InsideGNSS || The Case for LEO GNSS at C-Band

"This follow-up to a 2007 Inside GNSS article looking at the potential future role for C-band in navigation details how, nearly 20 years later, it’s moved from an interesting idea to critical for resilient position, navigation and timing (PNT).

PAUL ANDERSON, GEORGE SCHMITT, FURQAN AHMED, PATRICK SHANNON, TRUSTPOINT INC.

A 2007 Inside GNSS article examined C-band as a future for GNSS signals, with authors outlining its advantages and disadvantages when compared to L-band in context of the Galileo system and its potential role. Nearly 20 years later, we reexamine the cost/benefit trades for C-band for navigation in the context of the NewSpace economy and future commercial GNSS systems operating in low Earth orbit (LEO). In that time, C-band has become critical for resilient PNT, with TrustPoint beginning to deploy a proliferated LEO constellation of microsatellites broadcasting next-generation navigation signals in the 5010 to 5030 MHz Radionavigation Satellite Service (RNSS) allocation at C-band. TrustPoint’s future LEO GNSS service will enable rapid time-to-first-fix, meter and sub-meter positioning accuracy, improved jamming resistance due to frequency selection, diversity and increased signal strength, and an encrypted, spoof tolerant signal with built-in authentication.

The Paradigm Shift of Commercial GNSS
Over the past 50 years, the U.S. GPS and international GNSS counterparts have provided invaluable services in support of commercial, civil government, and military operations across the globe. Given the crucial role they play, it is difficult to envision a world without the ever-present support of these services streaming down from space. Recent reports estimate the global installed base of GNSS-enabled devices is projected to grow from 5.6 billion units in 2023 to almost 9 billion units across all markets by 2033, with the number of GNSS devices shipped per year increasing from 1.6 billion in 2023 to 2.2 billion units in 2033. As humanity exits the first complete epoch of the information age and boldly leans into the age of autonomy and ubiquitous connectivity, there is an expectation that GNSS-enabled devices will further proliferate and continue integrating more broadly and deeply into our way of life."

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