Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
When President Obama signed the $1 trillion dollar federal appropriations bill just before Christmas, he also inked into law a provision further protecting GPS receivers from interference from the wireless network proposed by LightSquared.
By Inside GNSS
If the readership of insidegnss.com news is any indication, 2011 was the year of LightSquared.
Articles about the would-be wireless broadband company that wants FCC approval to set up a terrestrial network transmitting on frequencies next door to GPS and other GNSS L1 signals garnered the most page views on our website for 6 out of 12 months.
By Inside GNSS
In a meeting Friday (December 30, 2011), Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the newly appointed deputy prime minister, Vladislav Surkov, that he wants his long-time political ally to provide political oversight for GLONASS.
By Inside GNSS
[Updated January 3, 2012] China released a long-awaited “test version” interface control document (ICD) for its Compass (BeiDou-2) GNSS system today (December 27, 2011). The 11-page publication covers its open B1 civil signal centered at 1561.098 MHz.
By Inside GNSS
Raven Industries Electronic Systems Division has announced a new distributor relationship that will offer the company’s differential GPS (DGPS) products through NavtechGPS, of Springfield, Virginia.
Effective December 15, 2011, NavtechGPS began receiving and processing U.S. orders for Raven StarLink DGPS products, including line amplifiers, Raven Link timing & synchronization system, down/up converters, splitters, and antennas.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA) has reported its first successful reception of triple-frequency signals from a Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) spacecraft.
The weekend of December 17 all Galileo signals were activated simultaneously for the first time across the European GNSS system’s three spectral bands, known as E1 (1559–1592 MHz), E5 (1164–1215 MHz), and E6 (1.215–1.300 MHz). The accompanying graphic displays the signals spectral profile.
By Inside GNSS
LightSquared today (December 21, 2011) asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to confirm the company’s right to use spectrum licensed to it and that commercial GPS manufacturers have no right to interference protection from LightSquared’s proposed wireless broadband network.
By Inside GNSS
Tests of LightSquared’s proposed wireless broadband transmissions in the lower LightSquared band (1526–1536 MHz) caused harmful interference to a majority of personal/general navigation GPS receivers.
By Inside GNSS
The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS satellites (GPS Block III) has delivered the program’s pathfinder spacecraft to the company’s Denver, Colorado–area facility.
The program remains on schedule for a 2014 launch of the first Block III space vehicle (SV).
By Inside GNSS
[Updated December 14, 2011] Today (December 12, 2011), the first of two Galileo IOV satellites launched October 21 began transmitting its payload signals.
Researchers at several European organizations have reported initial acquisition and tracking results of the E1 signals from the Galileo-ProtoFlight Model (PFM) satellite (previously incorrectly identified as Flight Model-2), also identified by its pseudorandom noise code (PRN 11).
By Inside GNSS
The European Commission has introduced free, downloadable and ready-to-use software tools to help anyone develop enhanced location and timing applications that harness the power of Europe’s European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).
EGNOS, which began operations earlier this year, provides real-time satellite-based corrections and integrity monitoring for GPS satellite signals.
By Inside GNSS
After years of arduous political navigation filled with delays and disappointments, Europe’s GNSS programs appear to have found firmer ground as it heads into a crucial deployment phase.
Today (November 30, 2011), the European Commission (EC) proposed a €7 billion (US$9.41 billion) allocation for Galileo and EGNOS in the European Union’s next budget cycle (2014–2020) and delegation of the programs “exploitation” to the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the systems’ deployment, to the European Space Agency (ESA).
By Inside GNSS
LightSquared has dropped, for now, efforts to expand its wireless broadband plans to markets in other countries, Inside GNSS has learned.
The Virginia firm was working this summer on proposals to the International Telecommunication Union, including one aimed at addressing compatibility issues between ground stations or “complementary ground components” of mobile satellite services and other frequency-using services.
By Inside GNSS
