First field trial results of hybrid positioning with dedicated 5G terrestrial and UAV-based non-terrestrial networks

This work presents field results of a dedicated 5G network with ground and aerial base stations (BSs) deployed at Airbus premises for positioning purposes. This field campaign is part of a first-of-a-kind testbed for hybrid Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) and sensor positioning, called Hybrid Overlay Positioning with 5G and GNSS (HOP-5G) testbed. The dedicated 5G network exploits the standard positioning reference signal (PRS) to support positioning capabilities within the 5G NR downlink transmissions. The goal of this dedicated 5G network is to enhance the accuracy and reliability of hybrid positioning services based on the fusion of GNSS, 5G NR and sensors. This hybridization is especially relevant in the case of a service interruption by any of those technologies, being GNSS the most reliable but not exempt of vulnerabilities. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper presents the first field results of a 5G network with mixed setup of BSs deployed on ground and at unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payloads dedicated for positioning purposes. This field campaign is performed at a heliport within Airbus premises in Ottobrunn (Germany), as representative use case. The paper assesses the pseudorange noise of the real-time 5G NR measurements from three ground and one aerial BSs. These first field trials results achieve a pseudorange noise below 80cm in the 95% of cases, thanks the 80-MHz PRS bandwidth, demonstrating the feasibility to deploy a dedicated 5G network of ground and flying BSs for positioning.