After gaining my BSc (Hons) Surveying and Mapping Science, from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, in 2005, I joined Met Surveys Ltd, Leeds, until 2010.

Research overview
Over the next decade, both Galileo and GLONASS will approach their full operational capability, China's Compass will start the deployment of its final MEO satellites, and L2C and L5 signals of modernised GPS will be available for demanding applications in precise positioning, navigation and tracking. Furthermore, services offered by ground- and satellite-based augmentation systems (GBAS and SBAS), such as WAAS, EGNOS, QZSS, etc., and next generation wireless communications will be widely available to support the daily operation of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITSS). Multi-constellations and new signals will improve the overall performance of GNSS. However, it is apparent that there exist technological hurdles for the wide adoption of current GNSS into ITSS operations. Identification of and systematic research into the feasible solutions to these problems and the timely exploitation of high precision and robust GNSS positioning for future ITSS applications will form the major focus of this project.

The coverage and quality of a NRTK GPS service is limited by the number of CORS and availability of wireless networks. Since all of the UK territory is covered with a dense CORS network, services such as Leica SmartNet can provide 3D positional accuracy of better than 5 cm in places where a wireless GSM/GPRS connection can be established. Such a pervasive coverage of both wireless and reference station networks is very unique around the world and this would pave the way for wide NRTK GPS adoption in road applications. However, although NRTK could provide the lane-level positioning which is the current bottleneck for precise ITSS applications, there are many factors that still need to be studied. Timely resolutions to these problems and the findings through this project will greatly benefit the successful adoption of the latest GNSS technologies for ITSS applications and provide great advantages for the UK ITSS community which could not be provided by other countries.

See my personal site at http://uk.linkedin.com/in/smstephenson

I am a PhD candidate from Malaysia, with a Bachelor of Geographic Information Science (with first class honour) and Master’s degree in Geographic Information Science (GIS) from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

I was involved in research work developing and testing web-based GIS applications, as part of my undergraduate and masters. I also joined a research group in UTM that developed a psychiatric in-patient health information system using GIS.

In 2007, I joined the UTM lecturer scheme. This scheme has been the driving force pushing me to pursue my research interest at PhD level. A good community and a reasonable cost of living, in addition to the presence of the  former Centre for Geospatial Science (CGS) under the Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI), a research centre that has been actively involved in research and development related to geospatial sciences and technology, the supportive supervisors and post-doctoral fellows, are the reasons why I chose Nottingham.

My PhD research is concerned with the current emerging trend of the development and uses of map mashup applications. These can be developed and accessed by any web-enabled citizen, which has raised concerns of the truth, believability, accuracy and quality of the information being conveyed. I have examined how web users assess the credibility of online map mashup information, identified the major and the least elements that influence their judgement, testing the influence of a visual indicator of Colour Coded Traffic Light label on map mashup to assist users making informed judgement, and finally by proposing a conceptual design and implementation model of a credibility rating on online map mashup applications.

The findings of this study have identified a low influence of critical element on metadata (i.e. data sources, currency) in users’ judgement when assessing online map mashup information credibility. A positive level of influence has been identified on the presence of credibility rating labelling on online map mashup to assist users making informed judgement on the information being conveyed. The development of a credibility rating index model will consider the elements in online trust, usability in websites and web GIS, spatial data quality and website quality. The operational model will discuss the implementations of the rating index and labelling in automated manner according to a few phases of technology developments.

GNSS has become one of the most widespread measurement technologies, allowing cm-level positioning accuracy using RTK or Network RTK. Unfortunately, the system's major drawbacks are the requirement for a clear view of the sky and accuracy dependent on the geometric distribution of the satellites, not only varying throughout the day but also prone to location specific problems. With widespread utilisation of GNSS for monitoring of man-made structures and other civil engineering tasks, such shortcomings can be critical.

One possible solution is the deployment of a supporting system, such as Locata - a terrestrial positioning technology, which mitigates the need for a clear view of the sky and provides system integrity control.

I am looking into taking this approach a step further - tight integration of both technologies. Anticipated benefits include increased accuracy, quality control, cycle slip detection and improved ambiguity resolution.

Publications
Bonenberg, L.K., Roberts, G.W., Hancock, C.M. (2010). Engineering Applications of Integrated Wireless Band Pseudolite and GNSS System, Proceedings of the XXIV FIG International Congress, Sydney, Australia, March 2010.

Bonenberg, L.K., Roberts, G.W., Hancock, C.M., Ogundipe, O., Lee, J.K. (2009). Feasibility of integrated Locata and GNSS for Engineering Work Application, Proceedings of the 2009 International Symposium on GPS/GNSS, Korea, November 2009.

Roberts, G.W., Bonenberg, L.K., Hancock, C.M. (2009). Integration of Locatalites and GNSS, IGNSS Symposium 2009, Australia, December 2009.

Lee, J.K, Roberts, G.W., Ogundipe, O., Hancock, C.M., Bonenberg, L.K. (2009). A study on the suitability of Locata operation for Bridge Deformation Monitoring, Proceedings of the 2009 International Symposium on GPS/GNSS, Korea, November 2009.

Roberts, G.W., Bonenberg, L.K., Hancock, C.M. (2009). Integrating Locatalites And GNSS For Engineering Works, 7th FIG Regional Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam, October 2009.

[Graduated 2013]

I am investigating the quality and reliability of Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) data in urban environments. The main aim is to assess and improve the quality and reliability of data collected by MLS in different environments. The improvement is focused on enhancing the process of 3D modelling, although benefits in wider applications are envisaged.

[See my video clip]

With the increasing demand for sustained navigation in GPS-challenged environment, the concept of GPS augmentation has been developed and implemented, followed recently by the concept of peer-to-peer (P2P) collaborative positioning to further improve the navigation capability of a group of user. With the ultimate endeavour in improving the performance of the in-vehicular positioning where typical GPS receiver suffers from a degraded performance or a complete positioning-fix failure, my research aims to develop an infrastructure-free approach of intelligent positioning scheme based on the dedicated P2P data sharing mechanism of multiple sensors, in ad-hoc networks, all on moving platforms. As it is aims to take advantage of joint measurements and information exchange between users to either improve the quality of positioning for some or all of the collaborative users, or make positioning possible for users who otherwise have too few measurements to obtain a position fix, it is expected that the proposed intelligent positioning approach is capable in improving safety, efficiency and accessibility of transit and highway travel in difficult environment. 

Publications
Yahya, M.H., Moore, T., Hill, C., Hide, C. (2010) Towards the Development of Intelligent Positioning Scheme for Navigation Application in Difficult Environments, The Navigation Conference and Exhibition (NAV 10), London, December 2010.

I received my first degree in automatic control from Beijing University of Chemical Engineering in 1994. I then worked as an electronic engineer for Beijing Control Technology Development Company and as a customer support engineer for Lenovo until I pursued my MSc study in UK. In 2004, I has successfully completed my MSc course in computing and information in the University of Bedfordshire and have been awarded an MSc with distinction.

Although doing a PhD is always considered to be very challenging thing to do, I would like to take the challenge after being a full-time mother for a number of years. The University of Nottingham is always my first choice with its good reputation, especially, in the area of GNSS research. I believe there will be more career opportunities in GNSS area in future because satellite positioning and navigation is becoming part of ordinary people’s life and there will be even more demanding of GNSS technology in future.

My research topic is integrating multi-constellation GNSS and terrestrial positioning technologies for autonomous machine control applications.

Recently, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been integrated into the designs of bulldozers, drills, excavators, pavers, farming equipment and graders that are produced by most of the major manufactures for mining, construction, agricultural and environmental applications. GNSS antenna(s) are usually installed on the working tool for the existing systems, such as blade. It has been found that the antenna(s) on the blade is very easy to be damaged, which contributes to one of the highest maintenance costs. Therefore, it is highly desirable to move the GNSS antennas to the cabin roof because it is the safest place for the GNSS antenna installation. In order to move GNSS antennas away from the working tool, a platform, in which the antennas will be installed on the roof of driving cabin and far away from working tools, has been proposed. More specifically, in the proposed system, multiple GNSS receives are used for the cabin roof attitude determination and then integrated with other sensors’ position solutions to obtain the position of the working tools.

I am from China. I received my BSc Hons Degree in Computer Science and Management (1st class), from The University of Nottingham in 2011. I really enjoyed my time at Nottingham, so I chose to do a PhD here. I intend to pursue an academic career in the future.

I am interested in logic and ontology, and their applications in geospatial science. My current research is about geospatial ontology alignment and harmonization. Right now I am engaged in the literature review.

I am a PhD student from China. After finishing the Bachelor and Master Degree in Zhejiang University of Technology in China and University College London in the UK respectively, I came to The University of Nottingham for my PhD study. I preferred to continue my PhD study in Nottingham since they have very good academic environment in not only business, but also engineering. The PhD study at The University of Nottingham could help me to get a higher platform for my further career life.

My research is mainly concentrated on the technologies transferring from industries to the market, which is developing a model for exploiting radical innovations in telecommunications and LBS market. With the rapid developing speed in the global telecommunications and LBS sectors, radical innovations can play a significant role. The aim of my research is to developing a model for the large telecommunications and LBS firms to exploit their radial innovations in the market. Different from other previous researchers, this new model would stand in the position of market directors; emphasize the external factors of market uncertainties, government power in the market, different market environments in different regions or countries, and the internal factors of the supporting environment within the firms; and be formed in a loop structure to enable continuous improvement. Additionally, this model could be generalised to further research questions in other industry areas.