SBAS officially relaunches as SouthPAN

16 September, 2022

Lockheed Martin Australia wins SouthPAN contract as Geoscience Australia’s Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) relaunches as Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN)

CANBERRA: FrontierSI is delighted with today’s announcement, by partners Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand, of Lockheed Martin Australia as the new service provider for SouthPAN, marking the commencement of the re-establishment of new signals to deliver instant, reliable and accurate access to positioning information anytime and anywhere across Australia and New Zealand.

SouthPAN is a satellite and ground based infrastructure, which augments existing positioning signals provided by the United States’ GPS and Europe’s Galileo systems to provide more accurate and continuous position. Critically for aviation purposes, the signals also provide a continuous measure of system integrity, allowing use for vertical guidance during airfield approaches. SouthPAN delivers augmented and corrected satellite navigation signals directly from the satellite which means those communities in regional and remote areas, and offshore will greatly benefit.

The operational roll-out of SouthPAN builds on previous regional testing where FrontierSI was responsible for user testing across 10 key industry sectors, and managed a world first 3-year trial testing new signals for the first time. The trial assessed the economic, social, and environmental advantages of improved positioning technologies and demonstrated tangible benefits across a range of industry sectors whilst showing that accurate and reliable positioning information has significant economic gains for Australia and New Zealand, with an expected value of $7.4b generated over 30 years.

Broader benefits of an operational SouthPAN include wider coverage, enhanced accuracy down to a decimetre, signal integrity, and reduced commercial costs and infrastructure investment. The 50-fold increase in accuracy will boost economic productivity and be the Southern Hemisphere’s first satellite navigation augmentation service.

Dr Graeme Kernich, CEO of FrontierSI said,

FrontierSI is pleased to continue partnering with Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand to support SouthPAN. We will be bringing our technical expertise, research networks and industry connections to ensure users can benefit from SouthPAN’s precise positioning as soon as it becomes available. We are particularly excited to be re-engaging with private industry, universities, and governments to assist in the adoption of the new signals.”

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Media enquiries:  Nic Prassopoulos, Communications Manager, FrontierSI
Phone +61 400 824 323 or +44 7831 242 446,  nprassopoulos@frontiersi.com.au or frontiersimedia@frontiersi.com.au

About FrontierSI
FrontierSI has a 20-year track record delivering location information services throughout Australia, New Zealand and around the world. Through a partnership model comprising governments, industry, and the university sector, FrontierSI brings people and technology together to solve complex problems using its space expertise, location technologies, and data analytics capabilities.

Media

• Mirage News, “Australia and New Zealand Advance Satellite Positioning”, 16 September 2022
• SpaceConnect, “Lockheed Martin Australia wins SouthPAN contract”, 19 September 2022
• ACS, InformationAGE, “Government commits $1.18b for new positioning network”, 20 September 2022
• Spatial Source, “SouthPAN early Open Services are now live”, 27 September 2022

SouthPAN

Learn more about SouthPAN, its benefits, how it works, and how to get access,.