ESA signs new chip development for more resilient satnav

The contract to fund the commercial development of this all-European product – intended as the first stage towards a complete single-chip multi-band satnav receiver – was formally signed on Tuesday 4 March during the NAVISP Industry Days in London, UK.

ESA’s Head of the Future Navigation Department, Marco Falcone, signed the contract together with Alan Wong, Chief Technology Officer of UK chip manufacturer, EnSilica Plc (EnSilica).

“I am extremely proud of our team to have been awarded this contract,” commented EnSilica CEO Ian Lankshear. “This funding will enable us to further enhance global satellite navigation technology and continue to develop commercial solutions that are critical for resilient and reliable satellite navigation. We are grateful for the ongoing support from ESA and the UK Space Agency, and we continue to focus on positioning, navigation and timing and the broader satellite communications market as a key growth driver of our business.”

The signing happened in the frame of NAVISP Industry Days, taking place on 4 and 5 March, hosted at the University of London’s Senate House in the UK. This annual event brings together the various European stakeholders of ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, NAVISP.

This programme partners cutting-edge European companies in the development of new PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) technologies and services – in support of Europe's industrial competitiveness and national PNT priorities of ESA’s Member States.

Nichola Bolton, Head of PNT at UK Space Agency, notes “The UK is proud to be an integral partner in NAVISP, actively supporting this ESA programme from the start to drive innovation in positioning, navigation and timing. This project brings together one of the world's premier professional GNSS receiver manufacturers with UK chip development expertise from EnSilica. It is an example of the international collaboration that NAVISP can enable. We are particularly pleased that it develops UK expertise in single chip GNSS receiver solutions.”

This new 18-month co-funded project is being supported through Element 2 of NAVISP, which has the goal of improving the competitiveness and capability of participating ESA Member States’ companies.

EnSilica’s new radio design is created to enable equipment manufacturers to integrate their satnav algorithms into a full system on chip, for rapid response to market needs.

ESA’s Marco Falcone explains: “The starting point of this effort came when both a leading European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device manufacturer and EnSilica approached us with the idea to develop this new GNSS chip to strengthen the position of European industry in the PNT market. Innovating for greater PNT resilience is a key NAVISP priority, responding to evolving needs and changes in our current environment.”

Single chip GNSS receivers are commonplace in our smartphones, but these have lower requirements in terms of accuracy, reliability or resilience. This novel chip (and its integrated follow-on) would be intended for high-end GNSS receivers for uses such as surveying, drones, satellites, defence and the automotive industry, filling a gap in current European capability.

The novel scaled-down chip design will offer benefits in efficiency and power, acquiring and tracking all current satellite and proposed low-Earth orbit navigation constellations on a dual-stream basis form separate radio antennas, delivering heightened resilience against GNSS spoofing and interference.

“The role NAVISP plays in this endeavour is really to mitigate industrial risk,” notes Gonzalo Martin de Marcado, managing ESA’s NAVISP Element 2. “We help to bring companies together as partners, provide technical support and also financial backing, because designing and manufacturing chips is a costly business. But from our point of view this investment should pay off well, because this will be produced through an all-European supply chain, supporting one of the key GNSS players in Europe. In addition, EnSilica retains the intellectual property rights for this GNSS front end, so it could be offered commercially for other companies as well.”

About NAVISP

ESA navigation specialists are supporting cutting-edge European companies in the development of new PNT technologies and services – in support of Europe's industrial competitiveness, autonomy and leadership. The result is ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, NAVISP.

NAVISP is looking into all kinds of clever ideas about the future of satellite navigation and positioning, navigation and timing: ways to improve satellite navigation, alternative positioning systems and new navigation services and applications.

For more information, visit the NAVISP webpage.