Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The House Appropriations Committee voted May 13 to cut the White House request for civil GPS funding and a number of other GPS-related program at the Dept. of Transportation.
By Inside GNSS
GPS III satellites and their new ground system, both years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, still may not be on track despite corrective actions, Air Force Secretary Deborah L. James told a U.S. Senate hearing recently.
By Inside GNSS
GPS Block IIF-5 on its way from Cape Canaveral on February 20, 2014. Photo by Ben Cooper, United Launch Alliance[Updated May 26, 2015] The U.S. Air Force released a draft request for proposal (RFP) yesterday (May 13, 2015) for GPS III Launch Services, including launch vehicle production, mission integration, and launch operations. The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — better known as SpaceX and headed by Elon Musk — may well enter the competition.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble’s BD935-INS (left) and BX-935-INSTrimble has introduced the BD935-INS module that combines a multi-frequency, multi-GNSS receiver with an integrated 3-D microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensor package.
As part of Trimble’s GNSS OEM portfolio, the new compact module augments real-time precise positioning with 3-D orientation, connectivity, and configuration capabilities designed to enable system integrators and OEMs to add GNSS and attitude to specialized or custom hardware solutions.
By Inside GNSS
In April, Lockheed Martin fully integrated the U.S. Air Force’s first next-generation GPS III satellite at the company’s Denver, Colorado–area satellite manufacturing facility. The first in a design block of new, more powerful and accurate GPS satellites, GPS III Space Vehicle One is now preparing for system-level testing this summer. Lockheed Martin photoLockheed Martin has finally been able to announce victory in its effort to complete integration of the first GPS Block III satellite.
Integration took place last month at the company’s GPS III Processing Facility near Denver, Colorado, bringing together the system module — which includes the navigation payload that performs the primary positioning, navigation, and timing mission — the functional bus containing the electronics that manage all satellite operations, and the propulsion core that enables the satellite to maneuver for operations on orbit.
By Inside GNSS
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is considering legislation that would fully authorize the White House’s funding request for GPS and possibly add provisions aimed at evaluating the new, troubled GPS ground system and pushing the Pentagon to look at a global backup for GPS.
By Inside GNSS
Navigation technologies appear to be losing their charm among new car buyers in the United States.
Twenty years after Detroit introduced the first in-vehicle car navigation systems, employing GPS and digital map technology, collision avoidance appears to be the common theme among the most popular automotive technologies, according to a new J.D. Power study released last Wednesday (April 22, 2015).
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded a $103-million contract to the Raytheon Company to maintain the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).
The company will develop a payload to be incorporated into a new geostationary satellite and two associated ground uplink stations to support the WAAS system within U.S. airspace. WAAS improves real-time GPS accuracy from 10 meters to about two meters by transmitting differential corrections as well as integrity messages and an additional ranging signal.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force has sharply recast the contest to build up to 22 additional satellites to fill out the GPS III constellation, slashing the maximum funding for the first phase of a “recompete” from $200 million per award to a scant $6 million.
By Inside GNSS
The 2015 edition of the European Navigation Conference (ENC) in Bordeaux last week found the continent’s GNSS community leaving troubles behind and looking to the future, where the world’s dependence on GNSS is greater, the risks higher, and the potential profits ever more tantalizing.
Speaking at the opening session dedicated to “the impact of GNSS on the economic sector,” Topos Cluster President Florence Ghiron answered the question in the simplest of terms: “We expect the GNSS market to grow and to include more and more industrial sectors.”
AsteRx4 OEM receiverSeptentrio has launched its next-generation dual-antenna GNSS receiver — the AsteRx4 OEM, a multi-frequency receiver that incorporates the latest GNSS tracking and positioning algorithms and operates with all available GNSS signals (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo).
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel Inc. has announced the launch of the Relay RTK radio module, a docking station that provides radio connectivity for the company’s SMART6-L L-band–capable GNSS receiver.
The Coast Guard is poised to release a new cybersecurity strategy that includes a resilient position and navigation capability.
The new strategy, which is reportedly due to be announced any day, was previewed by Vice Adm. Charles Michel, the Coast Guards’ deputy commandant for operations, at a maritime cyber security conference in early March.
By Inside GNSS
