Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Cumbria, UK – Wikimedia Commons imageEven as the United States tries to decide whether to make good on a commitment last February to implement enhanced Loran (eLoran), agencies and private companies in the United Kingdom are demonstrating leadership in the field of modernized positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
By Glen Gibbons
QZS-1 SatelliteEncouraged by continuing progress on Japan’s Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Spirent Communications has announced that its GSS8000 simulation system now supports QZSS in addition to GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) — reportedly the first RF constellation simulator to do so.
By Glen Gibbons
Following in the footsteps of the recent update of the GPS SPS Performance Standard, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a performance standard for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).
By Glen Gibbons
Christine Edwards and Peter Hall of Sci-Tech Systems, Ltd.A UK start-up company, Sci-Tech Systems Ltd., gathered three prizes in the 2008 European Satellite Navigation Competition — including the overall Galileo Master Award — with a tracking system designed to help rescue persons who have fallen overboard from ships at sea.
By Glen Gibbons
NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has recently added 43 GPS tracking sites into the Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network overseen by the federal agency.
By Glen Gibbons
Spain’s leading IT company, Indra, has begun a €1.5 million, 18-month project for the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the feasibility and definition of the European Geostationary Overlay Service (EGNOS) looking ahead towards a future multiconstellation regional system (MRS).
By Glen Gibbons
After nearly a year of silence, Magellan has returned to the OEM GNSS space with the MB 500 GPS/GLONASS/SBAS dual-frequency board — reportedly the first of a series of new products by the long-standing brand.
By Glen Gibbons
Trimble has announced its new GNSS reference receiver — the Trimble NetR8 — for precise scientific and network infrastructure applications. The NetR8 reference receiver has 76 channels and supports GPS L1, L2, L2C and L5 signals as well as GLONASS L1/L2 signals.
Four additional channels are dedicated to tracking space-based augmentation systems
(SBAS), including Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) in North
America, European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) in
Europe, Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) in Japan,
Omnistar services and others.
The Raytheon Company has been awarded a $232.8 million contract for the system development and demonstration phase of the GPS-based Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) program for shipboard applications.
JPALS provides all-weather shipboard landing capability to assist the Navy with pinpoint landing accuracy on aircraft carriers. The team, led by Raytheon Network Centric Systems, includes Rockwell Collins, Northrop Grumman, and SAIC.
By Glen Gibbons
SpectraTime has announced its receipt of a contract valued at approximately €4 million to supply rubidium space clocks for the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), a GNSS system that is under development by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The IRNSS will consist of seven satellites, three in geostationary orbit and the other four in geosynchronous orbit. First launch of an IRNSS is currently expected in 2009. The system will transmit BOC(5,2) and BPSK signals at the L5 frequency (1176.45 MHz) and also in S-band.
By Glen Gibbons
From the perspective of consumers, the yearlong rise in commodity prices — from oil and natural gas to corn and wheat — has clouded the economic outlook. But for producers, including many GNSS manufacturers and service providers, those clouds have silver linings.
Recent financial reports from companies active in agricultural and natural resource markets bear this out. GNSS products used to guide and control equipment are in heavy demand as are real-time differential correction services, particularly those using global satellite-based systems.
By Glen Gibbons
Iridium Satellite LLC graphicThe Boeing Company has received a three-year, $153.5-million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to continue its efforts to augment GPS for military applications by exploiting the Iridium low earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite system.
By Glen Gibbons A European initiative is seeking to link small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia and Europe through a series of one-on-one encounters between businesses operating in the aerospace and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors, with a special focus on Galileo-based satellite navigation applications.
By Glen Gibbons