Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The United States and the European Union are talking about how U.S. agencies might use the secure signal planned for Galileo to better fulfill their various responsibilities.
By Dee Ann Divis
NavtechGPS will host its 11th Annual Open Mic Night on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, from 8 p.m. to midnight during the ION GNSS 2012 conference at none other than the well-known Cannery Ballroom at the Mercy Lounge on Cannery Row. This musical evening will include performances by ION’s own Augmentations — complete with back-up singers, the Pseudorandom Noise, together with other talented folks from the conference. In addition to live music and a night of fun and Karaoke, five $100 cash prizes will be raffled off.
By Inside GNSS
Applanix introduced a new position and orientation system and flight management system (FMS) for airborne mapping today (August 27, 2012) at the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) 2012 Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
By Inside GNSS
1. PAPER CUTS
Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania
√ State transportation departments in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Ohio are printing fewer state highway maps, says the Associated Press. Washington did away with them entirely. Blame it on the double whammy of public sector budget cuts and smartphone, handheld, and in-car GPS. But there are lots of holdouts. As one Indiana man said, without a paper map, “You’re beholden to the GPS lady, you know?”
The nation’s top GPS experts pressed the Air Force this week to turn on the full capability of the L2C civil GPS signal that the military has been broadcasting without a navigation message despite having had signal-equipped satellites on orbit for years.
By Inside GNSS
To help counter pressures from federal budget cutters and wireless advocates searching for more broadband spectrum, the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board is crafting a study documenting the economic benefits of GPS.
“We have a new assignment . . . to discover and disclose the economic contributions of the Global Positioning System,” Chairman Jim Schlesinger told the board at an August 15, 1012 meeting of the advisory board.
By Dee Ann Divis
L-3 Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC) will conduct an operational demonstration of its new TruTrak Evolution (TTE) Type II Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) GPS receiver at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2012 conference taking place this week (August 6–9, 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The demonstration will highlight the new TruTrak receiver’s multi-use capabilities as a high-performing Ground-Based GPS Receiver Applications Module (GB-GRAM) for use on UAS platforms and precision weapons.
By Inside GNSS
A third Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellite reached its launch site in French Guiana today (August 7, 2012), where it will undergo preparations for a launch in October.
The spacecraft along with the fourth and final IOV satellite (yet to shipped) will be launched aboard a Soyuz ST-B rocket, joining the first two Galileo satellites placed in orbit last year.
The CGSIC States and Local Government Subcommittee will hold an all-day meeting on August 14 in Seattle, Washington at 700 Fifth Avenue, Room 4050.
CGSIC meetings concern the U.S. GPS program and are free and open to the public.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble introduced its AP20-C, the latest addition to its AP Series of embedded GNSS-inertial OEM boards, at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2012 Conference and Exhibition today (August 7, 2012).
Incorporating a compact, custom-built inertial measurement unit (IMU) based on commercial micro-electromechanical mechnical system (MEMS) sensors, the AP20-C enables system integrators to achieve high-rate position and orientation measurements with exceptional accuracy, according to the company.
By Inside GNSS
A congressional committee overseeing activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears poised to push the agency into a more substantive role in overseeing the use of drones in the United States — a move that could force DHS to move more forcefully to protect GPS users from spoofing.
The Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigation and Management within the House Homeland Security Committee is looking to DHS to manage the civil use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones.
By Dee Ann Divis
Both Congress and the Pentagon are putting money on the table to bridge the gap created by delays in the development of the new GPS ground system.
As Inside GNSS first reported earlier this year the Next Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, is running roughly two years behind schedule. It had been expected to be delivered in 2015, however, General William L. Shelton, the commander of Air Force Space Command, said this spring that OCX would be delayed until 2016 or 2017.
By Inside GNSS
While members of the GPS community are pushing to formally end the threat of signal interference from LightSquared’s proposed wireless network, the political realities of an election year suggest they will have to wait for a decision.
“There are not a lot of reasons to rush,” said Tim Farrar of TMF Associates, a consulting firm that closely follows mobile communications industry, adding it was “unlikely” there would be any progress ahead of the vote in November.
By Dee Ann Divis
