Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Swedish technology group Hexagon AB, which acquired Leica Geosystems in 2005, launched its tender offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of NovAtel Inc., a Calgary, Alberta, Canada–based developer and manufacturer of OEM GNSS and related products, at a price per share of US$50 cash.
By Glen Gibbons
The stunning sequence of multi-billion-dollar buyout offers for the two leading navigable map data providers TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ — by TomTom and Nokia, respectively — raises issues not only of access to critical intellectual property (IP) and a long-delayed explosion of location-based services (LBS) but may also determine the outcome of the long-debated platform of choice for GNSS-enriched consumer applications.
By Glen Gibbons
Trimble has introduced a new, real-time kinematic (RTK) compact GNSS card — the Trimble BD960 — for high-precision guidance and control applications, such as unmanned vehicles and port and terminal equipment automation.
By Glen Gibbons
Selective Availability (SA), the contentious issue of degrading the open GPS civil to advantage military signals, is going away for good under the terms of a presidential decision announced September 18.
By Glen Gibbons
NavCom Technology offers its new SF-2110M and SF-2110R modular L1 StarFire GPS receivers. The SF-2110M has an integrated, compact dual-band antenna capable of receiving GPS and StarFire signals from NavCom’s global satellite-based augmentation system. The SF-2110R includes a separate L-Band antenna for enhanced StarFire signal reception in challenging environments and at high latitudes, according to the company. NavCom Technology Inc., Torrance, California USA.
By Glen Gibbons
On September 14, Air Force crews at Schriever AFB, Colorado, completed the initial phase of an $800 million upgrade to the GPS operational control segment.
Operators in the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) of the USAF 50th Space Wing migrated control of the GPS satellite constellation and ground monitoring facilities from a 1970s-era mainframe computer to a distributed IT infrastructure with advanced automated features. The 50th Space Wing, through the 2nd SOPS, performs the satellite command and control mission for the Global Positioning System.
By Inside GNSS
San Jose, California–based Symmetricom, Inc., has launched the SyncServer S300/S350, the latest in its line of network time servers using the latest Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize time on servers, workstations, and a variety of network elements for expanding IT enterprises.
The company also announced that its XLi SAASM Time and Frequency Receiver with a new Ground-Based GPS Receiver Application Module (GB-GRAM) SAASM receiver has been granted security approval by the Global Positioning Systems Wing (GPSW). The GB-GRAM GPS Receiver is integrated into Symmetricom’s XLi SAASM (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module).
By Inside GNSS
The United States and the European Union (EU) have agreed to use the multiplexed binary offset carrier (MBOC) for a common GPS-Galileo signal for civilian use. In the future, this will enable combined GNSS receivers to track the GPS and Galileo signals with higher accuracy, even in challenging environments that include multipath, noise, and interference.
These signals will be implemented on the Galileo Open Service and the GPS IIIA new L1 civil signal known as L1C.
By Inside GNSS
Wilson is a leading advocate of positioning and mapping technologies in support of vehicle safety. He was one of the leaders of the Enhanced Digital Map project, a three-year effort by vehicle manufacturers and the government to investigate and demonstrate map-based safety applications. He developed the concept of probe-based mapping, and holds several patents in this area. He has also worked on vehicle positioning systems.
Previously, he served as director of strategic research at Tele Atlas, a major provider of digital map data and other geographic content.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble innovations that target the surveying, construction, engineering, and mapping professions, organized into more than 200 educational sessions in multiple specialty tracks. Keynote speakers include Trimble President & CEO Steven Berglund, Dr. Robert Ballard, explorer and discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, and Peter Hillary, mountaineering explorer.
By Inside GNSS
“Global Navigation Satellite Systems: Problems, Vulnerabilities and Solutions” is the theme of an international workshop jointly organized by the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) Croatian Branch and the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy, University of Nottingham, UK. This three day event will focus in particular on developments aiming to improve the accuracy of GNSS, including augmentation systems such as WAAS/EGNOS and networked RTK systems. For more details, contact Dr. Renato Filjar below.
By Inside GNSS
After several false starts in the previous months and a multi-year delay in the overall GPS III architecture development, the GPS Wing (formerly the GPS Joint Program Office) announced on July 12 the release of a request for proposal for the development and production of the GPS Block IIIA satellites.
By Inside GNSS
