ABSTRACT
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS) work by providing very stable and well-known radio signals. These signals can be exploited as signals of opportunity for a range of surveillance tasks ranging from sensing the ionosphere and Earth's atmosphere to monitoring sea state, soil moisture, land inundation, ocean height, ice sheet mapping, iceberg detection and potentially ship detection. As a result of this published body of new science, including real-world demonstrations, the time is right to convert the proof of concept science into operational systems that deliver major improvements to the ways we obtain surveillance data. This presentation will step through an explanation of how GNSS-Radio Occultation and GNSS-Reflectometry operate, and then provides examples and summaries of each of these major uses. It concludes by addressing the value for money and affordability aspects of such systems.

BIOGRAPHY
Dr Craig Benson is Director and Chief Innovation Officer of Skykraft Pty Ltd and Director of Ecor Pty Ltd, a private consulting and training firm. Craig has 30 years of experience in electrical engineering including communication, radar, digital signal processing and electronic warfare and operational system conception and design. His primary skill is identifying opportunistic intersections of user need and technical solutions that deliver good user value at appropriate cost and risk. He is a former RAAF officer with three decades of permanent and reserve service. Craig has over 20 years of teaching experience at UNSW Canberra in both a full and part time capacity, including teaching military subjects such as Weapons Engineering, Electronic Warfare, Surveillance Technology and GPS. Craig conceived of the RAAF missions delivered through UNSW Canberra Space as ISR demonstrators to stimulate thinking in the RAAF and broader national security community about not only space based ISR, but also the need for and opportunities for on-board processing.