Open system architecture (OSA) for dual-use satellite navigation

A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) concept based on an open system architecture (OSA) has been developed by the authors. As described in this paper, this GNSS OSA concept utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal-in-space interface as the foundation for its interoperability standards. So long as each GNSS component adheres to these interoperability standards, synergy is enabled at the individual satellite level and the overall whole becomes much more than the simple sum of its components. The biggest beneficiaries of this GNSS OSA concept are those military and civil/commercial users of satellite navigation services who already have equipment compatible with the GPS signal-in-space interface (i.e., dual use). With the recent decisions in Europe to proceed with the civil Galileo system, on-going international development of space-based augmentation systems, and several industry announcements of plans to build commercial regional positioning systems, the dual-use GNSS OSA concept described in this paper provides a technical roadmap for the future global evolution of satellite navigation.