B: Applications Archives - Page 129 of 145 - Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design

B: Applications

January 8, 2010

GPS EASY Suite II: easy15

A frequently asked question about GPS is: How accurate is a GPS-based position? The experienced GPS user knows that a big difference lies between using pseudoranges alone or combining pseudoranges and carrier phases.

The following analysis is partly based on an idea raised in the book, Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurements, and Performance, by P. Misra and Per Enge (See Additional Resources section at the end of this article).

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By Alan Cameron

GNSS Forum: How Galileo Can Help Europe Recover from the Economic Crisis

Back in 1999, the European Union decided to set up a global satellite navigation system (GNSS), known as Galileo, for civil and commercial use. Early 2010 the European Commission awarded the contracts for Galileo’s first satellites, launchers and support services. In 2011 the European system will finalize its validation phase. As a result, the initial service provision of Europe’s satellite navigation system could start as of early 2014.

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Modernization Milestone

The New Year’s festivities had ended and satellite operators at the 2d Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, were hard at work conducting routine operations on the GPS satellites. At around 11:30 in the morning local time (1830 UTC) on January 1, 2004, range errors for space vehicle number (SVN) 23 began to rapidly drift above the 30-meter threshold.

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New Software, Delays for GPS Control Segment, IIF Satellite

Block IIF satellite

The U.S. Air Force GPS Wing and the 50th Space Wing will implement a new ground system software release on January 11 to enable telemetry, tracking, and commanding for the new GPS IIF satellites and provide over-the-air distribution of encryption keys for military user P(Y)-code equipment.

The software will be implemented by the GPS Master Control Center at Schriever AFB, Colorado.

Meanwhile, the schedules for launching the first IIF spacecraft and awarding the prime contract for modernization of the GPS operational control segment (OCX) continue to slip.

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By Inside GNSS
December 26, 2009

GPS III Contractor Helps Washington Navigate the Delaware

Re-enactment of Washington’s Crossing. State of New Jersey photo

Lockheed Martin Space Systems bestowed a $400,000 Christmas present on a Pennsylvania park district, helping preserve the organization’s 57-year-old tradition of re-enacting Gen. George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 during the Revolutionary War.

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By Inside GNSS
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December 24, 2009

Application Notes

GPS, Glonass, Galileo Receiver Testing Using a GNSS Signal Simulator

This application note explains how to perform automated receiver tests using the R&S SMBV100A. The presented tests include TTFF, sensitivity and location accuracy measurements, moving receiver and interference tests, and many more. Basic remote control examples are provided for the individual tests to ease programming.

» White Paper PDF

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By Inside GNSS
December 7, 2009

DARPA Network Challenge Abandons GPS for the Power of Social Networking

Want to win $40k? DARPA gives you one day to locate 10 of these 8-foot weather balloons moored across the USA

(Updated December 7, 2009) A Massachusetts Institute of Technology team won the DARPA Network Challenge on Saturday, December 5. They took home a $40,000 cash prize from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The team successfully located 10 eight-foot diameter, bright red weather balloons moored in plain site at locations across the United States.

Apparently, the DARPA personnel in charge were sensitive to frigid winter weather in the heartland –  most of the balloons turned out to be moored in pleasant places for an outdoor December search: Portland, Oregon; San Francisco and Santa Barbara, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; Katy, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Charlottesville, Virginia; and Christiana, Delaware.

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By Inside GNSS
December 2, 2009

Trimble Dimensions China User Conference 2009

Trimble will hold its first user conference in China on December 15-17 at the Jiuhua Resort and Conference Center in Beijing. It will cover civilian technology only.

The theme "Exploration Has No Boundaries," draws comparisons between 15th century navigator Zhenghe, the 2008 space mission Shenqui, and the use of positioning technology to steer exploration.

Trimble head Steve Bergland will deliver one of the conference keynotes.

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By Inside GNSS
November 23, 2009

GNSS Hotspots | November 2009

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. NOTHING BEATS FREE
Mountain View, California
Google’s open-source, customizable Android OS uses its own maps for a free GPS feature on the new Verizon Motorola “Droid” phone. It’s shaking mobile map giants Navteq and Tele Atlas and the smart phone and PND developers who lease from them. Google’s free GPS could appear on the iPhone as well.

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By Alan Cameron
November 15, 2009

CERGAL 2010

The 2010 International Symposium on Certification of GNSS Systems and Services (CERGAL) will take place from April 28-29, 2010 in Rostock, on the Baltic Sea in the north of Germany.

The event includes a technical program and an industry exhibition.

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By Inside GNSS
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