Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The satellite-based NextGen program is in trouble — no question about it.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic modernization effort will likely cost triple its original $40-billion program budget and need an extra decade — until 2035 or beyond — to reach completion, according to 2014 testimony by Department of Transportation (DoT) Inspector General Calvin Scovel.
By Dee Ann Divis
The German Institute of Navigation’s (DGON) 2016 symposium on inertial sensors and systems, ISS, and gyro technology will take place in Tulla Hall at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on September 20 and 21.
As modern systems for navigation, localization and guidance are increasingly making use of supporting data from non-inertial sensors, the conference particularly appreciates papers on hybrid systems, those that fuse inertial with GNSS, visual, infrared, radar or other sensors.
By Inside GNSS
OriginGPS has launched its Multi Micro Spider multi-GNSS module, which features a 5.6 x 5.6-millimeter footprint and 2.65-millimeter height.
Like its predecessor, the Multi Micro Hornet (which measured 10 x 10 x 6.1 millimeters), the ORG4033 uses MediaTek’s MT3333 and is positioned for applications that require minimal power consumption and ultra-small form factors, ranging from wearables to drones. Unlike the Hornet, the Multi Micro Spider supports Europe’s Galileo system as well as GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou.
By Inside GNSS
As the contractor for the new GPS ground system works its way through a make-or-break 90-day evaluation period, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is weighing whether it should look at leapfrogging past that program and shifting control of the newest GPS satellites to a new common ground system for Air Force space assets.
The Next-Generation Operational Control System or OCX, currently under development by Raytheon, is essential to integrating the GPS III satellites into the U.S. GNSS constellation and operating them at their full potential.
By Inside GNSS
For the first time, a GLONASS-K next-generation satellite has begun providing on-orbit services for Russia’s GNSS system.
By Inside GNSS
Addressing a long-unfulfilled presidential mandate, the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee (ExCom) has taken on reponsibility for initiating a process to identify and develop requirements for a complementary national PNT, in effect, a backup system to GPS in case of outages from natural or man-made events.
By Inside GNSS
Representatives of the world’s GNSS providers outlined the current plans and progress of their systems at the 2016 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit in Germany.
BeiDou has entered its transition period from Phase II to Phase III, with test and validation of the next phase with its new signal structures and frequencies taking place through the second half of 2017, said Jun Shen, deputy director for International Research at the China Satellite Navigation Office. In the meantime, “there will be a coexisting of Phase II/III BeiDou signals.
By Inside GNSS
The Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA), a government organization responsible for the supervision and control of European Union agricultural subsidies in Poland, has purchased 118 Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 smart antennas.
By Inside GNSS
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced the successful launch today (March 10, 2016) of the sixth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
IRNSS-1F lifted off at 4:01 p.m. IST from the Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C32). The 1,425-kilograpm spacecraft will be placed in geostationary orbit at 32.5 degrees East longitude.
By Inside GNSS
The civil GPS community is facing a significant federal funding cut in the midst of programmatic shifts and political squalls that make the long-term outlook murkier than usual.
President Obama’s recently released 2017 budget proposal calls for $847.362 million in Department of Defense (DoD) funds but only $10 million in Department of Transportation (DoT) funds to sustain and modernize the civil GPS services, including monitoring of civil GPS signals.
By Inside GNSS
Ligado Networks, the enterprise formerly known as LightSquared, released partial results from their tests of GPS receivers last week, a step one expert suggested might be aimed at easing a political decision to move the project forward before the completion of an ongoing federal interference study.
By Inside GNSS
Europe’s Galileo program has advanced the schedule for its 2016 satellite launches. Another pair of Galileo navigation satellites is scheduled for launch by Soyuz rocket in May, ahead of a quartet on an Ariane 5 in the autumn, bringing the Galileo system a step closer to operational use.
The European Commission asked the European Space Agency (ESA) to look into the feasibility of a Soyuz launch in the first half of the year to speed up the deployment of the constellation and to increase its robustness for delivering initial services.
By Inside GNSS
A decision on cancelling at least some of the modernized GPS ground control system contract could be made within a matter of months and certainly before President Obama leaves office, the Pentagon’s senior acquisition official said today (February 23, 2016).
By Inside GNSS
