SENER Aeroespacial develops SCRIPT low-cost indoor receiving system for ESA

The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead to SENER Aeroespacial's SCRIPT (SENER Concept Receiver for Indoor Positioning Techniques) project, a low-cost navigation receiver system that combines commercial wireless technologies, a guidance, navigation and positioning system (GNSS) and inertial sensors, for high accuracy indoor positioning. SCRIPT has applications for locating and monitoring people or objects in limited service areas, such as in industrial automation, search and rescue operations, digital health (e-health) and in the entertainment industry. Environments that call for very high accuracy (<1m) and quasi-ubiquitous indoor coverage (<10m).

SENER Aeroespacial's SCRIPT system offers a local infrastructure based on a low-cost hardware receiver that merges different wireless technologies (Ultra-Wide band, Wi-Fi Round Trip Time, Bluetooth and 5G New Radio emulation) with high sensitivity GNSS for L1C/A and Galileo E1-B/C GPS signals at 20 dB-Hz frequencies.

SENER Aeroespacial is currently validating the system by integrating a Remote Unit into an autonomous robotic platform developed by SENER Aeroespacial, which incorporates a navigation system based on GNSS, LiDAR, odometry and inertial guidance. In the words of Ana Isabel Rodríguez, the technical manager of SCRIPT at SENER Aeroespacial: "This approach guarantees an adequate assessment of SCRIPT's performance, since it allows us to conduct testing campaigns in a realistic structured environment, either outdoors in areas with little coverage, such as near buildings, or indoors".

The ability to develop collaborative navigation algorithms for hybrid data merging and synchronization, with a low computational cost, are key aspects covered by this project, which uses SENER Aeroespacial's own concepts in this field.

SCRIPT uses SENER Aerospace's own concepts in this field, thanks to the company's extensive product portfolio in the field of navigation, together with SENER Aeroespacial's considerable experience in advanced positioning technologies, with recent projects such as AURORA, NaviGround, NAVIGA and Space Rider, in addition to the AOCS / GNC of scientific satellites such as Euclid, Herschel and Plack.