Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Aurora as seen from International Space StationReturn to "GNSS Year in Review"
This subject gave the GNSS world a wake-up call on January 20 when the top gun at the U.S. Air Force told a conference audience that GPS is vulnerable to threats such as jamming and anti-satellite weapons and that the United States should reduce its dependence on the system.
By Inside GNSS
Simple harmonic motionReturn to "GNSS Year in Review"
At first glance, interoperability and its implication of at least some degree of cooperation seem at odds with the idea of competing GNSS systems.
Yet the mantra of compatibility, interoperability, and even — in the terminology of GPS pioneer Brad Parkinson —interchangeability has taken on a nearly unanimous harmony in the pronouncements and deliberations of GNSS leaders.
By Inside GNSS
Yes, it’s that time — when we try to anticipate what 2011 holds for GNSS by analyzing (or just trying to remember) the highlights of the past 12 months in our global navigation satellite system industry.
First, 2010 was a busy year. Successful launches of 13 new satellites brought the number of GNSS spacecraft in orbit to more than 60. The highest level yet for both numbers launched and in the collective GNSS constellation.
By Inside GNSS.jpg)
Horses racing by Margret Hofheinz-Doering 1956Return to "GNSS Year in Review"
We’ve come a long ways from the attitudes of the Cold War environment in which the Global Positioning System and GLONASS programs arose.
But that doesn’t mean that GNSS competition is a thing of the past. Indeed, the second most-read item on the Inside GNSS website during this year was a March 2009 article entired “GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass: What GNSS Race? What Competition?”
By Inside GNSS
2010 insidegnss.com readership was up 37%What do you read? In 2010, there were 37 percent more visits to insidegnss.com, and it’s interesting to see who among the GNSS interest groups dropped by and which topics attracted the most attention.
By Inside GNSS
Soyuz launch of IOV satellite. ESA illustrationEurope’s Galileo space-based navigation system still awaits launch of its first in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites — now set for August 2011 — but the program is rolling out a steady stream of announcements of milestones reached.
Most recently, European Commission (EC) and European Space Agency (ESA) officials inaugurated the Fucino Galileo Control Center, 130 kilometers (81 miles) east of Rome, which will be responsible for the Ground Mission Segment.
By Inside GNSS
Col. Bernard GruberThe GPS Directorate completed its second Annual GPS Enterprise Review (AGER) on December 17, concluding that the program has achieved major milestones in developing and deploying modernized GPS capabilities.
Col. Bernard Gruber, GPS program director at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, led his team through a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review chaired by Frank Kendall, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and attended by other senior Department of Defense (DoD) officials.
By Inside GNSS
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Photo courtesy of Russian Presidential Press and Information Office Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired two space officials and reprimanded the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, in connection with the loss of three GLONASS satellites earlier this month.
By Inside GNSS
GMV will launch the SRX-10, a software GPS receiver for mass-market applications, at this year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress, scheduled February 14–17 in Barcelona, Spain.
As a fully hosted solution, all SRX-10 receiver functions — even signal acquisition and tracking — can be hosted on a general purpose CPU with only the requirement of adding on a low cost RF front-end, according to the company.
The company cites other benefits offered by its new software receiver, particularly its substantial flexibility and upgradeability.
Proton rocketThe recent loss of three GLONASS-M satellites in space resulted from a series of mistakes made by the Russian Energia rocket corporation, the head of the Russian state commission probing the incident said today (December 17), according to the state news agency RIA-Novosti.
By Inside GNSS
China successfully launched the seventh BeiDou-2 satellite — the second inclined geostationary orbit (IGSO) — today (4 a.m., December 18 local time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.
In 2010 China added five spacecraft to its constellation.
By Inside GNSS
Workers place the satellite fairing for the seventh BeiDou-2 satellite atop a Long March IIIA rocket at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in southwest China’s Sichuan ProvinceChina is preparing for launch of another satellite in its Compass/BeiDou-2 GNSS system in the "coming days," according to an unnamed spokesperson at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
According to earlier news reports, this will be the second of five inclined geosynchronous orbiting (IGSO) spacecraft planned for the regional version of the system that China hopes to complete by 2012. The full (Phase III) constellation will contain only three IGSOs.
By Inside GNSS
Portland waterfront walk, west sideION GNSS 2011 will take place at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon from September 20-23. Tutorials will be held on September 19 and 20.
This will be the 24th international technical meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation. It is the world’s largest and oldest GNSS conference,
founded in 1987 as the ION GPS conference.
The headquarters hotel is Portland’s downtown Hilton and Executive Tower.
By Inside GNSS
