Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
China’s two most recently launched BeiDou navigation spacecraft have begun operating and established inter-satellite links in the nation’s GNSS constellation, the state news agency Xinhua announced on Friday (August 14, 2015).
By Inside GNSS
China has launched two new satellites yesterday (July 25, 2015) for the nation’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).
The satellites were launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in southern China. They’re the 18th and 19th to join the satellite navigation system. The two satellites reached their target orbits three and a half hours after the launch, according to the Xinhua news agency.
By Inside GNSS
New QinetiQ PRS-capable receiverBritish manufacturer QinetiQ has today (July 14, 2015) announced its progress in developing a GNSS navigation receiver that can process encrypted Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals.
The multi‑constellation, multi‑frequency receiver is a significant step in the company’s GNSS technology development, says QinetiQ, which expects to bring to market by 2020 end-user products for navigation, tracking, and timing based on the new receiver design. That timeline parallel’s the Galileo program’s current schedule for completing its satellite constellation.
The 2015 symposium of the Asia-Pacific Space Geodynamics (ASPG) project will focus on Geodesic Datum and Regional and Terrestrial Reference Frame Realizations. It will take place at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia from August 24 through August 28.
The conference language will be English. Scientific representatives from China and Russia comprise the organizing and program committees.
Themes of particular interest to Inside GNSS readers include presentations on:
Theme 1 Space geodesy
By Inside GNSS
Forsberg Services Ltd., which acquired the StarLink product line from Raven Industries in April, has announced its decision to partner with NavtechGPS to distribute the StarLink line, which includes in-line amplifiers, coaxial down/up converters, splitters, and fiber-optic link systems.
Aerial view of Boulder in OctoberThe tenth meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) will take place in Boulder, Colorado from November 1 through 6 2015. It will be hosted by the United States and organized by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) on behalf of the U.S. State Department.
It will take place at UCAR headquarters on the Center Green Campus in Boulder.
By Inside GNSS
IPIN 2015 will take place October 13-16 at the Banff Centre, a conference center and school for the arts location in the Rocky Mountain resort town of Banff, a 90 minute drive west of Alberta, Canada.
The indoor postioning and indoor navigation conference includes experts in electronics, surveying and informatics who will discuss this key issue in many emerging applications.
By Inside GNSS
Inside GNSS editor Glen Gibbons and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Dan Charity photoInside GNSS editor and publisher Glen Gibbons has received a high honor from the United Kingdom’s Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) for his "outstanding contribution to navigation" as a journalist and publisher.
The 2015 Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal was presented to Gibbons by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, on July 15 at the Royal Geographical Society in London. The duke is the patron of the institute.
By Inside GNSS
As usual, a leap second that will be introduced into the coordinated universal time (UTC) system at 11:59 p.m. tonight (June 30, 2015) may cause some difficulties with devices and services that derive UTC via the Global Positioning System.
By Inside GNSS
The availability of several GNSSes promises advanced positioning, navigation, and timing services with higher availability and improved accuracy. According to a European GNSS Agency (GSA) market study, nearly 60 percent of receivers, chipsets, and modules already support at least two GNSS constellations, showing that multi-constellation is becoming a standard feature across all market segments. That development brings up questions of law and regulation that require careful handling by GNSS manufacturers, service providers, and policy makers.
By Ingo Baumann
SatGen V3 software now available for use on LabSat 3 simulatorsLabSat has launched a new version of its SatGen V3 software package that enables users to create scenarios for replay through any LabSat simulator and now includes BeiDou.
The software creates either user-generated or imported trajectory files for use with a LabSat GNSS simulator. The addition of the BeiDou B1 signals means that users can now test a device’s design and performance as if it were being used within the operating area of the Chinese GNSS constellation – which at present only provides full coverage in Asia.
By Inside GNSS
Dee Ann Divis, an Inside GNSS contributing editor who writes the magazine’s Washington View column, continues to garner journalistic awards.
On June 9 she received the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Chapter’s award for 2015 “Washington Correspondent” for a series of articles on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) published in Inside GNSS last year.
Her 2015 award citation for the series entitled “Empty Skies” emphasized the “well-detailed and comprehensive handling of a complex subject. . . .”
By Dee Ann Divis
Work to integrate drones into the nation’s regular air traffic picked up speed over the last eight months as aviation regulators found new ways to permit unmanned flights while still keeping the skies safe for other aircraft.
In September 2014 the agency announced the first of what is now more than 450 waivers enabling commercial companies to begin for-profit operations in the United States.
By Inside GNSS
