Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Scientists at Draper Laboratory have patented a celestial navigation system called a sliced-lens star tracker, which in its early form can achieve 50-meter accuracy in GNSS-denied environments. Improvements are expected as the technology evolves. Vehicles of all kinds may be able to benefit when using this system for navigating by the stars.
By Inside GNSS
By Renee Knight
When a wireless 911 call comes in from a multi-story building, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly where the caller is—wasting valuable time. NextNav has developed a solution with z-axis capabilities, Pinnacle 911, that addresses this GPS shortcoming, and recently entered into an agreement with a top wireless carrier to leverage it for enhanced 911 (E911).
By Inside GNSS
FocalPoint Positioning, founded in 2015, is, as they say, very happening. Its Supercorrelation is a chipset-level software product for mobiles, wearables and vehicles that is changing the positioning game in urban environments. Interesting and energetic, FocalPoint founder Ramsey Faragher came out of the defense industry and has a risen rapidly in the GNSS firmament.
By Peter Gutierrez
Locata Corporation and Ursa Navigation Solutions, Inc. (UrsaNav) announced a technology partnership aimed at providing resilient PNT solutions to national governmental and commercial interests globally. Combining Locata’s high-accuracy local-area and UrsaNav’s very wide-area PNT produces a solution which lessens dependency on easily disrupted and increasingly vulnerable space-based signals, according to the two.
By Inside GNSS
Zak Kassas, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California-Irvine, has receuved the Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). Kassas was one of 36 scientists and engineers from 30 institutions in the country to earn the recognition for 2022.
By Inside GNSS
A Soyuz launcher operated by Arianespace and commissioned by ESA lifted off with the pair of 715 kg satellites from French Guiana on December 5. The two join 26 Galileo satellites in the orbiting constellation that now provide Initial Services.
By Inside GNSS
Future miniaturized sensors, to be used for example in bee-sized drones, mini-satellites, or wearable devices, are likely to include GNSS chipsets supporting accurate outdoor localization and also offering reduced computational costs and power consumption compared to traditional GNSS receivers. The survey various energy-efficient methods for GNSS acquisition and present a discontinuous-reception acquisition algorithm, analyzed with both simulated and measurement-based data.
Spectranetix, Inc. has released its SX-124, ruggedized 3U OpenVPX high-performance position, navigation and timing (PNT) solution. With an ability to provide timing and positioning information in a GPS-denied environment through sensor fusion, the SX‑124 switch is a highly integrated next-generation cyber / electronic warfare (EW) / Signals intelligence (SIGINT) / Communications / Battle Management System (BMS) device
By Inside GNSS
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are being launched regularly into space to create satellite constellations for a variety of purposes: communication, surveillance, providing Internet service and more. Global satellite navigation service is provided by satellites in higher orbits, mi-Earth orbit (MEO) roughly 25,000–27,00 kilometers above the Earth. Could satellites in LEO be used to provide global satellite navigation?
High standards for technology in the lab and in the factory are all very fine, but what matters most is how it works in industrial application. We take a close-up look at inertial measurement and inertial navigation in such real-world cases as
• oil and gas pipeline inspection,
• stabilization of optical camera platforms and
• autonomous cargo transport.
Xona Space Systems and StarNav will jointly develop user equipment capable of receiving Xona’s Pulsar service to produce resilient position, navigation, and timing (PNT) solutions for commercial and government end users.
By Inside GNSS
The smartphone and its various everyday apps link us to GPS, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth LTE, audio and cell tower proximity that help us find out where we are and tell us how to get to where we need to go, down to precise latitudes, longitudes and altitudes, accurate to within a few yards. So who should have access to this information?
By Dawn M.K. Zoldi (Colonel, USAF, Ret.)
A research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Germany authenticated Galileo’s live Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) signal on November 16. The team used a GNSS receiver jointly developed with TeleOrbit GmbH, the compact GNSS Receiver with Open Software Interface (GOOSE).
By Inside GNSS
