Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Tables 1, 2, 3 & 4Q: What are the actual performances of GNSS positioning using smartphone technology?
A: “Where I am?” is the typical question asked by a person when visiting a new city or unknown place. Knowing one’s own location is generally a basic necessity for people, both in indoors and outdoors.
By Inside GNSS
GPS III core structure at Lockheed Martin facility. Lockheed Martin photoThe launch of the first GPS III satellite could slip to as late as March 2017, further delaying a modernization program that already has been pushed back repeatedly by budget cuts and technical problems.
“The first GPS III launch is tentatively considered for the first half of FY17, based on booster availability and Air Force launch priorities,” a spokesman for the Space and Missile Systems Center told Inside GNSS.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. Trade Representative Michael FromanTariffs on GPS devices in more than 70 countries could disappear in a matter of months now that the U.S. and China have worked through an impasse on expanding the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).
By Inside GNSS
Implementation of code-Phase structures for GLONASS signals ?/?, L2C and L3Topcon Positioning Group has announced that its latest GNSS reference receiver has tracked a new signal from the GLONASS constellation.
The GLONASS-M 55 satellite was launched in June and is equipped
with an experimental payload capable of transmitting CDMA signals in the
Russian GNSS system’s L3 frequency band centered at 1202.025 MHz. According to the company, Topcon engineers successfully tracked the signal using the NET-G5
receiver during a series of recent tests at the Topcon Technology Center
in Moscow, Russia.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced plans today (November 10, 2014) to implement a series of maneuvers to reposition one of two Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellites left in the wrong orbit this summer, as a prelude to its health being confirmed.
The aim is to raise the lowest point of the satellite’s orbit — its perigee — to reduce the radiation exposure from the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth, as well as to put it into a more useful orbit for navigation purposes.
Tallysman has introduced the TW5340 “smart” antenna that pairs Tallysman‘s Accutenna technology with STMicroelectronics’ Teseo II GNSS receiver.
The TW5340 is a multi-constellation GNSS antenna that provides simultaneous GPS/GLONASS/SBAS reception and is designed for use in professional grade applications such as precision timing, network synchronization, or low-current and tracking/positioning applications.
By Inside GNSS
Swiss-based u‑blox launched its new EVA‑M8M stand-alone positioning module today (November 6, 2014), bringing concurrent multi-GNSS capabilities into the company’s compact EVA footprint.
Technology to counter the threat of GNSS jamming is now available at Dover and along the east coast of the United Kingdom as the island nation continues to implement an enhanced Loran (eLoran) system that is setting an example for the world.
By Inside GNSS
Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime TransportationProdded by Congress, the federal government is reexamining its decision to abandon eLoran, a network of ground stations capable of supplying essential timing and positioning data to power, phone, and other critical networks if something happed to GPS.
By Inside GNSS
The European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) has gone Big Time.
Unlike past years, when product designers and engineers from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) have walked away with the top prize, this year’s overall winner was Airbus Defence & Space (Airbus DS GmbH), a division of the Airbus Group (formerly EADS). Headquartered in France and generating annual revenues of €14 billion, Airbus DS was established last year by the merger of the parent company’s Airbus Military, Astrium, and Cassidian units.
By Inside GNSS
KCS TM-202LAR GPS/RF/GSM moduleKCS bv, based in Dordrecht, The Netherlands, has introduced the newest OEM addition to its family of TraceME products, the TM-202LAR, a GPS/RF/GSM module intended for incorporation into products and systems used for tracking people, vehicles, and objects.
Measuring 46x21x6.5 millimeters and weighing seven grams, the low-power TM-202LAR incorporates a 48-channel CSR SiRFstar-IV GSD4e GPS L1 receiver, GPRS/GSM modem (QUAD band version) for RF connectivity up to two kilometers (1.2 miles), and a 3D magnetic compass and 3D accelerometer the operates at up to 16g.
[Updated December 15, 2014] The eighth GPS Block IIF navigation satellite launched on October 29 has completed its operational checkout and was set to healthy and usable on Friday (December 12, 2014). This brings the number of satellites transmitting the L2C signal to 15 and those transmitting the L5 signal to 8. The next GPS-IIF satellite, IIF-9/SVN-70 is tentatively scheduled for launch in March of 2015.
By Inside GNSS
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General of DG Enterprise. EC photoThe European Parliament voted yesterday (October 22, 2014) to accept President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker’s “last-chance” leadership for the European Commission (EC).
But the 11th-hour reshuffling of posts appears to leave Galileo without a clear-cut leader, at least at the political level — even as the Commission and its European Space Agency (ESA) partner have decided to give up the prospect of a December launch of two satellites.
By Inside GNSS
