Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Navigation — if you are reading this magazine, you almost certainly have some level of interest in navigation technology, which has seen an incredible explosion in use within many different fields.
By Inside GNSS
IFEN GmbH, in partnership with WORK Microwave, have announced the release of software update v1.9 for their NavX-NCS GNSS multi-frequency simulator product line.
A key enhancement to the NavX-NCS solution is comprehensive support of China’s BeiDou-2 navigation satellite system, according to the companies. By enabling real-time simulation of second-generation BeiDou satellite signals, NavX-NCS expands a user’s GNSS signal capability beyond GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) constellations.
By Inside GNSS
As engineers painstakingly work their way through tests of the first full operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellite at the European Space Agency’s European Space Research and Technology Center (ESA/ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, European space sources admit that the new generation spacecraft’s maiden voyage will not occur until December 28, if then.
By Inside GNSS
Recent tests of GPS anti-jam antennas on small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at a Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) facility at Patuxent River, Maryland, showed encouraging results for preventing interruption of mission-critical data.
By Inside GNSS
With a key Galileo patent dispute now set to enter its third year the European Union (EU) is moving to monitor GNSS patents around the world — a move that should give it insight into the competitiveness of European positioning, navigation, and technology (PNT) companies and a heads-up about future intellectual property (IP) issues.
By Inside GNSS
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon be taking new applications for its unmanned aircraft assessment program — a project that gives potential government customers at local, state, and federal levels an impartial evaluation of the strengths and costs of different systems.
By Inside GNSS
Three key associations of state officials are recommending that states pass legislation banning the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance unless the person being tracked has given permission or a warrant has been issued.
The associations also recommended banning UAVs from carrying weapons and emphasizing in state laws that both UAVs and their smaller cousins, model aircraft, be operated in ways that do not “present a nuisance to people or property.”
By Inside GNSS
[Updated August 15, 2013] Investors led by Harbinger Capital Partners have filed a $1.9 billion lawsuit against a trio of GPS receiver manufacturers over LightSquared, a now bankrupt firm that still hopes to build a wireless broadband network across the United States.
By Inside GNSS
A series of assertions in a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article regarding putative dissension between the Air Force and Navy over responsibilities for precise timing — a key element in GPS operations — has drawn a pointed rebuttal from the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO).
By Inside GNSS
Two British companies, QinetiQ and Nottingham Scientific Ltd (NSL), have partnered to demonstrate an Internet “cloud”-based technology that enables a wide range of high-volume, low-cost satellite navigation applications using Galileo’s Public Regulated Service (PRS).
The NSL-QinetiQ application allows a service provider to host secure navigation on one server in a back office, capture data from multiple locations and units, and subsequently verify the location of a remote user.
By Inside GNSS
Last month, USAF Col. Bernard Gruber stepped down after three years of running the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
The GPS Directorate, originally established in 1974 as the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office, is responsible for development, acquisition, fielding and sustainment of all GPS space segments: the modernized operational control segment (OCX), the next-generation GPS III satellites, and modernized GPS user equipment (MGUE).
By Inside GNSS
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued restricted category type certificates to a pair of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), a milestone that will lead to the first approved commercial UAS operations later this summer.
Issuing the type certificates is an important step toward the FAA’s goal of integrating UAS into the nation’s airspace. FAA officials announced the action last Friday (July 26, 2013).
By Inside GNSS
A European-Union funded consortium invites companies and public agencies from Mediterranean countries in North Africa and the Middle East to submit ideas for extending Galileo GNSS and EGNOS use in the region.
Eligible ideas could be for a small pilot project or research study, a technical training plan, and/or a publication or article. The submission deadline is August 25, 2013.
The countries in the target area are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.
