Ofcom authorises use of GNSS (indoor GPS) Repeaters

The Office of Communications has recently announced that they will be authorising the use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Repeaters inside buildings in the UK on a number of conditions, with licences hopefully being issued by the end of July.

A GNSS repeater is a piece of radio equipment that receives, amplifies and transmits signals from GNSS systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), to provide the signal indoors.

Usually GPS enabled radios work only outdoors as the signal can’t penetrate buildings. If such a device is carried inside a building, the signal would be lost and then it may take up to a good few minutes until it is recovered, once the device is carried outside again. This often leads to inaccurate positioning and frustration.

Uses for GNSS repeaters include indoor demonstration purposes, repairs of GPS equipment and testing without having to go outside and hot-standby positioning of emergency vehicles, etc.

There are speculations already that this kind of equipment may be used for indoor tracking purposes. The need for tracking inside closed areas has led to a number of different indoor tracking solutions already available. Whether these new repeaters will cater for the development of another tracking solution, time will show but if that is the case, the following questions remain outstanding:

• The technology / software configuration used to determine where exactly in the building the radios are (after the signal gets past the repeater and then back to it - from the radios).
• Price of these new repeaters (how feasible it will be compared to existing indoor tracking solutions).
• Channel Capacity Availability − system size dependable and frequency of signal polling / synchronisation.