New technology can now pinpoint your location even underground

A GSTP activity with Syntony, France, has taken an existing product used to help signals from satellites reach underground and developed and improved it for navigation purposes.

The product, called SubWave, is for underground geolocation where GNSS signals from satellites cannot be received. It allows the reception of navigation signals with the normal user’s smart phones underground, for example in metro or road tunnels. But there is currently a drawback, which can lead to significant errors in the position being shown.

The improved system, called SubWave+, has significantly reduced these errors, developing this system into a marketable product. SubWave+ is a dramatic improvement in the system as it brings the accuracy from 10m down to few meters.

It extends the location service to cover metro or subway stations and their tunnels, compared to the first release of the product, at an affordable price. Using SubWave+ in a tunnel offers a cost reduction compared to the installation of SubWave, since it doesn’t require the system to have to split the area into many zones.

This technological step is designed to be compliant with any GNSS receivers and enable a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor. The developed product is currently being actively sold to world wide customers. Further refinement in the engineering work for the recurrent production is performed by Syntony.

GT26-024ES closed in October 2021.