Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
During flight testing, Boeing technical personnel have historically used a differential GPS (DGPS) system as the position truth reference for validating various production systems on the airplane. The majority of those tests occur on or near remote runways to capture specific environmental conditions.
By Inside GNSS
Ray O’Connor, Topcon Positioning SystemsTopcon Corporation has announced the promotion of Ray O’Connor to managing executive officer for the company.
O’Connor is president and CEO of Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS), based in Livermore, California, and chairman of the board of Topcon Europe Positioning. He will continue to fill these and other positions within the corporation while taking on additional managerial oversight of various corporate projects and initiatives.
By Inside GNSS
GPS IIF-SV1 launch. United Launch Alliance photo[Updated July 22, 2010] Air Force officials at the GPS Wing have confirmed that higher-the-expected range residuals detected by researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are appearing in signals transmitted by the first GPS IIF satellite, designated SVN/62/PRN25.
But the Air Force and Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, which built the spacecraft, point out SVN62 is currently performing within specifications, and the signal phenomenon does not appear likely to have any significant effect on GPS positioning when the satellite is declared operational.
By Inside GNSS
Rick Ambrose, Lockheed Martin vice-president and general manager, surveillance and navigation systems, introduces GPS Block III model for Permanent Space Exhibit at United Nations Committee on Pea, Vienna, Lockheed Martin has opened a GPS exhibit as a part of the Permanent Space Exhibit of the United Nations Office at Vienna, Austria, to emphasize the importance of satellite navigation technology serving millions of citizens around the globe.
By Inside GNSS
A new U.S. National Space Policy announced today (June 28, 2010) by the White House says that foreign GNSS services may be used “to augment and strengthen the resiliency of GPS.”
In a document that underlines the Obama administration’s intention to rely more on international cooperation in space-related activities and “energize competitive domestic industries to participate in global markets,” the new policy reaffirms recent efforts “to engage with foreign GNSS providers to encourage compatibility and interoperability, promote transparency in civil service provision, and enable market access for U.S. industry.”
By Inside GNSS
Lockheed Martin has announced successful completion of a key requirements review for the GPS IIIB satellite series under the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III Space Segment program.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Newtown, Pennsylvania, is working under a $3 billion development and production contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce up to 12 GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The contract includes a Capability Insertion Program (CIP) designed to mature technologies and perform rigorous systems engineering for the future IIIB and IIIC increments planned as follow-on procurements.
By Inside GNSS
With the launch of the Delta IV rocket on May 27 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station the first satellite (space vehicle number 62 or SVN62) of the latest GPS generation Block IIF (F, for “follow-on”) was carried into earth orbit — a major step with roots in the past.
Eight years ago in August 2002 the United States decided in coordination with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) to transmit a new civil signal on a third frequency known as L5.
By Inside GNSS
ITT Corporation has announced that it passed a key milestone last month with successful completion of the critical design review (CDR) for the Mission Data Unit (MDU) the company is developing as part of the navigation payload for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III program.
By Inside GNSS
GPS IIF SV1 Spectral Flux Density on L1. DLR figure
[Updated June 10] The U.S. Air Force announced today (June 10) that it has begun
testing the new operational L5 signal transmitted by the first GPS IIF satellite (space vehicle 1 or SV1 — designated SVN-62 in the overall GPS system), which was launched May 27.
On June 7, 2010, a team of experts from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Stanford University in California reported results of their tracking of the first navigation signals from the satellite, the pseudorandom noise code 25 (PRN25) on L1 and L2 — C/A and P(Y).
By Inside GNSS
GPS Block IIF Satellite (Boeing photo)Last week’s launch of the first GPS Block IIF illustrates the changes that have occurred not only with the pioneering U.S. GNSS program but also with the nation’s aerospace industry since the Global Positioning System initiative was launched 36 years ago.
By Inside GNSS
Binghao Li is a research associate in the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Li obtained the B.Sc. in electrical & mechanical engineering from Northern Jiaotong University, P.R. China and the M.Sc. in civil engineering from Tsinghua University, P.R. China.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His research areas include pedestrian navigation, new positioning technologies, and network-RTK.
By Inside GNSS
Only a decade ago, but a world away: 2000.
The last year of the old century that everyone thought was the first of the new.
When flying was still a delight, rather than a worrisome bother.
When the expected — a global Y2K bug–bitten IT meltdown — didn’t happen, and the much-anticipated but still-unexpected did: the United States turned off GPS selective availability.
By Inside GNSS
Stas Sila-Novitsky (left) and Javad Ashjaee. Photo by Marc Cheves, American SurveyorVery sad news from Moscow. Earlier this month, Stanislav Sila-Novitsky — Stas to his friends and colleagues — died unexpectedly after a short illness.
A member of the executive staff of Javad GNSS, Sila-Novitsky had a long career in space electronics engineering. During the Soviet era, he was the department head with the Russian Space Agency’s Institute of Space Device Engineering, which was responsible for the development of the overall GLONASS system electronics.
By Inside GNSS
