position sensors with advanced signal processing techniques for GNSS signals on 3 or 4 frequencies, with the aim of enabling carrier ambiguity resolution and therefore very high accuracy positioning in challenging environments.