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GNSS reference networks: monuments sending corrections to a rover in the field. The loop, step by step: 1. Three reference stations ring a survey area. 2. The chain from source to console stands ready. 3. Each station logs carrier phase every second. 4. Each reading is stamped with time and place. 5. Observations are signed at the station. 6. The network solves one correction model. 7. The relay forwards sealed packets untouched. 8. The edge verifies every signature first. 9. Atmospheric errors are separated from position. 10. Only a confirmed result leaves the edge. 11. A rover receives centimetre corrections. 12. The console shows the evidence with the alert. 13. The rover marks a stake to a centimetre. 14. Sensors check that the response worked. 15. Record, proof and action are archived together. 16. Everything settles back to idle.

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Three reference stations ring a survey area

Nexus Observatory

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Positioning, navigation and timing

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GNSS reference networks
Continuously operating stations, tied to the geodetic frame.

GNSS reference networks, inside Positioning, navigation and timing: multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers, RTK networks and NTRIP, PPP and PPP-RTK, satellite-based augmentation (SBAS) and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from IS-GPS-200 (GPS interface specification) to Galileo Open Service SIS ICD, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

Plan with usArchitectureThe protocol
Technologies
9
At the frontier
0
Protocol functions
3 of 12
Industries served
6

At a glance

Multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers

Receivers using GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou and regional systems on several frequencies for accuracy and robustness. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers, drawn against IS-GPS-200 and Galileo Open Service SIS ICD and used beside geodetic reference frames on the same sites.

مسئله

Continuously operating stations, tied to the geodetic frame

Positions drive autonomous trucks; timestamps order every event in a network. When a receiver is jammed or spoofed, both can be wrong while looking perfectly normal. Integrity has to be designed and measured, because a degraded signal rarely announces itself to the systems that depend on it.

Key facts

Specification
IS-GPS-200 (GPS interface specification) · Galileo Open Service SIS ICD
Specification
RTCA DO-253 · ICAO Annex 10
Specification
RTCM 10403 (SSR messages) · IGS products
Specification
RTCA DO-229 (SBAS MOPS) · ICAO Annex 10
Specification
RTCM 10403 (differential GNSS services, version 3) · RTCM 10410 (NTRIP)

Components

  • Geodetic GNSS station on a deep-drilled braced monument (generic class, no brand)
  • Robotic total station in a monitoring shelter
  • Slope stability radar on a trailer
  • Haul truck with onboard network and autonomy kit
  • Private LTE mast on a solar skid
  • “AI tower in a box”
  • PTP grandmaster clock with GNSS antenna
  • Data hall row pair with cold-aisle containment

Interfaces

Time and position
GNSS 1PPS

Where it works

  • Ground-based augmentation
  • Satellite-based augmentation

In the story below

  1. The system, part by part
  2. Assembly
  3. Installation
  4. Deployment
  5. Connections
  6. Operation
  7. Failure and recovery
  8. Scale and federation
  9. What you get

Scenes · 13

Next steps

Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Positioning, navigation and timingTalk to sales
  1. Positioning, navigation and timing · GNSS reference networks

    Continuously operating stations, tied to the geodetic frame

    Positions drive autonomous trucks; timestamps order every event in a network. When a receiver is jammed or spoofed, both can be wrong while looking perfectly normal. Integrity has to be designed and measured, because a degraded signal rarely announces itself to the systems that depend on it.

  2. What it does

    Multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers

    Receivers using GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou and regional systems on several frequencies for accuracy and robustness. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers, drawn against IS-GPS-200 and Galileo Open Service SIS ICD and used beside geodetic reference frames on the same sites.

    Specification
    IS-GPS-200 (GPS interface specification) · Galileo Open Service SIS ICD
  3. GNSS positioning and augmentation

    Ground-based augmentation

    Local corrections and integrity for precision approach at airports. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds ground-based augmentation, drawn against RTCA DO-253 and ICAO Annex 10. We build it into every site for GNSS reference networks against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.

    Specification
    RTCA DO-253 · ICAO Annex 10
  4. GNSS positioning and augmentation

    PPP and PPP-RTK

    Precise point positioning from orbit and clock corrections, with or without regional atmosphere models. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds PPP and PPP-RTK, drawn against RTCM 10403 and IGS products and used beside reference stations and GNSS data formats on the same sites.

    Specification
    RTCM 10403 (SSR messages) · IGS products
  5. GNSS positioning and augmentation

    Satellite-based augmentation

    Wide-area corrections and integrity for aviation and other safety uses. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds satellite-based augmentation, drawn against RTCA DO-229 and ICAO Annex 10 and used beside navigation message authentication on the same sites.

    Specification
    RTCA DO-229 (SBAS MOPS) · ICAO Annex 10
  6. Time and place

    When and where, on every record

    Every record made for GNSS reference networks carries its time, from a clock disciplined by satellite time or a PTP grandmaster, with the position and siting record of the station that made it. When time or position degrades, the record for GNSS reference networks says so, and every user downstream sees the same warning.

  7. GNSS positioning and augmentation

    RTK networks and NTRIP

    Real-time kinematic corrections from reference stations for centimetre positioning. In GNSS reference networks, part of Positioning, navigation and timing, the GNSS positioning and augmentation layer holds RTK networks and NTRIP, drawn against RTCM 10403 and RTCM 10410 and used beside assisted GNSS in cellular networks on the same sites.

    Specification
    RTCM 10403 (differential GNSS services, version 3) · RTCM 10410 (NTRIP)
  8. اعتماد

    Proved before it is trusted

    A node joins a network for GNSS reference networks only after its hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge. Its keys stay in secure hardware, its software arrives signed and every record it makes for GNSS reference networks carries a signature, so anyone downstream can check where a value came from.

  9. شواهد

    Traced to its specifications

    We trace each part of GNSS reference networks to its specification: IS-GPS-200, Galileo Open Service SIS ICD and BeiDou Open Service ICD. We keep the versions, configurations and test results of GNSS reference networks as signed records, so a buyer or an auditor can check what was delivered against what was specified.

    استانداردها
    IS-GPS-200 · Galileo Open Service SIS ICD · BeiDou Open Service ICD · RTCM 10403
  10. تازه‌ها

    Updates in rings, with rollback

    Software and configuration reach a fleet for GNSS reference networks in rings: one canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave, and each node for GNSS reference networks returns to its last good release without a site visit.

  11. How it scales

    One base unit, repeated

    A network for GNSS reference networks starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay and a fleet repeats the proven site, so capacity for GNSS reference networks grows by adding units, never by replacing what works.

  12. What you get

    Timing and positioning integrity

    PTP grandmasters with GNSS holdover, interference detection and timing monitoring for networks and instruments. For GNSS reference networks, it goes to carriers, utilities, financial infrastructure and observatories as hardware and software or a managed service, sized to the sites they run.

    Talk to sales
  13. Next step

    GNSS reference networks, planned with you

    Tell us the sites, the systems GNSS reference networks must work with and the outcome you need, with a map or a list of addresses if you have one. An engineer replies with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for GNSS reference networks, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Positioning, navigation and timing

More presentations

See it from every side.

Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before.

All presentations

In depth

Use case Highway corridor coverage and safety sensingUse case Avalanche detection siteUse case Community cellular and sensingUse case Utility grid-edge private LTE and wildfire weather

Explainers

Explainer · Communities and rural Communities and ruralCommunity cellular coverage on real terrain, fixed-wireless Fresnel clearance, corridors, a remote microgrid sized from its load and interim public-safety broadband.Explainer · Environment and climate Environment and climate — SectorsMethane fencelines, acoustic biodiversity grids, flux towers, river sondes and smoke networks: an interactive explainer with the method behind every number.سکو Positioning, navigation and timingA wrong timestamp is a wrong answerسکو Edge compute & AIThe archive is too late

Stories

Story · Timing and PNT Time as infrastructureA 5G cell must hold its phase within 3 µs of its neighbours, ±1.5 µs of a common reference; a synchrophasor’s one per cent vector error leaves room for only…Story · Mountains and avalanche terrain Snowpack, slope and signalAvalanche forecasting reasons about the likelihood and size of avalanches on given terrain. The observations behind it come from a few stations in hard…Story · 6G and sensing Networks that senseThe framework for 6G names integrated sensing and communication as one of its usage scenarios: the same radio that carries data also measures range,…

Places and networks

Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Arctic stationA self-powered station on the ice: a microgrid, a low-orbit satellite terminal, a weather station, a GNSS monument and an edge node that holds data through the polar night.Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Orbit viewGround tracks of a sun-synchronous imager and three shells of a broadband constellation, computed from their orbits over a rotating Earth.Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Coastal portCoastal radar and AIS watch the approach, a met-ocean buoy reports the sea state, and crane-side edge compute closes the control loop on a private network.Network scene · NTN · Satellite Satellite direct to device in a mountain valleyWhere the valley cell cannot reach, phones on the pass road connect straight to a low-orbit satellite, which relays through its feeder link to a gateway.Network scene · Private 5G · Port Private 5G at a container portSmall cells on the yard lighting masts and a sector site on the operations building serve remote-controlled cranes and trucks among steel container stacks.

Heritage observatories

Heritage observatory · World ocean · 1999 Argo profiling float arrayAbout four thousand small robots drift through the oceans, sinking to 2,000 metres every ten days and rising to report temperature and salinity by satellite.Heritage observatory · United States · 2009 Ocean Observatories InitiativeCabled and moored arrays in the Atlantic and Pacific, designed to give scientists a continuous, real-time view of the ocean for decades.

Interactive tools

Interactive tool · Configure a station Station BuilderConfigure a station part by part in 3D, check the rules as you go and request a quote for the assembly.

01چیستی آن

GNSS positioning and augmentation.

The shared foundations every network and sensor depends on: how spectrum is licensed, shared and monitored, GNSS positioning and its corrections, packet timing with PTP and SyncE, grandmasters and holdover, resilient PNT alternatives, and the detection of interference, jamming and spoofing. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against.

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers

Receivers using GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou and regional systems on several frequencies for accuracy and robustness.

We design, integrate and deploy.

IS-GPS-200 (GPS interface specification) · Galileo Open Service SIS ICD · BeiDou Open Service ICD

Spectrum, timing and PNT

RTK networks and NTRIP

Real-time kinematic corrections from reference stations for centimetre positioning.

We design, deploy, operate and maintain.

RTCM 10403 (differential GNSS services, version 3) · RTCM 10410 (NTRIP)

Spectrum, timing and PNT

PPP and PPP-RTK

Precise point positioning from orbit and clock corrections, with or without regional atmosphere models.

We design, integrate and operate.

RTCM 10403 (SSR messages) · IGS products · Galileo High Accuracy Service

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Satellite-based augmentation (SBAS)

Wide-area corrections and integrity for aviation and other safety uses.

We integrate.

RTCA DO-229 (SBAS MOPS) · ICAO Annex 10

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Ground-based augmentation (GBAS)

Local corrections and integrity for precision approach at airports.

We integrate and support.

RTCA DO-253 · ICAO Annex 10

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Geodetic reference frames

The coordinate frames positions are expressed in, and the transformations between them.

We design and operate.

ITRF (IERS) · NAD83(CSRS) (Natural Resources Canada)

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Assisted GNSS in cellular networks

Network-supplied assistance and hybrid GNSS-cellular positioning for devices.

We design and integrate.

3GPP TS 37.355 (LTE Positioning Protocol) · 3GPP TS 38.305

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Reference stations and GNSS data formats

Continuously operating reference stations with standard observation and navigation data exchange.

We design, deploy, operate and maintain.

RINEX (IGS and RTCM) · NMEA 0183

Spectrum, timing and PNT

Navigation message authentication

Cryptographic authentication of broadcast navigation data to resist spoofing.

We integrate.

Galileo OSNMA SIS ICD

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

GNSS reference networks draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked.

Spectrum regimes and access

9

Spectrum monitoring and interference management

8

GNSS positioning and augmentation

9

Packet timing: PTP, SyncE and NTP

10

Grandmasters, reference clocks and holdover

7

Resilient PNT

9

Interference, jamming and spoofing detection

7

01پیوستن Identity, attestation quote, signed policy.

02Admit Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider.

03توصیف What, where, how and by whom, with calibration.

04Time One clock across the grid, with its error bound.

05Observe Every value with quality and provenance.

06Qualify Tested against the specification, state on record.

07Federate Signed exchange across grids and trust domains.

08Orchestrate Software and configuration by signed plan.

09Correct A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version.

10Exchange Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces.

11Prove Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check.

12Exit and decommission An open exit path, and a record that closes.

03On the grid

Every site joins one observing grid.

The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into, filtered to the solid earth domain this area serves. A site built here enrols into the same grid.

The observing grid

  1. Open solid earth instruments on the observing grid.

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on GNSS reference networks.

شهرها

Hybrid air-quality network

Reference analysers plus calibrated low-cost nodes; low-cost sensors alone do not meet regulatory requirements.
کشاورزی

Smallholder and parametric-insurance station networks

Station density and tamper evidence for index insurance.
Scientific

Citizen seismology and school seismographs

Compact seismographs feeding open data networks.
Scientific

Stream gauges

A low-cost tier beside national gauge networks.
Environment and climate

Wildfire smoke and particulate health networks

Overlaps with cities and public safety.
Education

State or provincial mesonet run by a university

Dense tower networks funded after disasters and by state budgets.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site

  • Timing budget method
  • Reference station metadata rules

Enterprise, on this site

  • Timing and positioning integrity
  • Reference network design and operation
  • Holdover engineering

06The rest of the line

Positioning, navigation and timing, area by area.

Positioning, navigation and timing

Time distribution

PTP, SyncE and NTP, engineered to the budget.
Positioning, navigation and timing

Grandmasters and holdover

Reference clocks that keep time when the sky goes dark.
Positioning, navigation and timing

Resilient PNT

Several sources, cross-checked, one trusted solution.
Positioning, navigation and timing

Interference detection

Jamming and spoofing found, located and logged.

Bring us the site.

Survey, design, deployment and operation for GNSS reference networks. The form names who receives your details.

Talk to usAsk for a quote

Continuously operating stations, tied to the geodetic frame.

GNSS reference networks, inside Positioning, navigation and timing: multi-constellation, multi-frequency receivers, RTK networks and NTRIP, PPP and PPP-RTK, satellite-based augmentation (SBAS) and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from IS-GPS-200 (GPS interface specification) to Galileo Open Service SIS ICD, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

01چیستی آن

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

03On the grid

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site
    Enterprise, on this site
      06The rest of the line

      Bring us the site.