Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The connected car is a reality, as are robotics playing a critical role in just about every industry in which they’ve been deployed. To ensure safe and effective operation, it is essential to have the ability to test, enhance and optimize connected and autonomous vehicle systems.
By Stan Goff
A variety of organizations are cooperating to assess and address GPS-related vulnerabilities in the country’s critical infrastructure (CI). From receiver testing opportunities to community briefings and workshops the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plus other civil agencies, industry groups and experts are working through options looking for the best way forward.
By Dee Ann Divis
China sent a new BeiDou navigation satellite into orbit on a Long March-3A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern Sichuan Province, at 4:58 a.m., Tuesday, July 10.
The satellite is the 32nd of the BeiDou navigation system, and one of the BeiDou-2 family, which is the second generation of the system. The state-run Xinhua press agency confirmed the launch within two hours after liftoff.
By Inside GNSS
Harris Corporation has been awarded three multi-award IDIQ contracts with ceilings totaling $1.5 billion to provide the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) with geospatial data services for up to 10 years.
Harris will create, manage and disseminate high-quality geospatial-intelligence (GEOINT) information for use by the U.S. intelligence community and military worldwide under contracts that cover all three areas of NGA’s JANUS program – geography, imagery and elevation.
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel announced today that it is now delivering their market-leading SPAN® tightly-coupled GNSS+INS navigation technology in a rugged, ultra-compact unit. Commercially exportable and ideal for integration into a wide variety of applications, the high-performance SPAN CPT7 is designed to deliver assured positioning – anywhere, in a package one-quarter the size of the highly successful SPAN-CPT.
By Inside GNSS
Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division announced that it will highlight its family of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based modules and LRU solutions designed for system integrators seeking to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) services at the 2018 Joint Navigation Conference, July 9-11 (Booth #109), the largest U.S. military Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) conference of the year with joint service and government participation.
By Inside GNSS
Harris Corporation has delivered an environmental monitoring sensor for the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2), which will significantly enhance Japan’s ability to monitor greenhouse gases from space.
The Harris-built TANSO-FTS-2 (Thermal and Near Infrared Sensor for Carbon Observation-Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2) will measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The newly built instrument will collect high-spectral resolution data of the Earth in five bands, which enables measurement during daylight and darkness. The instrument’s unique intelligent pointing system identifies, in real time, cloud-free areas of the atmosphere – greatly increasing the amount of useable data, according to the company.
By Inside GNSS
The Military Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION) will host the 2018 Joint Navigation Conference (JNC 2018) for the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security this summer in Long Beach, California. The theme of this year’s conference will be: Positioning, Navigation and Timing Technologies: The Foundation for Military Ops and Homeland Security.
By Inside GNSS
With eyes on a future where reliable GNSS back-ups are in place to protect against both accidental or intentional disruptions of GNSS, three organizations represented on Positioning, Navigation and Timing Technical Group (PNTTG) – Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) and The General Lighthouse Authorities – hosted a seminar last month to review user needs and the status of two possible RF back-up options to GNSS mentioned in the London Economics report on the economic impact of a GNSS disruption.
By Stan Goff
Atos recently announced the launch of ProUST univerSAS (Protection Unit for Satellite Testing), its lightweight, compact satellite power testing system designed to improve high-volume satellite production by increasing the speed and efficiency of testing, while maintaining the industry’s quality and safety standards.
ProUST univerSAS is the first product following Atos’ recent acquisition of Siemens Convergence Creators (CVC), resulting in reinforced capabilities in the space market. The product is the latest addition toAtos’ integrated suite of electrical satellite testing solutions – EGSE (Electrical Ground Support Equipment) – which ensures that satellites’ systems are in optimum condition in order to work flawlessly during their entire lifespan in-orbit.
The ProUST univerSAS is a compact and power-dense satellite power testing system, said to delivermore than 16kW of power in just 2HU (~10cm). It is unique in that it can test numerous power configurations (Solar Array Simulation, Battery Simulation and Load Simulation) in one single device.
New Space challenges require a new kind of equipment
This system supports manufacturers to meet today’s ambitious high-volume production loads and adapt from traditional, mostly manual assembly, towards a more efficient manufacturing process. Its light weight, compact size, versatility and portability enables manufacturers to save on space and costs and improve on efficiency for faster development and testing cycles, using one single device.
“The introduction of ProUST univerSAS marks a new era in satellite power test system design. We are bringing together unprecedented power handling capability and versatility with assembly-line efficiency for the space industry. The system’s mobility facilitates flexible deployment in state-of-the-art production facilities around the globe, making it a natural building block of today’s and tomorrow’s satellite manufacturing installations,”Hans-Martin Steiner, CTO Space & Avionics at Atos, said in a press release.
Atos is experienced in providing effective solutions to the space industry, including those used in ground mission and control centers. It is also a pioneer in the development of Earth Observation Data exploitation platforms and is fostering innovation with numerous R&D projects.
By Inside GNSS
The Industry Space Days (ISD) is a unique event which provides an excellent opportunity for the European space community to meet and discuss prospective business. Described as the largest space innovation B-to-B meeting event, it will be held on September 11-12, 2018 at the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
By Inside GNSS
The Australian government has launched a four-year plan to upgrade and densify its National Positioning Infrastructure (NPI) to improve position accuracy from coast to coast.
By Dee Ann Divis
Inertial Sense announced last week that it has closed a $2 million round of seed funding led by DataTribe and supported by Atomic Ventures. Inertial Sense, a manufacturer of high-performance precision GPS-Inertial Navigation Systems, will use the funds to accelerate their market-leading position and advanced development of additional micro-navigation solutions and 3-D motion sensors.
By Inside GNSS
