An apparatus, method and computer program is described comprising: determining that a first mobile object requires positioning assistance based on one or more predetermined criteria, wherein the predetermined criteria includes whether one or more properties of a planned or predicted future position of the first mobile object have been identified as insufficient, or are predicted as being insufficient, for determining the position of the first mobile object with a required level of accuracy; and responsive to said determination, causing deployment of one or more movable devices (e.g. UAVs) to a target position for providing the required positioning assistance to said first mobile object.

Beacon-based Precision Navigation and Timing (PNT) may use a constellation of space vehicles (e.g., small, low cost satellites) coupled to a network of ground stations and a network of beacons. Such a system be provided at a cost that is approximately 100 times lower than GPS both to build and to operate. The resulting system may also provide fast acquisition, improved SNR, improved anti-jam and anti-spoofing capabilities, and six-inch scale location determination, making it applicable to both existing PNT applications and enabling new applications.

The embodiments described herein provide ranging and location determination capabilities in RF-opaque environments, such as a jungle, that preclude the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or laser ranging systems, utilizing transponders and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers located on aerial vehicles. The aerial vehicles operate above the RF-opaque environment, and communicate with a ranging device within the RF-opaque environment on frequencies that propagate in the RF-opaque environment. The ranging device transmits RF signals to the transponders, which are received by the transponders and re-broadcasted back to the ranging device on a different frequency. The aerial vehicles also provide their coordinates to the ranging device using their GPS receivers. The ranging device uses information about the transmitted and received RF signals and the GPS coordinates of the aerial vehicles to calculate a perpendicular distance to a property line from the ranging device, and/or to calculate a coordinate location of the ranging device.

It is provided of a system capable of estimating a current position of a terminal apparatus, even if a terminal apparatus for mobile communication is in a condition of non-receiving or inability to receive GNSS signals. A radio relay apparatus, in which a relay station mounted on a drone, transmits radio waves from a directional antenna toward the ground while flying in an upper airspace above a target area on the ground, and transmits position information on its own apparatus obtained based on the GNSS signal, to an information processing apparatus. The terminal apparatus measures a reception power or a reception quality of radio waves transmitted from the radio relay apparatus, and transmits reception measurement information regarding the measurement result of the reception power or the reception quality, to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus estimates the position of the terminal apparatus in the target area, based on the position information from the radio relay apparatus received in a flight time period during which the radio relay apparatus flies in the upper airspace above the target area and the reception measurement information from the terminal apparatus. The information processing apparatus may estimate the position where the reception power or the reception quality from the terminal apparatus is maximum, as the position of the terminal apparatus.

Satellite echoing for geolocation and mitigation of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denial are provided herein, where an example method comprises: transmitting, by a processing device, an echo message along a communication path having a communication satellite and a target device with an unknown distance to the communication satellite; receiving, by the processing device, a return of the echo message from the communication satellite over the communication path; determining, by the processing device, a time of travel of the echo message associated with only a single traversal of a portion of the communication path that is between the communication satellite and the target device; calculating, by the processing device, a distance between the communication satellite and the target device based on the time of travel; and performing, by the processing device, one or more actions based on the distance between the communication satellite and the target device.

Satellite relaying for geolocation and mitigation of GNSS denial are provided, where a method comprises: receiving, by a processing device from a communication satellite along a communication path, a message initiated at a transmission time by a transmitting device, the communication path having a target device with an unknown distance to the communication satellite; determining, by the device, a reception time upon receiving the message; determining, by the device, a time of travel of the message associated with only traversal of a portion of the communication that is path between the communication satellite and the target device based on a difference between the transmission time and the reception time; calculating, by the device, a distance between the communication satellite and the target device based on the time of travel; and performing, by the device, one or more actions based on the distance between the communication satellite and the target device.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a positioning system for use with a corresponding one of a plurality of UAVs, the positioning system operable to receive at least one Low Bit Rate (LBR) signal that includes satellite location data from at least one satellite via a receiver of the UAV. Current location data is generated based on the at least one LBR signal. A global positioning system (GPS) signal is generated based on the current location data for transmission, via a transmitter of the UAV, for reception by a GPS receiver. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A positioning device receives multiple positioning signals respectively transmitted from multiple positioning satellites, changes a condition of the positioning satellites to be used in a positioning calculation processing based on a determination of whether a surrounding environment is an environment in which a multipath is likely to occur, and performs the positioning calculation processing by using the positioning signals from the positioning satellites that satisfy the condition.

A positioning system including a satellite signal receiver 20 that receives satellite signals from a plurality of positioning satellites; a plurality of indoor pseudo satellite stations that transmit pseudo satellite signals; and a pseudo station control device that selects the positioning satellites to be allocated to the plurality of pseudo satellite stations based on the received satellite signals, allocates a PRN code corresponding to each of the selected positioning satellites to each of the plurality of pseudo satellite stations one by one, determines a delay time of the PRN code allocated to the plurality of pseudo satellite stations, and transmits a plurality of pseudo satellite signals generated using the PRN code corresponding to each of the plurality of pseudo satellite stations and the delay time to each of the plurality of pseudo satellite stations.

A platform with a signal generation unit and a transmitting unit. The signal generation unit is adapted to generate a spreading code sequence. The spreading code sequence has a reference chip with a rising edge and a falling edge. The signal generation unit is adapted to adjust the spreading code sequence to ensure that the rising edge or the falling edge of the reference chip arrives at a Virtual Timing Reference Station, VTRS, on a predetermined time (t.sub.ref,VTRS). The transmitting unit is adapted to engage with the signal generation unit and adapted to transmit the spreading code sequence. Further, a user device for receiving the transmitted spreading code sequence.