Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Working Papers explore the technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
SIDEBAR: Locating a Distress Beacon Activated in Flight
By Inside GNSS
NovAtel FlexPak-S GNSS SAASM EnclosureFrom small unmanned aircraft to communication systems, plenty of exciting new products appeared at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s show in Orlando last month.
More than 600 exhibitors brought their products to the event. These are just a few of the innovations that were on display.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this week that seven aerial photo and video production companies have asked for regulatory exemptions that would allow the film and television industry to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with FAA approval for the first time.
By Inside GNSS
UK emergency call dispatcherEuropeans agree — assisted GNSS or A-GNSS provides the best means for locating emergency callers using mobile phones. Although the question of who should pay is remains to be answered, new regulations aimed at enabling the service now seem inevitable.
By Inside GNSS
SIDEBAR: Michel Monnerat’s Compass Points
“I was born in Arles, in the south of France,” says Michel Monnerat, “but I left France before my first birthday. We moved many times, from place to place.”
Monnerat’s father worked for a civil engineering company, specializing in maritime works — harbor construction, coastal protection, and such. His family lived in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Tunisia, but Monnerat spent most of my early life in Lomé, the capital city of Togo.
By Inside GNSS
Europe has been talking up its European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS, for short) — and why shouldn’t it? Talking about Galileo doesn’t get satellites off the ground. EGNOS, on the other hand, is up and running, and has been since 2009. If the object is to build confidence in European savoir faire, why not talk about a real success like EGNOS?
By Peter Gutierrez
Perhaps taking a page of Russia’s playbook for mandating use of GLONASS in certain equipment, European officials are looking into the possibility of requiring the addition of Galileo capability to mobile phones and other device and platforms.
As it has become clear that the European GNSS will be the third or fourth GNSS available — after GPS, GLONASS, and probably BeiDou — the European Union’s executive body, the European Commission, is exploring non-market strategies to increase adoption of Galileo by manufacturers and users.
By Inside GNSS
Brad ParkinsonAmong the key topics to come out of this year’s European Navigation Conference (ENC 2014) in Rotterdam is how safe — or unsafe — we really are, and who in Europe cares. The answer is, a lot of people care, but almost no one can do anything about it.
Professor David Last, strategic advisor at the General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK & Ireland, made the case before the conference had even started, at the pre-conference “Resilient PNT Forum.”
By Inside GNSS
Sen. Al FrankenLess than 90 days after government watchdogs reported drivers are not being clearly informed about privacy risks posed by vehicle-location data, the head of the U.S. Senate’s privacy committee announced legislation to give consumers more control over how information about their whereabouts is collected and used.
By Inside GNSS
Matthias Petschke, European Commission Director of EU Satellite Navigation ProgramsAfter an organizational hiccup led to its cancellation last year, the “reloaded” Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2014 successfully re-established the event as Europe’s leading forum for GNSS policy dialog.
By Inside GNSS
Igor Stojkovic is the principal search and rescue engineer on the Galileo program in ESA, responsible for design and development of the SAR/Galileo component of the MEOSAR System.
By Inside GNSS
ESA Galileo IOV Test campaign authors, from left: Jörg Hahn, Stefano Binda, Edward Breeuwer, Roberto Prieto-Cerdeira, Marco Falcone, Alexander Mudrak, Gustavo Lopez- Risueño, Francisco Javier Gonzalez Martinez, and Daniel Blonski.The objective of the IOV phase was to launch the first four operational Galileo satellites and to deploy the first version of a completely new ground segment. During this phase, the European Space Agency (ESA) needed to validate — in the operational environment — all space, ground, and user components and their interfaces, prior to full system deployment. With the assistance of industry partners, ESA had to analyze the performance of the Galileo system and its components with the objective to refine the full operational capability (FOC) system.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. aviation officials on Monday (December 30, 2013) named the winners of a high-stakes contest to operate one of six new research and test sites for unmanned aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will now work to help the sites set up safe operations and create the structures needed within the agency to help it use the sites’ research results.
By Inside GNSS
