Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Transformative.
My first encounter with an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, was at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen Germany. Here, I watched in awe as a small quadrotor operated in an indoor flight testing “holodeck,” complete with an array of high-frequency strobe/camera units designed to log, stream and visualize precise position and attitude for rapid 3D mapping.
By Inside GNSS
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.
By Dee Ann Divis
Two powerful lawmakers are weighing rewriting the rules for the way frequencies are allocated as part of an overhaul of the nation’s telecommunications laws. The effort, which is likely to see legislation drafted next year, is considering options such as flexible licensing and receiver standards that could directly affect the GPS community.
By Inside GNSS
Aerial view of ICTPA weeklong workshop on GNSS and its scientific applications in low-latitude regions of the world will be held in Trieste, Italy at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) on December 1-5, 2014.
The five-day event will be held in English. It is sponsored by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and organized by the USA and European Commission through the UN’s International Committee on GNSS (ICG).
By Inside GNSS
Federal aviation officials appear to be moving quickly to defuse mounting pressure for the commercial use of unmanned aircraft, clarifying their authority over such aircraft and starting the public process for licensing small firms for limited operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken a tough stance in its interpretation of the legal uses for model aircraft published on June 23 in the Federal Register. The issue surged into the national spotlight when the agency failed to win a legal challenge over its authority to regulate such devices.
By Inside GNSS
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this week that seven aerial photo and video production companies have asked for regulatory exemptions that would allow the film and television industry to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with FAA approval for the first time.
By Inside GNSS
Jim Williams, FAA UAS Integration Office. AUVSI photoCompanies hungry to offer commercial services in the United States with unmanned aircraft finally have something to chew on.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has laid out a process whereby a carefully selected set of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may be granted an exemption to do for-pay flights before the first broad rules for U.S. flying unmanned aircraft are finalized.
By Inside GNSS
Aeryon ScoutOn Monday (May 5, 2014), the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that the University of Alaska’s unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test site has become operational — the second of six test organizations selected to take part in the congressionally mandated UAS in the National Airspace System (NAS) initiative that the agency is leading.
By Inside GNSS
Europe has been talking up its European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS, for short) — and why shouldn’t it? Talking about Galileo doesn’t get satellites off the ground. EGNOS, on the other hand, is up and running, and has been since 2009. If the object is to build confidence in European savoir faire, why not talk about a real success like EGNOS?
By Peter Gutierrez
Unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs comprise a category of aircraft that fly without a human operator onboard. They are more popularly referred to by the misleading moniker “drones,” which masks the wide variety in their design and capability.
By Inside GNSS
Anthony Foxx, U.S. Secretary of TransportationThe U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DoT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today (February 3, 2014) that it will begin taking steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles.
This technology would improve safety by allowing vehicles to "talk" to each other and ultimately avoid many crashes altogether by exchanging basic safety data, such as speed and position, 10 times per second.
By Inside GNSS
ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain during his annual press briefing. ESA photo by S. CorvajaSpeaking at his annual press conference in Paris last Friday (January 17, 2014), European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain was cool, collected and, importantly, positive, as he laid out plans and parried questions on a whole range of ESA issues. From the Rosetta mission to manned space flights, Swarm, Gaia, Sentinel and Copernicus, and of course Galileo, he set the stage for an ambitious 2014.
By Inside GNSS
Commonly employed antennas (top) and receivers (bottom) within the MGEX network
