Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The old quip about limitations refers to cramming 10 pounds of stuff into a five-pound sack. Congressional lawmakers must be wishing for something that easy as they get ready to return to work Sept. 5.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U. S. Air Force is weighing shortening the design life of the GPS satellites it buys after it finishes filling out the constellation with the final tranche of GPS III spacecraft.
Space Command reached out to the industry late last month asking for feedback on the ramifications of scaling back on the elements that make the GPS space vehicles (SVs) the “Energizer Bunnies” of space — the satellites that just go and go and go.
By Dee Ann Divis
Carlo Bagnoli is Director of Infotainment BU System and Applications at STMicroelectronics. The company is a global semiconductor leader focusing on smart driving and the internet of things, creating intelligent and energy-efficient products that enable intelligent transport as well as smarter factories, cities and homes.
Within the infotainment business unit, Bagnoli and his team work to develop positioning receivers, broadcast receivers and communication processors for the automotive market. Doing so means gathering GNSS signals from far and wide.
By Inside GNSS
Harris Corporation has delivered the third of 10 advanced navigation payloads to Lockheed Martin, which will increase accuracy, signal power and jamming resistance for U.S. Air Force GPS III satellites.
By Inside GNSS
Preliminary construction is underway on a new, $350 million Lockheed Martin facility that will produce next-generation satellites. The new facility, located on the company’s Waterton Canyon campus near Denver, Colorado is the latest step in an ongoing transformation, infused with innovation to provide future missions at reduced cost and cycle time.
By Inside GNSS
The development cost for the new GPS ground system has jumped to $6 billion and the schedule has slipped another nine months due to "realized program technical risks" and the need to refresh out-of-date hardware and software, according to the U.S. Air Force.
By Dee Ann Divis
Federal budgeteers have made clear their support for satellite navigation though problems with military space programs in general, and GPS programs in particular, have lawmakers working to shake up the Pentagon’s management structure and put limits on new federal business to contractors whose projects go awry.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Air Force will hold a full and open competition for the next GPS III contract and is focused on choosing a single contractor for all 22 satellites to limit engineering costs, a GPS program official told the United States’ leading satellite navigation experts.
By Dee Ann Divis
The importance of geospatial data being harmonized across Europe via a common coordinate system was stressed at the recent EUREF 2017 Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland, where the European GNSS Agency (GSA) discussed Galileo’s role in helping the mapping and surveying sector.
By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Martin’s second GPS III satellite is now assembled and preparing for environmental testing, and the third satellite is close behind, having just received its navigation payload.
In a specialized cleanroom designed to streamline satellite production, the company is in full production building GPS III – the world’s most powerful GPS satellites, near Denver, Colorado.
By Inside GNSS
The White House is asking Congress to boost overall funding for the GPS program back over $1 billion, with the largest infusion of new money earmarked to cover the cost growth of the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX).
If approved, overall spending on the GPS program would reach $1.09 billion in fiscal year 2018 (FY18) with funding for OCX surging to $510.94 million from the $393.27 million allocated by Congress for FY17.
By Dee Ann Divis
With designs on providing a boost to navigation safety and efficiency for commercial and general aviation, Raytheon Company on May 18 launched its GEO 6 satellite payload into orbit for its 12-year mission. It is the latest payload to support the Federal Aviation Administration’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) which enhances the reliability and accuracy of GPS signals for directing air travel.
By Inside GNSS
