Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The complex and mission-critical needs of the autonomous vehicle market demand innovation at higher levels in several different sensors and in sensor integration. A new photonic chip technology offers promise in providing high-volume, low-cost manufacture of high-end, tactical-grade performance fiber-optic gyros (FOGs)for inertial navigation in GNSS-obstructed environments.
By Inside GNSS
The grapevine was abuzz on Halloween with chatter that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) might soon act on a long-pending request from Ligado Networks to use spectrum near the GPS frequencies to support terrestrial communications.
By Dee Ann Divis
Researchers at the Universität der Bundeswehr München (German Federal Armed Forces University, Munich) have performed real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning with dual-frequency smartphones, using the GNSS raw measurements to the user via the Android API.
By Inside GNSS
The GPS III Contingency Operations Program (COps) successfully connected with the first GPS III satellite on orbit on October 21. The Air Force can now operationally command and control the powerful new GPS III satellites
By Inside GNSS
Direct georeferencing improves the efficiency and accuracy of mapping from both manned and unmanned platforms. An upcoming 2-day workshop on this topic is designed for:
By Inside GNSS
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has just issued its sixth annual GNSS Market Report, a booklet that comprehensively runs down the major market sectors and gives gratifying growth figures for all of them. This is not news, strictly speaking. This is more of the same that we have seen over the last two decades, the last six years of which have been quantified in the sturdy GSA Market Reports.
By Inside GNSS
The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of eight miniature satellites that use GPS signals bounced off the sea surface to measure wind speeds. One after the other at 12-minute intervals, the satellites pass over tropical storms, gathering data that can be used to predict the storms’ path and their intensity.
By Inside GNSS
The newest EGNOS satellite is aloft. Eutelsat’s 5 West B satellite was successfully launched from Kazakhstan on October 9. Among other payloads, the 5 West B carries a GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). The satellite will support EGNOS V3, the next generation of the EGNOS program.
By Inside GNSS
The latest offering of Inside GNSS’s continuing professional education series explores in depth what is likely the hottest topic at PNT technical gatherings over the last two years: Detection and geolocation of GNSS interference sources. This September’s ION GNSS+ conference devoted 4 full technical sessions to interference, and across the program at least 28 technical papers and a tutorial focused on the issue. Clearly it is of the moment, as well as complex to understand and counter.
By Inside GNSS
The Army is in the midst of testing new assured position, navigation and timing equipment (A-PNT) as it searches for more ways to thwart jamming and spoofing and stay operational if GPS is denied or unavailable.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Army selected Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. to provide a next-generation Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing System (MAPS) for the Army’s increasingly sophisticated manned ground vehicles. Known as “MAPS Gen II,” the system will maintain the integrity of positioning and timing during operations in GPS-contested environments.
By Inside GNSS
A live demonstration in the North Sea used the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) service to initiate an emergency rescue in three and a half minutes after a “person in distress” operated her Galileo-enabled personal locator beacon (PLB) from a small life raft, adrift on the open water.
By Inside GNSS
While many industries benefit from GNSS, others have not though their need cries out loud. Manufacturing, indoor transportation and logistics, to name a few. Massachusetts-based Humatics furnishes indoor navigation systems for areas where GNSS technology does not perform well. Its core concept is “constellation” installations of high-frequency radio transmitters to enable centimeter- and millimeter-scale microlocation technology for positioning, navigating and collaborating.
By Inside GNSS