PHOENIX

PPP enabled by High Accuracy Service in Open-Sky Environment for NavIgation EXcellence 

With the Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS) expected to be in-place in the next few years, the gap between large farms using the expensive high-end GNSS network-RTK (Real Time Kinematic) technology towards a ‘Digital Farm 4.0’ approach and the entry level farmer using mass-market receiver offering in best case SBAS capability can be bridged. HAS, with accuracy and precision from 10-20 cm, has to compete with RTK but has the advantage of global availability, no operations cost and no need for a communications link. Galileo HAS could be the cheap upgrade path for current SBAS users (and non-GNSS users) to better performance at lower cost, enabling many small-hold farmers to take advantage of ‘Precision Agriculture 3.0’. HAS is considered also an alternative for current RTK-users, looking for a more operational-cost effective alternative to RTK, but with similar performance. 

For most agriculture applications, Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is considered sufficient. With the low-entry barriers when using Galileo HAS-based PPP, it is expected that the huge market of small-hold farmers can be efficiently addressed. 

In this context, the PHOENIX (PPP enabled by High Accuracy Service in Open-Sky Environment for NavIgation Excellence) project aims to meet the needs of the Agriculture market providing a low cost, close to market receiver. 

The PHOENIX project aims to develop a prototype receiver using the Galileo differentiator on the E6B signal, the ‘High Accuracy service’. The HA service promotes the ‘Precise Point Positioning’ (PPP) approach, being globally available at no cost for the users. 

The prototype receiver is a close-to-market TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 7 device, designed to meet the application requirements for the large community of small-hold farmers. 

Challenge and technical solution

The main challenges addressed by PHOENIX were the major drawbacks of PPP concerning the long convergence time and having uninterrupted reception of the satellite signals as of no relevance for ‘open-sky’ agriculture applications. Thanks to Galileo HAS, using triple-frequency (E1/E5/E6), these flaws were overcome. 

To minimise development risk, time-to-market and cost, the development was based on an existing TRL6 prototype (called ‘SRX-P1’). The proper integration of the new PHOENIX prototype OEM-board in suited housing and smart antenna allowed an additional step for a close-to-market device, enabling to demonstrate the capabilities and advantages to relevant stakeholders.