Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is considering legislation that would fully authorize the White House’s funding request for GPS and possibly add provisions aimed at evaluating the new, troubled GPS ground system and pushing the Pentagon to look at a global backup for GPS.
By Inside GNSS
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded a $103-million contract to the Raytheon Company to maintain the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).
The company will develop a payload to be incorporated into a new geostationary satellite and two associated ground uplink stations to support the WAAS system within U.S. airspace. WAAS improves real-time GPS accuracy from 10 meters to about two meters by transmitting differential corrections as well as integrity messages and an additional ranging signal.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force has sharply recast the contest to build up to 22 additional satellites to fill out the GPS III constellation, slashing the maximum funding for the first phase of a “recompete” from $200 million per award to a scant $6 million.
By Inside GNSS
The incorporation of GNSS and inertial technologies is helping drive an explosion of systems development and applications of unmanned systems. On Tuesday, September 29, Inside GNSS and NovAtel presented a 90-minute web seminar showcasing some of these applications, including the use of remote sensing technologies to assess pest populations in commercial crops and to conduct infrastructure inspections, with the aid of air and ground vehicles.
By Inside GNSS
New delays and higher costs should be expected for both the GPS III satellite program and GPS-OCX, the new GPS ground system, federal watchdogs warned in a new report.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said both programs are in the process of rebaselining, that is, resetting their estimated schedules and costs. In the case of the Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), which is essential for full operation of the new GPS III satellites, the changes could be significant.
By Inside GNSS
Carlo des Dorides, El?bieta Bie?kowskaLast January, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) announced a new invitation to tender for the role of Galileo service operator (GSOp). Speaking at the recent EU Space Policy Conference in Brussels, GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides called it the largest contract ever to be awarded under the Galileo program.
“It will shape the future of Galileo,” he said.
By Peter Gutierrez
GPS+EGNOS tracking device able to use EGNOS OS and EDAS mounted on a containerThe European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) has a European regional coverage that could be extended quite easily to areas adjacent to the European Union. Backed by the European Commission, a public/private consortium is operating programs of technical assistance to prepare nations in the Mediterranean region to adopt and exploit European GNSS services in their priority market segments, namely aviation and road freight transport/logistics.
By Inside GNSS
David Madden, Space and Missile Systems Center executive director. U.S. Air Force photoThe Air Force is working on a creative acquisition strategy to ensure there is a vigorous competition to build the next tranche of GPS III satellites, says a key acquisition official.
By Inside GNSS
July is likely to be a key month for the GPS program’s new ground control segment as development stresses, a government watchdog report, and the budget calendar converge, potentially triggering changes to the program.
By Inside GNSS
The White House showed continuing support for the GPS program with a budget request that was, with one key exception, comparable to that of previous years. That exception though, a cut to GPS III procurement including the zeroing out of advance procurement monies, resulted in an overall program reductions of roughly $100 million.
By Inside GNSS
Galileo Sensor Stations (GSSs) pick up Galileo signals in space (SIS) to perform clock synchronisation and orbit measurements which are fed back to the twin Galileo Control Centres to serve as the basis of the navigation message incorporating clock and position corrections and associated integrity data. Uplink Stations (ULSs) then uplink this navigation message to the Galileo satellite navigation payloads for rebroadcast to users. Telemetry, Tracking and Command Stations (TT&Cs) provide the link between the Control Centres and the satellite platforms. ESA figureGalileo’s operation controllers will temporarily stop updating satellite orbital positions in the system’s navigation messages beginning near the end of this month in order to help implement upgrades in the ground mission segment, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced today (January 19, 2015).
Although the Galileo satellites will continue to transmit navigation signals, the generation and uplink of updated navigation messages will be interrupted during the last week of January for about five weeks.
By Inside GNSS
In a nod to the usefulness of international enhanced Loran (eLoran) systems the U.S. Department OF Defense (DoD) in January began a search for companies able to supply some 50,000 eLoran receivers. Meanwhile a multi-agency team continues sketching out the structure of a potential U.S. eLoran system for federal officials weighing a relaunch of the program as a backup to GPS.
By Inside GNSS
On Wednesday (December 17, 2014) Raytheon Company announced successful completion of the fourth of five planned launch and early orbit exercises being undertaken together with Lockheed Martin to demonstrate new automation capabilities, information assurance, and launch readiness of the U.S. Air Force’s next generation GPS III satellite and Operational Control System (OCX).
By Inside GNSS
