National Positioning Infrastructure: Technical, Institutional and Economic Criteria for Coordinating Access to Australia’s GNSS CORS Infrastructure Grant J. Hausler BGeomE (Hons). GCertCommResSt Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2014 Department of Infrastructure Engineering The University of Melbourne This work has been supported by the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, whose activities are funded by the Australian Commonwealth's Cooperative Research Centres Programme. i ABSTRACT Satellite positioning technology is embedded in the global information economy. Society uses Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to derive Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) information for transport, engineering, construction, agriculture, surveying, meteorology, finance, Earth sciences, emergency response and research activities. Consumer demand for PNT information has stimulated market growth for value‐added GNSS services that enhance accuracy, coverage and service performance. In Australia, governments do not currently invest in space assets for PNT, but deploy GNSS ground infrastructure and operate positioning services that build integrity in the national datum, and facilitate access to this datum using Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS). Industry providers have developed positioning services by licensing data from government‐owned CORS where demand is strong, and deploy additional CORS where commercial benefits outweigh fixed‐cost investment. However, a lack of technical, institutional and economic coordination between governments and industry has led to duplication and over‐investment which, based on findings from this research, has limited high accuracy positioning coverage to less than 9% of the country’s land mass. No individual provider enables access to this existing coverage region, and limited research has addressed the barriers to entry that hamper coordination in supplying CORS infrastructure, which in turn limits access to high accuracy positioning services. Technical, institutional and economic barriers are identified and examined through this research to contribute spatial and economic evidence supporting the development of a National Positioning Infrastructure (NPI) in Australia. Recommendations for coordinating access to existing and future CORS infrastructure are summarised within the NPI Planning Framework to outline criteria for minimising future investment costs, and to maximise the utility of existing investment. New evidence is presented in an economic context on the public good and commercial benefits of producing and distributing authoritative and standardised multi‐GNSS position information through a single point of access from the NPI. These findings are consolidated within the NPI Planning Framework to inform future policy and investment decisions, including recommendations that will support implementation of Australia’s Satellite Utilisation Policy and the Australian Government NPI Plan. ii iii DECLARATION This is to certify that i. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD, ii. due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, iii. the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Grant J. Hausler Date iv v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, thank you to my supervisor Dr Philip Collier for his unwavering support and commitment to this research. Your interest, guidance, expertise, communication, professionalism, patience and encouragement define the notion of ‘leading by example’. To my co‐supervisor, A/Prof Allison Kealy, for encouraging me to begin this journey, and for contributing such a broad network of resources to this research, and to the department as whole. To the University of Melbourne and the Department of Infrastructure Engineering (Geomatics), thank you for the opportunity to undertake this research. I am grateful for your ongoing administrative and financial support, including funding through a Melbourne University Overseas Research Experience Scholarship (to Nottingham University, UK) as well as departmental contributions for conference attendance. I extend this thank you to Melbourne Business School and the Melbourne School of Graduate Research for additional scholarship funding to complete a Graduate Certificate in Commercialisation for Research Students, which inspired the economic direction of this work. This research was also made possible through Australian Postgraduate Award funding from the Australian Government. To the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI), thank you for the network of industry, government and academic resources and expertise you not only brought to this research, but bring to the spatial sector as a whole. Thank you for allowing access to your amenities and for your financial support through top‐up scholarships and additional conference support. There has been ongoing input from numerous government and industry participants nationally and internationally towards this research. Special thanks to James Millner and the team at GPSnet within Victoria’s Department of Environment and Primary Industries for introducing me to the intricacies of CORS network management, both technically and institutionally. To Gary Johnston, John Dawson and the team at Geoscience Australia, thank you for the opportunity to build on, and contribute value from this research at a national level. To my colleagues at the CRCSI and Melbourne University, thank you for your interest in this research and for our ongoing discussions on a diverse array of interrelated research themes. Special thanks to Eldar Rubinov, Christos Stamatopoulos and Simon Fuller for supporting and discussing this research, and for reminding me to enjoy the social side of research life. To Martin Hale, for our endless discussions on the objectives and relevance of this research in a national context, and for your mentorship on the research experience itself. And finally, to my family, for your confidence and support in pursuing this challenge, and every challenge I embark on. Your support and encouragement is most important of all. vi vii To my family viii ix CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ii Declaration .................................................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. xiv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem Statement ................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Research Hypothesis ................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Research Rationale .................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Significance of the Research ...................................................................................................... 7 1.4.1 National Positioning Infrastructure Plan ................................................................................. 7 1.4.2 Thesis Scope ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.5 Research Aims & Tasks .............................................................................................................. 9 1.6 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................... 10 1.6.1 NPI Planning Framework ....................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Space Policy & Satellite Positioning Systems ............................................................................ 15 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 16 2.1.1 Research Rationale ................................................................................................................ 16 2.2 Space Policy .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 US Space Policy ..................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.2 Russian Space Policy ............................................................................................................. 20 2.2.3 European Space Policy .......................................................................................................... 20 2.2.4 Japanese Space Policy ..........................................................................................................