• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.467-473
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• 2024

As autonomous navigation technology advances and the importance of positional information in maritime environments increases, it is necessary to develop alternatives to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in consideration of its vulnerabilities. Ranging Mode (R-Mode) technology is emerging as a GNSS backup system, utilizing existing maritime communication infrastructure to provide position, navigation, and timing (PNT) information through a terrestrial navigation system. This paper introduces a test-bed system developed to validate the feasibility and performance of medium frequency (MF) R-Mode technology in the context of South Korea. The MF R-Mode test-bed's transmitters are upgraded from four existing DGNSS systems, and positioning performance was evaluated based on data received in a static environment from actual signal broadcasts.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2019

The significance of PNT information in the fourth industrial revolution is viewed differently in relation to the past. Autonomous vehicles, autonomous vessels, smart grids, and national infrastructure require sustainable and reliable services in addition to their high precision service. Satellite navigation system, which is the most representative system for providing PNT information, receive signals from satellites outside the earth so signal reception power is low and signal structures for civilian use are open to the public. Therefore, it is vulnerable to intentional and unintentional interference or hacking. Satellite navigation systems, which can easily acquire high performance of PNT information at low cost, require alternatives due to its vulnerability to the hacking. This paper proposed R-Mode (Ranging Mode) technology that utilizes currently operated navigation and communication infrastructure in terms of Signals of OPportunity (SoOP). For this, the Nationwide Differential Global Navigation Satellite System (NDGNSS), which currently gives a service of Medium Frequency (MF) navigation signal broadcasting, was used to validate the feasibility of a backup infrastructure in domestic maritime areas through simulation analysis.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.87-92
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• 2017

To enhance the reliability and/or resilience of the PNT service included in the e-Navigation strategy of the IMO, the evaluation of the AIS-TWR method for the asynchronous R-mode for maritime service, which is available even in the absence of the GNSS, is described. For the AIS-TWR, which is capable of ranging through message exchange even without high precision synchronization, the operation scenario and the error factors according to the AIS system specifications are proposed and analyzed. Cramer-Rao Lower Bound is presented for the performance evaluation of the AIS-TWR algorithm. A simulation by AIS-TWR method of two AIS systems in a 3 km static environment shows estimation error of about 41m compared to the real value..

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.239-244
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• 2022

R-Mode is terrestrial based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) backup radio navigation technology which used existing maritime information service infrastructure. It has advantages on reduce the cost and reutilize the frequency resource. In this paper, we propose a method to develop a medium-frequency (MF) band R-Mode transmitting station by utilizing the currently operating Differential GNSS (DGNSS) reference station infrastructure. To this end, the considerations for co-operating the DGNSS reference station and the MF R-Mode transmitting station are analyzed. In this process, we also analyze what is necessary to configure the communication system as a navigation system for range measurement. Based on the analysis result, MF R-Mode transmitting station system is designed and architecture is proposed. The developed system is installed in the field, and the performance evaluation results is presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.209-211
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• 2022

우리나라 R-Mode(Ranging Mode) 항법시스템은 국제해사기구(IMO, International Maritime Organization)에서 요구하는 항구 입출항용 항법 요구성능(정밀도 10m)을 만족하도록 개발을 진행하고 있다. R-Mode 항법시스템은 위성국 송출을 기반으로 하는 GPS와 달리 지상국 송출을 기반으로 한다. 또한 신호가 세기가 높아서 의도적 전파간섭이 어려우므로 국제해사기구가 요구하는 강인한 PNT(Resilient PNT) 시스템에 적합한 것으로 평가받고 있다. 이러한 요구조건과 기회신호(SoOp, Signal of Opportunity)의 국내 환경에 맞추어 중파(MF, Middle Frequency) 및 초단파(VHF, Very High Frequency)를 이용하는 항법시스템을 개발하고 있다. 해양수산부의 지원으로 2020년에 착수하여 4국의 중파 R-Mode 송신국과 3국의 초단파 VDES R-Mode 송신국 구축을 진행하고 있다. 항법 성능을 확보하기 위하여 R-Mode 보정시스템과 R-Mode 감시시스템을 구축하였다. 해양에서 R-Mode 항법시스템의 성능을 검증하기 위하여 중파 R-Mode 수신기, VDES R-Mode 수신기 및 이를 포함하는 통합항법수신기를 함께 개발하고 있다. 항법 송신기 및 수신기의 성능 검증을 위한 테스트베드는 기존의 지상파 항법(eLoran) 서비스 영역, 중파 R-Mode 서비스 영역 및 주요 항만 등을 고려하여 충청남도 서산시 대산항 지역으로 선정하였다. 보정국 및 감시국을 포함하는 테스트베드 기지국은 대산항에 설치하여 운영을 시작하였다. 테스트베드 실해역 시험을 통한 성능 검증은 2023년 상반기에 진행될 계획이다.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.437-443
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• 2019

In this paper, a new algorithm for the calculation of the range between an LTE base station (BS) and a user equipment (UE) using time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements of LTE signals is proposed. First, the cell identity (cell ID) of the received signal is acquired using the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) to identify the BS transmitted the signal. The proposed algorithm exploits the cell-specific reference signal (CRS), the reference sequence inserted in commercial LTE signals, to estimate the time delay using 2D cross-correlation. The obtained TOA estimations can be used to calculate the range employed from the known BS location. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated with the experiment performed using real LTE signals transmitted from the commercial BS.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.172-178
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• 2019

Although the needs for providing resilient PNT information are increasing, threats due to the intentional RFI or space weather change are challenging to resolve. eLoran, which is a terrestrial navigation system that use a high-power signal is considered as a best back-up navigation system. Depending on the user's environment in the eLoran system, the user may use one of E-field or H-field antennas. H-field antenna, which has no restriction on setting stable ground and is relatively resistant to noise of general electronic equipment, is composed of two loops, and shows anisotropic gain pattern due to the different measurement at the two loops. Therefore, the H-field antenna's phase estimation value of signal varies depending on its direction even at the static environment. The error due to the direction of the signal should be eliminated if the user want to estimate the own position more precisely. In this paper, a method to compensate the error according to the geometric distribution between the H-field antenna and the transmitting station is proposed. A model was developed to compensate the directional error of H-field antenna based on the signal generated from the eLoran signal simulator. The model is then used to the survey measurement performed in the land area and verify its performance.