Korean Positioning System (KPS), Begins Construction of Core Infrastructure

[Financial News] With the groundbreaking of the Korean Positioning System (KPS) antenna station, the construction of KPS core infrastructure has begun in earnest.
The Aerospace Agency announced that on the 23rd, it visited the KTsat Geumsan Satellite Center in Geumsan, Chungnam to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Korean Positioning System (KPS) antenna station and had a meeting with related researchers.
The KPS development project is a project to develop a regional satellite navigation system that provides ultra-precise positioning, navigation, and timing ('PNT') information in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula. PNT (Positioning, Navigation, Timing) information is not only the foundational infrastructure for the economy and society, such as transportation, communication, and finance, but also important information used in social safety fields such as emergency rescue and disaster prediction. It is expected that the KPS development will improve the accuracy of location information near the Korean Peninsula and secure a stable PNT information system.
KPS is divided into satellite, ground, and user systems. Based on the signals from the satellites, navigation messages are generated on the ground and provided to users again as PNT information. The ground system consists of various subsystems, each including an integrated operation center that generates navigation messages, a satellite control center that oversees satellite operations, an antenna station that transmits signals to satellites, a monitoring station that receives navigation signals, and a mission control station that generates correction information for each service.
The antenna station, which is the first to begin construction among the KPS ground systems, is a facility that transmits navigation data to satellites and sends and receives control commands for satellite status monitoring and adjustment. Two antennas will be constructed at the KTsat Geumsan Satellite Center for the control of the first KPS satellite, and the ground subsystems will be sequentially constructed before the launch of all KPS satellites.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by officials from ministries, research and development institutions, and companies participating in the KPS development project. Yun Young-bin, Director of the Aerospace Agency, along with Lee Sang-cheol, Director of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, and Seo Young-su, CEO of KTsat, listened to the presentation of the KPS research and development plan by Kim Dae-gwan, Director of the KPS Development Project Headquarters, and conveyed words of encouragement to the related researchers.
Yun Young-bin, Director of the Aerospace Agency, stated, "Today's groundbreaking ceremony for the KPS antenna station is the first step in establishing a precise satellite navigation system," and added, "We will actively support KPS to become a core infrastructure in various domestic fields such as precision agriculture, autonomous driving, and disaster response."


jiany@fnnews.com Yeon Ji-an Reporter