Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Members of Congress mapped out some rare common ground with both House and the Senate appropriators agreeing to not only fully fund nearly all elements of the GPS program next fiscal year but to add tens of millions to restore cutbacks in the procurement schedule for GPS III.
By Inside GNSS
The advantages of a digital navigation payload, a technology singled out by both the House and Senate for $20 million worth of research support, appears to be a key factor in the Air Force’s search for a new GPS III contractor.
The digital payload “is a direct complement to the Production Readiness Alternate Sources Sought released in June,” Air Force officials said in an emailed response to questions about the technology and how it fits into the ongoing search for new GPS III suppliers.
By Inside GNSS
Gen. John Hyten. USAF photoGeneral John E. Hyten became the 16th commander of Air Force Space Command, in a change-of-command ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado today (August 15, 2014), replacing General William L. Shelton.
General Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force Chief of Staff, presided over the ceremony.
By Inside GNSS
Installation of Galileo FOC satellite “Doresa” on the payload dispenser system. The first of two Galileo navigation satellites has been integrated on its payload dispenser system at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The second satellite “Milena” was then installed in a side-by-side arrangement and will be mated atop a Soyuz Fregat upper stage. ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Vidéo du CSG photo by P. BaudonThe European Commission (EC) has opened a public consultation on a newly revised version of the Galileo Open Service Signal in Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD).
The consultation will take place through September 22, overlapping the scheduled first launch of fully operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites on August 21. Details of the consultation process can be found on the EC Directorate-General for Enterprise website.
Universities must declare by August 22 if they will seek to lead a new federal research effort on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), a contest that is expected to be fiercely competitive despite the low level of funding guaranteed for the program so far.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) will host a workshop on September 18 to discuss implementation of a GPS Adjacent Band Compatibility (ABC) Assessment initiative.
The European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (EGNOS) Service Provision Workshop will take place at the Conference Center Hotel Tivoli Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal on October 7-8, 2014.
The yearly meeting will present the improvements in the system and services for EGNOS stakeholders, users and applications developers.
The workshop agenda includes:
EGNOS Program Update
EGNOS Services Status
By Inside GNSS
[Updated September 18, 2014] The U.S. Air Force set GPS satellite SVN-68/PRN-09, launched on August 2, to healthy and usable last night (September 17, 2014). This brings the number of satellites transmitting the L2C signal to 14 and those transmitting the L5 signal to 07. The next GPS-IIF satellite, IIF-8/SVN-69, is tentatively scheduled for launch on Oct 29.
By Inside GNSS
Seventeen companies have now applied to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for services that range from filmmaking and photography to oil flare stack monitoring, package delivery and real estate marketing.
A reported White House plan to rely on voluntary adoption of privacy best practices for unmanned aircraft operations appears unlikely to address concerns that the aerial vehicles will be used to spy on people in their homes or abused by law enforcement officials conducting surveillance.
The Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate will host an open public forum on August 22 for the following NAVSTAR GPS public documents: IS-GPS-200 (Navigation User Interfaces), IS-GPS-705 (User Segment L5 Interfaces), IS-GPS-800 (User Segment L1C Interface), and ICD-GPS-870 (Navstar Next Generation GPS Operational Control Segment [OCX] to User Support Community Interfaces).
By Inside GNSS
Artist representation of ANGELS observing the AFSPC-4 Delta-4 upper stage several hundred kilometers above GEO. AFRL illustrationWhile the GNSS community waits for the scheduled launch on Friday (August 1, 2014) of the seventh GPS Block IIF satellite, the United Launch Alliance successfully lifted a three-satellite Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) payload into geosynchronous orbit on Monday (July 28, 2014) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
By Inside GNSS
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) announced today (July 29, 2014) that a recent 10-day test has successfully tracked and demodulated data from encrypted signals of the Commercial Service (CS) from available Galileo satellites.
Using receivers located in Tres Cantos, Spain, and Poing, Germany, the Early Proof of Concept (EPOC) team tracked encrypted Galileo E6-B and E6-C signals. Non-encrypted E6-B and E6-C signals have previously been tracked.
By Inside GNSS
