Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT ExCom) has recommended using enhanced Loran (eLoran) as a near-term alternative to GPS for essential timing data while it determines what capabilities are needed for a comprehensive GPS backup, officials told Congress this week.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force Second Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) reports that the GPS Block IIF-11, (SVN-73/PRN-10) satellite has been set healthy and is fully operational. Launched October 31, SVN-73 has replaced SVN-47 in the E plane slot E2.
In a change of direction the new LightSquared team has dropped its lawsuit against the federal government and reached a separate settlement in its lawsuit against Deere & Company that has wide-ranging implications for the GNSS community.
Under the deal LightSquared has agreed to lock in lower power limits and drop its push for GPS receiver standards in exchange for Deere dropping its opposition to LightSquared’s terrestrial broadband network.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force is weighing its options for a new GPS ground system after a detailed review last week revealed the system would be further delayed — perhaps to as late as 2023.
By Inside GNSS
Torrance, CAThe Southern California Section of the Institute of Navigation’s December meeting will take place at the John Deere facility in Torrance, CA on December 15, 2015.
Dr. Chun Yang will speak at the meeting. The title of the talk is Sharpening Peak Performance of GPS Signals. In this talk, the variable IF tracking architecture that improves the
peak performance will be presented together with possible implementation
schemes. Simulation results will be used for illustration and analysis.
The founders of Chronos and UrsaNav announced a new collaboration yesterday (December 3, 2015) intended enhance the resilience and reliability of space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
By Inside GNSS
The House and Senate, now working with a fresh extension, have until December 4 to hammer out the details of a new highway bill. The legislation will authorize — but not necessarily appropriate — Highway Fund monies for state roadways for as long as six years and likely spin up research into intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and connected and autonomous vehicle technology — three sectors that rely on GNSS for success.
By Inside GNSS
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reorganizing the vast directorate responsible for cybersecurity and the nation’s critical infrastructure. Thus far, however, protecting the GPS signals essential to most of that infrastructure hasn’t rated a public mention in the plans.
The reorganization of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) got underway in July, the month after the Office of Personnel Management revealed a computer beach that left the fingerprints and personal information of 5.6 million federal employees in the hands of hackers.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
1. DÉJÀ VU
Annapolis, Maryland and Kings Point, New York USA
For an organization with its name, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a remarkably opaque public entity.
Such is the case with the agency’s inaction on requests by foreign GNSS services to waive the so-called FCC Part 25 rules that require licensing of non-Federal receive-only Earth stations (e.g., GNSS receivers) operating with non-U.S. licensed space stations (i.e., satellites).
Although at least one such request has reportedly been submitted, the FCC has not even acknowledged it, let alone moved to render a decision on the request.
By Inside GNSS
Stuart Riley was born and raised in Nottingham, England, where some of the crucial crossroads in his career appeared quite early.
One such inflection point came when he was just 10 or 11, and it involved a birthday present from his sister, Alison.
By Inside GNSS
The atrium of 1 Bligh Street, Sydney, AustraliaThe 2016 IGS Workshop will take place from February 8-12, 2016 at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. This year’s theme is “GNSS Futures”.
Registration is open.
By Inside GNSS
Sergey RevnivykhSpeakers at the recent International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) conference in Prague threw into stark relief some of the big GNSS programs and even bigger GNSS questions.
Prof.-Dr. Günter Hein, former head of the European Space Agency (ESA) EGNOS and GNSS Evolution Program Department and Emeritus of Excellence at University FAF Munich, delivered a fact-filled and level-headed presentation on the status of Galileo, the European Union’s civil-owned and non-military GNSS, with slides and information provided by ESA.
