Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The third next-generation GLONASS-K navigation satellite, postponed several times, will now take place in late August or early September, according to reported statements by Russian space industry sources. This marks a long-delayed step along a road towards interoperability with other GNSS. The first GLONASS-K satellite was launched in 2011 and a second one in 2014.
By Inside GNSS
Ramjack Technology Solutions and Syntony GNSS have partnered to deliver underground GNSS positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solutions, using Syntony’s SubWave technology.
By Inside GNSS
MEMS has moved into the high-end market, and the latest disruptor to take into account is silicon MEMS. That’s micro-electromechanical systems based in silicon chips, for short. Accelerometers with up to 100g range and 70µg bias in a very small form factor — 6 cubic centimeters — are exploding the horizons for inertial applications.
By Inside GNSS
Septentrio has launched mosaic-T, a highly secure and accurate multi-frequency multi-constellation GNSS timing module for critical infrastructure and mission-critical timing applications.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $1.7 million contract to Orolia Defense and Security for multiple BroadSim advanced GPS simulator systems for testing facilities and field test assets.
By Inside GNSS
A new magnetic anomaly navigation technique (MAGNAV), researched by the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), will get its wings tested aboard F-16 fightercraft this September. In an effort seeking alternatives to GPS and GNSS, MAGNAV sensors and software will be flown on Air Force Test Pilots School (AFTPS) F-16s over a test range adjacent to Edwards Air Force Base in Nevada.
By Inside GNSS
GPS satellites usually transmit their signals with constant power. However, a so-called “Flex Power” is foreseen to increase the strength of individual signals to better fulfill operational constraints. Flex power operations can be detected in carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) observations provided by GNSS receivers of the global tracking network of the International GNSS Service (IGS).
By Peter Steigenberger, et al.
Critical infrastructure has a compelling need to infer the assurance of PVT estimates—as do users in general. However, traditional PNT platforms do not offer a principled way to infer assurance from multiple anti-spoofing (A-S) techniques, situational awareness (SA) information, and other auxiliary sources such as network data. Here we introduce, a PNT Trust Inference Engine (PNTTING) that can assess PNT trust according to probabilistic models with rigorous semantics.
Readers of this website are familiar—perhaps overly familiar!—with the threats to resilient positioning and navigation that are posed by interference, intentional and unintentional. Timekeeping applications for critical infrastructure using GNSS must also protect themselves against jamming and spoofing.
Though the pandemic impacts federal workers and contractors across the country, the early-March testing of GPS backup technologies finished on time and the analysis is expected to be completed on schedule.
By Dee Ann Divis
An assisted GPS direct positioning estimation (DPE) technique for urban environment copes with a full spectrum of direct-line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight or multipath conditions. A new approach using signal visibility and specular reflection predictions within the DPE shows the potential to reduce positioning error from approximately 30 to 10 meters.
EMCORE Corporation, a provider of advanced mixed-signal products serving the aerospace, defense and broadband communications markets, received the 2019 Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) 5-Star Supplier Excellence Award for performance and partnership.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office’s (RCCTO) selected TRX Systems to deliver a prototype tactical electronic warfare (EW) kit for dismounted soldiers. TRX is also one of 11 firms selected by the Department of Transportation to demonstrate GPS backup technologies, with tests to take place in March.
[This story is the third in a series of 11 detailing technology from firms selected by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in August 2019 to demonstrate technologies that could be used to back up the services provided by GPS should GPS signals be jammed, spoofed or unavailable. See also Echo Ridge and Seven Solutions.]
TRX Systems will provide a portable kit that generates alerts when electronic jamming or spoofing is detected and will provide a “rewind” navigation feature to estimate the user’s probable current position after jamming or spoofing has occurred. The company has developed NEON, a GPS-denied location technology, providing 3D mapping and GPS-denied personnel tracking for warfighters, first responders, security and industrial personnel that operate indoors, underground, and in areas without GPS.
NEON delivers ubiquitous, low-cost, GPS-denied location through the use of advanced sensor fusion, ranging, and patented dynamic mapping algorithms. The algorithms fuse inertial sensor data, Wi-Fi readings and inferred building data to deliverreliable 3D location. Optional use of geo-referenced ultra-wideband or Bluetooth beacons enhances positioning accuracy
TRX’s NEON Location Service provides position data that enables tracking and navigation when satellite technology is unavailable or unreliable. NEON detects GPS interference and delivers continuous location during such events; NEON also delivers 3D personnel location indoors, outside, and underground. NEON provides PNT assurance with commercial-grade solutions that integrate with present and future military satellite assurance and location capabilities.
“The EW Kits provide an easy to use and real-time assessment of GPS integrity for the warfighter, integrated with existing military applications and systems,” said Carol Politi, President and CEO of TRX Systems.
In a 2017 case study, TRX Systems’ NEON Personnel Tracker solution provided 3D tracking of law enforcement, EMS Personnel and other first responders during a critical incident training exercise at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, hosted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
By Inside GNSS
