Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
A recently announced partnership between GNSS technology innovator NovAtel, Inc., and Brilliant Telecommunications underscores the profound changes taking place in the precise timing markets.
By Glen Gibbons
UPDATED OCTOBER 19 2008: Organizers of the third meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) scheduled for December 8–12 in Pasadena, California, are actively seeking the participation of industry and interested members of the GNSS community.
By Glen Gibbons
NavAsic Microelectronics, Inc., a relatively new startup based in Shanghai, China, has announced its first products — a GPS baseband processor, NAV1802, and an RFIC, the NAV1801.
By Glen Gibbons
Recent leadership appointments at Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) reflect the company’s efforts to expand its focus from being a vendor of equipment for surveying, civil engineering, and construction to a broad-spectrum provider of positioning solutions drawing heavily on GNSS-based technologies.
By Glen Gibbons
Passage of a new regulation on Galileo sets the stage for the next phase of the €3.4-billion satellite navigation system’s development under a public procurement but leaves many details to be worked out among the key players: the European Commission (EC), the European Council, the European Parliament, and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Meeting in Strasbourg, France, the parliament adopted the measure on April 22 with 607 votes in favor, 36 votes against, and 8 abstentions.
“Things are looking up, finally, for the European GNSS programs,” Paul Verhoef, head of the Galileo unit in the EC’s Directorate-General for Transport and Energy, told an April 23 plenary session of the European Navigation Conference 2008 in Toulouse, France.
By Glen Gibbons
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 Satellite Navigation Competition (Galileo Masters), now in its fifth year, is seeking the best ideas for satellite navigation applications from companies, entrepreneurs, research institutes, universities, and individuals.
This year’s contest will culminate with an awards ceremony in the Munich Residenz, Munich, Germany on Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite, General DynamicsOn Wednesday (April 16), a U.S. Air Force team successfully launched the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), an experimental satellite designed to monitor the ionosphere and predict conditions that would disturb radio communications, including GNSS signals.
The satellite was ultimately deployed from a Pegasus rocket following an air launch from a Lockheed L-1011 that had taken off from Kwajalein Atoll in the mid-Pacific Ocean. First transmissions from the spacecraft were acquired shortly after it reached orbit.
By Glen Gibbons
The U.S. State Department and the National Coordination Office (NCO) for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) are soliciting participation from the GPS industry in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization’s GNSS Innovation Summit and the 12th GNSS Implementation Team (GIT) Meeting to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in May.
The Innovation Summit takes place May 26–27, followed by the GIT meeting May 28–30.
By Glen Gibbons
Friday, April 4, 2008 is the last day to register by fax, mail, or online without a late fee for the 2008 IEEE/ION PLANS conference in Montery, California USA on May 5-8. Send your registration form with full payment in order to get the early rate.
Online registration: <http://www.plansconference.org/registration/>
By Inside GNSS
Mealtime discussion at GNSS Summer School 2007Online registration is open for the 2008 Summer School on Global Navigation Satellite systems. The 10-day course will take place in Berchesgaden, Germany from Monday, July 21 to Thursday, July 31. The program is open to 50 students and early registration is advised.
The international summer school is organized by Germany’s Institute of Geodesy and Navigation at the University FAF Munich, Stanford University, and the French Institute Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace.
By Inside GNSS
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
