A recent study published in Satellite Navigation reveals that Low Earth Orbit satellite-based Positioning, Navigation and Timing systems could substantially improve navigation accuracy in environments where current Global Navigation Satellite Systems face limitations. The research, conducted by teams from Tampere University and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, provides crucial insights into how LEO constellations might address growing demands for more reliable positioning technology.
The importance of this research stems from increasing global reliance on precise positioning for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to critical infrastructure monitoring. Current GNSS systems, while providing global coverage, often suffer from weak signals, urban multipath interference, and vulnerability to jamming and spoofing attacks. In dense urban environments, GNSS accuracy can degrade up to seven-fold, creating significant challenges for emerging technologies that depend on precise location data.
The study, available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s43020-025-00186-5, employed extensive simulations involving 192,000 Monte-Carlo trials across 400 users in various European outdoor scenarios. Researchers evaluated multiple LEO constellation configurations, analyzing factors including carrier frequencies, transmission power levels, and satellite geometry designs. The findings indicate that optimized LEO systems, particularly when operating in hybrid mode with existing GNSS infrastructure, offer substantial improvements in positioning stability and interference resistance.
Key results show that LEO constellations operating at moderate power levels (50 dBm Effective Isotropic Radiated Power) can provide high-quality outdoor positioning in L- and C-bands. Multi-shell constellation designs, such as Çelikbilek-1 and Marchionne-2 configurations, demonstrated particularly favorable performance by balancing satellite count with optimal geometry. These designs maintained stable ranging performance even in harsh urban canyon conditions where traditional GNSS systems experience significant degradation.
The implications of these findings are substantial for multiple industries and applications. Enhanced navigation systems could benefit autonomous vehicle operations, unmanned aerial vehicle routing, emergency response coordination, precision agriculture, and critical infrastructure monitoring. The improved interference resistance is particularly significant for security-sensitive applications, as stronger LEO signal power requires jammers to deploy far greater intensity to achieve equivalent disruption compared to GNSS systems.
Researchers emphasize that LEO systems are not intended to replace existing GNSS infrastructure but rather to complement and enhance it. Hybrid integration approaches, such as combining Çelikbilek-1 constellations with GPS/Galileo systems or CentiSpace-like configurations with BeiDou, yielded better Position Dilution of Precision distributions, faster fix availability, and broader user coverage. This hybrid approach represents a cost-effective pathway toward more resilient PNT solutions that could become foundational for next-generation navigation technology.
The study's practical significance extends to deployment considerations, suggesting that moderate-power LEO constellations can strengthen outdoor positioning without requiring prohibitively expensive satellite hardware. As global demand for secure, reliable positioning grows, the integration of LEO and GNSS systems could address critical vulnerabilities in current navigation infrastructure while supporting the development of emerging technologies that depend on precise, uninterrupted location data.
