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2023 Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize

Dr Ramsey Faragher for numerous innovations in signal processing and sensor fusion, including the invention and commercialisation of the Supercorrelation™ technique that greatly increases the accuracy, sensitivity and security of global navigation satellite system receivers.


Dr Ramsey Faragher’s invention of Supercorrelation™ technology is renowned in the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) community. On picking up the Per Enge Award from the Institute of Navigation, Faragher’s work was described as “pioneering and revolutionary”. Rafael Lucas Rodriguez, Head of the European Space Agency (ESA) NAVISP Technical Programme Office said in a speech at ESA’s annual navigation conference 2022 that it is “the most significant improvement to GNSS since the invention of Assisted-GNSS”.

Supercorrelation is a suite of signal processing and sensor fusion techniques that enables synthetic aperture processing (the invention of this technique by Martin Ryle won him the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics) on very low-cost consumer devices for the first time. This software beamforming technology provides unprecedented levels of accuracy, sensitivity and security for GNSS receivers. The recent investment and strategic alignment by General Motors into Faragher’s company FocalPoint Positioning reflects the impact that the technology is also having on the automotive sector.

The technology will be critical for bringing the next level of positioning performance to smartphones and smartwatches. Faragher’s company has undergone extensive trialling with major names in the smartphone sector and Supercorrelation is on target to reach hundreds of millions of users worldwide within the next few years.

Faragher has also made a significant impact on Bluetooth Low Energy positioning technologies, and he is the author of two of the most highly cited papers in the world on the topic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this technology was the key to digital contact tracing worldwide, and Faragher provided consultation and improvements to the systems developed by the NHS, and the Apple/Google GAEN protocol.

During his time in the defence sector, Faragher developed the NAVSOP opportunistic positioning system, developed improvements to the navigation system of the Astute nuclear submarine, and worked on the original design for what became the Seeker Navigation system on the Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. Faragher’s passion and ease of demystifying technical subject matter, along with his industry reputation as a world-leading expert in positioning and navigation, make him a desirable mentor amongst current and prospective physicists and engineers.