Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
LightSquared today (December 21, 2011) asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to confirm the company’s right to use spectrum licensed to it and that commercial GPS manufacturers have no right to interference protection from LightSquared’s proposed wireless broadband network.
By Inside GNSS
A survey of 140 attendees at last week’s European Navigation Conference (ENC 2011) in London, England, produced a fascinating assessment of GNSS expectations in the coming years — and how that assessment has changed since 2007.
Sponsored by Helios, a UK business and technology consultancy working in the transportation and technology domains, the survey asked delegates eight questions with multiple choice answers, and recorded their responses using handheld keypads and live electronic voting.
By Inside GNSS
A GPS app on a Japanese smartphone. The GPS Council there told the FCC that any signal degradation could jeopardize the Global Positioning System’s standing as a global standard.LightSquared has dropped, for now, efforts to expand its wireless broadband plans to markets in other countries, Inside GNSS has learned.
The Virginia firm was working this summer on proposals to the International Telecommunication Union, including one aimed at addressing compatibility issues between ground stations or “complementary ground components” of mobile satellite services and other frequency-using services.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications has announced the launch of its new automation and reporting tool, TestDrive-GNSS for SimGEN- and SimREPLAYplus-controlled GNSS test systems. TestDrive-GNSS automates the testing process to significantly reduce overhead costs and testing times associated with characterization of GNSS devices.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
1. Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California USA
TWINS!
FIGURES 1 & 2: True3D Volumetric HUD components and operation (left), Comparison of True3D HUD user view with other types of nav aids (right)Return to main article: "True3D HUD Wins Global SatNav Competition"
Many technologies are created before their best applications are even thought about. This leads to a business phenomenon known as “technology push” in contrast to “consumer pull.” The True3D Volumetric HUD technology did not share this path.
By Inside GNSS
ITT Exelis and Chronos Technology Ltd. announced today (November 17, 2011) that they have agreed to jointly pursue and develop product offerings for the GNSS interference, detection and mitigation (IDM) market.
By Inside GNSS
Q: What effect does network size have on NRTK positioning?
A: Network real-time kinematic (NRTK) positioning is nowadays a very common practice, not only in academia but also in the professional world. In the last 10 years, several networks of continuous operating reference stations (CORSs) were created to support users. These networks offer real-time services for NRTK positioning, providing centimeter-level positioning accuracy with an average distance of 25–35 kilometers between the reference stations.
By Inside GNSS
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.
Next-generation car navigation may well require the ability to identify the lane in which a vehicle is operating on a motorway. This could support advanced driver assistance in general as well as the observation and study of driver behavior and traffic flow. Such road vehicle applications call for sub-meter positioning accuracy, often in real-time — all this preferably at low-cost.
By Inside GNSS
Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs, gets behind the wheel with MVSC’s HUD system at the Makers Faire in San Mateo, California. MVSC CEO Chris Grabowski sits in the passenger seat; CTO Tom Zamojdo is in straw hat. Photo by Valerie Hall.A San Francisco Bay Area company — Making Virtual Solid–California (MVSC), which snared a trio of awards in a global GNSS competition for its novel approach to driver assistance, is still in early phases of development.
The origins of the company, however, go back more than 40 years to the Cold War era when its principals, Chris Grabowski and Tom Zamojdo, were studying physics and theoretical mathematics at the University of Warsaw, Poland.
But more about that later — first, the news.
By Inside GNSS
NavtechGPS will offer its 2012 East Coast GNSS technical seminars at the Doubletree Annapolis in Maryland, USA from June 18 through June 22.
The seminar instructors are Penny Axelrad, John Betz, Chris Hegarty, Alan Pue and James Sennott.
For more than 25 years, NavtechGPS has provided GPS/GNSS applications solutions for military and research customers, with product choices from more than 30 manufacturers, and has organized basic and advanced GNSS seminars for engineers and technical professionals all over the United States.
By Inside GNSS
NavtechGPS will offer its 2012 West Coast GNSS technical seminars at the Doubletree Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego, California from March 26 through March 30.
The seminar instructors are Penny Axelrad, John Betz, Chris Hegarty, Alan Pue and James Sennott.
By Inside GNSS
