Internship Topics Draft

7/22/2019 Internship Topics Draft

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Master on Navigation and

Related Applications

10th

Edition – A.A. 2013-2014

Internship Topics

1. Simulation of Ionospheric Scintillation in GNSS Signal GenerationIrregularities in the ionosphere cause Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals to

experience fluctuations in amplitude and phase called scintillations. Simulation of GNSS

signals affected by scintillation is necessary in order to assess algorithms and mitigations

techniques in controlled scenarios. The Cornell model is a statistical model that synthesizes

equatorial ionospheric scintillation perturbations for testing carrier tracking loops. In terms of

parameters and computational expense, it’s the simplest model that faithfully retains the

scintillation properties that are relevant to carrier tracking. The student will perform tests with

Cornell model, generating GNSS signals at different levels of scintillation. In order to check thecorrect generation of the scintillation level, the signal will be tested by feeding it into a

software receiver able to measure the scintillation on GNSS signals. Once the student is

acquainted with the model, the work will focus on investigating the best way to implement

such model into the signal simulator N-FUELS available in the NavSaS laboratory.

Place: Department of Electronics and Telecommunications - Politecnico di Torino

Contacts: Fabio Dovis ([email protected]), Rodrigo Romero ([email protected])

2. Timing aspects related to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS): Use of GNSS

geodetic receivers for time transfer and validation of the timing information broadcast in

the Galileo navigation message.

This topic will address the use of GNSS receivers for remote comparison of atomic clocks and

time scales; it will include application to real measurements generated by GNSS (GPS,

GLONASS, GALILEO and BEIDOU) receivers available at INRIM "Radionavigation" and

"Time and Frequency" Laboratories, along with IGS/MGEX precise products and

standalone/network algorithms (e.g PPP, Precise Point Positioning).

In addition, as Galileo provides UTC Time and GGTO dissemination, we also validate the

broadcast timing information. In all its services, Galileo broadcasts conversion parameters

between its time scale GST and UTC. The validation of the timing information broadcast by the

Galileo satellites will include the verification of the Galileo UTC dissemination service as well

as of the GPS to Galileo Time Offset (GGTO) transmitted in the navigation message

Place: INRIM

Contacts: Ilaria Sesia ([email protected]), Giancarlo Cerretto ([email protected])

3. A Navigation as a Service approach for EGNOS/EDAS applications.

Motivation: EGNOS/EDAS represents a key technology to improve the positioning

performances of GNSS mass-market receivers, increasing the accuracy of position

measurements by transmitting information that correct satellite navigation data and by

providing an evidence of positioning reliability through the integrity message. Exploiting the

capabilities of EGNOS/EDAS may often be not straightforward and can represent a challengingtask for several important reasons:

mailto:[email protected]











• The reception of EGNOS Signal-In-Space (SIS) can be difficult because of different

causes, in particular adverse environment (i.e. urban scenarios).

• User device must be capable to accept and elaborate such information, in order to calculate

augmented position including integrity information.

• Due to the complexity behind the calculus and application of EGNOS corrections, sub-

optimal implementations on end user devices are likely to occur, leading to erroneous PVT

and protection levels computation.

• The exploitation of EGNOS capabilities through the EDAS system implies the need for a

service provider which made available EDAS information to final users.

In order to face the issues described above, new opportunities are arising from the integration

of the GNSS technologies with emerging ICT technologies, i.e. cloud computing. Cloud

computing offers the advantage of having a high performance and distributed architecturethrough a number of connected computing units. In such environment software, platforms and

infrastructures can be delivered to users “on-demand” through the Internet.

Description: Candidates will have the opportunity to explore benefits coming from the

convergence of GNSS and Cloud Computing technologies. Starting from a Matlab definition of

EGNOS/EDAS augmentation algorithms and supported by a team of experts of Microsoft

Innovation Center, the students will be responsible for the following activities:

• Design and development a novel cloud-based augmentation solution in C# language.

• Assess the performances of the implemented cloud solution.

• Carry out investigations and conduct comparative analyses to put in evidence pros and

cons of using a Navigation as a Service (NaaS) approach rather than a standard device- based augmentation solution.

Place: Microsoft Innovation Centre (MIC) - ISMB

Contacts: Marco Pasin ([email protected])

4. Performance assessment of GNSS mass-market receivers.

Motivation : The number of embedded devices and On-Board Units (OBUs) is growing,

replacing traditional nomadic devices (e.g. PNDs). Smartphones are increasingly used for road

navigation purposes. New Intelligent Transport System (ITS) services are expected to be

deployed in the coming years, taking the use of GNSS far beyond in-vehicle navigation.

According to a new regulation proposed by the European Commission, all new types of

passenger cars and light vehicles will need to have an eCall system from 2015. The eCall

system will automatically provide vehicle identity and GNSS-based location, shortening the

intervention time.

In order to reduce costs and provide a system to a wide number of vehicles, car-makers could

adopt high-hand very-precise GNSS receivers in vehicle OBUs. They should rely on mass-

market GNSS receiver leveraging on advanced navigation systems (i.e. EGNOS/EDAS, multi-

constellation, Galileo, …) in order to meet the position accuracy and precision requirements

expected for e-Call applications with respect to production costs.





Description: In this thesis candidate will have the opportunity to deeply understand, with a

“hands-on” approach, the functionalities offered by a set of provided mass-market GNSS

receivers. The student will be responsible for the following activities:

• Analyse the functionalities of each GNNS receiver, and redact reports with complete

features overview.

• Use equipment “on field” to conduct data collection campaigns in different scenarios andenvironmental conditions.

• Define a detailed “Test and Validation Plan” with a full coverage of receivers’

functionalities.

• Define a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which receivers should meet in order to

be compliant with e-Call applications requirements.

• Use data collections to assess the performance of each receiver with respect to Test andValidation Plan and pre-defined KPis.

Place: Microsoft Innovation Centre (MIC) - ISMB

Contacts: Marco Pasin ([email protected])

5. Implementation of real-time demonstrator for a GNSS-based vehicular application.Aim of this internship is the implementation of prototype software modules for the real-time

demonstration of a novel GNSS-based vehicular application. In detail, the novel concept of

"local integrity" (suitable for GNSS receivers in urban vehicular contexts) is being proposed

and developed by the NavSAS group in the framework of the GLOVE EU FP7 project (see

http://www.navsas.eu/node/61). More details on the "local integrity" concept can also be foundhere: https://www.ion.org/plans/abstracts.cfm?paperID=1201

The internship will include the development (preferably in MATLAB environment) of software

modules capable to interface with commercial GNSS receivers (by means of NMEA protocol)

and to perform real-time data processing and analysis. In addition, a Graphical User Interface,

suitable to display the location and the position uncertainty of multiple vehicles on a map, will

be developed.

Practical real-time tests will also be carried out, in order to ensure the correct functionality of

the prototype. The core algorithms for the "local integrity" will be integrated under the direct

guidance of researchers of the NavSAS group.

Requirements:

• Good skills in MATLAB environment, especially in MATLAB programming language

(scripts, functions, and large data bases).

• Basic knowledge of MATLAB Graphical User Interface Development Environment

(GUIDE).

Place: NavSAS Lab - ISMB

Contacts: Davide Margaria ([email protected]), Emanuela Falletti ([email protected])

http://www.navsas.eu/node/61

https://www.ion.org/plans/abstracts.cfm?paperID=1201









https://www.ion.org/plans/abstracts.cfm?paperID=1201

http://www.navsas.eu/node/61





6. GNSS multipath modelling: a study on the reflected signal duration and strengthMultipath is a significant unwanted effect in any wireless communication systems, and in

GNSS in particular it represents a dominant error source. Multipath remains, more often than

not, the very dominant residual error in many GNSS-based systems, thanks to the

improvements achieved in GNSS in the last years, including first the turning off of the GPS

Selective Availability (SA), the advent of multi-constellation systems, the modernization

programs and more techniques to mitigate as much as possible any residual error.

Multipath is an unwanted effect which is present when one or more replicas of the useful signal

comes to the receiving antenna together with the desired signal, but affected by a different

delay, due to the different propagation path travelled. Since GNSS measurement is based on the

measurement of pseudoranges, estimating a time of arrival, the presence of signal replicas

affected by different delays affects the distance estimate. In particular, the receiver computes

the correlation between the incoming signal buried in the noise and its local replica affected by

different delays. The correlation allows the estimation of the unknown delay of the received

signal using the correlation peak. Under ideal conditions, the computed correlation function is

symmetrical, and the maximum can be estimated using techniques based on this symmetry (in

general, a Delay Locked Loop DLL is used). If multipath is present, the correlation function is

not symmetrical anymore, and a bias is present on the estimated delay, which translates in a

bias in the pseudorange measurement and, as a consequence, on the estimate of interest (eg.

position). This is the reason why there is a high interest on methods for multipath detection and

mitigation.

In order to develop proper techniques for the multipath detection and mitigation, it is

fundamental to understand the multipath behavior. In literature, many models and simulators

are described (just to cite some examples: [1], [2], [3]).

However, in many cases the study is done assuming very simplistic hypotheses for the

multipath shape, since this phenomenon is very empirical, depending a lot on the environment.

There are infinite possible combinations of reflections which can cause different multipath

scenario, both position and time variant.

The aim of this work is to design a simple but realistic model which allows to study the

multipath behavior as a time-variant phenomenon, depending on the scenario characteristics.

The delay and power of the multipath rays is a function of the satellite position, the receiverantenna position and radiation pattern, the reflecting surface position, inclination and reflection

coefficient.

Different scenario can be created, simulated, and analyzed, in order to generalize the results to

create models in different environments.

It is important to notice that the reflected GNSS signal, in general representing an unwanted

effect, can be exploited to estimate the characteristics of the reflecting surface, as the humidity

or the roughness. This phenomenon can be used to estimate the soil humidity, the ocean waves

and therefore the wind speed, the ice or snow height. Furthermore, measuring the delay of the

reflected signal, the distance of the reflecting surface from the receiving antenna can be

estimated, which allows to use the reflected signal for altimetry scopes. In literature a lot of

work is presented on this topic, as for instance in [4] and [5].





References

[1] Loo, C.; Butterworth, J.S., "Land mobile satellite channel measurements andmodeling," Proceedings of the IEEE , vol.86, no.7, pp.1442,1463, Jul 1998

[2] Schubert, F.M.; Fleury, B.H.; Prieto-Cerdeira, R.; Steingass, A.; Lehner, A., "A rural

channel model for satellite navigation applications," Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP),

2012 6th European Conference on , vol., no., pp.2431,2435, 26-30 March 2012

[3] Hatef Keshvadi, Ali Broumandan, and Gérard Lachapelle, “Spatial Characterization of

GNSS Multipath Channels,” International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 2012.

[4] D. Masters, S. Katzberg2, P. Axelrad, “Airborne GPS Bistatic Radar Soil Moisture

Measurements During SMEX02”, 2003 IEEE [5] Gleason, S.; Hodgart, S.; Yiping Sun; Gommenginger, C.; Mackin, S.; Adjrad, M.; Unwin,

M., "Detection and Processing of bistatically reflected GPS signals from low Earth orbit

for the purpose of ocean remote sensing," Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE

Transactions on , vol.43, no.6, pp.1229,1241, June 2005


Contacts: Sabrina Ugazio ([email protected]), Letizia Lo Presti

([email protected])

7. Support on market analysis on innovative E-GNSS applications.After the successful start of EGNOS operations and its certification for use in SoL applications,

a strong emphasis has been put in the last few years by the European Commission and by the

GSA (the European GNSS Authority) to identify:

• Innovative applications able to exploit and showcase the added value of EGNOS in

different domains; and

• New geographies to extend EGNOS coverage.

The scope of this internship is to support our team in identifying and evaluate from an

economical point of view the added value of EGNOS in several domains (mainly agriculture,

LBS and maritime) via a desk research focused on the European and/ or African market.For one or more selected domains/ applications, the stageire will mainly undertake those

activities (list only indicative):

• Identification of the "state-of-the-art";

• Support to the definition of Cost Benefit Analyses by running desk researches/ interviewswith key industry experts;

• Analysis of the competitive environment using the 5 Forces Porter model;

• Identification of past-future market trends; and

• Support to the go-to-market strategy/ identification of main business opportunities.

Place: Alpha Consult - Milano (www.alphacons.eu)

Contacts: Emiliano Spaltro ([email protected])















8. Tool for the visualization of connected vehicles on google maps.

The ISMB Multi-Layer Wireless Solutions Research Area has developed a tool for thevisualization of connected vehicles on google maps. Such a tool receives messages with

vehicles’ position (with a certain frequency) via V2V or 3G channel and visualize them in real-

time on google maps.

The objective of the internship is to develop new features such as:

• Map matching: this is not managed by Google API so should be implemented to enhance

the visualization experience;

• Visualization of the protection level: this concept is very important for navigation and the

visualization can be useful for different purposes;

• Other enhancements proposed by the candidate;

A good knowledge of Java and PHP is a plus, but not mandatory.

Place: MLW Lab - ISMB

Contacts: Daniele Brevi ( [email protected])

9. Fast-Precise Point Positioning experiment (for Vietnamese students)

The student shall work in the framework of G-NAVIS project. This WP is devoted to process

an experiment of Fast-PPP carried out in Vietnam during April 2014. These activities for the

student will involve:

• To get familiar with the data processing tools of gAGE/UPC.

• Support to the analysis of the ionospheric activity in Vietnam using the ionospheric

indicator Along Track TEC Rate (AATR) developed by gAGE/UPC for GNSS systems.

• Contribution to the Assessment of ionosphere corrections in the SEA during the

experiment. Different models will be compared among the Fast-PPP.

• User domain assessment of F-PPP ionosphere for single and multifrequency users.

Place: Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya – Barcelona – gAGE group

Contacts: Jaume Sanz ( [email protected]), Miguel Juan ([email protected]) 10. Peer-to-Peer Positioning (for Vietnamese students)

Comparison between blind and assisted RAIM algorithms in the framework of G-NAVIS

project.


Contacts: Letizia Lo Presti ([email protected])

11. Professor Piras’ topic




















Description to be provided

Place: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Ambiente, del Territorio e delle Infrastrutture (DIATI) –

Politecnico di Torino

Contacts: Marco Piras ([email protected])




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Internship Topics Draft