Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
GPS.gov Website Gets a Make-Over
The National Space-Based PNT Coordination Office (NCO) and U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center (NAVCEN) have announced a major upgrade to the official U.S. government GPS website GPS.gov, including new content and features.
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Raven Industries, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, have announced a new strategic partnership that will see NovAtel’s GNSS positioning technology integrated into Raven’s line of precision agriculture products.
By Inside GNSS
Talk about your bad timing.
The outcome of the LightSquared/GPS controversy threatens to make President Obama a three-time loser in technology policy matters.
In March 2010, his administration proposed to open for drilling for oil and natural gas extensive expanses along the Atlantic coast, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and off the north coast of Alaska, many of those areas for the first time. Less than a month later the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion unleashed the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
By Inside GNSS
TPS GR-5Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) has launched its new GR-5 GNSS receiver using patented Fence Antenna technology and expanded tracking-channel support.
By Inside GNSS
Omnistar DGPS world mapTrimble announced on March 16 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets related to the OmniSTAR GNSS signal corrections business from Fugro N.V.
The acquisition is expected to significantly expand Trimble’s worldwide ability to provide correction services for a broad range of land-based applications in addition to OmniSTAR’s current focus in agriculture. Fugro’s offshore marine business is unaffected.
By Inside GNSS
EGNOS-equipped cockpitOn March 2, ESSP (the European Satellite Services Provider) declared the safety-of-life (SoL) signal from the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) officially available for use by aviation, following European Commission (EC) authorization to provide the service.
Similar to the U.S. Federal Aviation (FAA) Administration’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), EGNOS transmits real-time corrections to GPS signals over a large expanse of Europe and north Africa.
By Inside GNSS
GPS III satellite. Lockheed Martin illustrationLockheed Martin announced today (March 15, 2011) that the team it leads in developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites has successfully completed the program’s first major flight-software integration milestone at the company’s software integration laboratory in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
By Inside GNSS
Based on data from Japan’s GPS Earth Observation Network System (GEONET), researchers at the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) reported today (March 14, 2011) that the 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake on March 11 in northeast Japan caused an estimated displacement of between roughly 6 and 28 meters along two fault blocks totaling nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles).
By Inside GNSS
Figures 1 & 2For the complete story, including figures, graphs, and images, please download the PDF of the article, above.
Growing dependence on GNSS for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) has raised a parallel concern about the potential risks of signal interference. The popular press has recently highlighted accounts of car thieves using GPS jammers, solar flares pumping out L-band radiation, and faulty television sets causing havoc to GPS receivers across an entire harbor.
By Inside GNSS
The GPS community is seething over a January 26 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) giving a conditional go ahead to a new broadband network with the potential to overwhelm GPS receivers across the country.
By Dee Ann Divis
The International Committee on GNSS (ICG), is a voluntary United Nations–backed association that brings together GNSS and augmentation providers — including the United States, Russia, European Union, China, India, and Japan — and associate members representing key user communities.
By Inside GNSS
A Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter demonstrates the use of GPS technology at a previous GPS Partnership Council meeting. (Photo: Joe Juarez)Registration is now open for the 2011 GPS Partnership Council meeting on Tuesday, May 3 and Wednesday, May 4 at the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California.
These military and industry networking meetings, now in their 11th year, are sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association) and the USAF GPS Directorate, formerly the GPS Wing.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. Capitol rotunda. Photo: Architect of the CapitolSpace-Based PNT, National Executive Committee Public Release (March 14)
By Inside GNSS
