Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that he has placed a hold on the nomination of Mike O’Rielly to a third term as Federal Communications Commision (FCC) Commissioner until O’Rielly publicly commits to vote to overturn the current Ligado Order.
By Inside GNSS
Raytheon Missiles & Defense selected Orolia’s rugged time and frequency system to support its Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar program, an advanced air and missile defense system.
By Inside GNSS
The UK Ministry of Defence Equipment and Support office tasked Raytheon to develop a prototype system to exploit assured and resilient position navigation and timing information derived from GNSS, according to a statement.
By Inside GNSS
Hackers exposed another vulnerable chink in U.S. national infrastructure over the weekend, in an attack on GPS manufacturer Garmin that began late Thursday, July 23. Although the cybersecurity strike, apparently aimed at extorting a ransom, did not explicitly include the GPS signal, it disabled two large GPS user communities: general aviation (private pilots and some larger commercial flight operators) and fitness enthusiasts. Both found their Garmin devices and apps unresponsive.
By Inside GNSS
After a successful launch on the afternoon of June 30, the third Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellite now heads to orbit under its own propulsion. The satellite has separated from its rocket and is using onboard power to climb to its operational orbit, approximately 12,550 miles above the Earth.
By Inside GNSS
Five organizations representing thousands of companies and millions of Americans have launched a new coalition to protect end users of GPS, following the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) April 22 decision to permit Ligado Networks to operate a terrestrial wireless network using its satellite spectrum.
By Inside GNSS
Microchip Technology Inc. has released a software update for its BlueSky GNSS Firewall product, providing a higher level of resiliency against GPS vulnerabilities for systems dependent on GPS signal reception. Such critical infrastructure systems include power utilities, financial services, mobile networks and transportation, all relying on GPS-delivered timing to ensure ongoing operations.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $1.7 million contract to Orolia Defense and Security for multiple BroadSim advanced GPS simulator systems for testing facilities and field test assets.
By Inside GNSS
Swift Navigation has completed a 6,600-mile cross-country drive test measuring the efficacy of its Skylark cloud corrections service and demonstrating nationwide lane-level GNSS correction coverage at the accuracy, reliability and availability levels required by its customers.
By Inside GNSS
A group of Stanford Ph.D. and Masters graduates, with work experience among them at SpaceX, Ford Motor Systems, Blue Origin, Booz Allen Hamilton and other firms, has launched a start-up to start up a low-Earth orbit successor to GPS and other GNSS. The existing services, they say, are not up to the challenges of autonomy. They founded Xona Space Systems to supplant the venerable satnav systems.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force updated the GPS Standard Positioning System (SPS) Performance Standard (PS) in mid-April, 2020, the first new Performance Standard document since 2008. It includes mention of and pre-Initial Operating Capability (IOC) performance standards for the new civil GPS signals L2C and L5 for the first time. In another new feature, the document mentions “expanded capabilities which allow the total size of operational constellation to grow beyond the previous maximum of 32 Navstar satellites” for “more robust constellation availability to enhance the overall SPS SIS performance.”
By Inside GNSS
A great man has left us, left the international GNSS community. Dr. Javad Ashjaee passed away in Moscow on May 30 from the corona virus illness, a family member reported on social media.
By Alan Cameron
GPS satellites usually transmit their signals with constant power. However, a so-called “Flex Power” is foreseen to increase the strength of individual signals to better fulfill operational constraints. Flex power operations can be detected in carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) observations provided by GNSS receivers of the global tracking network of the International GNSS Service (IGS).
By Peter Steigenberger, et al.