CURTIN University of Technology has joined with a number of high profile research institutes across Australia and worldwide in an eight million dollar space technology partnership to monitor climate change.

As part of the program, internationally-renowned researcher and authority on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning and navigation, Professor Peter Teunissen, of Curtin’s GNSS Research Centre, says his specialist team will focus on GNSS precise positioning of space platforms.

Professor Peter Teunissen will help develop the next generation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems / Image: Istockphoto

“Traditional GNSS involves satellites, ground stations and user receiver equipment and software which is used to determine a range of positions around the world at any time.

“Within this program, we will be working on methods and algorithms for the next generation GNSSs.

“Next generation GNSSs’ refer to all those GNSSs that are currently modernised, such as GPS of USA and GLONASS of Russia, or those under development such, as Galileo of Europe and Compass/Beidou of China.

“The team will develop algorithms and optimisation procedures for high-precision positioning to enhance Australia’s capability in space research.”

Prof Teunissen says the three-year project will involve the development of new technologies, including precise GNSS satellite positioning and navigation systems, atmospheric modelling and climate monitoring.

“We will also develop technology for tracking the location of satellites and space junk in relation to each other, which can be a threat to expensive equipment in the Earth’s orbit.”

Prof Teunissen was awarded Curtin’s first-ever Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship (ARC FF) in 2009, and says his involvement in the space technology project is the result of collaborative partnerships formed through his ARC FF research program.

“Through my ARC FF research program I have established collaborations with several institutes, one of them being RMIT University. RMIT invited me to participate in this program.

“The other partners involved are the University of New South Wales, the Bureau of Meteorology, Electro Optic Systems Space System, GPSat Systems Australia Pty Ltd, National Space Organisation, Taiwan and NOAA’s World Data Centre for Metrology.”

Prof Teunissen obtained his full professorship in 1987 from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he was Chair of Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning and Head of the Department of Earth Observation and Space Systems.

His field of expertise lies in Geodesy and Earth Observation and he has contributed to a number of research programs in the past, including development of the first permanent GPS array in the Netherlands and the development of LAMBDA, which he says is present today in almost any GNSS receiver software engine.

“I plan to build on the research that comes out of this program and will also look towards GNSS formation flying, which is the precise attitude determination and relative navigation of formation of moving platforms by means of GNSS methods and techniques.

“This research partnership should bring about some very exciting developments in the spatial sciences field.”

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