GPS

GAO Report on Receiver Performance Invokes GPS LightSquared Controversy
February 28, 2013

GAO Report on Receiver Performance Invokes GPS LightSquared Controversy

A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on receiver performance and increased availability to radio frequency spectrum reveals just how complicated the issue underlying the GPS/LightSquared controversy is.

On February 22, the GAO sent the report — entitled “Spectrum Management – Further Consideration of Options to Improve Receiver Performance Needed” — to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Powers Up First GPS III Satellite Module

Lockheed Powers Up First GPS III Satellite Module

The core structure of the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) stands in Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility. Lockheed Martin photo

Well, the lights work. So far, so good.

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites has turned on power to the system module of the program’s first spacecraft, designated GPS III Space Vehicle One (SV-1).

According to the prime contractor, the achievement is a key indication that the team is on track to deliver the first satellite for launch availability next year, although the actual first launch will probably take place in 2015.

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By Inside GNSS
ITS America 2013: Intelligent Transportation Society Annual Meeting & Expo
February 21, 2013

ITS America 2013: Intelligent Transportation Society Annual Meeting & Expo

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s 23rd annual meeting and exposition will take place at the Gaylord Opryland convention center near Nashville, Tennessee on April 22, 23 and 24, 2013.

Discussions will focus on funding infrastructure, reducing gridlock and using ITS to improve safety of the nation’s vehicles and public transportation systems.

The opening plenary includes remarks by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and a roundtable keynote discussion on the future of telematics.

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By Inside GNSS
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Raven Innovation Summit 2013: Precision Agriculture
February 20, 2013

Raven Innovation Summit 2013: Precision Agriculture

Eastern South Dakota farmland, Coddington County

The Raven Innovation Summit 2013 will take place at the Sioux Falls Sheraton and Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from 3 p.m. on June 4 to 5 p.m. on June 5.

Raven Industries applied technology division develops GPS-guided steering systems and other precision agriculure products. Its electronic systems division (starlinkdgps.com) specializes in GPS navigation signal amplification and connection solutions.

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By Inside GNSS
PNT National Coordination Office to Focus on GPS Modernization, Spectrum, Signal Threats

PNT National Coordination Office to Focus on GPS Modernization, Spectrum, Signal Threats

Jan Brecht-Clark, director, National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

With the urgent interference and patent controversies of the last two years largely resolved, the office tasked with helping sync the government’s GPS activities will take advantage of a lull in the action to plan a more strategic way forward — though that path does not currently appear to include talking to Congress about GPS civil funding.

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By Inside GNSS
2013 Space Weather Workshop
February 19, 2013

2013 Space Weather Workshop

In 1997, AT&T’s Telstar 401 satellite failed, probably due to magnetic storms

The annual Space Weather Workshop will take place on April 16-19 2013 at Millennium Harvest House Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Registration opens on February 15.

Sunday, March 31 is the registration and abstract submission deadline.

This meeting will bring together customers, forecasters, vendors, and researchers of space weather information.

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By Inside GNSS
Air Force Awards Boeing Contract to Continue GPS Modernization

Air Force Awards Boeing Contract to Continue GPS Modernization

Boeing engineers with GPS Block IIF on production line. Boeing photo

The U.S. Air Force has awarded The Boeing Company a $51 million to continue modernizing the GPS satellite constellation for up to five more years. The contract covers GPS IIF satellite shipment to the launch site in Florida, pre-launch preparation, post-launch checkout, handover, and on-orbit support. It has an initial one-year term with four one-year options.

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By Inside GNSS
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Lockheed Gains New GPS III SV Contract, Reaches Milestone
February 18, 2013

Lockheed Gains New GPS III SV Contract, Reaches Milestone

The U.S. Air Force GPS Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Califorinia, has awarded Lockheed Martin Space System Company a $62-million firm-fixed-price contract for GPS III Space Vehicles (SVs) 5 and 6 to be completed by June 30, 2017.

Funded under the federal Fiscal Year 2013 budget and announced February 8, construction will take place at the company’s facilities in Newtown, Pennsylvnia.

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By Inside GNSS
UK/US Deal on GPS Signal Patent Omits Galileo Version
January 31, 2013

UK/US Deal on GPS Signal Patent Omits Galileo Version

A recently announced deal between the United States and the United Kingdom to revoke the UK’s surprise patents on a key GPS technology has a glaring omission: Intentionally left out of the agreement are patents on the European Union’s version of the technology, a signal structure important to enabling Europe’s Galileo system to work seamlessly with America’s GPS constellation.

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By Inside GNSS
GNSS Hotspots | January 2013
January 25, 2013

GNSS Hotspots | January 2013

One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder.
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST

1. TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Washington, D.C.

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By Inside GNSS
Markets and Multi-Frequency GNSS
January 23, 2013

Markets and Multi-Frequency GNSS

FIGURE 1: Proposal to have a single chip GNSS receiver with additional pins to allow for the inclusion of an additional radio

Q: What will limit the spread of multi-frequency GNSS receivers into the mass market?

A: To set the scene, we need to define our terms of reference. By multi-frequency we mean receivers that operate with navigation signals in more than just the standard upper L-band from about 1560–1610 MHz where we find GPS L1, Galileo E1, Compass B1, and GLONASS L1. The obvious additional frequency is the lower L-band, from about 1170 to 1300 MHz, where again the same four constellations have signals.

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By Inside GNSS
The GNSS Merry Go Round

The GNSS Merry Go Round

The whole GNSS world should have a warm spot in its heart for centripetal forces.

After all, a centripetal force — in this case, gravity — is what keeps planets in rotation around our Sun and satellites, around the Earth.

Centrifugal force, of course, is what throws us off a merry-go-round or carousel. Centripetal force is what keeps us on board.

For those on a merry-go-round, the centripetal force is not gravity, but rather the tensile strength of our arms pulling us toward the center of rotation, at right angles to the motion of our seats.

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By Inside GNSS
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