Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Research released yesterday (June 22, 2011) indicates that interference from LightSquared cellular broadband transmitters could cost manufacturers and users of commercial GPS technology up to $96 billion in annual losses.
By Inside GNSS
With test results and congressional sentiment running against it, LightSquared has received a two-week extension for filing its report and recommendations, due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday (June 15, 2011), on likely interference to the GPS L1 band.
Meanwhile, a congressional critic of LightSquared’s effort to roll out a 4G/LTE broadband cellular service adjacent to the GPS frequency has called on the agency to rescind its waiver of limits on the company’s plans to build a high-powered national network of terrestrial transmitters.
By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, which is developing the GPS IIIA generation of satellites,
announced today (June 14, 2011) a 7.5 percent reduction in its
workforce designed to “address affordability” and improve the company’s
“competitive posture.”
Accord Software and Systems Pvt. Ltd., of Bangalore, India, has announced two new GNSS chips, a system-on-a-chip (SOC) with GPS and integrated peripherals and a GPS/Galileo-comopatible RF front-end chip.
By Inside GNSS
Bliley Technologies, Inc., has unveiled two GPS frequency and timing modules at the 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium taking place this week (June 5–10, 2011) in Baltimore, Maryland.
The company’s GMX1001 and GMM1002 modules launch a new product line for the company — introducing the first in a series of next-generation technologies for the Erie, Pennsylvania–based company.
By Inside GNSS
Septentrio has announced plans to release the AsteRx-m, a low-power GPS/GLONASS dual-frequency RTK receiver that is smaller than a credit card.
The new board, which will begin shipping in the third quarter of 2011, is aimed specifically at integration in handheld devices, mobile computing platforms, and other solutions requiring high accuracy combined with low power in applications where space is at a premium. The new receiver covers the functionality range from GPS-L1 only to full GPS-GLONASS L1-L2
By Inside GNSS
Hemisphere GPS, Inc., has reported revenue growth of 41 percent and a return to profitability in the first quarter of 2011 for the three months ending March 31.
For the quarter, the Calgary, Alberta, Canada–based company generated $21.2 million in total revenues, compared to US$15.1 million in the first quarter of 2010. Revenues from all market segments increased in the first quarter of this year.
By Inside GNSS
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
The recent release of the 2010 Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP) marks the passage of a recurring milestone for the U.S. positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) community.
By Inside GNSS
» Air Traffic Control Modernization (PDF)
In between partisan confrontations around the 2011 federal budget and raising the U.S. debt limit, prospects are improving for federal legislation that would provide the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with a regular full-year budget for the first time since Fiscal Year 2007 — including support for completing the transition to a GNSS-driven air traffic control (ATC) system known as NextGen and a “public-private partnership” to equip aircraft with the needed avionics.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble announced Thursday (April 28, 2011) that its first-quarter 2011 revenue was up 20 percent at $384.3 million as compared to the first quarter of 2010.
Operating income grew 21 percent to $43.7 million compared to the year-earlier period. Operating margin in the first quarter of 2011 was 11.4 percent, approximately flat compared to the first quarter of 2010.
First quarter 2011 non-GAAP operating income of $70.1 million was up 23 percent; the non-GAAP operating margin was 18.2 percent.
By Inside GNSS
Resolution of the between Congressional Republicans and Democrats that threatened a shutdown of the federal government has clarified the picture for military GPS programs in the coming year, although prospects for the civil side remain uncertain.
On April 15, 2011, President Obama signed the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 1473, Public Law 112-10), the last in a series of government-wide funding measures for Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11).
By Inside GNSS
