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 24th international congress of the International Federation of Surveyors will take place at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The FIG 2010 keynote speech will be given Monday morning, April 12 by Tim Flannery,
2007 Australian of the Year. He will speak
about climate change, drawing on his book, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing
the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, which debuted on
The New York Times bestseller list.
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).
By Alan Cameron
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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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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Block IIF satelliteThe 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.
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
COMING UP in the January-February 2010 issue of Inside GNSS!
(To advertise, contact Richard Fischer)
Ad closing deadline, January-February issue: January 8
Ad materials due: January 13
Re-enactment of Washington’s Crossing. State of New Jersey photoLockheed 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.
By Inside GNSS
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.
By Inside GNSS
President Obama signed the Fiscal Year (FY10) consolidated appropriations bill (H.R. 3288) on Wednesday (December 16), which will fund a number of civil GPS initiatives in the coming year.
By Inside GNSS
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.
By Inside GNSS
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.
By Inside GNSS
