The Surrey Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), have won a Pinpoint Faraday award for the design of an advanced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).
Under the CASE studentship, worth £44,700, a PhD student will investigate and exploit the new GPS and GALILEO navigation signals for space applications. Architectures for dual frequency reception permit precise low Earth orbit determination and novel remote sensing techniques using GNSS signals. Weak signal tracking techniques can be applied to permit operation of GNSS receivers in geostationary orbits. The work will include digital signal processing of GNSS signals, VHDL, C-programming and some RF design.
The Surrey Space Centre is a postgraduate research centre specialising in space technology and related research. The Centre works closely with University spin-off company, SSTL, to provide academic support for its commercial and research satellite missions. SSTL has launched 20 small satellites, providing regular low cost opportunities for spaceborne experiments.
World leaders in small satellite technology, the Centre has a long history in GNSS technology and has supplied receivers to ESA, NASA and the USAF, as well as for SSTL”s own satellites. SSTL has developed its own space GPS receiver and this has been used to stimulate innovative areas of GNSS research, such as autonomous orbit determination and control, GNSS attitude determination and GNSS-based remote sensing. SSTL has most recently been selected to design and manufacture Europe”s first GALILEO navigation satellite (GSTB-V2/A).
