Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The European Commission (EC) has announced the award of three of the six contracts for the procurement of Galileo’s initial operational capability (IOC), including a €566-million (US$811.2-million) award to OHB System AG for a first order of 14 satellites.
By Inside GNSS
The European Commission (EC) announced today (January 7) the award of three of the six contracts for the procurement of Galileo’s initial operational capability (IOC), including a €566-million (US$811.2-million) award to OHB System AG for a first order of 14 satellites.
By Inside GNSS
Galileo IOV ProtoFlight Model under AssemblyGalileo program managers appear to have bowed to the unavoidable and acknowledged that completing the European satellite navigation system will take longer and cost more than their revised estimates of 2014 and €3.4-billion ($5.04-billion), respectively
And, although a revised Galileo Open Service Signal-in-Space Interface Control Document (OS-SIS-ICD) will appear soon allowing manufacture and sale of Galileo equipment without a license, the ICD will still require a license for commercial use of the intellectual property contained in the document.
By Inside GNSS
Osmografo system on rescue dog (GMV photo)
The Spanish high-technology company GMV S.A. won three top prizes for its canine search and rescue positioning system at the sixth European Satellite Navigation competition awards ceremony held on October 21 in Munich, Germany.
Chronos Technology, Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, is leading an academic and business research consortium working on the GAARDIAN Project — “GNSS Availability, Accuracy, Reliability anD Integrity Assessment for Timing and Navigation.”
By Inside GNSS
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. LAYING DOWN THE LAW
Albany, New York;
Madison, Wisconsin
√ In May, the New York Court of Appeals ruled 4 to 3 that warrantless GPS surveillance isn’t legal. Oregon and Washington courts agree. Meanwhile, a Wisconsin appeals court panel ok’d secret police use of a GPS tracking device, because it didn’t involve search or seizure. Wonder when the Feds will chime in…
1. LAYING DOWN THE LAW
Albany, New York;
Madison, Wisconsin
√ In May, the New York Court of Appeals ruled 4 to 3 that warrantless GPS surveillance isn’t legal. Oregon and Washington courts agree. Meanwhile, a Wisconsin appeals court panel ok’d secret police use of a GPS tracking device, because it didn’t involve search or seizure. Wonder when the Feds will chime in…
2. BACKUP
Washington, DC
√ The land-based radio navigation system, Loran-C and its eLoran modernization, has been cut from the 2010 federal budget. Key members of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Science and Transportation committees — worried about the GAO’s report on a faltering GPS — question killing an interoperable but independent PNT backup.
3. GNSS FOR AFRICA
Trieste, Italy
√ 50 scientists from 15 sub-Saharan universities consulted with GNSS experts — and even built LEGO Mindstorm robots — at the first Satellite Navigation and Technology for Africa workshop in April. Why? GNSS infrastructure means better maps, safer transportation, managed natural resources and food supplies, improved emergency services — major goals on the continent.
4. PAY TO PLAY
Moscow, Russia
√ The head of Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, has asked the government to make it prohibitively expensive to import cars that can’t use GLONASS. Business newspaper Vedomosti said not many Russian cars have built-in navigation systems now, and only 10,000 of nearly two million imports can use the Russian GNSS.
5. READY TO GO?
Thiruvananthapuram, India
√ In just three years, says the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), India’s Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will be up and running, delivering 10 meter accuracy to the subcontinent using three GEOs and four IGSO satellites. Could be the precursor to a full-fledged Indian GNSS.
6. L5: A MIXED BAG
Middle Earth Orbit
√ The GPS satellite carrying the new “safety-of-life” civil signal is under investigation. An L5 signal transmitted on April 10 was healthy. But signals on the L1 frequency are not meeting spec. Larger than expected pseudorange errors, says the GPS Wing’s chief engineer. The L5 signal itself could be a cause.
GLONASS is the Russian Federation’s GNSS—literally. The Russian acronym stands for GLObal’naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, or Global Navigation Satellite System.
Chronologically the world’s second GNSS system, both the program (established in 1976) and the first launch of a GLONASS satellite (October 12, 1982) followed the corresponding United States GPS milestones by a few years.
By Inside GNSS
To advertise, contact glen@insidegnss.com
Ad closing date: March 9
Ad materials due: March 16
Look for the March-April issue at 2009 CTIA Wireless, Las Vegas, Nevada (March 31-April 4) and the International Conference on Integrated Navigation Systems, St. Petersburg, Russia (May 25-May 27)
(updated January 21 2009) The Royal Institute of Navigation will hold a one day seminar to discuss the Galileo open service from the point of view of different user groups. It will take place at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, in London on February 12.
By Inside GNSS
AUVSI sponsors a three-day review of government unmanned system programs at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington DC on February 3-5 2009.
The event features 30 sessions covering air, ground and maritime systems. Topics include Next Generation UAS, Civil Use of UAS, DARPA Programs, NIST Search and Rescue, Irregular Warfare use for Maritime Systems, and many more.
AUVSI is the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry group.
Register online at the website below.
By Inside GNSS
The European Commission (EC) — with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) — has launched the procurement process for Galileo with an invitation to companies to submit requests for participation as prime contractors for six work packages (WPs) valued at €2.145 billion (US$3.39 billion).
The deadline for replying to the invitation is August 7.
The European Commission (EC) — with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) — has launched the procurement process for Galileo with an invitation to companies to submit requests for participation as prime contractors for six work packages (WPs) valued at €2.145 billion (US$3.39 billion).
The deadline for replying to the invitation is August 7.
In a resolution on space and security passed by a large margin on July 10, the European Parliament endorsed the use of Galileo, particularly the public regulated service or PRS, as necessary for autonomous operations under the European Security and Defense Policy — perhaps the most forthright statement of support for prospective use of the civil-controlled GNSS system for military purposes.
In the meantime, Galileo program scientists and independent researchers continue to track and test the signals being transmitted by the latest Galileo experimental satellite, GIOVE-B. Articles in the forthcoming September/October issue of Inside GNSS will discuss the latest results of in-orbit tests of GIOVE-A and –B, drawing in part on data collected using a 25-meter dish antenna at Chilbolton in the United Kingdom.
Two Delft University of Technology faculty members, Christian Tiberius and Hans van der Marel, working with engineers at Belgian GNSS receiver manufacturer Septentrio, have reported successful calculation of Galileo-only double-difference carrier phase integer ambiguity measurements using L1 Open Service signals from the two GIOVE spacecraft. That work will also be described in an article in the September/October issue [of Inside GNSS magazine].
ESA will act as the Galileo procurement and design agent for the EC, which is the program manager and contracting authority of the publicly financed project. The process will follow a distinctively European process that includes a “competitive dialog” between ESA and the prospective prime contractors.
Under the current schedule, within seven weeks following the RTP deadline ESA will approve a short list of companies that will be invited to submit preliminary proposals on the work packages and take part in a dialog. After vetting during an intermediate dialog phase, selected companies will offer “refined proposals.”
The new procurement plan seems to relegate non-European companies to subcontract status. But some U.S. companies would like to be able to compete for the lead contracts for the Galileo satellites, for instance.
However, the tender guidelines limit prime contracts in the Galileo FOC procurement to “natural or legal persons established in one of the Member States of the European Union.” Moreover, subcontractors providing goods or services related to EU or national security must also be from the EU. In “exceptional circumstances,” ESA may authorize the use of non-EU subcontractors.
The competitive dialog phase is projected to take 15–30 weeks at the end of which successful companies will be invited to submit best and final offers (BAFOs) and supporting documentation. Contract awards would follow within three weeks, according to the current plan; however, the EC and ESA emphasize that the proposed timeline is “purely indicative” and may be shortened or lengthened.
Individually, the following estimated values have been earmarked for the six work packages:
• WP 1: System Support: €120 million
• WP2: Ground Mission Segment: €270 million
• WP 3: Ground Control Segment: €45 million
• WP 4: Space Segment (satellites): €840 million
• WP 5: Launch Services: €700 million
• WP 6: Operations €170 million
The overall program objective for Galileo is the deployment, by 2013, of a full operational capability (FOC) GNSS system comprising 30 satellites and ground facilities. The FOC Galileo system will provide five main services: Open Service, the Safety of Life Service, the Commercial Service, the Public Regulated Service (PRS), and the Search and Rescue Service.
Wanted: GNSS Advisor. Earlier, the EC Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG-TREN) issued an invitation to tender (ITT) for an advisor on the European GNSS program.
With a one-year term renewable up to three times, the contract will be designed to provide a pool of experts and organizations for review and counsel on administrative, financial, strategic and technical matters.
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The GPS Southern Africa Conference and Exhibition – the first of its kind in Africa – takes place from 20 August to 22 August 2008 at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways, Johannesburg.
The conference will highlight the many new applications of GPS technology across the board and the penetration of GPS in transport, safety and security, mining, government, and mining.
By Inside GNSS
Giuseppe Viriglio, ESA’s Director of Telecommunication and Navigation. ESA photo, A. Le Floc’hToday (July 1), the European Commission (EC) — with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) — launched the procurement process for Galileo with an invitation to companies to submit requests for participation as prime contractors for six work packages (WPs) valued at €2.145 billion (US$3.39 billion).
By Glen Gibbons
