Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Spectracom GSG-62Spectracom has announced its new dual-frequency, 32-channel multi-GNSS simulator, the GSG-62.
The GSG-62 offers multiple frequency band operation, multiple-GNSS constellation simulation, and expansion capability for more frequency bands and channels, including support for upgrades to GPS L2C and L5, as well as future GNSS systems.
By Inside GNSS
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded Raytheon Company a two-year contract extension to continue to provide services for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The $30.1 million contract extends the period of performance through Sept. 24, 2013.
By Inside GNSS
Aurora Borealis, 1977, near Anchorage, Alaska from the National Weather Service collection in NOAA’s online photo databaseThe annual Space Weather Workshop will take place on April 24-27 2012 at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder, Colorado. Registration is now open.
The conference schedule is online here.
Organizers call it the meeting of science, research, applications, operations and users.
By Inside GNSS
Pres. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the “Missile Man of India,” in 2008. (wikicommons)The 2012 Geospatial World Forum will be held at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Center from April 23 to April 27. The venue is in the south part of the city and close to the airport.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, president of India 2002-2007 and one of the country’s most famous space scientists, will give the keynote talk. Kalam, called the "People’s President" was also known as the "Missile Man of India" for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.
By Inside GNSS
The 26th European Frequency and Time Forum will take place at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden on April 24, 25 and 26, 2012. Tutorials will be offered on April 23.
Group technical tours to the National Metrology Institute at SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Onsala Space Observatory will be arranged for April 27.
By Inside GNSS
Austria Center ViennaThe EGU General Assembly 2012 will be held at the Austria Center Vienna from April 22 to April 27. The official language is English and scientists from all countries are welcome.
The EGU is a professional society and publisher of peer-reviewed, mainly open access, journals for those working in the geosciences, planetary and space sciences. The annual meeting regularly attracts over 10 thousand scientists and students from nearly 100 countries.
By Inside GNSS
DARPA example of a robot working in a dangerous areaWe certainly hope the competitors in DARPA’s Robotics Challenge hardwire Isaac Asimov’s First Law of Robotics into their creations—the one that says don’t harm humans.
Because the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s new contest aims to develop technology that advances robotics to the next level. The level at which robots can do what we do, go where we can’t, and change shape as necessary.
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
1. DEAD IN THE WATER
San Francisco, California and Washington D.C., USA
QZSS satellite looking at Japan from above (JAXA image)Japan’s and India’s regional and augmentation satellite navigation programs look forward to an active year, according to speakers at March’s Satellite Navigation Summit in Germany.
By Inside GNSS
Galileo IOT L-Band antenna at Redu Center in Belgium (ESA photo)The European GNSS program expects to gain an additional €7 billion (US$9.1 billion) budget for 2014–2020 to support Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), a satellite-based augmentation system that currently provides differential corrections to GPS signals, according to Paul Flament, Galileo and EGNOS program manager for the European Commission. He spoke at the 2012 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit that ended on March 15.
By Inside GNSS
UrsaNav LF transmitter site for timing synchronization trialsVirginia-based engineering firm UrsaNav Inc. has begun transmitting a variety of low frequency (LF) test signals, including enhanced Loran (eLORAN), as part of a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
The test program include a comprehensive palette of signals that are being evaluated for their ability to provide a robust, wide-area, wireless precise timing alternative that can operate cooperatively with GNSS technology or autonomously during GNSS unavailability.
By Inside GNSS
The 2012 European Satellite Navigation Competition will accept your idea, innovative service or business plan for GNSS applications beginning April 1. Submit your idea online at www.galileo-masters.eu through June 30.
This year, the competition is working with 20 partner regions in Europe, Brazil, the Middle East and North Africa. You do not have to be a resident of the partner regions in order to enter, however you must anticipate basing your business in one of them.
By Inside GNSS
Whenever the annual Munich Satellite Navigation Summit came around, some GNSS program was usually in the ascendant, while others had reversed direction or found themselves treading water. This year, perhaps for the first time, all four major providers had reason to celebrate as the event’s organizers cut the cake at their 10th birthday party.
By Inside GNSS
