Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA), a government organization responsible for the supervision and control of European Union agricultural subsidies in Poland, has purchased 118 Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 smart antennas.
By Inside GNSS
The civil GPS community is facing a significant federal funding cut in the midst of programmatic shifts and political squalls that make the long-term outlook murkier than usual.
President Obama’s recently released 2017 budget proposal calls for $847.362 million in Department of Defense (DoD) funds but only $10 million in Department of Transportation (DoT) funds to sustain and modernize the civil GPS services, including monitoring of civil GPS signals.
By Inside GNSS
Ligado Networks, the enterprise formerly known as LightSquared, released partial results from their tests of GPS receivers last week, a step one expert suggested might be aimed at easing a political decision to move the project forward before the completion of an ongoing federal interference study.
By Inside GNSS
A decision on cancelling at least some of the modernized GPS ground control system contract could be made within a matter of months and certainly before President Obama leaves office, the Pentagon’s senior acquisition official said today (February 23, 2016).
By Inside GNSS
With a stopgap fix under contract and a bump-up in next year’s budget request on the table the Air Force appears intent on sticking with its plan to continue work on a new GPS ground system despite dismay over repeated delays.
The White House has asked for $393.3 million for the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) for fiscal year 2017 (FY17). Though that number is a 12 percent increase over the $350.2 million approved for FY16, it is effectively a placeholder and may grow.
By Inside GNSS
ENAC’s third international technical symposium on navigation and timing will take place on November 15 and 16, 2016 at the French Civil Aviation University in Toulouse, France. The university is at 7 Avenue Edouard Belin in the city’s “Complexe Scientifique de Rangueil. “
The event features presentations by world experts on GNSS and round tables to facilitate discussion between the audience and the speakers.
By Inside GNSS
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center will hold it’s annual Space Weather Workshop at the Omni Interlocken Hotel in Broomfield, Colorado (10 minutes from Boulder) from April 26 to 29, 2016.
Billed as "The Meeting of Science, Research Applications, Operations and Users," what began as a small conference in 1996 is now a major event addressing the diverse impacts of space weather on critical technology, including communications, navigation, spacecraft operations, aviation and electric power.
By Inside GNSS
LightSquared Inc. today (February 10, 2016) announced a change of name to Ligado Networks.
The Reston, Virginia–based company described the Ligado as “a new brand that signals the company’s future vision of deploying its mid-band spectrum to deliver next-generation connectivity while also conveying the company’s heritage as a network service operator providing satellite connectivity throughout the U.S. and Canada.”
By Inside GNSS
The JNC 2016 – Joint Navigation Conference will take place June 6-9, 2016 at the Dayton Convention Center in Dayton, Ohio. The annual event covers military navigation technology, "the Foundation for Military Ops."
By Inside GNSS
AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems conference and trade show is now XPONENTIAL.
XPONENTIAL 2016 will take place at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. from May 2 – 5, 2016.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force and its mission partners successfully launched the 12th Boeing-built GPS IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 8:38 a.m. EST today (February 5, 2016).
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said yesterday (February 2, 2016) that the recent decommissioning of a GPS satellite led to difficulties for listeners receiving digital radio signals.
In a response to the reported issues, the BBC said: "The outages were caused by a rogue GPS satellite (SVN23), which was taken out of service in the evening of 26 January."
By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Martin announced today (February 3, 2016) that the first GPS III satellite successfully completed system-level Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing on December 23, validating the design of the entire assembled satellite.
TVAC is a rigorous test designed to prove a satellite’s integrity and operational capabilities by subjecting it to prolonged cycles of simulated space temperature extremes in a special depressurized chamber.
