Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Soyuz launcher during dry run at Kourou Spaceport. ESA photo. S. Corvaja[Updated June 1, 2011] Two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites will comprise the first launch on a modified Soyuz rocket from the European Union’s spaceport in French Guiana.
Now scheduled for October 20, the launch will mark the beginning of the creation of the operational constellation for Europe’s GNSS system.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Global Positioning System has garnered a long list of honors over the years, but a forthcoming presentation from the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is one of the most remarkable yet.
By Inside GNSS
In 2012, for the first time, the annual European Navigation Conference will take place in Gdańsk, Poland.
It will be held at April 25-27 in the Filharmonia convention hall on Olowianka Island. It is at the center of the one of the oldest Baltic cities, near many of the historical attractions of Gdańsk (Danzig).
The theme is "Navigation for the People." The conference will be held in English.
The event will also feature a technical exhbition for companies, institutes and others to demonstrate their products.
By Inside GNSS
The 2011 Esri User Conference will be held at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California from July 11 to July 15.
Of particular interest to Inside GNSS readers:
By Inside GNSS
The recent release of the 2010 Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP) marks the passage of a recurring milestone for the U.S. positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) community.
By Inside GNSS
Mike Dyment, General Partner, NextGen Equipage Fund LLC» Air Traffic Control Modernization (PDF)
In between partisan confrontations around the 2011 federal budget and raising the U.S. debt limit, prospects are improving for federal legislation that would provide the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with a regular full-year budget for the first time since Fiscal Year 2007 — including support for completing the transition to a GNSS-driven air traffic control (ATC) system known as NextGen and a “public-private partnership” to equip aircraft with the needed avionics.
By Inside GNSS
Vladimir Popovkin (Russian Ministry of Defense photo)Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed Vladimir Popovkin, formerly First Deputy Defense Minister, as head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos today (April 29, 2011), replacing Anatoly Perminov.
By Inside GNSS
Rakon RTX7050A TCXORakon Ltd. has launched two new fully integrated temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs) in its RTX-A series, designed for use in precision GNSS receivers and wireless communication devices and base stations, such as LTE femtocells, IP timing, and WiFi/WiMax.
The RTX7050A and RTX5032A (5 x 3.2 millimeters) employ an analog IC for both the oscillator and temperature compensation.
By Inside GNSS
Julius Genachowski, FCC ChairmanGPS supporters are trying to slow what appears to be a runaway LightSquared express bearing down on the civil L1 signal frequency and thwart the would-be 4G/LTE broadband cellular wholesaler’s effort shift the burden of proof and associated costs for mitigating interference onto the GNSS community.
By Inside GNSS
Funny thing about the U.S. Constitution: it address the activities of government officials and agencies — including restraints on those activities — but not the activities of commercial business and individuals. The latter are left to federal, state, and local laws.
So, when the government conducts warrantless surveillance using GPS, the issue may come before the U.S. Supreme Court or state and federal judges at other levels. If private companies do it, they may end up at a congressional hearing.
By Inside GNSS
Resolution of the between Congressional Republicans and Democrats that threatened a shutdown of the federal government has clarified the picture for military GPS programs in the coming year, although prospects for the civil side remain uncertain.
On April 15, 2011, President Obama signed the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 1473, Public Law 112-10), the last in a series of government-wide funding measures for Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11).
By Inside GNSS
Pace High School “Catastrophic” team, the 2010 winnerTen Lego kits transformed into autonomous robotic vehicles will gather, with their high school student masters, on Saturday, May 21 at the Smithsonian for the 2011 national championship of the Institute of Navigation Mini-Urban Challenge.
It all happens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Spark!Lab and first floor of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation on the National Mall.
By Inside GNSS
T-Hawk MAV. Honeywell photoA GPS-guided T-Hawk Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) more frequently used in combat reconnaissance missions in Iraq and Afghanistan is being used to help emergency efforts at Japan’s damaged fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Weighing just 17 pounds and measuring 14 inches in diameter, the T-Hawk is a ducted-fan vertical takeoff and landing air vehicle originally developed in recent years by Honeywell Corporation under a $40-million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) technology demonstration contract.
By Inside GNSS
