Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has released a report it says will help users and manufacturers to understand receiver technology and trends.
By Inside GNSS
The Department of Defense (DoD) is less than three weeks away from a decision on whether to retain, cancel, or change its contract to develop a new GPS ground system.
A source familiar with the program said they believe the Air Force will stick with the program but will recast it to fit more closely with DoD’s budget realities.
By Dee Ann Divis
Harris Corporation has delivered the first of 34 receivers to support the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). The receiver was shipped to Raytheon Company, the prime contractor, in Aurora, Colorado, after it passed an electromagnetic interference test, Harris said.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications plc’s Positioning Technology Unit has announced the GSS200D Interference Detection and Analysis solution, developed as part of Spirent’s partnership with Nottingham Scientific Limited.
The GSS200D comprises field-based hardware and a secure data server for automatic capture and analysis of GNSS radio frequency interference. According to the Paignton, UK–based company, deployments of GSS200D probes provide users with a thorough understanding of the RF interference (RFI) environment at sites of interest.
By Inside GNSS
The first GPS III satellite’s delivery will be delayed by four months because of a Lockheed Martin subcontractor’s failure to test a ceramic capacitor.
The satellite, which was expected to be delivered in August, is now scheduled for shipment in December, according to a Bloomberg news article.
By Inside GNSS
Littleton, Colorado-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems has received a $395 million U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center contract option to build two additional GPS III satellites. The contract option calls for long-lead and production hardware to manufacture GPS III space vehicles (SVs) 9 and 10.
“The GPS III SV 9 and 10 satellites are expected to be ready for launch in 2022, thus sustaining the GPS constellation,” said Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center’s commander.
By Inside GNSS
Low-cost, precision, GNSS receivers will become a reality in the driverless cars, drones, and smartphone markets by 2021, said ABI Research in two new reports, “Precision GNSS in Automotive” and “GNSS IC Design Trends: Modules, Standalone, Combo, and Embedded.”
The automotive industry will be the main driver behind precision GNSS receiver adoption, in which centimeter-level accuracy is essential to complete driver safety systems with the redundancy necessary for autonomous vehicles, the company said.
By Inside GNSS
The program to develop M-code capable receivers for military equipment is poised to enter a new phase this fall as the GPS Directorate seeks approval to start the engineering activities that will lead, ultimately, to full production.
By Dee Ann Divis
Since Gen. John E. Hyten assumed leadership of Air Force Space Command in August 2014 he has been wrestling with a host of challenges including delays in the modernization programs for the GPS space segment and GPS military user equipment.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Air Force’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) at the 50th Space Wing, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, has moved the longest-serving GPS satellite, space vehicle number (SVN) 23, into a disposal orbit several hundred miles above the operational GPS constellation.
The satellite, which was launched on November 26, 1990, had a rough start, the Air Force said. After early-orbit operations and initial stabilization in December 1990, SVN 23’s solar array stopped working.
By Inside GNSS
A funding shortfall will not halt work on the new GPS ground system this month, although a decision expected in the next two weeks may signal major changes in the program.
Increased personnel costs on the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) program had eaten up the fiscal year 2016 budget and were poised to force managers to stop work on September 15. The Pentagon had requested Congress to allow $39 million to be reprogrammed to bridge the gap but lawmakers left for the summer recess without approving the change.
By Inside GNSS
Because GPS and other GNSS are critical to the nation’s infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is testing an augmentation system and developing new requirements to protect it, a DHS official told the U.S. Department of Transportations’s Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) meeting this week in Portland, Oregon.
1. BREXIT
Harwell Didcot, United Kingdom
