Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The European Union (EU) had much reason to celebrate on February 11, a day in which it celebrated 112 Day in recognition of the single European emergency phone number system that uses Advanced Mobile Location (AML) to receive location information from mobile phones.
By Inside GNSS
Passive hydrogen maser atomic clock of the type flown on Galileo, accurate to one second in three million years. ESA photo.Speakers at last month’s 9th Annual Conference on European Space Policy in Brussels wasted no time in addressing the somewhat worrying failure of a number of Galileo onboard clocks, as revealed by European Space Agency Director General Johan-Dietrich Woerner at a press briefing earlier in January in Paris. He made clear at the time that the clock failures, while indeed troubling, had had no effect on the operational integrity of the Galileo system.
By Inside GNSS
Emlid, based in Hong Kong, has introduced the Reach RS, a rugged, battery-powered real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS receiver. The Reach RS enables centimeter-accurate positioning for survey, mapping, agriculture and drones, and is designed to provide an economical solution, according to the company.
By Inside GNSS
Two Galileo satellites now transmitting navigation signals. Image source: ESA. This week’s announcement of the adoption of the Galileo Commercial Service Implementing Decision represents an opportunity for Galileo to differentiate itself from other systems and offer users an added value to the standard positioning services already available, says the European GNSS Agency (GSA).
By Inside GNSS
MR-2 GNSS modular receiver system. Photo source: Topcon Positioning Group.Topcon Positioning Group has announced the launch of the MR-2, a new modular GNSS receiver system. According to the company, the system combines all current and planned constellation tracking with a comprehensive set of communication interfaces to service any precision application requiring high performance RTK (real-time kinematic) positioning and heading determination.
The MR-2 can perform as a mobile RTK base station, marine navigation receiver, mobile mapping device and as a GNSS receiver for agricultural, industrial, military, or construction applications.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications plc’s annual security forecast warns of the increased likelihood of disruptions this year to a wide variety of civil and military applications relying on global navigation satellite systems — GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou.
By Inside GNSS
Tower Hall at San Jose State University. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.The 26th annual Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems (WSTS), sponsored by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and ATIS, will take place April 3-6 at the DoubleTree in Jan Jose, California.
By Inside GNSS
RTM3205 Precision Timing Module. Photo source: EndRun Technologies. Santa Rosa, California-based EndRun Technologies, a provider of precision time and frequency solutions, announced last week at the International Technical Meeting-Precision Time/Time Interval (ITM-PTTI) meeting, the release of the RTM3205 Precision Timing Module for portable time and frequency applications. The second generation RTM3205 is optimized for size, weight, and power (SWaP), but can exceed the stability of a standard cesium atomic frequency reference, according to the company.
By Inside GNSS
Another informative joint Institute of Navigation (ION) International Technical Meeting and Precise Time/Time Interval Meeting is in the books and attendees of the event this week in Monterey, California had the opportunity to learn and share ideas on a wide array of topics and technologies.
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
Tracking illegal logging in Romania, autonomous mining, ancient calendars and Canadian cows
By Inside GNSS
Miguel Mantiega Bautista talks about the ECA’s view on GNSS while attending the Navitec conference in Noordwijk.The first generation of the Galileo Program, at satellite and ground segment level, has been “an enormous success," according to Miguel Manteiga Bautista, who spoke with Inside GNSS last December at his office at the European Space Agency’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk.
By Inside GNSS
