Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
PCTEL, Inc., announced today (January 5) that it has acquired Wi-Sys Communications Inc., an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada–based company that specializes in GPS antenna and receiver technology. PCTEL will pay $2.1 million for Wi-Sys and plans to fully integrate the latter company’s operations into its Antenna Products Group (APG).
By Glen Gibbons
Applanix Corporation has launched the POSPac MMS (Mobile Mapping Suite) 5.2, the latest release of its GNSS-aided inertial post-processing software for mobile mapping and surveying applications in multiple environments.
Applanix has announced that its POS AV products now support on-board OmniSTAR XP real-time differential GPS corrections using a purpose-built GNSS+L-band aircraft antenna and an embedded BD960 GNSS receiver.
By Glen Gibbons
Canadian GNSS manufacturer Baseband Technologies, Inc., has launched a “Build Your Own GPS Contest,” inviting would-be designers to submit brief written ideas for applications of the company’s software-based GPS receiver technologies.
Contest entrants write 500-word descriptions of an original proposal, suggestion, or hypothetical project may include images that help illustrate their concept. The deadline for entries is March 15, 2009.
By Glen Gibbons
NovAtel has announced its new SMART-AG antenna, an L1 GPS + GLONASS receiver plus antenna system housed in a single, low profile, rugged enclosure, designed for manual guidance and auto steer installations.
SMART-AG features 14 GPS L1 channels, 12 GLONASS L1 channels, and two additional channels for satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) as well as two NMEA 0183 compatible RS-232 serial ports, an NMEA2000 compatible CAN port, plus built-in mounting magnets.
By Inside GNSS
Cumbria, UK – Wikimedia Commons imageEven as the United States tries to decide whether to make good on a commitment last February to implement enhanced Loran (eLoran), agencies and private companies in the United Kingdom are demonstrating leadership in the field of modernized positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
By Glen Gibbons
The GPS Wing has completed an integrated baseline review of the GPS IIIA program, the first major milestone for the $1.4 billion development and production contract for which Lockheed Martin serves as the prime contractor.
The IIIA contract, awarded earlier this year, provides for development and production of the first two GPS IIIA satellites with an initial launch set for 2014. The IBR paves the way for the establishment of an integrated cost, schedule, and technical baseline for the program.
By Glen Gibbons
Blaupunkt, a leading supplier of automotive systems, has signed a “frame” agreement with u-blox to supply GPS and Galileo receiver technology for navigation, driver-assistance, and related in-vehicle systems.
By Glen Gibbons
Following in the footsteps of the recent update of the GPS SPS Performance Standard, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a performance standard for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).
By Glen Gibbons
In fall of 2009, the U.S. Air Force will begin broadcasting a transitional civil navigation (CNAV) message on the GPS L2 civil signal (L2C) now being transmitted on the modernized Block IIR (IIR-M) satellites. Currently, L2C is being broadcast as a dataless sequence without modulation.
By Glen Gibbons
Two new GPS modules based on the award-winning u-blox 5 engine and the NEO form factor — the NEO5D and NEO5G — have been announced by the Thalwil, Switzerland–based company.
By Glen Gibbons
Combined GPS + Galileo constellation. Image source: Nottingham Scientific Ltd., UKRepresentatives of the United States and the European Community (EC) meeting October 23 in Washington, D.C., reaffirmed their commitment to the 2004 cooperation agreement on Galileo and GPS in the first plenary session convened under the agreement.
By Glen Gibbons
NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has recently added 43 GPS tracking sites into the Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network overseen by the federal agency.
By Glen Gibbons
A new GPS Standard Positioning Service Performance Specification (SPS PS) — the first new version since 2001 — brings the level of expected GPS service closer to real-world expectations, although still with conservative margins.
By Glen Gibbons
