Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
China’s domestically produced satellite navigation system BeiDou has made significant progress in terms of its accuracy, according to reports out of China earlier this month. At a recent press conference, BeiDou engineers claimed that a new accurate positioning chip can now help users arrive at their destinations with an error margin of just one to two meters.
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel Inc. recently announced the release of the 7.200 firmware for its next generation of receivers, the OEM729, OEM719 and OEM7700, and with the release introduced new positioning functionality including the Interference Toolkit. The 7.200 software interface is backwards compatible with the OEM6 family software with the addition of the following key features:
By Inside GNSS
The goal of the GPS Adjacent Band Compatibility Assessment Study is to evaluate the adjacent radio frequency band power levels that can be tolerated by GPS/ GNSS receivers, and advance the Department of Transportation’s understanding of the extent to which such power levels impact devices used for transportation safety purposes, among other GPS/ GNSS applications.
By Inside GNSS
The entrepreneurial space launch firm SpaceX won a head-to-head competition with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to secure its second GPS launch contract.
The launch of the GPS III spacecraft onboard a Falcon 9 rocket is expected to take place in 2019. The $96.5 million deal was officially announced March 14.
By Inside GNSS
The opening plenary of the annual Satellite Navigation Summit in Munich tends to be a ritzy affair, taking place in the evening in an amazing converted chapel and featuring live musical interludes in between groups of speakers. This year the audience was treated to movie tunes, and the European Commission’s Pierre Delsaux had a suggestion for the play list.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Congress is prepared to deliver the coup de grace to a new rule aimed at protecting the personal information — including the geolocation — of broadband internet users. The move, one of a number aimed at eliminating Obama-era regulations, would slice through months of debate, and federal regulators’ own backpedaling, to kill the pro-privacy rule in a way that makes resurrecting it extremely difficult.
By Dee Ann Divis
Before full service of Galileo Open Service (OS) can be achieved, a new generation of OS-Navigation Message Authentication-enabled user terminals must be developed, tested and implemented, says the European GNSS Agency (GSA).
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications plc this week announced its test solutions have been used to improve maritime safety, and this development came about after much collaborative work designed to ensure that GNSS receivers are performing as needed, especially for rescue operations at sea.
Working with the Radio Technical Committee for Maritime Services (RTCM), Spirent has created test scenarios that simulate realistic satellite reception conditions at sea so that GPS distress beacon performance can be improved, allowing users to be rescued faster by search and rescue organizations.
By Inside GNSS
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Hemisphere GNSS, Inc. introduced its IronOne Rugged Display & Computer for machine control applications at this week’s CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Purpose-built for harsh machine control environments, IronOne meets IP67-standard certification and uses an 8” sunlight-readable LCD display. IronOne adds another system component and empowers heavy equipment manufacturers to deliver their own machine control and guidance solutions to their customers.
By Inside GNSS
The Alliance for Aviation Across America released a letter to Congress this week from more than 115 mayors in all 50 states expressing concern about the impact of air traffic control (ATC) privatization on communities across the country, especially those in rural regions of the country.
By Inside GNSS
This year ITS America will host the 24th ITS World Congress in Montreal, Quebec from October 29 to November 2, 2017. The theme of this year’s World Congress is “Integrated Mobility Driving Smart Cities”.
By Inside GNSS
In effort to improve safety, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) has officially launched the Galileo and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) test campaign for eCall devices, which allows eCall device manufacturers to pre-test Galileo and EGNOS compatibility prior to type approval.
By Inside GNSS
GPS receiver manufacturers have until March 3 to apply for a rare opportunity to test their equipment against realistic urban spoofing.
The Department of Homeland Security is offering live-sky testing focused on spoofed GPS signals. The testing, to take place in a simulated urban environment, is available to manufacturers of receivers used in critical infrastructure.
By Dee Ann Divis
