Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Another pair of Galileo satellites is now fully operational, broadcasting navigation signals and, since Tuesday (December 1, 2015), transmitting search and rescue messages worldwide.
Galileos 7 and 8 were launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on March 27. Their navigation payloads underwent a lengthy test campaign confirming their performance and integration into the worldwide Galileo ground network.
By Inside GNSS
Speakers at the low-in-profile but high-in-content International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) conference in Prague this year threw into stark relief some of the big GNSS programs and even bigger GNSS questions.
By Peter Gutierrez
Figures 1 & 2On April 28, 2015, the European Parliament voted in favor of an eCall regulation, which requires all new models of passenger cars and light vans that will be certified for the European market to be equipped with the automated emergency-call technology beginning in April 2018. The measure applies to all such vehicles regardless of selling price. In the future, a similar service may be implemented for trucks as well.
By Inside GNSS
Sergey RevnivykhSpeakers at the recent International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) conference in Prague threw into stark relief some of the big GNSS programs and even bigger GNSS questions.
Prof.-Dr. Günter Hein, former head of the European Space Agency (ESA) EGNOS and GNSS Evolution Program Department and Emeritus of Excellence at University FAF Munich, delivered a fact-filled and level-headed presentation on the status of Galileo, the European Union’s civil-owned and non-military GNSS, with slides and information provided by ESA.
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) yesterday (October 27, 2015) announced the evaluation results of its second Horizon 2020 call for Galileo applications. Some 13 projects made the main list to be funded, receiving grants totaling nearly €24.9 million (US$27.5 million).
By Inside GNSS
Some 15 years ago, Bob Denaro predicted the disappearance of GPS into its various applications.
That prediction by the former Trimble/Motorola/Navteq executive has largely been validated. Although GPS has survived in the popular consciousness as a global brand, connoting an almost magical source of location and tracking, general recognition and understanding of GNSS as a core technology within products and services has, indeed, remained murky.
By Inside GNSS
Operational responsibility for two recently launched Galileo satellites has been handed over to the Galileo Control Center (GCC) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
Launched September 11, Galileo spacecraft numbers 9 and 10 (fully operational capability satellites 5 and 6) passed their initial check-out in space, allowing control to be transferred for their integration into the existing constellation. The satellites were handed over on September 19 and 20, respectively, to the GOC, managed by SpaceOpal.
With a successful September 10/11 launch under its belt, the Galileo program continues to move in the right direction, but proponents should be cautious about overstating the rate of progress, lest too-hopeful forecasts come back to bite them (again).
The September 11 European Space Agency (ESA) press release featured a headline proclaiming that 10 Galileo satellites are now in orbit, and while technically that may be true, it bears considering whether the 10 satellites in question are all they’re cracked up to be.
By Inside GNSS
Most folks look to a new year as an opportunity for fresh starts and new projects. For the GPS community, however, the October 1 start of the 2016 federal fiscal year (FY16) will likely be more about the hangover — that is, the issues that are hanging over into the next 12 months, unresolved.
At the top of that list of unfinished business are two system decisions: a go/no-go determination on whether the United States will build eLoran as the U.S. backup to GPS and deciding whether or not to choose a new contractor for the GPS III program.
By Dee Ann Divis
New QinetiQ PRS-capable receiverBritish manufacturer QinetiQ has today (July 14, 2015) announced its progress in developing a GNSS navigation receiver that can process encrypted Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals.
The multi‑constellation, multi‑frequency receiver is a significant step in the company’s GNSS technology development, says QinetiQ, which expects to bring to market by 2020 end-user products for navigation, tracking, and timing based on the new receiver design. That timeline parallel’s the Galileo program’s current schedule for completing its satellite constellation.
Spirent Communications has unveiled its eCall and ERA-GLONASS In-Vehicle Systems (IVS) test solution to verify the functionality and protocol conformance of the eCall and ERA GLONASS–enabled vehicular systems. eCall and ERA GLONASS will soon become mandatory in new vehicles in Europe and Russia respectively.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force has sharply recast the contest to build up to 22 additional satellites to fill out the GPS III constellation, slashing the maximum funding for the first phase of a “recompete” from $200 million per award to a scant $6 million.
By Inside GNSS
European space officials and engineering teams heaved a collective sigh of relief as the second attempt to launch a pair of full operational capability (FOC) Galileo satellites appears to have succeeded yesterday (March 27, 2015).
The EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system now has eight satellites in orbit, including four in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites launched in 2011 and 2012 and the first two FOC spacecraft placed into an anomalous orbit last August.
By Inside GNSS
