Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The U.S. Air Force Space Command has awarded Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions–Defense a $100 million contract to upport the GPS ground control segment. The contract’s period of performance is from January 2013 through June 2019.
By Inside GNSS
Col. William “Bill” CooleyThe U.S. Air Force appears to have identified a future leader of the GPS Directorate.
At a time yet to be determined, Col. William T. "Bill" Cooley will take up the role of Senior Materiel Leader at the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition office for developing and producing GPS satellites, ground systems, and military user equipment.
By Inside GNSS
Brad Parkinson accepts Eduard-Rhein Foundation award in Munich, Germany. (Photo, SbphotodesigN – München)The Global Positioning System and its founders continue to collect honors for the world’s original GNSS enterprise.
Last month, the Space and Missiles Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base accepted the donation of the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from Brad Parkinson, the original director of the GPS Joint Program Office (JPO) established in 1973.
By Inside GNSS
Do we need performance specs for GNSS user equipment design? For a long time, the signal-in-space interface guidelines provided enough technical guidance. But times have changed.
Over the past two years, the effort by LightSquared to persuade the FCC to allow it to operate high-powered terrestrial transmitters in frequencies adjacent to GPS focused attention on potential vulnerabilities of GNSS user equipment.
By Inside GNSS
Figure 2. L1 pseudorange residuals (m) for GPS (L1 C/A, top) and COMPASS (B1-I, bottom) vs. time of day (hour).Septentrio reported today (January 8, 2013) that the Belgium-headquartered GNSS receiver manufacturer has successfully computed a position/velocity/time (PVT) calculation using BeiDou/Compass satellites in a three-constellation (GPS+GLONASS+BeiDou) solution.
"We are positively surprised of the better than expected performance coming out of what we characterize to be ‘a quite mature constellation,’” Laurent Le Thuaut, Septentrio’s business development manager, told Inside GNSS in an e-mail.
By Inside GNSS
The Institute of Navigation’s 2013 International Technical Meeting will take place January 28, 29 and 30 at the Catamaran Resort Hotel on Mission Bay in San Diego, California.
Stanford’s Sherman Lo will moderate the plenary session, "Exploring the Frontiers of Navigation: Unique and exciting new uses of navigation technologies."
The 120 technical session papers address:
By Inside GNSS
A GPS advocacy group has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as it considers expansion of terrestrial use of the mobile satellite spectrum (MSS) adjacent to GPS, to recognize that expansion “not come at the expense of critical GPS services.”
By Inside GNSS
Conceptual design of ULTRA (ultra low-cost PRS receiver)When European leaders first took up the idea of creating their own GNSS system nearly 20 years ago, they held up the concept of civilian control as a crucial differentiator from existing services operated by national military establishments.
As Galileo nears its operational phase, that principle may manifest itself in a surprising form: the opportunity to offer a range of security-oriented positioning and timing solutions in place of the all-or-nothing alternatives on encrypted services maintained by defense agencies.
By Inside GNSS
ION GNSS 2012Companies who exhibit at the Institute of Navigation GNSS conference next September will have longer exhibit hall hours to work the floor – but fewer days to do so – at the 2013 event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Based on feedback from exhibitors, ION will eliminate the Friday hours for the industry show and increase the Wednesday and Thursday hours next year.
By Inside GNSS
The GPS Spectrum Protection Team has received the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) Partnering for Excellence Award for outstanding performance in support of the government and industry-wide assessment of potential impacts to GPS operations and safety.
The spectrum protection team played an important role in responding to the proposed LightSquared wireless broadband system’s spectrum plan.
By Inside GNSS
GIOVE-A mated with Fregat launcher upper stage. ESA photoAn experimental GPS receiver, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), has successfully achieved a GPS position fix at a 23,300-kilometer altitude — the first position fix above the GPS constellation on a civilian satellite, according to the company.
SSTL’s SGR-GEO receiver is collecting data that could help the company to develop a receiver to navigate spacecraft in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) or even in deep space.
By Inside GNSS
ABI Research: GNSS IC market shares in non-cellular applicationsGlobal sales of the smallest GNSS form factor — the integrated circuit (IC) — will exceed $3 billion next year, driven in large part by incorporation of position/location capabilities in smartphones, according to a leading research organization.
By Inside GNSS
A top leadership change is under way at one of the most important U.S. GPS policy and management organizations, the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Coordination Office (NCO).
Anthony (Tony) Russo, who has served as NCO director for the past three years — and as deputy director for two years before that, has accepted a new position with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
By Inside GNSS
