Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has just issued its sixth annual GNSS Market Report, a booklet that comprehensively runs down the major market sectors and gives gratifying growth figures for all of them. This is not news, strictly speaking. This is more of the same that we have seen over the last two decades, the last six years of which have been quantified in the sturdy GSA Market Reports.
By Inside GNSS
The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of eight miniature satellites that use GPS signals bounced off the sea surface to measure wind speeds. One after the other at 12-minute intervals, the satellites pass over tropical storms, gathering data that can be used to predict the storms’ path and their intensity.
By Inside GNSS
The newest EGNOS satellite is aloft. Eutelsat’s 5 West B satellite was successfully launched from Kazakhstan on October 9. Among other payloads, the 5 West B carries a GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). The satellite will support EGNOS V3, the next generation of the EGNOS program.
By Inside GNSS
The latest offering of Inside GNSS’s continuing professional education series explores in depth what is likely the hottest topic at PNT technical gatherings over the last two years: Detection and geolocation of GNSS interference sources. This September’s ION GNSS+ conference devoted 4 full technical sessions to interference, and across the program at least 28 technical papers and a tutorial focused on the issue. Clearly it is of the moment, as well as complex to understand and counter.
By Inside GNSS
The Army is in the midst of testing new assured position, navigation and timing equipment (A-PNT) as it searches for more ways to thwart jamming and spoofing and stay operational if GPS is denied or unavailable.
By Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Army selected Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. to provide a next-generation Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing System (MAPS) for the Army’s increasingly sophisticated manned ground vehicles. Known as “MAPS Gen II,” the system will maintain the integrity of positioning and timing during operations in GPS-contested environments.
By Inside GNSS
A live demonstration in the North Sea used the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) service to initiate an emergency rescue in three and a half minutes after a “person in distress” operated her Galileo-enabled personal locator beacon (PLB) from a small life raft, adrift on the open water.
By Inside GNSS
While many industries benefit from GNSS, others have not though their need cries out loud. Manufacturing, indoor transportation and logistics, to name a few. Massachusetts-based Humatics furnishes indoor navigation systems for areas where GNSS technology does not perform well. Its core concept is “constellation” installations of high-frequency radio transmitters to enable centimeter- and millimeter-scale microlocation technology for positioning, navigating and collaborating.
By Inside GNSS
Sensonor has announced at AUSA in Washington, DC, a new high-accuracy tactical grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) — STIM 318. Designed for increased accelerometer performance to support demanding guidance and navigation applications, STIM 318 features:
By Inside GNSS
Satelles, Inc. (www.satellesinc.com), provider of highly secure satellite-based time and location services, announced that it has raised $26 million in Series C funding. C5 Capital (www.c5capital.com) led the round, with participation from Iridium Communications (www.iridium.com) and existing investors. This new investment brings Satelles’s total funding since the launch of its platform to $39 million and will help the company expand its sales and marketing efforts, broaden its partner network, and accelerate product development.
By Inside GNSS
The global wireless communications standards body 3GPP has accepted the interface specifications of NavIC, India’s regional satellite navigation system. With this permission, NaVIC can be integrated into devices like smartphones and tablets. The announcement givea a big boost to India’s mobile telecom industry while also encouraging use of NavIC throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
By Inside GNSS
Positioning with 5G next-generation cellular technology, based on higher bandwidths and frequencies, promises to open up new possibilities for localization services. As GNSS receivers share their position awareness across more powerful cellular networks, smart traffic management, asset tracking and personalized drone-based delivery will be just three examples of expanded capability. A European Space Agency (ESA)-sponsored test recently simulated this broadening PNT potential.
By Inside GNSS
Autonomous vehicle research firm VSI Labs took its show on the road in September, as a three-member team was driven—by their autonomous car—on a thousand-mile journey from Minneapolis to Washington D.C. The Drive East employed Trimble’s precise point positioning (PPP) technology, Trimble RTX, delivering GNSS corrections via satellite or cellular.
By Inside GNSS
