Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The GPS Block IIF program continues to lose ground, with first launch of a satellite now projected as no sooner than May 2008 and as late as January 2009 in a “worst case,” scenario, according to the U.S. Air Force. Program costs are also increasing.
By Inside GNSS
This is what happens when the grandchildren of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland go out and “rent the old barn and put on a show!”
First, there was an independent Seattle, Washington–based filmmaker named Eric Colley and a screenwriter named Hallie Shepherd who knew about the 150,000 actual GPS-guided scavenger hunts now taking place in 200 countries.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors appear to be getting closer to fielding GPS-aided precision guidance systems that can withstand the arduous requirements of artillery shells and other fired munitions.
By Inside GNSS
Shah Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on technology, will acquire GNSS receiver manufacturer Thales Navigation from the Thales Group, of Paris, France.
By Inside GNSS
The consortium negotiating to build and operate Europe’s Galileo system now expects to sign an agreement with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) by the end of 2006.
By Inside GNSS
Okay, now it’s official: The GPS Block III contract award has been delayed from Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) to Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07).
By Inside GNSS
The GPS program appears to be struggling on several fronts recently.
GPS III, the next-generation modernization project for the space and ground segments, is facing renewed uncertainty and possible schedule delays. At the same time, anticipated first launch of the follow-on block of satellites (Block IIF) with the new civil L5 signal has been postponed.
By Inside GNSS
Within weeks of a bilateral working group’s recommendation for a common civil GNSS signal design, the European Galileo and U.S. GPS programs have filed draft interface specifications (IS) or interface control documents (ICDs) for the new signals planned for the L1 frequency (around 1575 MHZ).
By Inside GNSS
An ad hoc working group has begun sorting through issues surrounding the recent formation of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG).
By Inside GNSS
The Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget proposal for the Department of Defense (DoD), announced in February, allocates $315,314,000 in advanced technology development for GPS, including work on the GPS III program. If approved by Congress, that would represent a sizable increase from the FY06 expenditures of more than $85 million and $33 million in FY05.
By Inside GNSS
Japan launched its second Multi-Functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT-2) on February 18, opening a new phase of precision air navigation and air traffic control (ATC) over the western Pacific Ocean.
By Inside GNSS
Civil GPS users now have a second full signal available to them — albeit on only one satellite and “at the user’s own risk” — courtesy of the first modernized Block IIR (IIR- 14M) spacecraft launched last September. And the world’s geodetic community is already moving to take advantage of it with announcement of an addendum to the receiver autonomous exchange (RINEX) format used to combine high-precision position data from different types of GPS receivers.
By Inside GNSS
