Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
President Bush’s appointment of retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett as Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation has brought a new co-chairman to the U.S. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM).
By Inside GNSS
Europe’s Galileo program continues to take small steps as it waits to see if it can get through an impasse between the European Commission (EC) and the consortium of companies seeking a concession to complete and operate the Galileo system.
By Inside GNSS
China has taken the next step in developing its Compass GNSS system, launching the nascent system’s first medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite into space on April 14.
By Inside GNSS
A convergence of developments over the past few months has brought Europe’s Galileo program to the most critical passage of its history — at least, since final approval of the GNSS initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
By Inside GNSS
BlueTooth technology provider CSR, of Cambridge, United Kingdom, has acquired NordNav Technologies AB, of Sweden, and Cambridge Positioning Systems Ltd. (CPS) of also of Cambridge, UK. Taken together, the acquisitions will allow the company to provide software-based low-cost GPS suitable for mass-market mobile phones and Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs).
By Inside GNSS
Trimble of Sunnyvale, California, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire publicly held @Road, Inc. of Fremont, California, and has purchased privately held Spacient Technologies, Inc. of Long Beach, California.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force has awarded two $50 million contracts to Boeing and Lockheed Martin to execute a system design review for the next-generation GPS space segment program, GPS Block III.
The contracts come on the heels of both companies successfully completing system requirements reviews in November 2006. Those reviews, part of a $10 million follow-on order to a Phase A Concept Development Contract awarded in 2004, assessed Boeing’s and Lockheed’s ability to mitigate development and delivery risks associated with building the Block III satellites.
By Inside GNSS
L-3 Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC), Anaheim, California, has been awarded a preproduction contract for Advanced Three-Dimension Locators by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advanced Research Project Agency. The contract represents an initial step by DHS to provide a solution for accurately identifying the location of emergency response personnel in disaster or emergency situations.
By Inside GNSS
Calgary, Alberta, Canada’s NovAtel Inc. offers a new real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning solution, known as AdVance RTK, designed to enhance the precision and performance of the company’s OEMV family of GNSS receiver boards.
By Inside GNSS
Russia is showing ever-stronger signs of a serious intention of not merely restoring its GNSS system, GLONASS, but of turning it into a true dual-use system with a presence in civil and commercial markets.
By Inside GNSS
The 14-year (and counting) history of Europe’s Galileo program has always made for a complex story line.
And it’s not getting any simpler.
Among the latest complications: the transition of responsibilities from the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) to a new GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA, also referred to as the Galileo Supervisory Authority), further extension of negotiations over a long-term concession contract to operate Galileo, and growing pressure from commercial companies to allow them to sell Galileo technology that they have developed or want to develop.
By Inside GNSS
The Loran terrestrial radionavigation system might well be pulled back from its 12-year-long dance on the brink of extinction, while the Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS) radiobeacon-based augmentation system may have finally been pushed over the edge.
By Inside GNSS
China has confirmed what many have been expecting for some time: it will construct the world’s fourth GNSS system — joining the systems operated by the United States, Russia, and Europe.
By Inside GNSS
