Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
[Updated July 9, 2011] The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on July 6 asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold off on allowing LightSquared to begin commercial operations, pending further evaluation of the cellular broadband system’s interference to GPS.
By Inside GNSS
ICG-6, the sixth meeting of the UN’s Sixth Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS, will take place in Tokyo from September 5-9.
By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Martin has announced the successful, on-schedule completion of a system design review (SDR) for the second-phase of next-generation GPS satellite development, the IIIB increment.
The company’s Space Systems division in Newtown, Pennsylvania, is under contract to produce the first two of a planned eight GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The contract includes a Capability Insertion Program (CIP) designed to mature technologies and perform rigorous systems engineering for future GPS III increments.
By Inside GNSS
Individuals and organizations wishing to comment on the recently released technical working group (TWG) report on LightSquared’s interference to GPS as well as the company’s proposal for dealing with the problem have until July 30 to submit statements to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In a release dated June 30, the agency noted that the TWG effort “identified significant technical issues” related to potential LightSquared interference in the upper portion of the L-Band, next to the band used by GPS.
By Inside GNSS
LightSquared submitted a 318-page report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday (June 30, 2011) on the months-long effort of a technical working group (TWG) to investigate the effects of the would-be cellular broadband company’s terrestrial transmitters on GPS receivers operating in an adjacent RF band.
By Inside GNSS
Interference can pose a threat to the reception of GNSS signals in a variety of ways. Even low-level signals have the potential to interfere with GNSS receivers, which require very high sensitivity for acceptable performance due to the extremely low received GPS signal power at the Earth’s surface.
By Inside GNSS
A team from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio took home the top $15,000 prize and a special award for the most aesthetically pleasing cut in the three-day 2011 Robotic Lawnmower Competition held in Dayton, Ohio on May 31 through June 2.
The second place award of $10,000 went to Auburn University and Wright State University won the third place prize of $5,500.
By Inside GNSS
[Updated June 30] Lucky you – you have three extra days to submit your GNSS application idea to the USA Challenge! The extended deadline is midnight Sunday (Europe) or 3 P.M. (Pacific time) on July 3.
Right now, some team is hard at work in a basement, an office, a dorm room or a lab. They are about to come up with a new, useful and commercially viable idea for a satellite navigation application or location based service.
By Inside GNSS
A schoolbus-sized asteroid grazed the Earth’s atmosphere around 1:00 P.M. (EDT) on June 27. It was 7,600 miles (12,300 km) away at its closest point, at which time it veered away across the South Atlantic Ocean.
It actually passed through the GPS constellation, alerting us to the vulnerability of our vital PNT space vehicles. We can now add asteroids to the the list of GNSS collision risks that already includes other satellites and space debris.
By Inside GNSS
On June 27, the Supreme Court decided to accept a 2005 Washington D.C. warrantless tracking case that illustrates how confusing GPS satellite positioning and the new technologies that follow, sense and link us are to judges and public alike. The case, United States v. Jones, will probably be heard during the October 2011 term.
By Inside GNSS
Much of the research into the possible effects of the planned LightSquared cellular broadband transmissions near the GPS L1 band have focused on the saturation of the front end of GPS receivers caused by the high power of the terrestrial LightSquared base stations. In this article, an engineer with a long history in broadcast digital television takes a look at the likely effects on GPS receivers of third-order intermodulation products created by the LightSquared signals.
By Inside GNSS
Would-be cellular broadband company LightSquared promised a Congressional subcommittee Thursday (June 23, 2011) that it would scale back its proposed wireless system and help pay to find a way to mitigate the network’s adverse effects on users of the Global Positioning System.
By Inside GNSS
