GLONASS is the only system in the world that provides access to a civilian signal at a global level around the world free of charge. Photo by Jurgen Trutler

In March of this year, Dmitry Rogozin, CEO of the state corporation Roscosmos, noted that as a government decision, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of managing the Russian Federation from the GPS navigation system. What does this mean for our country?

The digital transformation of economies around the world requires accurate temporal fidelity and includes object location detection. Global navigation satellite systems are the most accurate means of solving these problems today. Satellite constellations artificially create a radio navigation field. There are several large satellite navigation systems in the world. The most advanced of them are the American GPS, the European Galileo and the Russian GLONASS.

An American, a European and a Russian met

American GPS. The history of the creation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) began in 1973. The Software Engineering Office, part of the US Space and Missile Research Center, was directed by the US Department of Defense to develop, research, and deploy a space-based navigation system.

The result of the work was a system called NAVSTAR (Navigation System with Time and Range). Already from the name of the system, it goes back that it is associated with the solution of two main tasks – determining the position and speed of consumption (navigation) and the scale of the time scale. The initiator of the creation of the GPS system was the US Department of Defense, which had to solve the problems of defense and national security. Location is another early name for the Defense Navigation Satellite System (DNSS).

Regular GPS constellation consists of 32 main space vehicles (SC). They belong on six circular orbits. Additionally, in some orbits there may be one or two standby spacecraft. The orbital altitude of 20,200 km is the period of revolution of 11 h 58 min, that is, the orbits of the GPS spacecraft are synchronous.

European Galileo. The global navigation satellite system Galileo, created by the union to ensure the independence of countries – in the field of coordinate-time and navigation support. This program on a probable global navigation satellite system (GNSS) was formally implemented in 1994.

It was decided to develop two directions. The first is a functional addition to the GPS and GLONASS systems – the European Geostationary Navigation Service (EGNOS). The second direction is the creation of our own GNSS, designed for the place. In 1999, the European project according to GNSS was named Galileo.

The Galileo orbital mount assumes that in three circular orbits at a height of 23,222 km with an orbital period of 14 hours. there will be 30 spacecraft. 24 spacecraft are used, two spacecrafts in each orbital far zone are reserved. Such a selection of groups is selected from guaranteed safety in terms of availability and availability at minimal cost for orbit correction.

Russian GLONASS. Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). GLONASS is the only system in the world that provides access to the civil signal of the global network on two frequencies of local networks L1 and L2 to users around the world free of charge.

The basis of GLONASS is 25 spacecraft that move in three-orbital planes, 8 vehicles in each of the orbits 19,100 km away from the height and a period of revolution of 11 hours 15 minutes 44 seconds.

The selected orbital constellation captures the movement of all spacecraft along a single track on the Earth’s surface with its repetition in 8 days. Such characteristics have a high probability of GLONASS, which practically makes it possible to do without the control of orbital spacecraft during the entire period of their operation.

One example of the use of global satellite navigation is the ERA-GLONASS (Emergency Response to Accidents) system. The big problem is determining the fact of road traffic and transferring data to the transport server. In the event of a car accident, the navigation and telecommunications terminal installed on it automatically sets the coordinates, establishes a connection with the server center of the monitoring system and transmits data about the accident via a cellular communication channel to the operator.

The need to grow the GLONASS system does not have to be taken into account.

Life without GPS exists

Russia’s technical support from GPS is very difficult. The GPS orbital constellation cannot be selectively turned off when adding Russia and not turned off when adding other continents, other countries. It is also impossible to force preference to offer our own systems, we launch satellites on our own: the basic elements are available and allow you to create them within the country.

If GPS is disabled, then GLONASS can only be used in the usual way – with Russian satellites from the same orbit. America at the moment requires no encumbrance.

Of course, when GPS is turned off, there is one weak point – ordinary smartphones, which today can work with all employees. The same Qualcomm produces support for all satellite navigation systems in its chipsets. And it is quite possible to put pressure on Qualcomm so that it removes support for GLONASS. But even if such a decision is made, it is impossible to do it instantly, the development of new chips is not a quick process, we have at least a couple of years before GLONASS is felt in chipsets. In addition, smartphones will have support for other satellite systems, they will work and display coordinates. For a variable application, this is enough for the eyes.

To update the domestic space constellation, it is planned to launch several new generation GLONASS satellites in 2022. These will be new generation spacecraft – GLONASS-K and GLONASS-K2. The new GLONASS-K2 satellites provide navigation accuracy of less than 30 cm.

At first glance, and according to officials’ reports, everything is in order with the implementation of the GLONASS system in Russia. Satellites fly, monitor the earth, save people. However, even here there are pitfalls.

What clips the wings of GLONASS?

Let’s dwell on the problems with GLONASS in aviation. Despite the order of the Ministry of Transport, obliging aviation to supply aircraft with the GLONASS system, they do not do this. Why?

Firstly, in the air legislation of the Russian Federation there are no requirements for the obligatory equipment of even domestic aircraft using the GLONASS system, not to mention foreign declarations.

Secondly, the cost of installing certified GLONASS/GPS equipment for aircraft is $100,000 or more, depending on the class of equipment. And producers have to pay this amount, which is very doubtful.

If, hypothetically, all foreign-made aircraft are adjusted to the GLONASS system, then their certification consequences correspond to the certification bodies of Europe, the USA, South America, because the installation of such a change in equipment introduces changes in the analysis of each type of aircraft, which can cost tens of millions of dollars for each type. Who will do it and who will fly?

Finally, only 107 airfields out of 182 in the Russian Federation have switched on the GLONASS system. How much more money is needed to connect the entire airfield network of Russia to this system?

In general, satellite navigation systems are an expensive pleasure for any country: the USA, China, Russia or a gadget. Therefore, countries pool their resources when the satellite system can be supplemented by alternative ones. Thus, Russia is actively cooperating in this regard with China. It was assumed that the next steps would happen with Europe and America, but now it seems that they can be put an end to.