GPS

U.S. Air Force Authorizes Lockheed to Finish GPS III SVs 7 & 8

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin more than $245 million in contract options to complete production of its seventh and eighth GPS Block III satellites.

The two space vehicles (SVs 07–08) received initial funding under a February 2013 long-lead material contract for the Air Force’s second set of four satellites, GPS III SV 05–08. Similar to this current award announced yesterday (April 1, 2014), the Air Force exercised an option to complete production of SVs 05–06 in December 2013.

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By Inside GNSS
April 2, 2014

FAA Issues Call for UAS Center of Excellence Contractor

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced plans to establish within the next year a Center of Excellence (COE) for its Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Research, Engineering, and Development Program.

An FAA notice published last Friday (March 28, 2014) said that the agency will launch a competitive search for a team to lead the initiative as part of the FAA’s effort to integrate UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS). A draft solicitation will be available on or before April 18.

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By Inside GNSS
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March 30, 2014

u-blox Releases 4-System Antenna Module

u-blox CAM-M8Q module

Swiss-based u‑blox has introduced the CAM-M8Q GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/QZSS antenna module. The module integrates a u-blox M8 satellite receiver IC plus SAW filter, LNA, TCXO, RTC, passives, and a pre-tuned GNSS chip antenna in a 9.6 x 14.0 x 1.95 mm package.

According to the company, the surface-mount antenna module combines low power consumption with high-sensitivity, high jamming immunity, and concurrent GNSS operation (GPS/GLONASS, GPS/BeiDou, or GLONASS/BeiDou), offering a drop-in solution product designers and system integrators.

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By Inside GNSS
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March 23, 2014

GNSS Hotspots | March 2014

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. WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? 
Detroit, Michigan USA 

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By Inside GNSS

GPS Modernization Stalls

With the optimism of college-bound seniors touring the Ivy League, GPS managers have been weighing options to dramatically change the GPS constellation. Now, after studying the costs, considering the benefits, and assessing the funding climate, officials have made the starkly fiscal decision to stick close to home and take a few extra years to finish. 

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By Dee Ann Divis

New GNSS Signals

A. J. Van Dierendonck

The world’s GNSS systems are entering a phase of transformation — modernization of existing systems (the U.S. Global Positioning System and Russia’s GLONASS) and development of new systems (China’s BeiDou and Europe’s Galileo) that benefit from the lessons learned from the original GNSSs.

Notable among the modernization initiatives is an interest in implementing new satellite signal designs. These include the GPS L5, L2C, and L1C signals as well as those signals designed for Galileo and BeiDou. GLONASS designers are also working on modernized signals.

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By Inside GNSS
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