Aerospace and Defense

September 19, 2014

IFEN Launches SX3 Software Receiver

IFEN SX3

IFEN introduced its new SX3 GNSS software receiver, a major upgrade of the company’s SX-NSR, last week at the ION GNSS+ conference in Tampa, Florida. Redesigned hardware frontends feature four wideband RF frequency bands that can be split into a maximum of eight sub-bands per unit. At the same time the bandwidth has been expanded to a full 55 megahertz, offering additional signal power especially in the Galileo E5 band.

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By Inside GNSS
September 16, 2014

ESA Outlines Efforts to Rescue Wayward Galileo Satellites

Orbits of the fifth and sixth Galileo satellites launched together on August 22, 2014, in red, compared to their intended position, in dashed green, and the position of the four IOV satellites launched in 2011 and 2012 in solid green. This view looks down over Earth’s South Pole, helping to illustrate how the two satellites’ orbital inclination relative to the equator is less than was intended ESA illustration.

The European Space Agency (ESA) released dramatic illustrations today (September 16, 2014) of the orbital locations of the two errant Galileo spacecraft launched on August 22, the intended orbit, and the locations of four In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites.

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By Inside GNSS
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September 6, 2014

Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2015

The Antiquarium in the Residenz München

The Munich Satellite Navigation Summit will take place at the Residenz Muenchen in Munich, Germany on March 24 – 26, 2015.

Register here

The theme for this year’s summit is “Future of PNT – A Glance into the Crystal Ball”.

The technical program includes plenary discussions and updates on the main activities in worldwide satellite navigation systems, including:

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By Inside GNSS
August 29, 2014

Air Force Weighs Switching to Multiyear GPS Procurements

The Air Force says it might ask Congress for permission to implement bigger buys of GPS satellites beginning in fiscal year 2016 (FY16) once it sorts out whether to drop Lockheed Martin as the GPS III prime contractor and switch to a different manufacturer for the navigation payload.

The department told Congress in a recent report on multiyear procurement (MYP) that while its current approach “allows the government the flexibility to adapt to a changing budget profile and constellation needs, it prevents the program from realizing savings that MYP could provide.”

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By Inside GNSS
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Digital Nav Payload Emerges as Factor in GPS III Re-Bid

The advantages of a digital navigation payload, a technology singled out by both the House and Senate for $20 million worth of research support, appears to be a key factor in the Air Force’s search for a new GPS III contractor.

The digital payload “is a direct complement to the Production Readiness Alternate Sources Sought released in June,” Air Force officials said in an emailed response to questions about the technology and how it fits into the ongoing search for new GPS III suppliers.

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By Inside GNSS
August 15, 2014

As Galileo FOCs Near Launch, EC Holds Public Consultation on Open Service ICD

Installation of Galileo FOC satellite “Doresa” on the payload dispenser system. The first of two Galileo navigation satellites has been integrated on its payload dispenser system at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The second satellite “Milena” was then installed in a side-by-side arrangement and will be mated atop a Soyuz Fregat upper stage. ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Vidéo du CSG photo by P. Baudon

The European Commission (EC) has opened a public consultation on a newly revised version of the Galileo Open Service Signal in Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD).
 
The consultation will take place through September 22, overlapping the scheduled first launch of fully operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites on August 21. Details of the consultation process can be found on the EC Directorate-General for Enterprise website.
 

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By Inside GNSS
July 31, 2014

GPS Directorate to Hold Public Forum for Feedback on GPS Technical Specifications

The Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate will host an open public forum on August 22 for the following NAVSTAR GPS public documents: IS-GPS-200 (Navigation User Interfaces), IS-GPS-705 (User Segment L5 Interfaces), IS-GPS-800 (User Segment L1C Interface), and ICD-GPS-870 (Navstar Next Generation GPS Operational Control Segment [OCX] to User Support Community Interfaces).

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By Inside GNSS
July 24, 2014

GNSS Hotspots | July 2014

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. SMART BALL
Portland, Oregon USA

√ Adidas has designed every official World Cup ball since 1970. And that’s not all! The Adidas Innovation Team in Portland, Oregon, spent 4 years on a smart soccer ball with a “six-axis MEMS accelerometer sensor package” that can detect speed, spin, strike and flight path data and whip it on over to the special GPS app on your iPhone. The app interprets the data for you, coaches you, and keeps a video to show your friends. On sale now for only $299.

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By Inside GNSS
July 21, 2014

New Leaders at the GPS Helm

Washington, D.C., has a peculiarity of seasons. While most of the world marks the shifts between winter and spring, summer and autumn, the politicos on the streets of the U.S. capital count the passage of time in two-year increments.

New operatives and appointees flock to the centers of power in the early days of each administration and the opening of each Congress, then migrate to friendlier climes as congressional elections loom and the administration winds down — as it is now.

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By Dee Ann Divis
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