PNT Advisory Board March 2008

Arve Dimmen
Director Maritime Safety
Norwegian Coastal Administration
 Content
GPS event Feb 26 PRN32
Implication for Maritime users

Global SBAS
And the Arctic Challenge
 PRN32
GPS satellite SVN23 was set to healthy as PRN32
on Feb 26, 2008
Some maritime AIS users noticed this immediately
Some older on-board AIS equipment stopped sending their
position etc
Some land-based Sensor nodes stopped functioning
Problem isolated to a few types of older GPS units
Northrop Grumman
Saab
Notice to Mariners issued
 Notice to Mariners
BALTIC SEA NAV WARN 019
DISTURBANCES TO THE OPERATION OF OLD GPS-EQUIPMENT HAVE BEEN
REPORTED LATELY.
THIS MAY CAUSE SHIPS AIS-TRANSPONDER TO TRANSMIT INCORRECT POSITION,
COURSE AND SPEED.
VESSELS MUST PAY ATTENTION TO THE FACTS THAT VTS AND OTHER SHORE
BASED STATIONS MAY NOT RECOGNIZE, IDENTIFY AND TRACK AFFECTED
VESSELS, BY MEANS OF AIS.
THE REPORTED MALFUNCTIONS INCLUDE:
- INCORRECT OR ABSENT POSITION FROM GPS-RECEIVER
- AIS HAS DISPLAYED VESSELS IN INCORRECT POSITION AND/OR WITH WRONG
CORSE AND SPEED.
- SHIPS BEING INVISIBLE TO AIS-RECEIVERS IN OTHER VESSELS AND FROM
SHORE BASED
STATIONS.
VESSELS ARE REQUESTED TO HAVE THEIR AIS-EQUIPMENT CHECKED BY OTHER
STATION.
 USCG NAVCEN
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/lnm/Saab_R3_AIS_prob.htm :

REPORTED GPS/AIS USER EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS INVOLVING PRN32

On February 27th, 2008 the GPS constellation increased to 32 satellites (PRN 32) thus
providing a 5% increase in satellite availability and DOP (dilution of precision) world wide. It
has come to our attention that some GPS equipmentparticularly old equipment which is
non-compliant with the GPS interface standard (IS-GPS-200)cannot recognize this
additional satellite and subsequently are unable to calculate a position (see listing below).

All GPS users are advised to monitor the operation of their GPS equipment and equipment
embedded with GPS, e.g. Automatic Identification Equipment (AIS) and to check with
manufacturers for possible fixes/solutions to effected equipment. GPS and/or AIS problems
should be reported to the USCG Navigation Center (NAVCEN) at www.navcen.uscg.gov or
directly to the USCG Navigation Information Service at 1-703.313.5900.

List of affected equipment:

SAAB R3 Class A AIS, see the SAAB website news bulletin
Northrop Grumman Sperry R3 Class A AIS
Northrop Grumman Sperry Navigation Heading Compass
 Warning from IALA
Warning from IALA (The International Association of
Lighthouse and Marine Aids to Navigation
Authorities), March 17th:

IALA has become aware of certain problems being

caused by the GPS system within some AIS
stations.
The link below provides more information.
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/lnm/Saab_R3_AIS_prob.
htm.
This is passed for your information and/or action, as
required.
 GNSS Integrity
Regional SBAS systems
WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN,
Global coverage desired
ENVISAT
 Arctic challenges SBAS
Challenge 1: Data Generation
Good GPS coverage
Good geometry for horizontal accuracy
Scarcely distributed Reference stations
Poor integrity
Two strategies:
Increase the number of reference stations
Svalbard, Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Siberia
Interchangeability between WAAS, EGNOS and
other reference station networks
 EGNOS
Coverage increased in the North
Two new reference stations implemented
Svalbard 7815N 1580E
Jan Mayen 7060N 828W
Operation Qualifications review by the end
of 2008
 Arctic challenges SBAS
Challenge 2: Data Distribution
SBAS is distributed through Geostationary
satellites
Coverage limit at approx 75 degrees North
A few Molniya-orbit satellites would overcome this
And could be used to improve vertical accuracy at high
latitudes as well
 And by the way:

The number of
satellites is
important
Terrain masking
may occur when
navigating the
Norwegian waters