Towards Efficient LEO-Constellation Design for Regional PNT Services

Abstract

The growing availability of low-cost positioning technologies enables broader access to advanced Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services for regional and global applications. Building on our previous work, which introduced a Low Earth Orbit (LEO)–PNT optimization framework for Africa, we extend this framework to the European and Arctic region and demonstrate that well-designed regional constella tions with only 65-85 satellites can match the performance of much larger LEO-PNT systems, such as those comprising 240 282 satellites. We evaluate both regional and global LEO-PNT performance in outdoor and indoor environments for several constellations: three newly designed configurations optimized for European coverage, a previously optimized African constellation, and seven benchmark constellations.