Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
For the last 16 months the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been sitting on a request from the Europe Union to waive licensing requirements that are thwarting full use of Galileo signals in the United States.
By Inside GNSS
Russia announced a successful launch of another GLONASS-M satellite on Sunday (May 29, 2016) despite an “irregularity” in the performance of the Fregat upper stage.
According to a report by the TASS state news agency, the Fregat operated longer than planned and used its engines to deliver the spacecraft safely into orbit. The Russian Defense Ministry’s press service reported earlier that a stable telemetry link had been established with the satellite and that onboard systems are functioning normally.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
Electronic Throwaways, Space X Wins, Drones at Sea and Shaking It Up
By Inside GNSS
A view of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition CenterThe 5th International Intelligent Transportation System and Location-based Services expo will take place in Shenzhen (深圳), China on June 17, 18 and 19, 2016. It will take place in Hall 9 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in the city center.
By Inside GNSS
Last February, Paul Verhoef took up the directorship of ESA’s Galileo Program and Navigation-related Activities, and he hasn’t had time to look back since. The successful launch on May 25 2016 of two more satellites is just one of many milestones stretching ahead of him.
By Inside GNSS
The European GNSS program added two more spacecraft to its constellation this morning (May 24, 2016) with the launch of Galileo satellites 13 and 14. They lifted off together at 08:48 GMT (10:48 CEST, 05:48 local time) atop a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
This seventh Galileo launch went by the book: the first three Soyuz stages placed the satellites safely into low orbit, after which their Fregat upper stage hauled them the rest of the way into their target medium-altitude orbit in plane A, slots 2 and 6.
By Inside GNSS
A presentation from the 2015 ESNC AwardsThe 2016 awards for the European Satellite Navigation Competition and Copernicus Masters will be announced and celebrated at a gala ceremony in Madrid, Spain on October 25. The event recognizes the winning applications using the Galileo GNSS, EGNOS augmentation system and Copernicus earth observation system.
By Inside GNSS
ESTEC interiorNAVITEC is an annual navigation conference hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA). This year’s event will take place at ESA’s Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, Netherlands on December 14, 15 and 16, 2016. The theme is "Navigating the Future of Transportation."
The scope of the workshop includes navigation equipment and techniques, including receivers, payloads, signals, navigation algorithms, signal processing techniques and terrestrial and space GNSS applications.
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel Inc. has submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding Ligado Networks LLC’s (formerly New LightSquared LLC) License Modification Applications in which the company raises deep concerns about the testing methodology used and conclusions presented by Ligado regarding the impact of their proposed usage of L-band frequencies for a terrestrial wireless network.
By Inside GNSSSo, if everything had gone as planned, we would have a new ground control segment (OCX) operating a new generation of satellites (GPS III) as they launch into an expanded constellation in support of modernized military GPS user equipment (MGUE).
But then the best-laid plans. . . .
By Inside GNSS
Carlo des Dorides, GSA Executive DirectorLast October, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) Administrative Board reelected Carlo des Dorides as executive director of the GSA, giving him a second — and final — four-year term in charge of this key agency responsible for supporting the effective operation, maintenance, and security of Europe’s satellite navigation systems. We met with him recently at the GSA office in Prague to learn how he plans to see out his mandate.
By Peter Gutierrez
Advanced military receivers using the sort of modern multi-channel, multi-constellation capabilities already available commercially, could enable the Air Force to focus its anti-jam efforts on the ground, simplifying future GPS satellites and lowering their cost. Moreover, experts told Inside GNSS, the cutting-edge receivers could be deployed years before the anti-jam capability planned for the new GPS III satellites would be fully available.
By Dee Ann Divis
GNSS signals are vulnerable to interference due to being extremely weak when received on Earth’s surface. Therefore, even a low-power interference signal can easily disrupt the operation of commercial GNSS receivers within a range of several kilometers.
By Inside GNSS
