Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Alliant Techsystems has named Major General U.S. Air Force (Ret.) James B. Armor Jr., a former director of the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office (GPS JPO, now the GPS Wing), as vice-president of strategy and business development for spacecraft systems and engineering services for the company’s Space Systems unit.
By Inside GNSS
Hemisphere GPS has introduced a new GPS antenna, the A21, designed to reduce the effects of interference from radios, transmitters, and other peripheral electronic equipment.
By Inside GNSS
Left) Zou Xiguang, chief representative of Topcon Corporation in China, and Li Qiang, director of China Crustal Movement Monitoring Research CenterThe China Earthquake Administration (CEA) of the People’s Republic of China has selected Trimble and Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) to provide GNSS receivers for a new network set up to monitor crustal deformation and to predict earthquakes.
By Inside GNSS
Time Series and Power Spectrum of the L5 Demonstration SignalThe GPS IIR-20(M) satellite successfully transmitted for the first time a GPS signal in the L5 frequency band today (April 10), according to the U.S. Air Force operators of the Global Positioning System. L5, the third civil GPS signal, will eventually support safety-of-life applications for aviation and provide improved availability and accuracy to users.
By Inside GNSS
John RistevskiPrivacy rebellions such as recently drove a Google Street View crew from Broughton, England, or security-oriented legislation that would require blurred features or position accuracy in commercial imagery is just part of the market environment for 3-D mapping company earthmine, Inc., which is moving out of beta mode into full-fledged operations.
By Inside GNSS
NavCom Technology Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere & Company, and Astrium Services have formed a strategic partnership to deliver precise positioning solutions throughout Europe.
By Inside GNSS
CAST Navigation LLC is relocating to expanded facilities as a result of increased demand for the company’s GPS simulators, GPS/INS navigation test equipment, and embedded GPS/inertial (EGI) integration tools.
Effective April 20, the new physical location for the CAST Navigation team will be: One Highwood Drive, Suite 100, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Phone contact is 978-858-0130. Faxes may be sent to 978-858-0170; website, <www.castnav.com>.
By Inside GNSS
Typical implementation of geotagging in camera. Source: GeotateIn a €5.5-million cash deal, u-blox AG, of Thalwil, Switzerland, has acquired Geotate B.V. and its patented technology and products in the area of software GPS and geotagging GPS.
The acquisition will enable u-blox to expand its position in consumer markets with geotagging solutions for digital camera manufacturers and other portable device manufacturers.
By Inside GNSS
Sea State MonitoringSurrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) will lead a British project to exploit signals from GPS and other GNSS satellites that are reflected from the Earth for remote sensing purposes.
The project will investigate a prototype instrument capable of measuring the roughness of the sea and soil moisture content, providing data for atmospheric science and for operational ocean and weather forecasting.
By Inside GNSS
Montreal, Quebec, Canada–based OnPOZ Precision Positioning has released, GNSS Driver for ArcPad, a new extension to the ESRI product that allows GNSS post-processing using different GNSS receiver brands.
The receiver-independent extension can significantly improve GNSS/GIS data accuracy and reliability, logging real-time positions, metadata, and all GNSS observations in order to increase the reliability and accuracy of GNSS positions by post-processing ESRI Shapefiles.
By Inside GNSS
Steve Koles, Hemisphere GPS president & CEOHemisphere GPS has reported a 35 percent increase in revenues in 2008 — to a company record of US$72.7 million, versus $53.7 million the previous year. According to the company, 2008 growth was driven by strong market fundamentals in agriculture, including higher farm incomes.
By Inside GNSS
u-blox PCI-5S and PCM-5Su-blox has announced the immediate availability of a GPS “PCI Express Mini” card. The card enables laptops, netbooks, mobile Internet devices, and “Ultra Mobile” PC OEMs to provide GPS and location-based services such as personal navigation, services/people finder, and geo-tagging.
Sales of mobile PCs with integrated GPS are projected to grow from 3 million units in 2007 to 45 million units in 2011, according to the company.
By Glen Gibbons
CellGuide, a Rehovot, Israel–based fables semiconductor manufacturer of highly integrated host-based GPS/GNSS receivers, has introduced the RAMON GPS module.
Measuring 5.4 x 4.6 x 1.1 millimeters, the RAMON module includes both active and passive components in a single fully integrated package, meeting the demanding design and cost requirements of device manufacturers.
By Glen Gibbons
