Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
A team led by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has won U. S. Air Force approval to build the GPS Block IIIA satellites under a contract valued at up to $3.568 billion.
The long-delayed decision was announced May 15. The acquisition covers the first of three sets of Block III satellites currently scheduled to begin launching in 2014.
By Glen Gibbons
Doug TaggartDouglas S. Taggart has been named president of Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc., effective June 1, 2008.
A professional engineering and technical services firm headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, Overlook has extensive experience in GPS and Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies, operations ,and applications, as well as electronic warfare, space and information operations, and space control.
By Glen Gibbons
GPS manufacturers and users who employ so-called codeless and semi-codeless techniques based on exploiting the L2 carrier phase of the military P(Y)-code signals may want to comment on a new proposal to ensure that capability through 2020.
By Glen Gibbons
Lt. Gen. Michael A. Hamel, commander of the Space & Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, will turn over responsibilities to Lt. Gen. John T. "Tom" Sheridan on May 16. General Sheridan was formerly the Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.
By Glen Gibbons
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has awarded GPS Source, Inc., of Pueblo West, Colorado, a multimillion dollar contract for the development of GPS retransmission equipment for the C-17 Globemaster III.
CNS-5000NovAtel, Inc., and KVH Industries took advantage of the auspicious occasion of the PLANS 2008 conference to launch their separately labeled but common-design versions of a GNSS/fiberoptic gyro (FOG) inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor.
By Inside GNSS
Applanix has announced the availability of a high altitude tactical mapping option for its DSS RapidOrtho system as well as the integration of the Trimble BD960 GNSS receiver module for its POS AV airborne position and orientation system.
With the GNSS module, POS AV products now support GPS L1/L2 and GLONASS L1/L2 processing, both in real-time and post-mission. The BD960 will also be able to receive and process the next-generation GPS L2C and L5 signals.
By Inside GNSS
Hemisphere GPS has reported US$25.9 million in revenues for the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 56 percent from the year-earlier period (US$16.7 million) and a record for the company.
The company also reported record first quarter net income of $5.8 million, or $0.11, an increase of 169 percent compared to $2.2 million, or $0.05 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.
By Glen Gibbons
Spectrum Control, Inc., of Fairview, Pennsylvania, has designed a new single-element patch antenna that can receive and/or transmit two frequency bands — GPS and satellite communications — in one package.
The new antennas were developed for GPS applications using either Globalstar, for telephone and low-speed data communications, or Iridium’s voice and data communications. The frequencies cover 1575MHz (GPS) to 1615MHz (Globalstar) and 1575MHz (GPS) to 1621MHz (Iridium).
By Glen Gibbons
As speculated might occur, Lockheed Martin has joined the Northrop Grumman Corporation team competing for the GPS Next Generation Control Segment (OCX) Phase B contract. Lockheed had led its own team in the first round of competition that ended last November.
With Boeing as part of the other prospective OCX team headed by Raytheon Corporation, both companies with experience operating the GPS ground-based infrastructure are playing supporting roles for the contest to build the new control system.
By Glen Gibbons
Spirent Communications plc has announced that the Spirent UMTS Location Test System (ULTS) now supports full certification testing of 3G Partnership Project’s (3GPP) Assisted GPS (A-GPS) RF Minimum Performance test cases for both W-CDMA and GSM devices. With this latest capability, Spirent test equipment can support all A-GPS testing standards including RF performance, signaling conformance, and Secure User Plane (SUPL) Application Enabler, according to the company.
By Glen Gibbons
Santa Clara, California–based wireless/wired communications semiconductor manufacturer Atheros Communications, Inc., which acquired u-Nav Microelectronics last December, has announced its second-generation, single-chip GPS receiver, the AR1511, and companion ORION 3.0 software suite.
By Glen Gibbons
GPS III conceptual drawing, The Aerospace CorporationThe Air Force has further delayed the announcement of its decision on who will be the prime contractor for the next block of GPS satellites, IIIA. Earlier reports had set the contract award announcement for early April.
On Wednesday (April 23), Anthony Russo, deputy director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), told a European Navigation Conference 2008 in Toulouse, France, that "source selection" has been identified. He added, "I had hoped to announce [the results] at this conference, but the process is not complete yet."
Source selection means that the GPS Wing at the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has completed its
evaluation of the bids on the contract and the preferred provider for the new generation of satellites. The Wing — responsible for overseeing the acquisition of GPS space, ground, and military user equipment — has a presentation ready on the IIIA contract award but is waiting to brief the Air Force decision maker, in this case, apparently Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne.
