A: System Categories

February 28, 2013

GAO Report on Receiver Performance Invokes GPS LightSquared Controversy

A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on receiver performance and increased availability to radio frequency spectrum reveals just how complicated the issue underlying the GPS/LightSquared controversy is.

On February 22, the GAO sent the report — entitled “Spectrum Management – Further Consideration of Options to Improve Receiver Performance Needed” — to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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By Inside GNSS

Czech GNSS Showcase

GSA Headquarters in Prague (Image: MDCR)

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) will sponsor a half-day workshop on GNSS for the regional business community at GSA headquarters, Janovkeho 438, in Prague at 8:30 a.m. on March 27.

The workshop is part of an effort to engage small and medium-sized enterprises from the Czech Republic in opportunities offered by the EU’s space programs.

In addition to SME’s, the audiece will include larger industries, representatives of foreign companies established in the Czech Republic and the press.

The agenda includes:

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By Inside GNSS

Egos behind New EC-ESA Rift?

Didier Faivre, director of ESA’s Galileo Program and Navigation-related Activities. ESA photo

Speaking privately at the recent European Union (EU) Space Conference in Brussels, one individual said, “Relations between the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are worse than ever."

That would be very bad indeed, given the two bodies’ history of knocking heads.

And what’s at the center of this new rift? “It’s about power,” said this source, who would know.

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By Inside GNSS
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Lockheed Powers Up First GPS III Satellite Module

The core structure of the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) stands in Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility. Lockheed Martin photo

Well, the lights work. So far, so good.

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites has turned on power to the system module of the program’s first spacecraft, designated GPS III Space Vehicle One (SV-1).

According to the prime contractor, the achievement is a key indication that the team is on track to deliver the first satellite for launch availability next year, although the actual first launch will probably take place in 2015.

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By Inside GNSS
February 21, 2013

ITS America 2013: Intelligent Transportation Society Annual Meeting & Expo

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s 23rd annual meeting and exposition will take place at the Gaylord Opryland convention center near Nashville, Tennessee on April 22, 23 and 24, 2013.

Discussions will focus on funding infrastructure, reducing gridlock and using ITS to improve safety of the nation’s vehicles and public transportation systems.

The opening plenary includes remarks by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and a roundtable keynote discussion on the future of telematics.

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By Inside GNSS
February 20, 2013

IFCS / EFTF 2013: Frequency Control Symposium and European Frequency and Time Forum

Brahe and Kepler statue in Prague

This combined meeting in Prague, Czech Republic – the 2013 Joint UFFC, EFTF and PFM Symposium – will take place at the Prague Congress Centre on July 21-25.

It includes the International Frequency Control Symposium and the European Time and Frequency Forum and several other IEEE scientific and academic gatherings.

The IFCS/EFTF plenary presentation takes place on  Wednesday, July 24. The speaker will be Daniel Kleppner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).

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By Inside GNSS

Raven Innovation Summit 2013: Precision Agriculture

Eastern South Dakota farmland, Coddington County

The Raven Innovation Summit 2013 will take place at the Sioux Falls Sheraton and Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from 3 p.m. on June 4 to 5 p.m. on June 5.

Raven Industries applied technology division develops GPS-guided steering systems and other precision agriculure products. Its electronic systems division (starlinkdgps.com) specializes in GPS navigation signal amplification and connection solutions.

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By Inside GNSS
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PNT National Coordination Office to Focus on GPS Modernization, Spectrum, Signal Threats

Jan Brecht-Clark, director, National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

With the urgent interference and patent controversies of the last two years largely resolved, the office tasked with helping sync the government’s GPS activities will take advantage of a lull in the action to plan a more strategic way forward — though that path does not currently appear to include talking to Congress about GPS civil funding.

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By Inside GNSS

EU Council Sets 2014-2020 Budget; Galileo Request Reduced

Herman Van Rompuy, European Council president. Photo: Council of the European Union

For the first time ever, European Union (EU) leaders have agreed to a real-terms cut in spending, after all-night marathon talks in Brussels that left some delegates angry, some disappointed, and a lot of others simply relieved that they could get out of town.

The €960 billion multi-annual financial framework or MFF, which covers the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020, would be about three per cent less than the current long-term budget, and a sharp cut from the €1.03 trillion proposed by the European Commission (EC) at the outset of negotiations.

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By Inside GNSS

East Meets West: Hemisphere GNSS’s New Era

Xinping Guo, president and chairman, Beijing UniStrong

Although not on the scale or at the strategic level of China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s takeover of Canada’s Nexen Inc., the recent acquisition of the Precise Products business of Hemisphere GPS by Beijing UniStrong Science & Technology Co. Ltd. marks a notable achievement in the GNSS world — the acquisition of a North American manufacturer with core GNSS receiver intellectual property by a Chinese enterprise.

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By Inside GNSS

2013 Space Weather Workshop

In 1997, AT&T’s Telstar 401 satellite failed, probably due to magnetic storms

The annual Space Weather Workshop will take place on April 16-19 2013 at Millennium Harvest House Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Registration opens on February 15.

Sunday, March 31 is the registration and abstract submission deadline.

This meeting will bring together customers, forecasters, vendors, and researchers of space weather information.

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By Inside GNSS

Spectracom Announces BeiDou Upgrade Plans for Its Simulators

Spectracom has announced the upgrade capability of its GNSS simulators to China’s BeiDou system.

The Spectracom GSG Series 5 and Series 6 GNSS simulators, released last year, are designed to be field upgradeable to simulate current and future GNSS constellations.

The recent release of the Beidou ICD specification has enabled Spectracom to ensure that its GSG Series 5 and Series 6 equipment will be able to simulate these satellites with a simple field-upgradeable firmware update.

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By Inside GNSS
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