Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Six months ago, the FCC unanimously granted Ligado’s amended license modification applications to deploy a low-power terrestrial nationwide network in the L-Band. Petitions for reconsideration remain pending, interest groups continue to agitate for change, Congress awaits answers to conflict-of-interest questions—and Ligado presses forward as planned.
By Dawn M.K. Zoldi (Colonel, USAF, Ret.)
The GNSS User Technology Report 2020 from the European GNSS Agency (GSA) analyzes the latest GNSS trends and developments as the GNSS industry broadly adopts multifrequency receivers across market segments.
By Inside GNSS
A broad cross-industry coalition sent a strongly worded letter to the Senate Commerce Committee warning that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Ligado Order that impacts GPS, if left in place, “would upend decades of sound spectrum policy, negatively impact a significant cross-section of commercial, federal, and academic users who rely on the many different L-band satellite services, and threaten the safety of most Americans.”
By Inside GNSS
Hexagon | NovAtel has announced a firmware release for its OEM7 and PwrPak7 receivers that enables tracking of BeiDou B2b GNSS signals on Phase III satellites. The 7.08.00 (OM7MR0800RN0000) release allows the receivers to track all of the new BeiDou B1C, B2a and B2b signals.
By Inside GNSS
Tallysman Wireless Inc., a manufacturer of precision GNSS antennas and related components, has been acquired by Calian Group Ltd, a publicly owned Canadian company. Both companies are based in Ottawa, Canada.
By Inside GNSS
In a feelgood two-and-a-half minute video cartoon aimed well below its audience’s head, the XinhuaNet.com news service explains BeiDou advantages over GPS and other GNSS. Principally, the script stresses the satnav system’s two-way short message service (SMS) texting capability that can stand in for cellular communications in remote areas and in case of natural disasters that may disable cellular base stations.
Set to a loping synthesized country rock soundtrack, the entertainment-with-a-message follows a passenger bus through a remote desert. When Buzz the Driver, spooked by a snake, deviates from his planned course, a BeiDou monitoring station quickly detects the error, generates an alarm and sends a message: “Hey, keep yourself focused!”
The animation gives a nod to other GNSS by stating that “Me and other family members are compatible and interoperable at the user level, which allows us to work together.”
Microchip Technology Inc. has released a software update for its BlueSky GNSS Firewall product, providing a higher level of resiliency against GPS vulnerabilities for systems dependent on GPS signal reception. Such critical infrastructure systems include power utilities, financial services, mobile networks and transportation, all relying on GPS-delivered timing to ensure ongoing operations.
By Inside GNSS
Swift Navigation has completed a 6,600-mile cross-country drive test measuring the efficacy of its Skylark cloud corrections service and demonstrating nationwide lane-level GNSS correction coverage at the accuracy, reliability and availability levels required by its customers.
By Inside GNSS
We cannot simply test-drive our way to safety. Instead, innovative methods of demonstrating safety and reliability must come into play immediately.
A free three-hour professional training over two days in June aims to show how.
By Inside GNSS
The Position Authenticated Tachograph foR OSNMA Launch (PATROL) project is developing the first external GNSS facility for smart tachographs, using Galileo’s new Open Service Authentication (OS-NMA). The tachograph, a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed and distance, together with the driver’s activity selected from a choice of modes, uses Galileo authentication to verify that the navigation data received from satellites is genuine.
By Inside GNSS
In three hours over two days, this special virtual workshop and professional learning experience rigorously investigates safety, integrity, standards and testing for precise positioning in automotive, both driven and driverless. It asks — and answers! — these crucial questions:
By Inside GNSS
Hexagon | NovAtel has released its first purpose-built driver, powered by Robot Operating System (ROS), to support its OEM7 family of GNSS receivers. The driver, developed by NovAtel engineers, provides an optimized interface enabling users to accelerate autonomous development projects
By Inside GNSS
Order-of-magnitude advances in inertial technology seem to take place roughly every 20 years, and the industry is poised at such a point now. New developments in photonic technology make high-performance inertial measurement accessible at lower size, weight and power. Many applications from driverless cars to UAVs can now take advantage of positioning that can independently bridge GPS outages from 2 minutes up to 10 minutes.
By Inside GNSS
