United Nations/Argentina Workshop on the Applications of Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Falda Del Carmen, Argentina, 19-23 March 2018

 

Available Information

 

Overview

This Workshop will address the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) for various applications that can provide sustainable social and economic benefits, in particular for developing countries. Current and planned projects that use GNSS technology for both practical applications and scientific explorations will be presented. Cooperative efforts and international partnerships for capacity-building, training and research will be discussed.

The Workshop programme will include plenary sessions described below and also sufficient time for discussions among participants to identify the priority areas, where pilot projects should be launched and examine possible partnerships that could be established.

The main objective of the workshop is to reinforce the exchange of information between countries and scale up the capacities in the region pursuing the application of GNSS solutions.

For details, see Information Note

The Workshop will also be informed about the preparations towards UNISPACE+50, which will be held in 2018. Information about a series of high level fora: Space as a Driver for Socioeconomic Sustainable Development, highlighting the cross-sectoral impact of integrating economic, environmental, social, policy and regulatory dimensions of space in pursuance of global sustainable development, will also be presented.

UNISPACE+50

Thematic Sessions

Session 1: Current and Planned GNSS and Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems

  • Programme updates on GNSS and satellite-based augmentation systems: Global Positioning System (GPS) and Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS), GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and System of Differential Correction and Monitoring (SDCM), European Satellite Navigation System (GALILEO) and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Indian Regional Navigation System (IRNSS) and GPS Aided Geo-Augmented Navigation (GAGAN), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

Session 2: GNSS-based applications focusing on, but not limited to

  • Advances and performance benefits due to multi-sensor integration of GNSS applications in surveying and geodesy;
  • The use of GNSS for aviation, including integration of satellite navigation technology into air traffic management and airport surface navigation and guidance;
  • The use of navigation and timing systems for road, rail and engineering applications, including vehicle guidance, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, and precision farming;
  • Location Based Services: GNSS-enabled mobile phones and services, including the early warning in a hazard area;
  • Commercial applications of GNSS;
  • The use of GNSS signals for navigation and positioning of in-orbit space operations, particularly from low-Earth orbit to cis-Lunar.

Session 3: GNSS spectrum protection and intereference detection and mitigation

  • ICG activities and its role in spectrum protection and interference detection and mitigation.

Session 4: GNSS and space/atmosheric weather monitoring

  • Atmospheric monitoring (troposphere) to improve numerical weather predictions;
  • Space weather monitoring (ionosphere) for space situation awareness.

Session 5: GNSS Reference Frames/Systems and Reference Station Networks

  • Programme updates on regional and national reference frames/systems and perspectivesfor a regional cooperative mechanism;
  • International GNSS Service (IGS), the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and other initiatives, Continuesly Operating Reference Stations (CORS) network and multi-GNSS environment;
  • Geocentric Reference System for Americas (SIRGAS)

Session 6: Capacity-building, training and education in the field of GNSS

  • GNSS education opportunities at different levels/needs;
  • The strengthening of a specialized master's programmes for long-term professional education and support to PhD training and networking in GNSS;
  • GNSS education tools/open source software related to GNSS.

Objectives and Expected Outcomes

In order to strengthen the ongoing processes in the lead up to UNISPACE+50, the specific objectives of the workshop will be to:

  1. introduce GNSS and its applications to transport and communications, aviation, surveying, mapping and Earth science, management of natural resources, the environment and disasters, precision agriculture, high precision mobile application, as well as space weather effects on GNSS and dual-frequency resources;
  2. promote greater exchange of actual experiences with specific applications;
  3. encourage greater cooperation in developing partnerships and GNSS networks, in the framework of the regional reference frames;
  4. define recommendations and findings to be forwarded as a contribution to ICG and UNISPACE+50, in particular in forging partnerships to strengthen and deliver capacity-building in the use and applications of space science and technology.

The expected outcomes of the workshop are:

  1. recommendations and findings on discussed topics to be adopted by the workshop participants;
  2. preliminary agreement of cooperation between countries in the region and CORS networks;
  3. action plan addressing identified issues/concerns.

Additionally, building on past coordination and capacity-building activities, the current workshop could consider, inter alia, the following issues for recommendations to UNISPACE+50:

  • Better define pilot projects to strengthen collaboration at regional level;
  • The creation of regional networks of GNSS-related institutions, including the regional centres for space science and technology education affiliated to the United Nations;
  • Propose actions to progress in the establishment of common and uniform continental reference coordinates frames and systems;
  • Promote actions for the development of modernized national horizontal reference systems, including deformation models and vertical datums based on accurate local geoid models;
  • Propose means to build capacity in regional geodetic with a focus on GNSS data processing and the use of open geodetic software in cooperation with entities such as the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).
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