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The core of Institute research activity has traditionally focused around satellite navigation and positioning systems, this has widened to include fields such as photogrammetry, remote sensing, sensor integration and geographical information systems. Our research ranges from fundamental science to application software solutions, with an ever increasing diversity, from engineering surveying to unmanned aerial vehicles. This expansion into new research areas has naturally led to collaboration across departments and with other institutions.
Current research themes are:
Current satellite navigation systems are evolving - modernised GPS and Glonass will make new signals available, with further utility coming from the expected deployment of Galileo. These new signals will revolutionise the use of GNSS over the next decade, in terms of accessibility, integrity and accuracy. We will be conducting fundamental and innovative research to provide key enabling technology.
Engineering surveying or Geospatial Engineering is an area of research at the IESSG. This includes research into the use, development and application of new and emerging technologies such as GNSS, servo driven total stations and laser scanners for engineering applications such as deformation monitoring, location and positioning of buried pipes and cables in built up areas, and construction plant control.
The IESSG has a number of projects researching the use of GNSS and other integrated sensors for deformation and deflection monitoring of large structures, in particular bridges. Such bridges include the Humber Bridge, Forth Road Bridge and the Millennium Bridge in London. In addition, the use of GNSS integrated with other systems such as pseudolites and locatalites is being researched for positioning buried pipes and cables.
The development of ground and airborne remote measurement has been a major focus at the Institute, with ongoing research into geometric and calibration issues, in terms of sensor models, algorithm development and integration of sensors.
Digital cameras have enabled greater flexibility in image capture, whilst laser scanning has provided flexibility in digital surface measurement. These factors, in combination with improving capabilities in digital photogrammetric image processing, provide a powerful tool for spatial data capture from ground and airborne images. More recently the Institute has been undertaking research with satellite based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), developing algorithms for stereo SAR and InSAR digital surface models.
The IESSG has, for over 10 years now, been involved in research on effects of the ionosphere on the radio signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS and Galileo, and user applications. Although GNSS systems now underpin a significant part of modern infrastructure, such as financial markets, telecoms, power generation and distribution as well as transport and emergency services, they suffer from a number of known vulnerabilities. One such shortcoming relates to an ionospheric disturbance known as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation causes amplitude and phase variations on signals from GNSS satellites when they cross the ionised upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) and current GNSS receivers are not robust against it. Effects range from degradation of positioning accuracy to the complete loss of signal tracking. During scintillation events, required levels of accuracy and continuity, as well as availability, may not be met, thus compromising commercial operations, such as maritime navigation, geophysical exploration and airplane navigation during airport precision approach.
The IESSG is currently involved in several initiatives in this area through: a 4 year EPSRC funded coordinated research programme with the Universities of Bath and Leeds entitled ‘GNSS Scintillation: Detection, Forecasting and Mitigation’; the CIGALA (Concept for Ionospheric Scintillation Mitigation for Professional GNSS in Latin America) project, led by Septentrio NV and co-funded by the GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) through the European 7th Framework Program (FP7); a 2 year Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship entitled ICARUS (Ionospheric threats and suitable Countermeasures Applicable to satellite Radio systems Under next Solar maximum); two Royal Society International Joint Projects for collaboration with Brazil and Italy respectively; and a Santander Universities Scheme grant for collaboration with Brazil.
The integration of position, attitude and remote measurement sensors remains an important research area underpinning a wide variety of applications, such as photogrammetric aerial triangulation and direct georeferencing, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
There is a need to incorporate a positioning capability into low-cost mass market devices; the challenge is to understand how people in different situations respond or relate to positional cues. Our research aims to understand how to communicate complex spatial information effectively through small mobile devices.
There is an increasing demand for spatial information about the environment, including applications in coastal zone management, flood inundation modelling, urban planning, personal navigation and engineering surveying. The Institute is undertaking research to enhance quality and automation in the creation of 'digital environments'. Technologies of ground and airborne laser scanning and photogrammetry have provided data for fusion, analysis and information generation. Digital surface modelling is often the fundamental product and this can now be created from ground, air and space-borne data gathering. Visualisation is of paramount importance in the application of 'digital environments', which has led to research in virtual reality, field-based geospatial information understanding using PDAs and the improvement of spatial literacy.
GNSS is not the solution to all our positioning requirements and is of no use without a view of the sky. With the development of technologies such as cell phones, Bluetooth and WiFi, there has been increasing interest in terrestrial based radio-positioning systems, and we are already working with Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) systems and GNSS pseudolites.
The aim is to integrate these technologies to provide a seamless and ubiquitous positioning capability. This will truly change the way we view location and it is possible to imagine a situation when we will have positioning for everyone and everything, everywhere and all the time.
The Institute is involved in the research and commercialization of autonomous systems, which will be a critical component in the increased automation of vehicles, enhancing the safety and efficiency of transportation generally.
The Institute has developed significant expertise in the geodetic long-term monitoring of land movement for flood defence infrastructure and high-frequency monitoring of large engineering structures. These applications rely on a highly accurate terrestrial reference frame, accessible through different GNSS orbit and clock products.
The combination of signals from multiple GNSS - improved GPS, Galileo, Glonass and others, has implications for the maintenance of the terrestrial reference frame and other scientific products.
Our aim is to explore the impact of the combination of GNSS observables on the requirements for geodetic GNSS equipment and on processing techniques, particularly those used by geospatial engineers in monitoring applications.
Geospatial Science is a major cross-disciplinary research activity. To provide a focus for this at the Institute, a Centre for Geospatial Science was established in April 2005 under the directorship of Professor Mike Jackson. This is part of the University of Nottingham's strategic investment in innovative research. The centre undertakes research in the areas of geospatial intelligence, geospatial interoperability and mobile location-based services.
Please refer to the centre for more details.
University of Nottingham Triumph Road Nottingham NG7 2TU
telephone: +44 (0) 115 9 513 880 fax: + 44 (0) 115 9 513 881 email: iessg@nottingham.ac.uk
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