School of Surveying & Spatial Information Systems, UNSW

Satellite Navigation & Positioning (SNAP) Lab
(http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/)

Scholarships available
ARC-Linkage (APAI) “Structural Deformation Monitoring Integrating a New
Wireless Positioning Technology with GPS” 2007.5-2010.5
In this project, the student will be required to design algorithms that integrate
measurements from GPS receivers with those taken from “Locatalites”, terrestrial
transmitters produced by the innovative Australian company Locata Corporation. The
Locata technology is proving to be a world-class provider of extremely accurate
position and time synchronisation, and is currently being tested in Asia, North
America and Africa. In many applications, it can be used to support or replace GPS.
This project investigates these outdoor and indoor applications with the industry
partner Leica Geosystems. One PhD scholarship.

ARC-Linkage (APAI) “Safe Location at Home and Abroad” 2007.5-2010.5
Technologies exist to use mobile telephone signals for location. Mobile phones may
also use GPS by exploiting “assisted GPS” or A-GPS techniques. Each of these two
position determination technologies works well where the other does not, hence an
integrated approach would make for a much more robust positioning system. This
project examines the combination of the measurements from the two technologies to
provide secure location information. The application of interest to the industry partner
Seeker Wirless is monitoring the location of children to assure their safety. One PhD
scholarship.

ARC-Linkage (APAI) “Assisted GPS and Advanced Positioning For Emergency
Services” 2008-2011
GPS works well when the receiver can “see” open skies. Where there are tall
buildings (“urban canyons”) or trees, performance is diminished. This project
examines how “Assisted GPS” (AGPS) techniques can be used to assist emergency
services such as bushfire fighters and search and rescue teams. One PhD will examine
the provision of AGPS assistance, and the other will examine issues related to
automated despatch and tracking – how for instance to ensure that searchers have
covered all of an area and not duplicated search effort. Two PhD scholarships.

CRC-SI Project 1.4 “Integrating Electricity, Telecommunications and
Government Infrastructure to Deliver Precise Positioning Services in Regional
Areas” 2008-2011
The aim of this project is to develop a long-term framework for the current and future
GNSS reference network architecture and operations. The research will focus on the
examination of alternatives for the precise positioning network architecture and
approaches beyond the solutions currently offered by the major commercial suppliers.
It will also address challenges and benefits in the context of next generation GNSS
such as GPS-III and Galileo. The position is open for the development and
implementation of a software platform to enable server-based, thin-client, real-time
kinematic positioning services. One PhD scholarship.

Projects that may start beginning 2008
ARC-Discovery “Guidance for the Blind and Visually Impaired Using GPS and
WiFi” 2008-2011
Combining GPS with WiFi to provide personal navigation is an area where large
companies are starting to invest. This particular application is aimed at blind and
visually impaired (BVI) people. The aim is to produce a system that can navigate in
environments frequented by BVI, such as bus and train stations, and large shopping
centres. These environments are very challenging for GPS, hence other technologies
such as WiFi are needed for augmentation of positioning capability. One PhD
scholarship.

ARC-Discovery “Reconfigurable Search Engines for Satellite Navigation
Receivers” 2008-2011
The SNAP designed “Namuru” GPS receiver is based on a FPGA platform, and hence
its hardware is reconfigurable. In other words, where large circuits are required (such
as “search engines” for signal acquisition in satellite navigation systems), they can be
reconfigured when not in use in order to save significant chip area and power. In this
project on PhD examines the design of the individual search engines for the three
GPS signals and for the new Galileo signals, and the other PhD examines the
approaches required to reconfigure the FPGA. The aim is to produce the first genuine
application for reconfigurable computing. Two PhD scholarships.

Visit our website to find out more about the SNAP Lab and its research projects,
http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/work/our_work.htm
We are always looking for enthusiastic, well-qualified PhD candidates with a
background in surveying/geodesy, computer science, electrical engineering,
mathematics or physics. We have many other project topics, including GPS/GNSS
technology and its applications, differential InSAR for deformation monitoring, and
multi-sensor integration. These are available only for Australian or New Zealand
citizens or Permanent Resident Visa Holders.

For all enquiries regarding postgraduate studies and research, contact the
Director of Research Assoc. Prof. Andrew Dempster, at
a.dempster@unsw.edu.au.