Abstract
Global Navigation Satellite Systems have underpinned positioning infrastructure for decades, but their limitations are well-documented: vulnerability to jamming, poor availability in urban canyons and indoor environments, and insufficient accuracy for emerging applications in autonomous systems and critical infrastructure.
Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), and Low Earth Orbit satellites in particular, offer a structural alternative. Operating at significantly lower altitudes than traditional GNSS constellations, LEO satellites provide stronger signals, reduced propagation delay, and global coverage potential. Recent 3GPP releases have formalised Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) services from LEO, and ESA is actively developing dedicated LEO-PNT constellations. The technology is moving from concept to deployment.
This PhD research, conducted within IDLab at the University of Antwerp and imec, focuses on the analysis, simulation and experimental validation of LEO-PNT performance across key metrics: accuracy, availability, coverage, energy consumption and security. A central challenge is algorithmic: when satellites appear and disappear rapidly and initial position estimates are unavailable, standard iterative descent methods behave unpredictably. This research characterises that convergence behaviour and develops robust alternatives suited to cold-start and dynamic scenarios.
A second core objective is seamless integration of LEO-PNT with terrestrial positioning technologies, including 5G and beyond, enabling hybrid systems that maintain reliable PNT across environments where no single technology suffices. Target applications include satellite IoT, container tracking, logistics and autonomous driving.
The work contributes to Belgium's position in the emerging European LEO-PNT ecosystem, at a moment when the architecture of tomorrow's positioning infrastructure is still being defined.
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