Then, they set up an antenna on the campus of UCI and tried to use the network to pinpoint the antenna’s location. They developed an algorithm that could use the signals of multiple satellites to locate a position on Earth. Kassas is an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State.įor this research, Kassas and his research team studied the Starlink system and analyzed signals being sent by the satellites. Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers. “And even though Starlink wasn’t designed for navigation purposes, we showed that it was possible to learn parts of the system well enough to use it for navigation.”ĬARMEN is one of four recently awarded U.S. “We eavesdropped on the signal, and then we designed sophisticated algorithms to pinpoint our location, and we showed that it works with great accuracy,” said Zak Kassas, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Irvine and director of the Center for Automated Vehicles Research with Multimodal Assured Navigation (CARMEN), a multi-institution transportation center housed at The Ohio State University.

The researchers did not need assistance from SpaceX to use the satellite signals, and they emphasized that they had no access to the actual data being sent through the satellites – only to information related to the satellite’s location and movement. Their results will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

Louis, may provide a promising alternative to GPS. Their findings, shared in September at the Institute of Navigation GNSS 2021 annual meeting in St. The researchers used signals from six Starlink satellites to pinpoint a location on Earth within 8 meters of accuracy.

The Starlink satellites, sent into orbit by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are designed to provide broadband internet connections in remote locations around the world. It is the first time the Starlink system has been harnessed by researchers outside SpaceX for navigation. 3, 2021 – Engineering researchers have developed a method to use signals broadcast by Starlink internet service satellites to accurately locate a position here on Earth, much like GPS does.

Gps pinpoint locations on earth by