Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are getting a lot of attention this week at the INTERGEO conference and exhibition in Berlin, Germany, where a special session on Tuesday (October 7, 2014), “UAVs in Practice,” focused on their use in airborne surveying and mapping, environmental monitoring, and other commercial or civil applications.
By Inside GNSS
In a report issued Tuesday (October 7, 2014), an Independent Inquiry Board formed to analyze the cause of the August 22 launch anomaly that placed two Galileo into the wrong orbits has concluded that frozen fuel lines caused a misfiring of attitude control thrusters on the launcher’s Fregat module.
According to the report, the problem can be remedied on the rockets in time for another launch in December, much sooner than some observers had speculated.
By Inside GNSS
Denver Millennium Bridge at the end of the 16th Street Mall.The biennial Joint Conference of the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (IFCS) and European Frequency Time Forum (EFTF) will be held at The Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, USA on April 12 -16, 2015.
The deadline for abstracts is January 9, 2015. Online submission is open.
Among the sessions for the IFCS/EFTF working group, Group 5 is of particular interest to readers of Inside GNSS. It covers:
By Inside GNSS
My favorite bumper sticker this month: “Oh, no! Not another learning experience!”
After 20 years of putting together a European GNSS program, disappointment over the skewed launch of the first fully operational Galileo satellites is palpable and widely felt. For end users, it is uniformly bad news, and no system provider that sincerely wants to achieve interoperability and robustness in a system of GNSS systems can relish the European program’s current difficulties.
By Inside GNSS
Aviation officials Thursday (September 25, 2014) for the first time approved the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial filming in the United States, opening the door to what is expected to be a slow-building gold rush to the skies.
Six companies received exemptions from the existing rules, which generally ban the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems or UAS. The exemptions were granted to RC Pro Productions Consulting LLC dba Vortex Aerial, Aerial MOB LLC, Astraeus Aeria, HeliVideo Productions LLC, Pictorvision Inc., and Snaproll Media LLC.
By Inside GNSS
Gerald Mader, National Geodetic SurveyIn August, a group of scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that the severe drought gripping the western United States in recent years is causing a “uplift” in the western United States.
About the same time, governmental agencies were reporting widespread cases of land subsidence in California’s central San Joaquin Valley caused by overpumping of water from wells there.
By Inside GNSS
Q: How do you trust centimeter level accuracy positioning?
By Inside GNSS
The first Satellite Masters Conference will cover space-based business applications for Copernicus and Galileo in Europe. It will take place on October 23 and 24 at the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI).
The event is free, but registration before October 10 is required.
By Inside GNSS
Sidescan image of Norbit SeahorseSensonor has announced new features for its STIM300, a small, lightweight micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) that provides non-GPS–aided positioning in multiple domains.
The STIM300 — which can be used underwater, on land and sea, and in aeronautic and astronautic applications — now has real-time g-compensation in al axes and supports rates of up to 2000 degrees/second.
By Inside GNSS
Graham Purves, new Veripos CEOIn his role as president of Hexagon Positioning Intelligence, Michael Ritter has announced the appointment Graham Purves as president & CEO of Veripos, effective September 9.
“Graham has amassed a tremendous level of experience in all aspects of our industry during his over 25 years at NovAtel,” said Ritter, who also serves as president and CEO of the Calgary, Canada–based NovAtel Inc. “This experience and especially his dexterity for sales, marketing, and business development are ideal prerequisites for this next step in his career.”
By Inside GNSS
Available now, the XDL Rover 2 is equipped with Bluetooth wireless communication for ease in configuration and operation, including use with Android devices in the field. UHF data can be transmitted via Bluetooth to a paired host device for operational efficiency.
By Inside GNSS
The high-precision GNSS industry should expect to see industry consolidation and a scramble for new markets and innovations as prices for high-end chips and modules continue to slide, experts told attendees at a ION GNSS+ panel discussion in Tampa, Florida, last week (September 11, 2014).
The falling prices could strain R&D budgets, they noted, but could also create opportunity as high-end receivers come within reach of emerging industries like self-driving cars, unmanned aerial vehicles, and are even incorporated into consumer products.
By Inside GNSS
Working Papers explore the technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
By Inside GNSS
