Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The U.S. Air Force Second Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) has turned the first GPS III satellite, SVN-74, healthy and active.
By Inside GNSS
This article investigates and analyzes position solution availability and continuity from integrating low-cost, dual-frequency GNSS receivers using PPP processing with the latest low-cost, MEMS IMUs. The integration offers a complete, low-cost navigation solution that will enable during GNSS signal outages of half a minute, with a 30% improvement over low-cost, single-frequency GNSS-PPP with MEMS IMU integrations previously demonstrated. This can apply to UAVs, pedestrian navigation, autonomous vehicles, and more.
By Sudha Vana, Nacer Naciri, Sunil Bismath
A new cloud-based, digital reality visualization platform in the Hexagon AB booth captured the attention of CES 2020 visitors in Las Vegas this week. HxDR creates accurate digital representations of the real world through the seamless combination of reality-capture data from airborne, ground and mobile sensors.
By Inside GNSS
The authors examine GNSS performance on 27,500 kilometers (17,000 miles) of North American highways to better understand the automotive positioning needs it meets today and what might be possible in the near future with wide area GNSS correction services and multi-frequency receivers.
International astronomers linked observations from eight telescopes, including the the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), to pinpoint the location of a repeating fast radio burst (FRB), a little-understood and seldom-observed astronomical phenomenon that may hold keys to the origin of the universe. GPS played an important role in coordinating the telescopes and their milliseconds of data.
By Inside GNSS
Correction Technology and Software Positioning Engine Showcased in Las Vegas
(Las Vegas, Nevada, January 6, 2020) – Hexagon’s Positioning Intelligence division is proud to be showcasing state-of-the-art technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 7 to 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Inside GNSS
Forward-deployed U.S. military personnel will soon benefit from warfighter localization sensor units that provide tracking information in GPS-denied environments in a bootstrap mode. The Army Product Manager Sets, Kits Outfits and Tools awarded a $16.5 million contract to Robotic Research of Clarksburg, Maryland for WarLoc units to equip four deployed U.S. Army Brigade Combat Teams in various locations. The first batch of systems has already been shipped, and should enable soldiers on foot to keep track of each other in terrain where GPS systems are less effective.
WarLoc provides localization and positioning data for teams of warfighters or first responders in signal-denied environments such as underground facilities and inside buildings and mega-cities, according to the company. The small sensor mounts on footwear. Multiple systems work together to further enhance accuracy and maintain the localization of teams.
[Heel-mounted warfighter localization sensor units, also known as WarLoc. Photo: Robotic Research.]
The tracking system augments its GPS receiver with an inertial measurement unit. The device connects with a smartphone through Bluetooth. Robotic Research fields two form factors of the WaLoc, one mounted over the top of the boot and another that wraps around the heel. Users view data readouts through an Android-based Tactical Assault Kit. The algorithms are reportedly robust to communications failures and dropouts, and the distributed nature works well in challenging communication environments.
By Inside GNSS
Septentrio and Analog Devices now combine their technology specialties, multi-frequency multi-constellation GNSS receivers and high-quality inertial measurement units (IMUs), respectively, to deliver centimeter-accurate positioning with 3D orientation (heading, pitch and roll), for applications such as automotive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and industrial automation.
By Inside GNSS
In early December, Qualcomm made its annual announcement of a new chip for phones and wearables in the coming year. Qualcomm’s flagship system-on-chip will power a range of devices launching in 2020, with lots of new and exciting (to smartphone addicts) capabilities; just not much — make that nothing — new in satellite-based navigation derivatives.
By Inside GNSS
By Inside GNSSIn lead position on a sleigh rising from the North Pole to a height of 200 meters — standard cruising altitude for global package delivery — at 2100 hours UTC on December 24 — the youngest will hopefully be asleep by then and there’s plenty of territory to cover before dawn breaks, time’s a-wasting — navigator Rudolph will see between 40 and 45 GNSS satellites glistening in the night sky.
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) awarded a contract for the development of the Galileo-based TIming Receiver for CriticAl INfrastructure Robustness (GIANO) to Thales Alenia Space, for resistance against interference, jamming and spoofing.
By Inside GNSS
Reducing the number of GPS receivers installed or carried while tapping multiple PNT sources.
Prototyping and beta testing are techniques closely associated with Silicon Valley, the innovation engine admired around the world and, in particular, inside the Pentagon. Simply introducing a new idea has been known to take years in these halls; witness the long introductory saga of GPS itself in the 1970s.
By Dee Ann Divis
A version of the NeQuick G ionospheric model algorithm to help single-frequency receivers to estimate and correct for the ionospheric propagation delay is now available for download from the Galileo Service Center (GSC) website). Using a new coding approach, this version is the result of intensive effort by engineers at the EU’s Joint Research Centre.
By Inside GNSS
