Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The first Galileo Full Operational Capability satellite out of 22 so far contracted was assembled in May 2012 for testing. OHB System photo[Updated May 4, 2012] The launch date for the next pair of In-Orbit Validation (IOV) Galileo satellites will be September 28.
By Inside GNSS
Variations on the common GPS/Galileo MBOC signalThe U.S. government is so unhappy about a British patent claim on the new civil GPS signal that, if things cannot be worked out, officals might consider abandoning the countries’ interoperable signal structure, sources told Inside GNSS.
By Inside GNSS
Variations on the common GPS/Galileo MBOC signalThe British military establishment is seeking royalties from GPS receiver manufacturers, asserting it holds a patent on the technology at the heart of the new GPS and Galileo civil signals.
Should U.S. manufacturers have to pay royalties, American GPS users, who have already paid for the GPS constellation and made it available to the world free of charge, could find themselves spending more to use its location capabilities. Sources said the development could undermine relations between the U.S. and the European Union (EU), which have cooperated for years to develop a common signal at the L1/E1 frequency centered at 1575.42 MHz.
By Inside GNSS
Aurora Borealis, 1977, near Anchorage, Alaska from the National Weather Service collection in NOAA’s online photo databaseThe annual Space Weather Workshop will take place on April 24-27 2012 at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Registration is now open.
The conference schedule is online here.
Organizers call it the meeting of science, research, applications, operations and users.
By Inside GNSS
Pres. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the “Missile Man of India,” in 2008. (wikicommons)The 2012 Geospatial World Forum will be held at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Center from April 23 to April 27. The venue is in the south part of the city and close to the airport.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, president of India 2002-2007 and one of the country’s most famous space scientists, will give the keynote talk. Kalam, called the "People’s President" was also known as the "Missile Man of India" for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.
By Inside GNSS
The 26th European Frequency and Time Forum will take place at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden on April 24, 25 and 26, 2012. Tutorials will be offered on April 23.
Group technical tours to the National Metrology Institute at SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Onsala Space Observatory will be arranged for April 27.
By Inside GNSS
Austria Center ViennaThe EGU General Assembly 2012 will be held at the Austria Center Vienna from April 22 to April 27. The official language is English and scientists from all countries are welcome.
The EGU is a professional society and publisher of peer-reviewed, mainly open access, journals for those working in the geosciences, planetary and space sciences. The annual meeting regularly attracts over 10 thousand scientists and students from nearly 100 countries.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency’s annual navigation summer school offers students from around the world a chance for a thorough grounding in satellite navigation theory and practice. It will take place this year at two locations in France, from Monday, July 16 through Thursday, July 26.
The Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace(ISAE) in Toulouse hosts the first week. The second week will take place in the Hotel Spa at the historic Abbaye des Capucins in nearby Montauban.
The school is open to graduate students (more than three years of study), doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers and engineers and professionals who are less than 35 years old.
The two-week event will cover the design and development of satnav systems, ranging from the satellites in space to supporting mission segments, the receivers relied on by service end-users and the development of new applications.
The program features lectures by leaders in the field, a project competition, technical visits and a one-day visit to Cité de l’Espace theme park in Toulouse.
Lecture topics include:
Fundamental principles of GNSS
Integrity and performance augmentation
sensor fusion and indoor positioning
applications for transportation, environment, leisure and other services.
ESA Education in Navigation program is organising the event together with ISAE and the Universitaet der Bundeswehr Muenchen (ISTA) in Germany, in cooperation with Stanford University in the United States and Technical University Graz in Austria, with the support of the French space agency CNES and the City of Toulouse.
For more information, including how to apply, go to the website below or contact Ms. Antje Tucci.
By Inside GNSS
Soyuz VS01, the first Soyuz flight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on its launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport before October 21, 2011, launch. ESA photo – S. Corvaja 2011Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has delivered the first of 14 full operational capability (FOC) payloads for Galileo to prime contractor OHB System AG.
First launch of Galileo FOC spacecraft from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, is currently expected to take place in the second quarter of 2013: two space vehicles (SVs) on board a Russian Soyuz rocket.
By Inside GNSS
SpectraTime has announced it has been awarded a €1-million contract to improve rubidium atomic frequency standards (RAFS) as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) GNSS Evolution Program.
SpectraTime is the existing supplier of atomic clocks for the Galileo satellites and other GNSS systems, including China’s Compass/BeiDou-2 program.
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. DEAD IN THE WATER
San Francisco, California and Washington D.C., USA
Galileo IOT L-Band antenna at Redu Center in Belgium (ESA photo)The European GNSS program expects to gain an additional €7 billion (US$9.1 billion) budget for 2014–2020 to support Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), a satellite-based augmentation system that currently provides differential corrections to GPS signals, according to Paul Flament, Galileo and EGNOS program manager for the European Commission. He spoke at the 2012 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit that ended on March 15.
By Inside GNSS
Rohde & Schwarz SMBV100A vector signal generator/GNSS simulatorRohde & Schwarz, based in Munich, Germany, has launched two extensions to the GNSS simulator in its SMBV100A vector signal generator: GLONASS and GPS P-code capability.
The SMBV100A already had the capability to generate a range of GPS and Galileo civil signals as well as wireless standards, including GSM/EDGE, 3GPP with HSPA, LTE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
By Inside GNSS
