Aerospace and Defense

Building a BeiDou Simulator
September 13, 2013

Building a BeiDou Simulator

BeiDou-2 Is Born
The year before the main release, China surprised the global community when it published just a test version of the promised ICD for the BeiDou-2 B1 open signal. In this document, the modulation scheme for the signal was confirmed and the pseudorandom code generator for the ranging signal was described.

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By Inside GNSS
Exit Interview: GPS Directorate’s Col. Bernie Gruber
July 31, 2013

Exit Interview: GPS Directorate’s Col. Bernie Gruber

USAF Col. Bernie Gruber, GPS Directorate. Air Force photo

Last month, USAF Col. Bernard Gruber stepped down after three years of running the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

The GPS Directorate, originally established in 1974 as the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office, is responsible for development, acquisition, fielding and sustainment of all GPS space segments: the modernized operational control segment (OCX), the next-generation GPS III satellites, and modernized GPS user equipment (MGUE).

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By Inside GNSS
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Boeing Names New Director of GPS Programs
July 27, 2013

Boeing Names New Director of GPS Programs

Dudley Barnfield, director, Boeing GPS Programs

Dudley Barnfield has joined the Boeing Government Space Systems (GSS) leadership team as director of the GPS programs.  He will have oversight for the entire GPS portfolio, which includes the GPS IIF program and alternate architecture initiatives.

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By Inside GNSS
GPS III Prototype Arrives at Cape Canaveral
July 22, 2013

GPS III Prototype Arrives at Cape Canaveral

The GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) completed pathfinding activities at Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility outside of Denver prior to it shipping to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Lockheed Martin photo

Lockheed Martin has delivered a full-sized, functional prototype of the next generation GPS satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) arrived at the Cape on July 19 where it will be used to test facilities and pre-launch processes in advance of the arrival of the first GPS III flight satellites, which will undergo similar testing. The first flight GPS III satellite is expected to arrive at Cape Canaveral in 2014, ready for launch by the U.S. Air Force in 2015.

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By Inside GNSS
FAA and Defense Department Work to Fix Civil GPS Funding
July 17, 2013

FAA and Defense Department Work to Fix Civil GPS Funding

Federal officials are working to fill a funding shortfall nearly certain to occur next year given that both the House and Senate have cut an already halved budget request for GPS civil funding.

Sources confirm the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are in talks about finding money to make up for the dramatic reduction. One source familiar with the situation said the FAA was searching its accounts for resources to address the loss.

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By Inside GNSS
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India Successfully Launches IRNSS-1A
July 12, 2013

India Successfully Launches IRNSS-1A

The IRNSS-1A spacecraft. ISRO photo

India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) reports that its first Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System satellite (IRNSS-1A), has reached geosynchronous orbit and all subsystems are operating normally.

The spacecraft was launched July 1 on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C22,  from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the twenty third consecutively successful mission of PSLV.

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By Inside GNSS
Congress Slashes Civil GPS Funding
June 28, 2013

Congress Slashes Civil GPS Funding

In a set of decisions that could potentially slow GPS modernization both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees this week slashed funding for the civil community’s contribution to the GPS system from the Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) budget.

The House eliminated the entire amount of the White House budget request for $20 million, which is paid through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Senate cut a mere $5 million — 25 percent of what had been the requested.

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By Inside GNSS
House Committee Makes Deeper Cuts to FY14 GPS Budget
June 18, 2013

House Committee Makes Deeper Cuts to FY14 GPS Budget

The House Appropriations Committee has made a series of cuts to GPS programs that, if agreed to by the Senate, suggest an overall slowdown in the pace of GPS modernization.

While lawmakers on the House Authorization Committee agreed to the full amount of each of the president’s GPS-related requests, their counterparts on the Appropriations Committee cut a total of just over 9 percent from the total budget request for GPS spacecraft, ground systems, and user equipment.

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By Inside GNSS
CNAV Tests Begin on GPS L2C and L5 Signals
June 16, 2013

CNAV Tests Begin on GPS L2C and L5 Signals

The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC ) began testing modernized civil navigation (CNAV) message capabilities on the GPS L2C and L5 signals for the first time yesterday (June 15, 2013).

This first test period is scheduled to continue through July 1 (Julian Day 182), according to a Notice Advisory to NAVSTAR Users (NANU 2013034), although a tentative CNAV test plan shows the tests ending on June 29.

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By Inside GNSS
Air Force Proposes Dramatic Redesign for GPS Constellation
June 4, 2013

Air Force Proposes Dramatic Redesign for GPS Constellation

[Updated June 3, 2013] With the budget vise tightening, top Pentagon managers are readying some potentially dramatic changes to the GPS constellation — changes that promise to lower both the cost of the satellites and the expense of putting them into orbit.  

The first changes would be subtle and are linked to buying the next block of GPS III satellites — a decision that sources confirm will be made by the end of September.  

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By Dee Ann Divis
GPS Civil Funding Request Slashed
May 20, 2013

GPS Civil Funding Request Slashed

Jan Brecht-Clark, director, National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

With just more than four months to go in the 2013 fiscal year, sequestration and furloughs are taking a bite out of key research and the work of the National Coordination Office (NCO) for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) — the government nexus for GPS-related policy matters.

The NCO is an interagency organization, explained its director, Jan Brecht-Clark in an emailed response; so, “each individual staff member is subject to furloughs implemented by their home agency as a result of sequestration.”

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By Inside GNSS
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