Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
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
This article describes an integration of a single-frequency GNSS, two-antenna heading system with low-cost inertial and magnetic field sensors in order to improve the availability and reliability of pure GNSS attitude determination. This method calculates a redundant attitude solution in an error-state Kalman filter using different sensor setups. As a result, the process of carrier phase ambiguity resolution accelerates.
By Inside GNSS
El Centro Europeo de Astronomía Espacial (ESAC) Organized by the European Space Agency with the collaboration of a number of national space organizations, this intensive course will cover GNSS error sources related to radiowave propagation and interference effects.
It is aimed at engineers, geodesists, physicists and advanced students with appropriate degrees and a knowledge of GNSS fundamentals, statistics and signal processing.
By Inside GNSS
Noordwijk beach in December"Multi-GNSS Navigation Technologies: Galileo’s Here" is the theme of the 6th ESA Workshop on Satellite Navigation Technologies.
The European Space Agency event will be held from December 5 to 7, 2012 at ESTEC, at the northern tip of Noordwijk, Netherlands.
Online registration is open until December 4 at the website below. After that, you must register at the conference itself.
By Inside GNSS
Marriott Waikiki BeachIt’s a big year for the Institute of Navigation, with the venerable ION GNSS 2012 happening this September in Nashville and the new and highly anticipated Pacific PNT conference opening for the first time next April in Honolulu.
ION GNSS 2012, the granddaddy of all GNSS events, begins shortly in Music City, USA: Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s scheduled during the third week of September at the downtown Nashville Convention Center, a five minute walk to the Country Music Hall of Fame and other attractions.
By Inside GNSS
Nominal architecture of a GPS/Galileo PRS receiverThe United States and the European Union are talking about how U.S. agencies might use the secure signal planned for Galileo to better fulfill their various responsibilities.
By Dee Ann Divis
Abstract submission for the 5th International Conference on Spacecraft Formation Flying Missions and Technologies (SFFMT 2013) is now open. Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2012. Organized by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Space Operations Center (GSOC), the event is supported by numerous national space agencies and related aerospace organizations. Organizations interested in cosponsoring the event should contact the chairman for SFFMT 2013, Simone D’Amico, of DLR-GSOC.
By Inside GNSS
NavtechGPS will host its 11th Annual Open Mic Night on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, from 8 p.m. to midnight during the ION GNSS 2012 conference at none other than the well-known Cannery Ballroom at the Mercy Lounge on Cannery Row. This musical evening will include performances by ION’s own Augmentations — complete with back-up singers, the Pseudorandom Noise, together with other talented folks from the conference. In addition to live music and a night of fun and Karaoke, five $100 cash prizes will be raffled off.
By Inside GNSS
Applanix POSTrack 310Applanix introduced a new position and orientation system and flight management system (FMS) for airborne mapping today (August 27, 2012) at the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) 2012 Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
1. PAPER CUTS
Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania
√ State transportation departments in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Ohio are printing fewer state highway maps, says the Associated Press. Washington did away with them entirely. Blame it on the double whammy of public sector budget cuts and smartphone, handheld, and in-car GPS. But there are lots of holdouts. As one Indiana man said, without a paper map, “You’re beholden to the GPS lady, you know?”
A third Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellite reached its launch site in French Guiana today (August 7, 2012), where it will undergo preparations for a launch in October.
The spacecraft along with the fourth and final IOV satellite (yet to shipped) will be launched aboard a Soyuz ST-B rocket, joining the first two Galileo satellites placed in orbit last year.
In 2003, China committed to investing €200 million (US$270 million) for the privilege of participating in the development of Europe’s Galileo program. But by 2007 it had been forced out of major decision-making because of security concerns and the collapse of the original financing plan for the program, which was to include public and private money.
By Peter Gutierrez
Peter Luff, UK Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology (Image from Peter Luff’s MP website)The U.S. visit of a high-level official from the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) is spurring efforts to settle a dispute over a patent that could drive up prices on satellite navigation receivers for users around the world.
By Dee Ann Divis
