Syntony’s groundbreaking SubWAVE underground GNSS coverage solution offers multiple accuracy levels, depending on the needs, the use cases, and the environment. SubWAVE Zone narrows down the location of emergency calls, and SubWAVE Continuous enables a measured accuracy level of 2 metres, allowing tracking and navigation inside a tunnel (subway, train, road), a subway station, a mine, or underground parking or bus stations.
Associating Syntony’s SubWave GPS Underground system with the use case of protection for emergency services personnel working underground is an easy one to make, but it is not the only one. While this is undoubtedly a huge benefit from using SubWave it is probably the more “workaday” benefits SubWave can bring that are really the drivers for its deployment.
SubWave effectively brings the sky underground; simulating a satellite signal that would be available if the sky could be seen that can be received by any standard GPS receiver such as that in your smartphone or data collection device. This differs greatly from simply repeating the GPS signal – a technique we deploy very successfully in indoor test applications – that broadcasts the location of the external antenna to the indoor location.
SubWave’s Continuous Mode uses radiating cable (already in place in many situations for other uses) to give varying position as you move underground – a true location service whose benefits for emergency workers are obvious.
The same location requirements for personnel are as important for metro and other transport systems where operational and maintenance crews are deployed. It is not hard to imagine the potential consequences of reopening a tunnel closed for maintenance work if personnel were not all accounted for.
Also systems increasingly require GPS signal to work effectively; for example automated road maintenance equipment that may therefore not function in tunnels, or vehicle and passenger management systems in public transport. SubWave is easy to install; can use exiting radiating cable infrastructure in many cases; and requires no specialist end user equipment – a worthwhile investment in the safety of your personnel and contractors as well as a simple enhancement for ever-automating critical systems.
More information about SubWave is available here.
