Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has approved the addition of 67 billion rubles (US$2.62 billion) to the GLONASS program budget for the years 2008–11.
By Glen Gibbons
Applanix has announced the availability of a high altitude tactical mapping option for its DSS RapidOrtho system as well as the integration of the Trimble BD960 GNSS receiver module for its POS AV airborne position and orientation system.
With the GNSS module, POS AV products now support GPS L1/L2 and GLONASS L1/L2 processing, both in real-time and post-mission. The BD960 will also be able to receive and process the next-generation GPS L2C and L5 signals.
By Inside GNSS
Nearly 30 years after the first launch of a GLONASS spacecraft, Russia is moving to add code division multiple access (CDMA) signals to the frequency division multiple access (FDMA) format that has set the world’s second-oldest global satellite navigation system apart from GPS and other systems under development.
A February 15, 2008, government decree on new GLONASS requirements calls for open CDMA signals with a binary offset carrier or BOC (2,2) signal structure centered at 1575.42 MHz and a BOC (4,4) signal centered at 1176.45 MHz — essentially corresponding to the center points of GPS signals at the L1 and L5 frequencies and nearby Galileo and Compass signals.
An additional GLONASS FDMA signal will be located at L3 frequencies (1197.648–1212.255 MHz), just below the GPS M-code at L2.
Russia will implement the new signals on the next-generation GLONASS-K satellites, with the first launch currently expected in late 2010 with flight testing the following year.
By Glen Gibbons
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to IfEN GmbH to develop a “New Generation” receiver breadboard for use at the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Stations (RIMS).
The RIMS New Generation breadboard will be capable of receiving the new L2C and L5 signals, the Galileo E1, E5ab, and E6 signals and the GLONASS L1 signal in addition to GPS L1 and L2P signals.
By Glen Gibbons
Turkey’s Istanbul Kultur University has selected Trimble to supply GNSS equipment and establish a 150-station, nationwide GNSS infrastructure network
By Glen Gibbons
Astrium Services and Allsat GmbH network+services have created a joint venture, AXIO-NET GmbH, to offer precise navigation and positioning services across Europe.
The companies, which formed a JV in September 2007 to operate the German ascos service, have created a trans-European brand — AXIO-NET — to extend the service, based on a network of reference stations that generate high-accuracy differential corrections of GPS and GLONASS satellite signals.
By Glen Gibbons
Russia appears ready to add code division multiple access (CDMA) signals to its frequency division multiple access (FDMA) GLONASS system.
A final decision is expected next week, according to Sergey Revnivykh, deputy head of the Russian GNSS Mission Control Center, in a February 20 presentation to the Munich Satellite Navigation Conference in Germany. Under the plan, CDMA signals would be introduced at L1 and L5 frequencies near GPS and Galileo signals, beginning with the GLONASS-K generation of satellites that will launch in 2010.
By Inside GNSS
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov’s criticism of Roscosmos and GLONASS continues to ripple in news columns around the world.
Widely reported in Russian media and picked up and amplified in derivative reports, Ivanov’s complaints focused on GLONASS’s relative inaccuracy, limited coverage, and lack of user equipment.
However, aside from the fact that the person making the remarks was Ivanov — a powerful figure once thought to be in line to succeed Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, none of this is really news. Rather, it seems like another example of the phenomenon that, when people learn of something for the first time, they assume it has just happened.
By Glen Gibbons
AGNSS Technique. Nokia graphicFinland’s Nokia, the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones, is investigating use of GLONASS signals in new products that could reach the market in the near future.
By Inside GNSS
The Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, site of the 2008 Munich Summit plenaryAs it prepares for its sixth annual conference, the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit continues to hone its identity as a genuine "summit," the place for high-level political, military, and corporate leaders to discuss all of the GNSS systems from a strategic perspective.
By Inside GNSS
Abstracts for the 2008 International Symposium on GPS/GNSS are due on Monday, June 16.
This year, the conference, which rotates throughout the Asia-Pacific region, will take place in Tokyo, Japan from November 11 through November 14.
Presenters who choose to have their papers refereed and published in the proceedings must submit their full papers with payment by July 15. Non-refereed papers must be submitted by September 15.
Authors will be notified of acceptance by July 31.
By Inside GNSS
What may be the first domestically produced, consumer-oriented GLONASS-GPS receiver, sold out shortly after their introduction in Russia’s Ion retail stores.
The Glospace SGK-70 features a 12-channel GLONASS receiver and a 20-channel GPS receiver, which can reportedly use either or both systems simultaneously. Designed primarily for in-vehicle use, the 7.4×4.7×1.2-inch unit incorporates Samsung components has an SD/MMC slot and comes with a 512MB card that includes detailed maps of the Moscow area.
By Glen Gibbons
Russia Channel One TV Coverage of LaunchLaunch of three GLONASS satellites on December 25 has met the terms and schedule of a presidential initiative to have 18 of the Russian GNSS space vehicles (SVs) on orbit and operational by the end of 2007.
By Glen Gibbons
