Internship within Proof of Concept for LEO-PNT Positioning based on LEO Sials of Opportunity in Ottobrunn bei Airbus

Job Description:

In order to support LEO Signals, Airbus Defence and Space is looking for a

Internship within Proof of Concept for LEO-PNT Positioning based on LEO Signals of Opportunity (d/f/m)

Are you looking for an internship? Then apply now! We look forward to you supporting us in the Navigation Proposal & Studies Germany Team as an intern (d/f/m)!

The main objective of the internship will be therefore to set up a LEO-PNT experimental test-bed and to demonstrate first performance of a LEO-PNT positioning system. For this purpose, it will be necessary to re-use equipment available at Airbus Navigation Laboratory, such as an active Digital Beamforming antenna and Software Defined Radio (SDR) equipment to acquire and exploit signals transmitted by existing LEO broadband communication satellites. It is also mentioned that this internship inscribes in the continuity of a former internship carried out in 2022, and aiming at acquiring and tracking with simple techniques LEO communication signals.

• Location: Taufkirchen/Ottobrunn

• Start: As soon as possible

• Duration: 6 months

Your location

Our site is just a stone's throw away from Munich, the beautiful capital of Bavaria. Are you into sports and other outdoor activities? The Alps and Lake Starnberg are within an hour’s reach, offering a multitude of recreational options.

Your benefits

• Attractive salary and work-life balance with a 35-hour week (flexitime).

• A final thesis is possible after consultation with the department.

• Mobile working after agreement with the department.

• International environment with the opportunity to network globally.

Your tasks and responsibilities

• Task 1:

The first task will consist in completing a literature survey, performed in a former internship, and covering the general topic of (LEO) Signal of Opportunity processing for navigation purpose. On a one side, this survey will permit the design and integration of an experimental setup, and on the other side it will enable to get acquainted to signal processing techniques prone to support SoO ranging and positioning. A preselection of the most promising ranging techniques (e.g. blind detection, Doppler estimation, matched filtering, etc..) and positioning techniques (differential, aided, etc..) shall also be proposed. This survey will also support the prospect for the current and planned initiative for LEO-PNT.

• Task 2:

The second task will focus on the design of the architecture for a LEO-PNT test-bed, comprising different types of user antenna technologies (e.g. LNB, Beam Forming). Output ports of both antenna will fed samplers (i.e. Bit Grabbers) based on SDR technologies. A centralised processing unit will derive pseudo-ranges between receiver and LEO satellite based on tracking techniques already implemented (outcome of a former internship). The objective will be to use as much as possible existing equipment (antenna, sampler, signal analysers,…) available within the Airbus Navigation Laboratory. Important aspects will cover the synchronisation of samples to permit coherent processing, and the possible calibration of the internal hardware propagation times.

Still in the second task, the adaptation of positioning algorithms typically applied in the context of GNSS solution will have to be proposed in a LEO-PNT based on SoO. In particular the need for an ambiguity resolution will have to assessed.

• Task 3:

The third task will concentrate onto the integration of the LEO-PNT Test Bed together with the implementation of the positioning algorithms in a Matlab® language as part of an SDR suite. The validation of the corresponding algorithms shall be proposed with synthetic signals, sharing high communality with the real SoO to be recorded in Task 4.

• Task 4:

The final task will focus on the application of the aforementioned algorithms to record SoO samples with the objective to demonstrate the ranging and positioning performances based on LEO-PNT SoO. Out of those experiments, recommendations regarding the main LEO signal properties (e.g. bandwidth, power, pulse shape) shall be proposed with the aim to design dedicated LEO-PNT signals.

A report shall be generated along the internship in order to capture the outcomes of the aforementioned tasks.

Desired skills and qualifications

• You are an enrolled student (m/f) within Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering or similar field of study.

• You have a very s