R-Mode Baltic - Testbed for safe navigation at the Baltic Sea

Abstract

The EU co-financed R-Mode Baltic project will setup the world’s first large scale R(anging)-Mode testbed which will support the development and demonstration of R-Mode ranging signals transmitted from 6 maritime radio beacons and 4 AIS/VDES base stations at the same time. This testbed will enable the long term evaluation of this novel GNSS backup system and support the continuous development and testing of R-Mode equipment, R-Mode demonstrations and training. Furthermore, the testbed will support studies considering the benefits of a terrestrial backup system with respect to the increase of safety of navigation and challenging applications like unmanned and autonomous shipping. The presentation will report the current status of the R-Mode Baltic testbed development and implementation in the Southern Baltic Sea. It will focus on activities which lead to the selection of R-Mode testbed transmitter sides, the R-Mode Baltic testbed architecture, investigation of station compatibility, experiences of R-Mode equipment installation at the transmitter sides and first R Mode measurement results. The results will be limited to maritime radio beacons as VDES R-Mode is subject to a separate presentation.