Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
[Updated January 3, 2012] China released a long-awaited “test version” interface control document (ICD) for its Compass (BeiDou-2) GNSS system today (December 27, 2011). The 11-page publication covers its open B1 civil signal centered at 1561.098 MHz.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications has launched of a subscription service for live GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, and QZSS) environmental-capture data set samples, recorded at major locations worldwide, in challenging urban and suburban conditions.
The data sets are designed for use with the company’s GSS6400 GNSS Record and Playback test System. They encompass a variety of recorded scenarios ranging from drive-through multi-level roads, tunnels, and car parks to drive-throughs in downtown areas with high-rise buildings.
By Inside GNSS
GPS III pathfinder satellite testbed. Lockheed Martin photoThe Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS satellites (GPS Block III) has delivered the program’s pathfinder spacecraft to the company’s Denver, Colorado–area facility.
The program remains on schedule for a 2014 launch of the first Block III space vehicle (SV).
By Inside GNSS
Return to main article: “Network RTK and Reference Station Configuration”
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
1. Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California USA
TWINS!
FIGURES 1 & 2: True3D Volumetric HUD components and operation (left), Comparison of True3D HUD user view with other types of nav aids (right)Return to main article: "True3D HUD Wins Global SatNav Competition"
Many technologies are created before their best applications are even thought about. This leads to a business phenomenon known as “technology push” in contrast to “consumer pull.” The True3D Volumetric HUD technology did not share this path.
By Inside GNSS
OPERA neutrino detector in Gran Sasso, Italy. INFN photoNo sooner had GPS positioning helped validate key aspects of Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the Gravity Probe-B program than GPS timing has been cited as helping bring his special theory of relativity into doubt.
At issue is the so-called OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) experiment, inaugurated in 2006 with the main goal of studying the rare transformation (oscillation) of muon neutrinos into tau neutrinos.
By Inside GNSS
Europe’s first two Galileo satellites have reached their final operating orbits, opening the way for activating and testing their navigation payloads.
Marking the formal end of their launch and early operations phase (LEOP), on November 3, control of the satellites was passed from the CNES French space agency center in Toulouse to the Galileo Control Center (GCC) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
By Inside GNSS
Please.
Please. Please. Please.
Can we please talk about something besides LightSquared?
Not yet? You mean, they are still here?
And we have so many other GNSS-related topics that deserve comment:
Some peculiar cuts in civil GPS funds and GPS III budgets being proposed by congressional committees.
A re-examination — aka analysis of alternatives — of GPS and PNT options in general. Space weather and an impending solar max. Warrantless GPS-aided tracking before the Supreme Court.
By Inside GNSS
Q: What effect does network size have on NRTK positioning?
A: Network real-time kinematic (NRTK) positioning is nowadays a very common practice, not only in academia but also in the professional world. In the last 10 years, several networks of continuous operating reference stations (CORSs) were created to support users. These networks offer real-time services for NRTK positioning, providing centimeter-level positioning accuracy with an average distance of 25–35 kilometers between the reference stations.
By Inside GNSS
With more testing on the horizon and a potentially alarming homeland security report about to be released, LightSquared’s efforts to begin work on its proposed wireless broadband service are stuck in the procedural mud.
The delays, which are never good for a commercial company, are piling up just as the firm’s coffers are thinning and need to be replenished with a new round of fund raising.
By Dee Ann Divis
Working Papers explore the technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
Next-generation car navigation may well require the ability to identify the lane in which a vehicle is operating on a motorway. This could support advanced driver assistance in general as well as the observation and study of driver behavior and traffic flow. Such road vehicle applications call for sub-meter positioning accuracy, often in real-time — all this preferably at low-cost.
By Inside GNSS
