Exploitable results
In the upcoming years the localisation of mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs) will become the main market driver in the area of personal navigation applications. These trends converge in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's E-911 mandate and the E-112 initiative of the European Commission that requires network carriers to provide location or geo-coding of emergency callers who are using wireless handsets.
Taken all this into account, an important step into the market for Galileo is the in-time availability of hybrid Galileo/GPS receivers in combination with cellular network positioning capability for consumer applications. This is the main idea behind the Gawain project the development of an integrated GNSS/UMTS receiver, which provides seamless indoor/outdoor navigation and communication capability, using GPS/Galileo and 3G/UMTS for mass market applications.
The same applies for the next generation of satellite navigation systems; GPS is undergoing a modernisation phase (GPS III) and the number of frequencies available to civil users is increased from one to three. The definition of Galileo foresees at least four different frequencies, some of which overlap with GPS. All of these new signal structures tend to have an increased bandwidth compared to the older standards.
The targeted applications such as combined Galileo/GPS and UMTS processing and new, advanced and highly demanding processing techniques, like indoor positioning continuously crave more processing power. The objective of Gawain was to provide a solution that combines communication with satellite navigation.
The goal of Gawain can only be reached with the capability to completely configure the processor through software ('software defined radio') and the 'reconfigurable processor' (RCP) approach. Thus, another objective here is to develop algorithms able to deal with these requirements.
A step-wise approach is applied for the receiver development starting with a software-based protoype to an integrated hardware prototype:
- Step 1: software prototype (called virtual prototype), enabling end-to-end simulations and high flexibility in algorithmic design for different signal structures
- Step 2: baseband prototype, with implemented Galileo/GPS/UMTS signal processing algorithms on a real signal processing device (FPGA)
- Step 3: integrated prototype: GALILEO/GPS+UMTS including procured and suited RF-front-ends and antennas
- Step 4: user terminal combining the integrated prototype with a suited PDA as a demonstrator of a future mobile terminal.
The test and demonstration phase for the Gawain receiver prototypes will start in spring 2006. The combined Galileo/UMTS receiver will be demonstrated in the frame of a transport application scenario. For the demonstration of the combined UMTS-GPS receiver a tourism oriented application has been selected.
It is planned to perform the Gawain tests and demonstrations in the region of Berchtesgaden/GER where currently the German Galileo test- and development environment (GATE) is being established.
Within the GAWAIN project two dedicated application areas were targeted, notably 'intelligent transport' and the 'ubiquitous tourism'. The final prototypes were tested and demonstrated based on two different appropriate scenarios, one related to the transport sector and the other one related to the field of tourism.
Besides these two wide fields of application, there are also many further areas that will benefit from the usage of such a solution, e.g. considering individuals in need of positioning and communication capabilities like rescue services, police, forest industry, military etc. This includes also new approaches on solutions for handicapped people, for instance the electronic "blind man's dog".
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