Photo: QinetiQ

The UK Ministry of Defence will construct a new anti-jamming test facility at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. This facility is designed to safeguard military equipment from threats posed by GPS jamming. A £20 million ($26 million) contract has been awarded to the defense technology firm QinetiQ, which will create one of Europe’s largest anechoic chambers, set to be operational by 2026.

This facility, referred to as a “silent hangar,” will accommodate large military assets such as Protector UAVs, Chinook helicopters and F-35 fighter jets, allowing for comprehensive testing against electronic warfare threats. Maria Eagle, the minister for defense procurement and industry, said that this facility will help eliminate vulnerabilities in military systems, thereby enhancing national security and better protecting armed forces during global deployments.

The hangar will be engineered to minimize radio-frequency wave leakage, ensuring that testing does not interfere with local emergency services and air traffic control. Additionally, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, the project is expected to generate 20 new jobs in the Boscombe Down area and will support broader applications beyond defense, benefiting various sectors of government and industry.

<p>The post UK Ministry of Defence, QinetiQ to build anti-jamming test facility first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Photo: Collins Aerospace

QinetiQ and its partner Collins Aerospace have won a £67 million contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) to develop multi-constellation satellite receivers under the U.K. Robust Global Navigation System (R-GNS) program.

The program will deliver critical capability to provide UK Defence with accurate and resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), which will underpin the UK’s ability to undertake 24/7 military operations around the world in demanding and increasingly contested operational environments.

QinetiQ, working with its partner (Collins Aerospace) and sub-contractors (Roke Manor Research, Raytheon Systems Limited, Garfield Microelectronics, Nottingham Scientific Limited, Phixos and a number of other specialist suppliers and manufacturing partners) will work together to provide advanced navigation products that are UK sovereign supplied, low size, weight and power (SWAP) delivering high-accuracy, resilient and secured operational capability.

The use of multi-constellation, multi-service satellite navigation signals, multiple sensors and QinetiQ’s advanced processing technologies will enable secured navigation, ensuring that users and platforms —autonomous land, maritime, air and weapons systems — will be able to navigate accurately, robustly and safely.

“Whether it’s soldiers conducting operations in remote environments or fighter jet pilots flying in contested airspace, our Armed Forces depend on satellite navigation technology,” said Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan. “These state-of-the-art receivers will help to ensure our armed forces can defend UK interests wherever and whenever they are threatened.”

“Ensuring that UK Forces have the best and most resilient secured navigation capabilities is essential to ensuring that they are able to operate effectively in increasingly challenging operational environments,” Steve Wadey, CEO, QinetiQ said. “We are extremely pleased to be working with MOD, DE&S and DSTL to deliver this critical capability. This programme will exploit QinetiQ’s advanced technologies and, working collaboratively with our partners across the supply base, deliver substantial operational advantage for UK Defence.”

The delivery date for the first R-GNS products is February 2022.

<p>The post Qinetiq, Collins to develop GNSS receivers for UK first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Remotely controlled Javelin firings can help keep soldiers out of harm’s way. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)

The Javelin Joint Venture team, a partnership of Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin, successfully fired Javelin missiles from a Kongsberg remote launcher mounted on a Titan unmanned ground vehicle built by QinetiQ North America and Milrem Robotics.

The demonstrations, conducted at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center, Alabama, validated the integration of the weapon station, missile and vehicle.

“Javelin is ready to support emerging military robotic vehicle requirements,” said Sam Deneke, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president. “Remotely operated technology like this protects soldiers in battle.”

Javelin has been fielded on the Common Remote Operations Weapon Station-Javelin across U.S. Army Stryker 8×8 vehicle brigades in Europe.

“Javelin offers true fire-and-forget engagements to 4 kilometers in most operational conditions,” said David Pantano, Javelin Joint Venture vice president and Lockheed Martin Javelin program director. “Once the launch command is issued, soldiers and vehicle assets like the UGV can reposition out of harm’s way. These tests demonstrated our ability to evolve Javelin capabilities to address new missions in support of the warfighter.”

Javelin is a versatile one-man-portable and platform-employed anti-tank and multi-target precision weapon system. The Javelin Joint Venture team has produced more than 45,000 Javelin missiles and 12,000 command launch units. The program continually updates the system to stay ahead of advancing threats, including enhancing its platform-mounted capabilities.

U.S. and coalition forces have used Javelin extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq in more than 5,000 engagements.

<p>The post Javelin missiles remotely launched from unmanned vehicle first appeared on GPS World.</p>

The goal was to determine how new unmanned technologies can enhance soldier’s survivability and effectiveness on the modern battlefield.

The modular base can be adapted for various missions, including casualty retrieval. (Photo: Milrem Robotics)

The test was conducted in three phases: conduct combat operations without the benefit of new technologies; conduct combat operations using new technologies but without changing tactics; and, lastly, conduct combat operations using new technologies and adapting tactics according to the capability that the new technology provides.

The UGVs were used in a number of different roles with missions conducted in urban, open and forested terrain.

In remote-control mode, a command-and-control station allows the operator to receive real-time sensor data from the UGV and to transmit command data to the vehicle through a tactical data link. Various third-party sensor packages can be installed.

Of the four Milrem UGVs, two were deployed by Milrem Robotics and two by QinetiQ. The Milrem-fielded systems included one configured as a casualty evacuation and logistical support unit and a second unit equipped with a tethered multi-rotor drone pod provided by Threod Systems.

One of the four UGVs was TITAN Strike, a prototype system carrying a Kongsberg remote weapon station, fully controlled by a remote operator and using QinetiQ’s Pointer system as a means of integrating the capability with dismounted infantry.

The second system, TITAN Sentry, also enabled with Pointer, featured a Hensoldt-provided sensor suite including electro-optical and thermal-imaging cameras and a battlefield radar.

<p>The post UK tests tracking UGVs in military exercise first appeared on GPS World.</p>

The effort will support the mission needs of military, government and critical national infrastructure.

The family of receivers being developed will provide military, government and professional users the flexibility of selecting relevant GNSS capability to meet operational, geographical or budgetary needs and provide GNSS accuracy and timing.

This will improve safety, increase mission effectiveness and reduce operational costs for ground troops, vehicles and high-dynamics GNSS-guided weapons, Rockwell Collins said.

Rockwell Collins is major contractor for secure military GPS receivers and QinetiQ is an expert in the field of open-service solutions with access to critical satellite navigation system technologies that enable the development of multi-constellation solutions.

“This alliance agreement with QinetiQ is a great opportunity to bring together our strengths,” said Colin Mahoney, senior vice president of international and service solutions for Rockwell Collins. “Working together, our customers will experience unprecedented levels of availability, accuracy and assurance of positioning, navigation and timing for conducting their missions.”

“As we move into the era of multi-constellation satellite receivers, this market-leading agreement and the investments of both companies sends a clear message to our customers and shareholders that QinetiQ and Rockwell Collins are taking every step necessary to stay at the forefront of GNSS technical development and product delivery,” said Steve Wadey, CEO of QinetiQ. “The development will be centered in Europe, led from the U.K., supporting the global market.”

<p>The post Rockwell Collins and QinetiQ join on next-generation GNSS receivers first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Includes:

• Next-Generation Tracker Debuts
• QinetiQ’s New GNSS Receiver Ready for Galileo PRS
• Spectra Precision Offers Flexible GNSS Receiver for Surveyors
• Briefs
• Events

<p>The post The Business — August 2015 first appeared on GPS World.</p>

The QinetiQ PRS receiver.

QinetiQ today announced a major breakthrough in developing a robust navigation receiver that will use the Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation system — in particular, the secured Public Regulated Service (PRS).

QinetiQ’s new high-performance, next-generation GNSS receiver is multi‑constellation and multi‑frequency, and is designed to process encrypted signals from the Galileo PRS service as well as open services such as GPS. Qinetiq introduced the receiver today at the UK Space Conference, being held July 13-15 in Liverpool.

The receiver — now a in prototype form — is a significant step towards developing an end-user product for navigation, tracking and timing, QinetiQ said. It will offer highly secure, accurate and reliable position, velocity and timing intended for users with a mission-critical need such as governments, the military and emergency services across Europe. 

“We are delighted that, after years of QinetiQ R&D and collaboration with the EU, European Space Agency (ESA) and UK government, we have achieved this major step towards our goal of offering robust navigation products using Galileo,” said Nigel Davies, head of QinetiQ’s Secured Navigation Group. “It is a significant breakthrough for us to have built a fully operational receiver on a platform, which proves our product architecture, functionality and algorithms.”

“Our next step will be working to refine the product family and preparing it to be brought to market, which includes developing additional features and reducing its size to that of a postage stamp, in a form factor similar to our existing, highly successful Q20 receiver,” Davies said. “We have full confidence in this product and are proud to be at the forefront of this exciting new phase in European navigation.”

The prototype receiver is a multi-constellation, multi-frequency, all‑in‑view receiver that can receive and process the Galileo PRS as well as Galileo Open Service and GPS Standard Positioning Service. It is also designed to utilize other GNSS signals including the Russian GLONASS and Chinese Beidou systems as well as space-based augmentation services (SBAS) such as WAAS and EGNOS.  

The receiver, which is based on the military standard SEM-E form factor, is also designed for integration into multi-sensor navigation systems and is designed to provide high levels of protection against jamming and spoofing.  It has a fast acquisition capability and is designed for government security accreditation.

It is expected that a suite of robust products will be ready by 2020 to coincide with the completion of the Galileo project, which will be the world’s third GNSS to be completed after the United States and Russian systems.

The new receiver is part of a long pedigree in robust GNSS receivers. Q20 was QinetiQ’s first GPS receiver, designed for specific challenging applications: high dynamics, or high sensitivity like tracking from inside a shipping container. QinetiQ’s family of receivers will include two new products based on the new receiver. Q40 will be QinetiQ’s next-generation robust open service receiver, which will be a multi‑constellation, multi‑frequency open-service receiver which can use signals from all of the GNSS open services. Q50 will incorporate all of the functionality of the Q40 receiver, but also offer Galileo PRS for authorized users who need the additional capabilities and robustness.

“The device we have built is a major stepping stone to Q40 and Q50 as the technology has all been built for the receiver products and is designed to be shrunk on to a single ASIC microchip,” Davies said. “Our focus of attention will now be to turn what we have built into an ASIC product which is ready for market.”

<p>The post QinetiQ Announces Robust GNSS Receiver for Galileo PRS first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services provided by GNSS, such as GPS and the forthcoming Galileo system, are essential to underpinning both commercial and economic activity (the EC estimates 6-7% of the developed world’s GDP) and the delivery of governmental responsibilities including the safety and security of citizens.

GNSS systems such as GPS and Galileo make use of very low power signals and are subject to inadvertent interference, deliberate jamming and spoofing (where an attacker generates a false signal masquerading as a valid one to mislead a user receiver). Attacks on GNSS may range from low-level criminal nuisance (a delivery driver stopping their employer tracking them), enabling theft of high-value vehicles fitted with trackers, through to state-sponsored attacks. This is potentially a significant concern for a wide range of governmental users including law enforcement, security and emergency services, critical national infrastructure, transport and defense users. The use of multiple independent, secured navigation services provides significant improvements to navigation robustness and, along with other measures, offers substantial counters to these threats.

“This has been our first opportunity to explore how secured navigation services on GPS and Galileo can be used together to provide users with critical reliance on PNT with robust and continuous navigation services,” Nigel Davies, Head of QinetiQ’s Secured Navigation Group said. “QinetiQ is proud to be a key, long-term contributor to the Galileo Programme, having been working closely with the European Space Agency (ESA), the European GNSS Agency (GSA), European industrial partners and European Member States since 2003.  QinetiQ and Rockwell Collins wish to thank ESA, the EC and GSA for support in accessing Galileo, as well as the UK Space Agency, UK Satellite Applications Catapult and the UK MOD for their support.”

<p>The post Qinetiq, Rockwell Demonstrate Multi-Constellation Galileo/GPS Secure Positioning for Governmental Applications first appeared on GPS World.</p>