Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
WASHINGTON – The GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA), an organization dedicated to furthering GPS innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, commends NASA on its momentous 60th anniversary. GPSIA celebrates the occasion by recognizing the vital role NASA has played in furthering and facilitating the growth of GPS around the world.
By Inside GNSS
Harris Corporation has provided Lockheed Martin with its sixth of 10 advanced navigation payloads contracted for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III satellite program, the company announced today.
The GPS III navigation payload features a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70-percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened processors and powerful transmitters – enabling signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites. The payload also boosts signal power, which increases jamming resistance by eight times and helps extend the satellite’s lifespan.
By Inside GNSS
Imagination Technologies today announced the offering of the Ensigma Location GNSS IP core that supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou as well as several Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) including WAAS and EGNOS. Designed for ultra-low power consumption, the IP is designed to optimize battery powered remote IoT sensors and edge devices, wearables, health monitors, consumer mobile products, automotive after-sales products such as insurance boxes and road tolling equipment, and asset tracking devices.
By Stan Goff
Fleet’s two “Proxima” satellites are the first scheduled launch of commercial CubeSats from an Australian company
U.S. orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has signed a contract with fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) start-up Fleet Space Technologies to launch two satellites that will form the foundation of a global IoT communications constellation. The two Proxima satellites are the first of a fleet of small, low-cost satellites that will provide internet connectivity for millions of sensor devices based in remote locations on Earth.
By Inside GNSS
The International Technical Symposium on Navigation and Timing (ITSNT) is an annual event organized by CNES (Centre national d’études spatiales) and ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile) for professionals and researchers working with or interested in navigation and timing technologies and their use. This year’s event will take place Nov. 13-16 in Toulouse, France, on the campus of ENAC.
By Inside GNSS
Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies, Inc., have agreed this week to combine in an all stock merger of equals to create a global defense technology leader, focused on developing differentiated and mission critical solutions for customers around the world.
By Inside GNSS
A recent General Accountability Office (GAO) report is highly critical of the cyber security, or lack thereof, in U.S. weapons systems. One of the examples of cyber-attacks it lists is GPS spoofing.
The report, published this month, goes on to say:
“…weapon systems are dependent on external systems, such as positioning and navigation systems and command and control systems in order to carry out their missions—and their missions can be compromised by attacks on those other systems. A successful attack on one of the systems the weapon depends on can potentially limit the weapon’s effectiveness, prevent it from achieving its mission, or even cause physical damage and loss of life.”
By Inside GNSS
In the framework of GNSS cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Japan, a test was recently conducted of a GNSS-based global Emergency Warning Service using Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), which delivered impressive results.
By Inside GNSS
A new consortium has been formed to enable government to more quickly find innovative solutions to space-related technology problems including those involving satellite navigation.
By Dee Ann Divis
Some good news has been reported and some nice progress has been made by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) this year.
The successful launch of the PSLV-C41 rocket carrying India’s eighth navigation satellite IRNSS-1I from Sriharikota put smiles back on the faces of scientists of the ISRO in April amid tough times as the space agency was struggling to restore the snapped link with its recently launched communication satellite Gsat-6A.
By Stan Goff
How can I walk my dog on the Moon? What happens if I sneeze in space? Just some of the questions that more than 500,000 children around the world will be asking and attempting to answer over the next months, as part of this year’s FIRST LEGO League competition, a global STEM program with an annual theme that inspires and challenges young engineers and scientists.
By Inside GNSS
Nominations for ION Fellows and Annual Awards are being accepted through October 15. The ION Annual Award Program is sponsored by The Institute of Navigation (ION) and recognizes individuals making significant contributions or demonstrating outstanding performance relating to the art and science of positioning, navigation and timing.
By Inside GNSS
According to the European Commission “…GNSS cannot be the sole means of PNT information … for critical applications requiring continuous availability and fail-safe operations.”
Similar realizations in the United States, United, Kingdom, South Korea and elsewhere have led to a revitalization of efforts to examine Alternative Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) systems that could complement and reinforce our exceptionally valuable, yet vulnerable, GNSS signals.
By Dana A. Goward
