Environment

Galileo Satellites Readied for Friday Launch
October 9, 2012

Galileo Satellites Readied for Friday Launch

Galileo IOV satellites attached to their launch dispenser and encapsulated beneath the fairing of their Soyuz ST-B launcher. ESA graphic by P. Carril

[Updated October 11, 2012] The next two Galileo satellites have been cleared for launch on Friday (October 12, 2012), a couple days later than originally planned.

Follow the Galileo IOV launch live online here.

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By Inside GNSS
Spoofs, Proofs & Jamming
September 3, 2012

Spoofs, Proofs & Jamming

TABLE 1. Spoofer antenna requirements for various hardened GPS signal types

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t.”
– A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Is our faith in the integrity and infallibility of the Global Positioning System misplaced or, perhaps, insufficiently grounded?

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By Inside GNSS
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UAVs: Homeland Security Under Pressure to Take a Greater Role in GPS Anti-Spoofing
July 31, 2012

UAVs: Homeland Security Under Pressure to Take a Greater Role in GPS Anti-Spoofing

A congressional committee overseeing activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears poised to push the agency into a more substantive role in overseeing the use of drones in the United States — a move that could force DHS to move more forcefully to protect GPS users from spoofing.

The Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigation and Management within the House Homeland Security Committee is looking to DHS to manage the civil use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones.

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By Dee Ann Divis
UAVs Vulnerable to Civil GPS Spoofing
July 16, 2012

UAVs Vulnerable to Civil GPS Spoofing

University of Texas–Austin drone

In June a research team from the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) demonstrated for the first time that a civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be commandeered in mid-flight by a civil GPS spoofing attack. The result will likely factor into the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) plans to draw up rules for integrating UAVs into U.S. airspace by 2015.

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By Inside GNSS
Drones to the Rescue!
July 5, 2012

Drones to the Rescue!

August 1994, early morning. Spain’s Central Pyrenees Mountains still in darkness.

At the outset of an ascent to a 3,000-meter peak along the international border, one of the co-authors encounters a group of tourist hikers who have begun searching for a colleague who had left the camp the previous evening. In the pre-sunrise gloom, helicopters cannot yet operate.

A week later, the body of the hiker is found. The rescue efforts came, unfortunately, too late.

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By Inside GNSS
Mission Accomplished: ESA Turns Out the Lights on GIOVE-A
July 3, 2012

Mission Accomplished: ESA Turns Out the Lights on GIOVE-A

ESA expert inspecting GIOVE-A in clean room in Baikonur Space Center, Kazakhstan. ESA photo

With the first two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) spacecraft working well, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to end the mission of its pioneering GIOVE-A satellite that had long exceeded it original purpose and design life.

Meanwhile, with the next Galileo launch approaching, ESA has expanded its Radio Navigation Laboratory (RNL) to meet the testing needs of Europe’s GNSS program.

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By Inside GNSS
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GSA Issues Second GNSS Market Report: 1.1 Billion Units by 2020
May 31, 2012

GSA Issues Second GNSS Market Report: 1.1 Billion Units by 2020

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has published its second GNSS market report, including a special focus on maritime and surveying application markets and refining its projections of unit and sales revenue volumes through 2020.

According to the new GSA report, the worldwide GNSS market is growing rapidly with total market size expected to increase at an average of 13 percent per year until 2016. At that point, increasing market saturation, price erosion, and platform convergence will reduce the growth rate.

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By Inside GNSS
Cybersecurity Bills Could Reshape GPS Anti-Interference Efforts
April 30, 2012

Cybersecurity Bills Could Reshape GPS Anti-Interference Efforts

Legislation moving through Congress could reshape efforts to counter GPS interference as the government steps up its efforts to fight cybercrime and protect critical systems like the power grid and communications networks.

Though cybersecurity generally focuses on protecting information systems the broad definitions in some legislation now on the Hill appear to encompass GPS support systems, some user communities, and even the constellation itself.

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By Inside GNSS
Wingsuit-500px1.jpg
January 13, 2012

Winging It

FIGURE 1: Competitive group skydiving is currently judged by overlaying a grid on a photo and evaluating location of divers within its cells. Photo by Mark Harris.

»NovAtel Inc. wingsuit video

In 1589, at the age of 25, Galileo Galilei toiled up the 294 steps of a 55-meter bell tower in Pisa, Italy, where he was tutoring math students at the time.

According to his pupil and later biog­rapher, Vincenzo Viviani, Galileo carried with him two cannonballs, one twice the weight of the other. When he reached the top of the tower, he went to the lower balcony of the tilted structure and dropped the two balls simultaneously.

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By Inside GNSS
EU Launches Two Navigation Satellites; Galileo is On Its Way
November 16, 2011

EU Launches Two Navigation Satellites; Galileo is On Its Way

Europe’s first two Galileo satellites have reached their final operating orbits, opening the way for activating and testing their navigation payloads.

Marking the formal end of their launch and early operations phase (LEOP), on November 3, control of the satellites was passed from the CNES French space agency center in Toulouse to the Galileo Control Center (GCC) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

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By Inside GNSS
LightSquared: Who Pays for GPS Receiver Fixes Yet to be Devised?

LightSquared: Who Pays for GPS Receiver Fixes Yet to be Devised?

With more testing on the horizon and a potentially alarming homeland security report about to be released, LightSquared’s efforts to begin work on its proposed wireless broadband service are stuck in the procedural mud.

The delays, which are never good for a commercial company, are piling up just as the firm’s coffers are thinning and need to be replenished with a new round of fund raising.

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By Dee Ann Divis
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