Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Google has agreed to integrate into its mapping services geographic information system (GIS) data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that pinpoints the location of the nation’s approximately 250,000 public and private railroad crossings.
By Inside GNSS
As usual, a leap second that will be introduced into the coordinated universal time (UTC) system at 11:59 p.m. tonight (June 30, 2015) may cause some difficulties with devices and services that derive UTC via the Global Positioning System.
By Inside GNSS
Valérie Renaudin’s Compass Points
Geomatics engineer Valérie Renaudin now directs a major research laboratory in Nantes, France, working on the future of personal navigation and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).
By Inside GNSS
The availability of several GNSSes promises advanced positioning, navigation, and timing services with higher availability and improved accuracy. According to a European GNSS Agency (GSA) market study, nearly 60 percent of receivers, chipsets, and modules already support at least two GNSS constellations, showing that multi-constellation is becoming a standard feature across all market segments. That development brings up questions of law and regulation that require careful handling by GNSS manufacturers, service providers, and policy makers.
By Ingo Baumann
Casa Battló, Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona, SpainThe European Space Agency (ESA) International Summer School on GNSS 2014 take place August 31 – September 10, 2015 at Hotel Alimara, Barcelona, Spain.
Held in conjunction with the European Commission Joint Research Center’s Summer School on GNSS, the program is open to graduate students (with a first university degree), Ph.D. candidates, early-stage researchers, and young professional seeking to broaden their knowledge.
By Inside GNSS
SatGen V3 software now available for use on LabSat 3 simulatorsLabSat has launched a new version of its SatGen V3 software package that enables users to create scenarios for replay through any LabSat simulator and now includes BeiDou.
The software creates either user-generated or imported trajectory files for use with a LabSat GNSS simulator. The addition of the BeiDou B1 signals means that users can now test a device’s design and performance as if it were being used within the operating area of the Chinese GNSS constellation – which at present only provides full coverage in Asia.
By Inside GNSS
eLoran signalWith worries mounting about jamming and other disruptions of GPS signals, officials took a step Friday (June 19, 2015) toward possibly establishing a backup for satellite navigation users in the United States.
By Inside GNSS
Golf fans watching televised coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament will have a new outlook on what the professional golfer is facing, thanks to a camera and augmented-reality tracking system that includes a 1750 inertial measurement unit (IMU) from KVH Industries, Inc., of Middletown, Rhode Island.
NovAtel G-III WAAS Reference ReceiverNovAtel Inc. today (June 17, 2015) announced an agreement with NEC Corporation to supply reference receiver products for use in Japan’s Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).
The QZSS equipment will be based on NovAtel’s third-generation (G-III) family of reference receivers. Designed for integrity monitoring and reference measurement applications, the receivers track signals independently to provide precise code and carrier phase reference measurements as well as signal-quality measurements and other integrity monitoring metrics.
The United States’ top advisors on satellite navigation are split over the practical implications of identifying the GPS system as critical infrastructure.
At the heart of the issue is the additional protection such a designation could potentially afford the constellation particularly in the arenas of public and congressional opinion. That protection, however, could come with another layer of time-consuming and possibly constricting bureaucratic requirements.
By Inside GNSS
GPS contributed more than $68 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013, according to the preliminary results of a new study presented to the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board.
And the study’s author, Irv Leveson, a consultant to ASCR Federal Research and Technology Solutions, LLC, described that figure as conservative because it did not fully incorporate a host of GPS applications including those depending on GPS timing information.
By Inside GNSS
Block diagram of driver-assisted truck platooning (DATP) system. From “Heavy Truck Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control” Phase 1 reportAlthough media coverage of autonomous or self-driving vehicles has focused on their use by private car owners, an initial report on driver-assistive truck platooning (DATP) highlights the prospects for their use in the commercial freight sector.
Titled “Heavy Truck Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control — Evaluation, Testing, and Stakeholder Engagement for Near Term Deployment: Phase One Final Report,” the DATP project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Exploratory Advanced Research program.
By Inside GNSS
Dee Ann Divis, an Inside GNSS contributing editor who writes the magazine’s Washington View column, continues to garner journalistic awards.
On June 9 she received the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Chapter’s award for 2015 “Washington Correspondent” for a series of articles on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) published in Inside GNSS last year.
Her 2015 award citation for the series entitled “Empty Skies” emphasized the “well-detailed and comprehensive handling of a complex subject. . . .”
By Dee Ann Divis
