Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
After a long series of fits and starts, the Department of Homeland Security is tackling the issue of interference to the GPS signal. The agency has launched a study to assess the risks to GPS service from a variety of sources — a study that, at least on paper, will lead to a plan to mitigate interference.
Unfortunately, the effort will not directly address the one potential problem consuming the thoughts of the GPS community — widespread receiver overload from the high-powered mobile broadband service proposed by the Virginia firm LightSquared.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Global Positioning System has garnered a long list of honors over the years, but a forthcoming presentation from the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is one of the most remarkable yet.
By Inside GNSS
A Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter demonstrates the use of GPS technology at a previous GPS Partnership Council meeting. (Photo: Joe Juarez)Registration is now open for the 2011 GPS Partnership Council meeting on Tuesday, May 3 and Wednesday, May 4 at the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California.
These military and industry networking meetings, now in their 11th year, are sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association) and the USAF GPS Directorate, formerly the GPS Wing.
By Inside GNSS
Photo: Wikimedia CommonsAttorneys for LightSquared Subsidiary LLC submitted a proposed work plan on Friday (February 25, 2011) for analyzing potential interference to GPS devices. The plan, required by the FCC as a condition of its granting a waiver to its Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) rule for mobile satellite services (MSS), proposes to establish a working group (WG) to study the GPS overload/desensitization.
By Inside GNSS
Parimal Majithiya received his B.E. (electronics and communication) from Gujarat University and an M.Tech degree in satellite communications from Andhra University.
He joined the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Space Applications center in 1987 and worked in the field of satellite communication and system engineering as a project manager.
By Inside GNSS
Catamaran Hotel, San DiegoThe Institute of Navigation International Technical Meeting (ITM) will take place January 24-26 at the Catamaran Hotel on Mission Bay in San Diego California.
Paul Kline of Honeywell Aerospace is the general chair. Jade Morton of Miami University, Ohio, is the program chair.
"Robotics Navigation" is the plenary session topic. Invited speakers will discuss current trends and future technologies that support navigation for surveillance, search and rescue, undergound and underwater robotics and unmanned air vehicles.
By Inside GNSS
In recent years, researchers have explored possible new allocations for Radio Determination Satellite Service (RDSS) and Radio Navigation Satellite Service (RNSS) spectrum from a regulatory point of view. These studies have mainly discussed S-band and C-band in addition to L-band.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Radio Regulations define RNSS as a subset of RDSS. Although the allocations are differentiated — RDSS usually has a paired uplink — both can actually be used for satellite navigation.
By Inside GNSS
A Compass/Beidou-2 geostationary satellite is lifted into space from China’s Xichang space center. (China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology photo) [Reprinted with permission from NAVIBIZ, Issue Date: 2010-6-18]
At 23:53 on June 2, China successfully launched the 4th BeiDou navigational satellite into the pre-designated orbit with the "Long March 3C" carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, symbolizing that China has made another important step forward in building the BeiDou (COMPASS) Navigation Satellite System. The construction of COMPASS follows the principles of openness, independency, compatibility, and gradualness.
By Inside GNSS
A new U.S. National Space Policy announced today (June 28, 2010) by the White House says that foreign GNSS services may be used “to augment and strengthen the resiliency of GPS.”
In a document that underlines the Obama administration’s intention to rely more on international cooperation in space-related activities and “energize competitive domestic industries to participate in global markets,” the new policy reaffirms recent efforts “to engage with foreign GNSS providers to encourage compatibility and interoperability, promote transparency in civil service provision, and enable market access for U.S. industry.”
By Inside GNSS
GPS IIF SV1 Spectral Flux Density on L1. DLR figure
[Updated June 10] The U.S. Air Force announced today (June 10) that it has begun
testing the new operational L5 signal transmitted by the first GPS IIF satellite (space vehicle 1 or SV1 — designated SVN-62 in the overall GPS system), which was launched May 27.
On June 7, 2010, a team of experts from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Stanford University in California reported results of their tracking of the first navigation signals from the satellite, the pseudorandom noise code 25 (PRN25) on L1 and L2 — C/A and P(Y).
By Inside GNSS
Today’s (April 13) release of an updated “Galileo Open Service Signal-In-Space Interface Control Document” (OS SIS ICD) freed the key specification document in two senses of the word: receiver manufacturers, application developers and service providers may now use the ICD as an official — not draft — guide to their work, and they may do so at no cost
The t’s have been crossed and the i’s dotted to the satisfaction of lawyers and politicians — and the relief of designers and system integrators eager to begin work on Galileo-capable products without fear of having substantive changes in the specifications and legal or financial difficulties for moving ahead.
By Inside GNSS
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits the Geospatial Building at the University of Nottingham. Photo courtesy of GRACE(This article first appeared in the March 31 Inside GNSS SIGNALS eNewsletter)
Driven in part by a prestigious Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (Space IGS) report suggesting that the nation has lost both the best industrial work and the ability to influence programs such as Galileo, the United Kingdom will establish a new national space agency on April 1.
By Inside GNSS
