StarFire: A Global High Accuracy Differential GPS System Ron Hatch, Tenny Sharpe, Paul Galyean NavCom Technology Inc.

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StarFireA Global High Accuracy Differential GPS
SystemRon Hatch, Tenny Sharpe, Paul Galyean
NavCom Technology Inc.

• Presented by Jose Romero-Mariona
• ICS 280
• Winter 2006

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What is StarFire?

• Developed by NavCom Technology, Inc.
• and Ag Management Solutions, both components of
  John Deere and Company
• Provides high accuracy navigation with
  sub-decimeter horizontal accuracy almost anywhere
  in the world
• Made possible by various characteristics
• Development of high quality, dual frequency GPS
  receivers for use as both reference and mobile
  receivers,
• Dual frequency extended smoothing of the code
  with the carrier to remove the two largest error
  sources, i.e., ionospheric refraction and
  multipath effects,
• Development of a new L-band communication module
  and associated multi-band antenna

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StarFire in Details

• StarFire evolved from being a set of regional
  DGPS networks to a global network offering
  unprecedented accuracy.
• Seven major components of StarFire
• Reference Network reference receivers that
  continuously provide the raw GPS observables to
  the Hubs for processing.
• Processing Hubs facilities at which the GPS
  observables are processed into DGPS corrections.
• Communication Links provide reliable transport
  mechanisms for the GPS observables and for the
  computed corrections.
• Land Earth Stations satellite uplink facilities
  that send the correction data received from the
  Hubs to the geostationary satellites.
• Geostationary Satellites used to distribute the
  corrections to users via L-band broadcasts.
• Monitors user receivers distributed throughout
  the world that use the broadcast corrections and
  provide their navigation information to the Hubs
  in real time.
• User Equipment uses the broadcast corrections
  along with local GPS observables to produce very
  precise navigation.

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StarFire at Work
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StarFires Positioning Accuracy

• The real time global accuracy of StarFire is
  unprecedented.

StarFires Performance in Australia
StarFires Performance in USA
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StarFire Applications, Present and Future

• The Starfire system was originally developed by
  John Deere for agricultural applications,
  including
• yield mapping,
• field documentation,
• operator assisted steering,
• automatic steering.
• The characteristics of StarFire can prove useful
  in many other applications, including
• Land survey and geodesy
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Utility mapping and real time asset location
• Construction equipment guidance and control
• Marine survey and resource exploration
• Aerial Photogrammetry
• Geophysical land seismic exploration
• Automated maritime docking

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Questions