International Cooperation in
Promoting a Global
Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS) of Systems
Ken Hodgkins
Director
Office of Space and Advanced Technology
U.S. Department Of State
U.S. National Space Policy
Space-Based PNT Guideline: Maintain leadership
in the service, provision, and use of GNSS
• Provide civil GPS services, free of direct user charges
o Available on a continuous, worldwide basis
o Maintain constellation consistent with published performance standards and
interface specifications
o Foreign PNT services may be used to complement services from GPS
• Encourage global compatibility and interoperability with GPS
• Promote transparency in civil service provision
• Enable market access to industry
• Support international activities to detect and mitigate harmful interference
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Objectives in Working with Other
GNSS Service Providers
• Ensure compatibility ― ability of U.S. and non-
U.S. space-based PNT services to be used separately
or together without interfering with each individual
service or signal
o Radio frequency compatibility
• Achieve interoperability – ability of civil U.S. and
non-U.S. space-based PNT services to be used
together to provide the user better capabilities than
would be achieved by relying solely on one service
or signal
• Promote fair competition in the global marketplace
Pursue through Bilateral and
Multilateral Cooperation 3
Planned GNSS
• Global Constellations • Regional
Constellations
– GPS (24+3)
– QZSS (4+3)
– GLONASS (24+)
– IRNSS (7)
– GALILEO (24+3)
– BDS/BEIDOU (27+3 IGSO + 5 GEO) • Satellite-Based
Augmentations
– WAAS (3)
– MSAS (2)
– EGNOS (3)
– GAGAN (2)
– SDCM (3)
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Bilateral Cooperation: GNSS
Providers
• European Union: GPS-Galileo Cooperation Agreement signed 2004
o Plenary and technical working group meetings held regularly
o 2014 compatibility coordination agreement between GPS and Galileo
• China: Joint Statement on Cooperation signed at first civil GNSS
bilateral held May 2014
o Issues include spectrum protection, civil aviation applications
• Japan: Joint Statement on cooperation signed in 1998
o Regular plenary and technical WG meetings
o U.S. hosts QZSS monitoring stations in Hawaii and Guam
• India: U.S.–India Joint statement on cooperation signed in 2007
o Compatibility coordination completed between GPS and IRNSS
o U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group meets periodically
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Bilateral Cooperation: UK
Joint United Kingdom–United States Statement Regarding
Global Positioning System (GPS) Intellectual Property
(17 January 2013)
• Common understanding of intellectual property rights
related to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and
agreed to work together to address broader global
navigation satellite systems' intellectual property issues
o U.S. – UK affirmed their commitment to ensuring that GPS civil
signals will remain free and openly available for users worldwide;
o The UK is dedicating all government held patents and patent
applications relating to U.S. GPS civil signal designs to the public
domain
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International Committee on Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG)
• Emerged from UN COPUOS Action Team Co-Chaired by the U.S. and
Italy (2001-2004)
• Promote the use of GNSS and its integration into infrastructures,
particularly in developing countries
• Encourage compatibility and interoperability among global and regional
systems
• Members include:
o GNSS Providers (U.S., EU, Russia, China, India, Japan)
o Other UN Member States with an interest in implementing or promoting
GNSS services and applications
Italy, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates
o International organizations/associations
21 Associate Members and Observers
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ICG Mission Statement (2013)
• Promote voluntary cooperation on matters of mutual
interest related to civil satellite-based positioning,
navigation, timing, and value-added services
• Contribute to the sustainable development of the world
• Encourage coordination among GNSS Providers to
ensure greater compatibility, interoperability, and
transparency
• Promote the introduction and utilization of GNSS services
in developing countries, by assisting with the integration
into their infrastructure
• Assist GNSS users with their development plans and
applications, by encouraging coordination and serving as
a focal point for international information exchange
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ICG Providers Forum
• Established in 2007
• Terms of Reference created in 2008
• Members
o Current and Future GNSS and Satellite Based Augmentation
System (SBAS) Providers
China (BEIDOU), India (IRNSS/GAGAN), Japan (QZSS/MSAS),
Russia (GLONASS/SDCM), U.S. (GPS/WAAS), EU (GALILEO/EGNOS)
• Purpose
o Focused discussions on compatibility and interoperability,
encouraging development of complimentary systems
o Exchange detailed information on systems & service provision
plans
o Exchange views on ICG work plan and activities
• Next Meeting: Fourteenth Meeting, June 2015, Vienna,
Austria 9
ICG-9 Meeting in Prague:
9-14 November 2014
• Interference Detection and Mitigation (IDM)
– Nations should evaluate & implement existing/emerging IDM capabilities and work with the
telecom industry on standards for crowd sourcing IDM techniques
– The ICG Secretariat and IDM taskforce will organize UN-sponsored workshops on RNSS
spectrum protection and IDM for user community member nations
• International Multi-GNSS monitoring (IGMA)
– Existing civil service centers should establish a link to a new ICG web portal allowing users to
easily find GNSS monitoring information and products
– IGMA Task Force should conduct a workshop in 2015 focused on the purpose of multi-GNSS
open service monitoring, the parameters to be monitored, and an organizational approach
• Interoperability Task Force and System Providers continue to assess industry
feedback received at 4 interoperability workshops
• Providers should develop a booklet defining the characteristics of a fully
interoperable space service volume
• ProviderswillconsiderfurtherdiscussiononGNSS"MarketAccess“
• ICG Vision Statement adopted 10
U.S. Will Host Tenth Meeting of the ICG
(ICG-10)
• Meeting will be held in Boulder, Colorado: 1-6 November
2015
• Meeting Venue: University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research (UCAR)
Consortium of more than 100 member colleges and universities
focused on atmospheric research and Earth system sciences
UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) on behalf of the National Science Foundation
• Will Include Site Tours
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
National Space Weather Prediction Center
UNAVCO: University NAVSTAR Consortium, which facilitates
geoscience research and education using space geodesy
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 11
UN Workshops on the Use and
Applications of GNSS
• Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), through its
Program on GNSS Applications:
― Organizes regional workshops, training courses and international meetings
focusing on capacity-building in the use of GNSS-related technologies;
― Has developed an in-depth GNSS education curriculum for the training
programs at all UN-affiliated Regional Centres for Space Science and
Technology Education, also acting as the ICG information centres.
• These activities bring together a large number of
experts, including those from developing countries, to
discuss and act on issues that are also of high relevance
to the ICG
• International Meeting on GNSS, 14 – 18 December
2015, Vienna, Austria
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Summary
• U.S. policy encourages the worldwide use of GPS/GNSS
• International cooperation to ensure compatibility,
interoperability, and transparency is an important priority
• ICG and the work OOSA is doing through its Program on
GNSS Applications are important vehicles for
accomplishing these goals multilaterally
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