Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
CSR plc and SiRF Technology Holdings Inc., have completed the merger between SiRF and a wholly owned subsidiary of CSR.
By Inside GNSS
GNSS manufacturer NovAtel Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has received a new contract from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop the next-generation GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) reference receiver (the “GIII” receiver). The three-year contract is worth up to US$9.7million.
By Inside GNSS
On June 15, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed contracts for launch services on the Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites as well as two additional contracts for “long lead items” needed to build the full operational capability (FOC) Galileo constellation of satellites.
The first contract, with Arianespace, will provide launch services for the four IOV Galileo satellites that will be placed in orbit by the end of 2010. Two Soyuz rockets, each carrying two Galileo spacecraft, will launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
By Inside GNSS
Submit the best idea for a brand new satellite navigation application or device and you just might win the 2009 Galileo Master’s Award – €20,000 in prize money and lots of support to make your idea a reality.
But that’s not your only chance – you can try for one of the eight special topic prizes or one of the 17 different regional prizes, together worth €500,000 in cash and start-up assistance.
The competition began six years ago in Bavaria, Germany, but it has expanded to include many other regions of Europe as well as Australia, Israel, and Taiwan.
By Inside GNSSGalileo Services and OREGIN — the two most active organizations representing companies in the GNSS industry, particularly Europe’s Galileo program — have decided to join forces.
By Inside GNSS
A proposal now before the European Parliament and Council of the European Union would complete the transformation of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) from the leading executive agency for the Galileo program into a diminished subsidiary of the European Commission (EC).
By Inside GNSS
Septentrio reports success in tracking five signals being transmitted from the modernized GPS Block IIR satellite with the L5 demonstration payload launched on March 24.
Now designated space vehicle number 49 (SVN49), the satellite began broadcasting in the L1 and L2 band on March 28, shortly after the spacecraft reached its quasi-circular middle earth sorbit.
By Inside GNSS
Prompted by a congressional footnote in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed into law last month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is soliciting public comment on American industry’s access to the Galileo program and related markets.
By Inside GNSS
Launch of a second modernized Compass (Beidou 2) satellite on April 14 — this one a geostationary spacecraft — marks the return of China to its GNSS launch program two years after the initial venture into space.
Designated Compass G2 — reflecting the geostationary nature of its intended orbital position about 22,300 miles above the equator, the satellite lifted off at 16:16 UTC aboard a Long March 3C rocket from the Xichang launch base in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
By Inside GNSS
Here’s an interesting document: Preliminary observations on “The management of the Galileo programme’s development and validation phase,” adopted at its January 21–22 meeting by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
If you’re the kind of person who wakes up in a strange room after a night on the town and wonders how you got there, you’ll want to take in the full 50-page report and six addenda.
By Inside GNSS
(This story appears in the "GNSS World" department in the March-April 2009 issue of Inside GNSS.)
Munich’s high-level satnav summit the first week in March opened with a plenary titled, “The Worldwide Race in GNSS” and closed with a panel, “The Competition among the Big Four.”
By Inside GNSS
Merger plans recently announced by CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) plc and SiRF Technology Inc. connote more than the evolving fortunes and common future of a Cambridge, UK–based Bluetooth and WiFi provider and a San Jose, California GPS manufacturer.
It reaffirms the emergence of mobile phone handsets as a dominant location platform, the convergence of wireless communications and positioning at the chip level, and the trend toward absorption by semiconductor manufacturers of independent GPS technology providers who offer only single-frequency solutions.
By Glen Gibbons
Blaupunkt GmbH, a leading automotive electronics manufacturer, has selected the NavX-NCS multiconstellation, multifrequency GNSS simulator from IfEN GmbH as the GPS reference for production testing of its car navigation systems.
The NavX-NCS RF constellation simulator supports all present and planned Galileo and GPS frequencies (E1/L1, L2C, E5AB/L5, E6) in one box, now including the composite binary offset carrier (CBOC) signal structure for the Galileo Open Service on E1.
By Glen Gibbons
