Special Session on LEO-PNT

Special session on LEO satellites for positioning, navigation, and timing

Organizers:
Prof. Elena Simona Lohan, Tampere University, Finland
Dr Fabricio Prol, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute and University of Vaasa, Finland

Rationale:
Approximately 50,000 new Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites will be launched within the next decade. These satellites will support a wide range of applications, including broadband internet, low-power long-range communications, remote sensing, and potentially positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.

LEO satellites, which orbit at significantly lower altitudes than typical Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites, operate at high speeds. This unique fast-changing geometry provide gains over classic GNSS satellites, particularly in navigation, precise point positioning (PPP), timing applications, and location-enabled communications.

The capabilities of using LEO satellites as Signals of Opportunity (SoO), along with innovative new LEO constellation designs, are becoming increasingly relevant in today’s technological landscape. These advancements promise to enhance the efficiency and reliability of various services, making LEO satellites a critical component of future communication and navigation infrastructure.

Additionally, the integration of LEO-PNT systems with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) is set to revolutionize the field. LEO-PNT systems, which involve constellations of LEO satellites providing enhanced navigation and timing services, offer improved accuracy, resilience against multipath, jamming, spoofing, and low-latency performance. Also, LEO-PNT solutions, when combined with RIS technology significantly amplify the potential for precise and reliable PNT services. This synergy between LEO-PNT and RIS is also expected to support emerging applications such as autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial and maritime vehicles, and advanced telecommunications networks.

In this special session, we solicit novel papers related (but not limited to):

  • LEO-PNT systems as complementary to GNSS solutions. Both SoO and standalone/dedicate LEO-PNT solutions can be proposed;
  • Studies on interoperability and hybridization between LEO-PNT and GNSS;
  • Design of new LEO constellations, as well as ground- and space-segments of LEO for PNT and PPP purposes;
  • Receiver architectures for code, Doppler, and/or angle/beamforming-based positioning with LEO signals;
  • Solutions for LEO-PNT combined with RIS for increased positioning accuracy especially under non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios;
  • Location-based communication enhancements with LEO signals.