Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The GPS Directorate has approved three contracts to continue the military GPS user equipment (MGUE) development program for portable, ground-based receivers.
By Inside GNSS
At the Intergeo conference in Hannover, Germany, today, NovAtel Inc. announced the addition of a new commercially exportable single-enclosure SPAN MEMS receiver to its line of SPAN GNSS/INS products.
By Inside GNSS
A third GPS Block IIF satellite launched successfully on Thursday (October 4, 2012) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida — the first GPS launch of the year. The spacecraft was carried aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Launch Vehicle
By Inside GNSS
In one of three separate filings on Friday (September 28, 2012) would-be broadband provider LightSquared asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set “operating parameters” leading to “revised technical rules” to enable it to operate in the lower of the two frequency bands where tests last year showed its operations would interfere with GPS.
Those rules and parameters should, the filing intimated, include standards for GPS receivers.
By Dee Ann Divis
With the debacle surrounding LightSquared’s now-stymied proposal still reverberating through Washington, federal agencies are studying ways to repurpose the spectrum adjacent to the satellite navigation frequencies without causing debilitating interference to GPS receivers.
By Dee Ann Divis
Ariane launch poster for ASTRA 2F and GSAT-10Arianespace successfully launched India’s GSAT-10 satellite this evening (September 28, 2012) on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The GSAT-10 carries India’s second GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) payload, following a successful launch of the nation’s first space-based augmentation for GPS last year.
By Inside GNSS
Future of air traffic control (FAA image)A public-private partnership created to reduce the financial burden involved in implementing the nation’s GPS-based, next-generation (NextGen) air transportation system has raised its first rounds of financing and is now negotiating contracts with its charter customers.
“We have . . . closed our first tranche of equity,” said Jim Hughey, senior vice-president of the NextGen Equipage Fund. The fund has secured a total of $100 million in commitments with some $40 million of that coming from leading aerospace companies.
By Dee Ann Divis
ION GNSS 2012 ienjoyed clear skies and warm temperatures at the Nashville Convention Center in Tennessee. The U.S. Institute of Navigation-sponsored venerable conference closed on Friday, September 21.
Thursday’s workshops featured expanded discussion on China’s Compass/Beidou-2 and Europe’s Galileo. Two more Beidou MEO satellites were launched during the conference for a total of 15. Meanwhile, Europe plans an October 10 launch that will bring the total to four. Speakers "guaranteed a 30 satellite constellation by 2020."
By Inside GNSS
Paul BenshoofLocata Corporation has announced that U.S. Air Force (USAF) veteran Paul Benshoof, formerly chief of strategic development at the 746th Test Squadron (746TS) at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, has joined the company as global business development manager for military and government applications in the United States and abroad.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble Dimensions, the 2012 International User Conference, will take place at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada from November 5 to 7.
Early-bird pricing has been extended to September 14.
The annual event targets surveying, engineering, construction, mapping, GIS, geospatial, infrastructure, utilities and field service management professionals who use positioning products developed and sold by Trimble companies. The companies include: Accubid, Applanix, Meridian Systems, OmniStar, Pacific Crest, PeopleNet, Plancal, QuickPen and Tekla.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. and European GNSS programs will launch satellites within a week of each other next month.
A GPS Block IIF satellite is scheduled to be lifted into space on October 4 and a second pair of Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites, on October 10.
Meanwhile, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) opened its new office in Prague, Czech Republic, last Thursday (September 6, 2012).
By Inside GNSS
Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed the first launch readiness exercise for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites.
By Inside GNSS
Beijing central business district ???????ICG-7 is scheduled for November 5-9 2012. It will be hosted by China and will take place at the Beijing International Convention Center (BICC) in the Asian Games Village section of the city. The chair of ICG-7 is Ran Chengqi, director general of the Chinese Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO).
