JAXA unveil a ground station for tracking signals from the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)

Date: 8/10/2009

Source: JAXA

The Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA) in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. has unveiled the first ground station for tracking and monitoring signals from the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

The QZSS is a proposed Japanese augmentation system that aims to always have at least one satellite directly above Japan. This will ensure that positioning signals transmitted by the system can be received in urban and mountainous regions without obstruction. In doing so, the system is expected to significantly improve the accuracy of GPS positioning signals.

The QZSS programme is a joint government-private venture that involves four government ministries. This research and development by the four government ministries and JAXA is part of a joint research with various research institutes on the High Accuracy Positioning Experiment System.

Research on the Positioning Experiment System is expected to improve the availability of GPS in Japan thus improving benefits for GPS users and expanding more sophisticated utilisation of a future advanced satellite positioning system.

Keywords: Galileo, Geographic information