Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
El Fortin monument in Heredia, Costa RicaSIRGAS 2011, the annual working meeting of the organization in charge of the geocentric reference system for the Americas, will be held in Heredia, Costa Rica from August 8 to 10.
It will take place in Clodomiro Picado Twight auditorium at the Omar Dengo campus of the National University of Costa Rica.
By Inside GNSS
NavtechGPS will offer its 2011 east coast GNSS technical seminars at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland from Monday, July 11 through Friday, July 15.
Over 25 years, NavtechGPS has organized basic and advanced GNSS seminars for engineers and technical professionals all over the United States and has provided GPS/GNSS applications solutions for military and research customers, with product choices from more than 30 manufacturers.
By Inside GNSS
Lawrence E. Strickling, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) [Updated July 9, 2011] The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on July 6 asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold off on allowing LightSquared to begin commercial operations, pending further evaluation of the cellular broadband system’s interference to GPS.
By Inside GNSS
Mita Kaigisho, site of the ICG-6 meetingICG-6, the sixth meeting of the UN’s Sixth Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS, will take place in Tokyo from September 5-9.
By Inside GNSS
Galileo Test and Development Environment (iFEN photo)The 2011 International Summer School on GNSS will take place July 20 to July 30 in Berchtesgaden, Germany at the GATE facility (Galileo Test and Development Environment).
This year’s theme is Towards a Mutli-Constellation Multi-Frequency GNSS and SBAS.
You may still register online for the waiting list. (Link here for the summer school program. )
By Inside GNSS
GPS III satellite. Lockheed Martin illustrationLockheed Martin has announced the successful, on-schedule completion of a system design review (SDR) for the second-phase of next-generation GPS satellite development, the IIIB increment.
The company’s Space Systems division in Newtown, Pennsylvania, is under contract to produce the first two of a planned eight GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The contract includes a Capability Insertion Program (CIP) designed to mature technologies and perform rigorous systems engineering for future GPS III increments.
By Inside GNSS
ETH Hönggerberg from the south (Hannes Röst photo)The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) sponsors this conference and exhibition on UAVs and geomatics at Campus Science City (Hoenggerberg) in Zurich, Switzerland from September 14 through 16, 2011.
UAV-g 2011 will bring together experts in photogrammetry, surveying, robotics, computer vision, artificial intelligence and aerospace engineering.
Researchers, developers, service and systems providers and users are invited to exhibit and demonstrate their UAV systems in geomatics at at the Birrfeld airfield on Thursday, September 15.
By Inside GNSS
Individuals and organizations wishing to comment on the recently released technical working group (TWG) report on LightSquared’s interference to GPS as well as the company’s proposal for dealing with the problem have until July 30 to submit statements to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In a release dated June 30, the agency noted that the TWG effort “identified significant technical issues” related to potential LightSquared interference in the upper portion of the L-Band, next to the band used by GPS.
By Inside GNSS
LightSquared submitted a 318-page report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday (June 30, 2011) on the months-long effort of a technical working group (TWG) to investigate the effects of the would-be cellular broadband company’s terrestrial transmitters on GPS receivers operating in an adjacent RF band.
By Inside GNSS
FIGURE 1: GPS/GLONASS L1 frequency bandAs is well known, Galileo will become the European complement to the U.S. Global Positioning system.
But what about Russia’s GLONASS?
Although this constellation has been in operation for nearly three decades, the limited number of available satellites along with an uncertain governmental commitment to GLONASS performance until recent years had seriously restricted its use for aviation.
By Inside GNSS
Anechoic chamber test site at U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) facility in Patuxent River, MarylandInterference can pose a threat to the reception of GNSS signals in a variety of ways. Even low-level signals have the potential to interfere with GNSS receivers, which require very high sensitivity for acceptable performance due to the extremely low received GPS signal power at the Earth’s surface.
By Inside GNSS
2011 Case Western Reserve team winning robotic lawnmowerA team from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio took home the top $15,000 prize and a special award for the most aesthetically pleasing cut in the three-day 2011 Robotic Lawnmower Competition held in Dayton, Ohio on May 31 through June 2.
The second place award of $10,000 went to Auburn University and Wright State University won the third place prize of $5,500.
By Inside GNSS
This is a 1993 photo of Walter, a German astronaut. He exemplifies the fearless approach to experimentation and the spirit of fun that we are looking for (DLR photo) [Updated June 30] Lucky you – you have three extra days to submit your GNSS application idea to the USA Challenge! The extended deadline is midnight Sunday (Europe) or 3 P.M. (Pacific time) on July 3.
Right now, some team is hard at work in a basement, an office, a dorm room or a lab. They are about to come up with a new, useful and commercially viable idea for a satellite navigation application or location based service.
By Inside GNSS
