Enhanced Loran (eLoran) has survived through multiple generations of official ambivalence about the proposed backup for the U.S. Global Positioning System. Currently, the program is in (almost) on-again status.

The latest chapter began with President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) budget proposal, which called for termination of Loran in the coming year. At a May 7 press conference, the president described Loran as a system that’s been eclipsed by the rise of GPS.

Enhanced Loran (eLoran) has survived through multiple generations of official ambivalence about the proposed backup for the U.S. Global Positioning System. Currently, the program is in (almost) on-again status.

The latest chapter began with President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) budget proposal, which called for termination of Loran in the coming year. At a May 7 press conference, the president described Loran as a system that’s been eclipsed by the rise of GPS.

The president’s proposal had overruled plans set in motion last year for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to complete the upgrade to eLoran as a backup to GPS. This, in turn, was a change of course from a U.S. Coast Guard decision to terminate the program in 2008.

That Coast Guard stance had flown in the face of a $159 million program to upgrade existing Loran infrastructure to eLoran, funded by Congressional appropriations totaling during FY1997-2006. The upugrade is about 70 percent complete.

The activity comes on the heels of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report warning about the possibility that the GPS constellation may decline substantially in the coming years.

You Say ‘Yes,’ I Say ‘No’
Now the U.S. Congress has inserted language into appropriation and authorization bills that would require continued operations of Loran-C, due to its potential utility as a national GPS backup. The issue is currently in the hands of a House-Senate appropriations conference committee.

The House version of the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, passed on June 24, funds the Loran-C system at $36 million and requires the Coast Guard to submit a plan for upgrading the system to eLoran, as a long-term backup for GPS.

“The immediate implementation of a long-term, robust backup system is vital, given the GAO’s recent finding that it is unclear whether new GPS satellites can be purchased and put in orbit in time to maintain uninterrupted GPS service to private and public sector consumers,” the House wrote in its report on the bill, H.R. 2892.

The Senate version (S. 1298), passed July 9, provides $18 million to extend Loran-C operations through January 4, 2010.

Loran-C operations shall not continue beyond that date only “if the Commandant of the Coast Guard certifies that: (1) the termination of the Loran-C signal will not adversely impact the safety of maritime navigation; and (2) the Loran-C system infrastructure is not needed as a back-up to GPS or any other Federal navigation requirement.”

On a separate track in the Senate, the Coast Guard Authorization Act for FY 2010 and 2011 (S. 1194), would authorize the Secretary of Transportation to maintain Loran-C and transition it to eLoran, providing $37 million per year in FY 2010 and FY 2011.

The bill, which passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on July 8, would allow the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) to transfer funds from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or other DoT agencies to reimburse the USCG for costs of the modernization.

The bill also requires a detailed 5-year plan for the eLoran transition.

Independent Review
The legislative initiatives implicitly confirm the findings of an Independent Assessment Team (IAT) on eLoran, funded by the office of the under secretary of transportation policy and chaired by Brad Parkinson, the first program manager for GPS.

DoT contracted with the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), which organized the IAT with IDA staff member Jim Doherty serving as the IAT’s executive director.

If offset by an estimated $146 million decommissioning cost of existing Loran infrastructure, the IAT concluded that eLoran could be established effectively for free.

Going forward, eLoran would require only the current $37 million per year in USCG operations and management base funds for Loran plus $20 million a year in new funds for five to eight years to complete all upgrades, new transmitters, and “jump start” deferred maintenance.

After that time, savings from substantially reduced staffing at the modernized facilities would offset eLoran operational and sustainment costs.

In December 2006 the IAT unanimously recommended that for, at least the next 20 years, eLoran “be completed and retained as the national backup system for critical safety of life, national and economic security, and quality of life applications currently reliant on position, time, and/or frequency from GPS.”

Among the IAT’s key findings: “eLoran is the only cost-effective backup for national needs; it is completely interoperable with and independent of GPS, with different propagation and failure mechanisms, plus significantly superior robustness to radio frequency interference and jamming.”

Despite the report’s acceptance by the Bush administration, which relied on it for the DHS decision to move forward with eLoran, a summary of the IAT findings and supporting charts was only released in May 2009. Parkinson told Inside GNSS that he estimates the probability of Congress approving eLoran at 75 to 80 percent.

Currently, the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) is developing performance standards for eLoran in the maritime environment.

eLoran also has strong support from the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA) of the UK and Ireland (equivalent to USCG for maritime safety, which have committed to e-Navigation for maritime safety, using GPS/DGPS as primary input, eLoran as secondary or backup, and electronic charting.

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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has awarded a new $82 million contract to Raytheon Company to modernize the Indian air navigation system.

Raytheon will build the ground stations for the GPS-Aided Geosynchronous Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), and the Indian Space Research Organization will provide the space segment and additional ground equipment. GAGAN will provide satellite-based navigation for civil aviation over Indian airspace and adjoining areas in south and east Asia.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has awarded a new $82 million contract to Raytheon Company to modernize the Indian air navigation system.

Raytheon will build the ground stations for the GPS-Aided Geosynchronous Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), and the Indian Space Research Organization will provide the space segment and additional ground equipment. GAGAN will provide satellite-based navigation for civil aviation over Indian airspace and adjoining areas in south and east Asia.

The Indian satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) is expected to bridge the gap between the European EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) and the Japanese MSAS (MTSAT Satellite-Based Augmentation System) to provide seamless navigation of aircraft across a wide portion of the Earth.

Raytheon will continue the work it began several years ago and expects to have the GAGAN system fully functional by 2013.

Raytheon offers a broad range of automation and surveillance systems in use today in more than 50 countries around the world. The company developed the Federal Aviation Administration’s GPS Wide Area Augmentation System and was engaged in the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau’s Multi-Function Transport Satellite Augmentation System.

“Our GAGAN solution addresses the four essential elements of safe air navigation: accuracy, integrity, availability and continuity,” said Fritz Treyz, director of business development for Raytheon Network Centric Systems who led the Raytheon team pursuing the GAGAN initiative.

A. S. Ganeshan, GAGAN project director of ISRO Satellite Center, has led the ISRO team.

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Comments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) suggest that the Galileo program is finally nearing a decision on commercial use of specifications for its Open Service (OS), but U.S. officials remain concerned that this nation’s equipment manufacturers not be placed at a competitive disadvantage. Meanwhile, Galileo simulators appear to finally be reaching receiver manufacturers, despite the absence of official approval.

Comments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) suggest that the Galileo program is finally nearing a decision on commercial use of specifications for its Open Service (OS), but U.S. officials remain concerned that this nation’s equipment manufacturers not be placed at a competitive disadvantage. Meanwhile, Galileo simulators appear to finally be reaching receiver manufacturers, despite the absence of official approval.

The information emerged in the course of a public comment process that resulted in a July 15 report to Congress — drafted by the USTR with the assistance of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commercialization — regarding the status of U.S. equipment industry access to the European Community’s GNSS program. Congress had requested the investigation in approving the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009.

At issue is a draft Galileo OS Signal-in-Space Interface Control Document (OS-SIS-ICD) published in May 2006 and intended to support development of Galileo-capable receivers and simulators. A related issue is U.S. industry participation in the competitive procurement process now under way for the Galileo full operational capability (FOC) space and ground infrastructure.

The draft ICD is available for information, standardization, and R&D purposes, but it prohibits the commercial use of the data “until a specific authorization is provided by the publishing authority and/or holder of the association intellectual property rights [IPR],” according to comments submitted to the USTR by the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG-TREN). The European Space Agency (ESA) and the GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA, recently renamed the GNSS Agency in an EC communication) own the Galileo ICDs and IPR.

In effect, as the USTR congressional report points our, “This means that a company may use the ICD to develop products and services but cannot sell them until it obtains a license. Furthermore, companies are prohibited from registering or protecting IPR they derive from the ICD without a license from the EC.”

Sources have told Inside GNSS that the EC reportedly distributed a new position paper to the European Community member states last week that proposes to transfer all Galileo OS IPR from ESA and GSA to the EC In turn, the commission would then distribute the ICD free of charge to the world but maintain a licensing process — basically a registration system.

According to a statement on the GSA website, “the planned timeline for the Galileo SIS ICD updates, and the associated publication plan (including Service ICDs), will be provided by early 2009.” The EC’s current timeline for resolving the OS IPR issues now appears to be by the end of this year.

Only two organizations — the EC and the U.S. GPS Industry Council (USGIC) — responded to the April 15 Federal Register notice inviting comments on six questions regarding U.S. equipment manufacturers’ ability to participate in Europe’s GNSS program. The invitation specifically identified three sections — Articles 5, 6, and 8 — of the 2004 Agreement on the Promotion, Provision and Use of Galileo and GPS Satellite-Based Navigation Systems and Related Applications between the European Community (EC) and the United States.

The GPS-Galileo agreement includes provisions that call for a “non-discriminatory approach” with respect to trade in civil satellite navigation and timing-related goods and services, including unrestricted access to GPS and Galileo open service signals and equal access to the information necessary to develop user equipment for commercial purposes. The GPS-Galileo Agreement establishes several bilateral working groups, including a working group on trade and civil applications (“Working Group B”) that addresses the commercialization/competitiveness issues specifically.

Although the USTR request for comment focused primarily on Galileo user equipment and simulators, competitive access of U.S. industry to the Galileo system development also has raised concern. In its comments, the EC noted that U.S. companies are among the suppliers for R&D activities underway during the Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) phase and “during the procurement of the . . . FOC, we also anticipate possible US suppliers in the supply chains.”

Galileo Simulators: Selling Quietly
On the subject of allowing manufacturers of GNSS simulators developed under the Galileo R&D program to sell equipment to receiver manufacturers, in comments to the USTR, the EC said that “[d]ecisions relative to this area are close to adoption. . . .”

Simulators replicate the signals (including frequency bands and modulation schemes) used by the Galileo satellites, allowing receiver designers to test and validate their equipment. The status of simulator sales is important because is typically takes a GNSS equipment manufacturer 18 to 24 months to develop new, market-ready user equipment.

As the report to Congress states, “The United States first raised the Galileo signal simulator issue during the July 2008 meeting of Working Group B. Upon a request by the EC delegation for more information, the U.S. co-chair sent the EC a letter in August 2008 proposing that, to accelerate worldwide development and acceptance of Galileo user equipment, the EC authorize immediate commercial sales of Galileo Open Service signal simulators. While initial discussions of the proposal were positive, the EC has not provided a formal response to the U.S. proposal.”

In fact, it appears that Galileo-capable simulators have quietly been reaching the market in recent months without benefit of any official authorization.

“We are very pleased to inform you that . . . our member companies have reported that the European manufacturers of GNSS test simulators now are exporting their product with the Galileo Open Service (“OS”) signal capability,” Mike Swiek, USGIC executive secretary, wrote to the USTR. “Member companies also have reported that they have received the Galileo OS signal component for their test simulators.

“This is most welcome progress,” Swiek continued, “and we appreciate the efforts of the European Commission . . . and Galileo authorities to make available access to this essential GNSS test simulation technology. At this time, however, we are unable to locate an official EC statement authorizing the export of fully functional Galileo test simulators.”

According to the USTR, U.S. industry also faces challenges in obtaining information necessary to develop equipment for the other services provided by Galileo: the safety-of-life service, the public regulated service (PRS), and the commercial service (CS). These signals are expected to be functional on the four IOV satellites planned for launch in late 2010/early 2011.
In his comments, Swiek expressed the industry council’s particular concern about “the outstanding need to complete the functionality of these test simulators by adding the capability to test the unpublished Galileo commercially encrypted E6 signal.”

Noting that ESA subcontractors and members of the Galileo consortia have access to the Galileo signals and test simulation to build Galileo receivers to support the development of the Galileo system, Swiek added, “If the EC grants a commercial license to all other user equipment manufacturers at the same time, including the Galileo GNSS simulator manufacturers, this will not provide fair and equivalent access to the commercially encrypted E6 signal to allow user equipment manufacturers to develop and test Galileo products having the same Galileo capability for market introduction in the same timeframe.”

The EC in its comments acknowledged that development of the relevant technical specifications for these other services has lagged behind that of the open service, but reiterated its intention to make such information accessible to manufacturers on a non-discriminatory basis once it is available.

USTR told Congress that, in cooperation with other U.S. agencies, the office will continue to monitor the manner in which the EC releases information for the open service and other Galileo signals “to ensure that U.S. equipment manufacturers are not placed at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis European and other equipment manufacturers.” It will also encourage more frequent meetings of Working Group B, “recognizing that it is the primary venue for bilateral discussions on trade and civil applications related to GPS and Galileo.”

With the scheduled launch of the first operational Galileo satellites potentially less than 18 months away, the USTR report concludes, “it is critical that the EC ensures that all parties have equal access to information necessary to design and build Galileo compatible equipment.”

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The GPS Wing is reaching out to receiver manufacturers and the user community to gather comments on the SVN49 signal anomaly and the Air Force’s provisional solution to the problem.

Despite earlier news reports suggesting that the problem, which has kept the latest GPS satellite from being declared operational, was on its way to being solved, a GPS Wing spokesperson characterized the remedy of altering the satellite’s broadcast orbital position (ephemeris) and time as only a “partial fix.” Indeed, high-precision dual-frequency users, such as those in the International GNSS Service, may continue to encounter difficulties in handling the SVN49 signal.

The GPS Wing is reaching out to receiver manufacturers and the user community to gather comments on the SVN49 signal anomaly and the Air Force’s provisional solution to the problem.

Despite earlier news reports suggesting that the problem, which has kept the latest GPS satellite from being declared operational, was on its way to being solved, a GPS Wing spokesperson characterized the remedy of altering the satellite’s broadcast orbital position (ephemeris) and time as only a “partial fix.” Indeed, high-precision dual-frequency users, such as those in the International GNSS Service, may continue to encounter difficulties in handling the SVN49 signal.

First detected April 10, the anomaly is caused by a signal being reflected from a filter into an auxiliary port through which the new L5 demonstration signal travels. The resulting multipath effect is producing higher than normal pseudorange errors, particularly noticeable on L1 signals, that vary with the elevation of the satellite in the sky.

An article by authors at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) to appear in the forthcoming issue of Inside GNSS (and now available on our website) describes the nature of the anomaly and the effects of Air Force efforts thus far to correct it, as well ESOC’s own method for overcoming the resulting problems.

The GPS Wing has engaged GNSS navigation consultant Tom Stansell to develop a presentation that explains the problem and its effects and to conduct interviews with user equipment manufacturers and other organizations in order to get their perspectives on the problem and possible solutions.

According to the presentation released by the Wing, under normal operation the antenna coupler and array are designed to shape the radiated power from J1 to provide as uniform a signal power density over the Earth as possible.

An inner ring of four antenna elements transmits most of the L1 and L2 power from J1 with a broad pattern. An outer ring of eight elements transmits a sharper pattern, but with a weaker signal.

At higher elevation angles, the outer ring transmits the signal in the opposite phase in order to reduce the radiated power. Otherwise, the signal power would be too strong at high elevation angles and not strong enough at low angles.

However, modifications made in the course of installing an L5 demonstration payload on the Block IIR-M(20) satellite — designated SVN49 once it was in orbit —allows some of the L1 and L2 signals to exit through an auxiliary port (J2) rather than the intended J1 port.

This portion of the signal is reflected from the L5 filter and then transmitted from the J2 port with 30-nanosecond delay —. Most of the power from J2 goes to the outer ring of elements in the transmit antenna with less going to the inner ring — the inverse power distribution from J1.

As a result, much weaker, delayed, L1 and L2 signals are transmitted from the J2 port. The pattern has a null at moderate angles; so, polarity reverses between low and high elevation angles.

This situation effectively creates a multipath signal with about a 30-nanosecond delay and signal power that is 14 to 38 decibels weaker than the direct signal, depending on the satellite elevation. This delay is smaller than that which can be handled by the correlator spacing in most GPS receivers, causing a code correlation error that in turn creates substantial signal-tracking problems and position errors.

In order to reduce the elevation-dependent tracking residuals, the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) in the GPS Master Control Station at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, has experimented with placing the antenna phase center about 152 meters above the satellite rather than slightly below as normal.

A Kalman filter in the satellite’s navigation payload then provides orbit and clock parameters that best fit the tracking data. Over the next few weeks, 2SOPS will experiment with different values transmitted in the navigation messages.

Further complicating the situation are differences in the ways that various receiver manufacturers implement their equipment’s signal-tracking and positioning. For example, the ESOC researchers reported that two receiver models from Trimble do not show the SVN49 data anomaly or, at least, show it at a much less pronounced level.

Some experts are worried by this different behavior of receivers, however, because developing receiver-dependent corrections to handle the anomaly could create a variety of problems. Moreover, the signal anomaly may not prove to be stable over time, which would complicate both system- and receiver-level solutions.

According to the GPS Wing, GNSS simulator manufacturer Spirent Federal is preparing a scenario, based on the SVN49 error models, to simulate the SVN-49 problem and enable laboratory testing.

The scenario, which will be directly available from Spirent on request, provides normal L1 and L2 signals plus a delayed signal with the proper relative amplitude and phase relationships as a function of elevation angle in accordance with these models.

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When GPS reference receivers at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) detected a 150-meter error in the broadcast ephemerides (orbital position) for the latest GPS satellite — Space Vehicle Number 49 or SVN49 — scientists there assumed that a problem had arisen with the spacecraft’s navigation payload.

After all, coupled with an apparent 500-nanosecond clock error, the ephemerides could produce many kilometers of errors for navigation receivers.

When GPS reference receivers at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) detected a 150-meter error in the broadcast ephemerides (orbital position) for the latest GPS satellite — Space Vehicle Number 49 or SVN49 — scientists there assumed that a problem had arisen with the spacecraft’s navigation payload.

After all, coupled with an apparent 500-nanosecond clock error, the ephemerides could produce many kilometers of errors for navigation receivers.

Turns out, however, that the presumed “bug” was in fact a feature of the U.S. Air Force efforts to correct the signal anomaly first detected April 10 on SVN49. That anomaly produced elevation-dependent pseudorange errors, particularly for transmissions at the L1 frequency, according to the GPS Wing — that is, the pseudorange errors changed with the angle of elevation of the satellite as it passed through the sky.

An article in the forthcoming (July/August) issue of Inside GNSS (and available now on our website) describes the nature of the anomaly and the effects of the proposed solution. Two articles in the current (May/June) issue of Inside GNSS also describe the pseudorange anomaly.

According to industry sources, and the GPS Wing, a decision to run power to the L5 transmitter through an existing 50-ohm port rather than build in new circuitry created an instability in the resulting antenna phase and group delay centers.

The tweaking of the satellite broadcast ephemerides and time is designed to reduce the pseudorange error to within the specifications for GPS Standard Positioning Service and Precise Positioning Service.

Lockheed Martin modified the SV, a modernized Block II replenishment series satellite designated IIR-20(M), to accommodate the L5 demonstration payload in order to meet an International Telecommunications Union deadline for establishing GPS primacy in the band. ITT Corporation built the navigation payload for the spacecraft as it has for all GPS satellites.

If no major issues are observed during a planned test campaign to evaluate the fix, the GPS Wing says it expects that SVN49 will join the GPS constellation in October.

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Development and acquisition of military GPS user equipment (MGUE) are taking on new dimensions across the board — institutionally, procedurally, and technologically.

Along the way, the changes could redefine relationships within the Department of Defense (DoD) and between the agency and industry.

At the agency level, a proposal is forthcoming to “stand up” a positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) user equipment joint program office (JPO) that would incorporate UE responsibilities (and budgets) now exercised by the GPS Wing (GPSW).

Development and acquisition of military GPS user equipment (MGUE) are taking on new dimensions across the board — institutionally, procedurally, and technologically.

Along the way, the changes could redefine relationships within the Department of Defense (DoD) and between the agency and industry.

At the agency level, a proposal is forthcoming to “stand up” a positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) user equipment joint program office (JPO) that would incorporate UE responsibilities (and budgets) now exercised by the GPS Wing (GPSW).

At the product level, end user equipment would take on more application-specific, “friendlier” features that support the distinct conditions of military operating environments. Tying these elements together, the Air Force is working to develop a “flexible” acquisition approach that will allow development of a “family of receiver solutions.”

Along the way, the DoD is trying to catch up with technical advances in consumer products, align equipment development timelines with those of the space and operational control segments, and accommodate customer demands from the various branches and service personnel in the field.

The target of the technology effort would be a common GPS module (CGM) that emulates the commercial development paradigm by focusing on a GPS engine with which product integrators can build applications, according to an April 16 brief by Col. Don Wussler, GPSW vice commander, speaking at a Space and Missile Systems Center industry day at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

Initial contracts would deliver a module and a CGM-based card. The CGM itself would be incorporated into lead platforms chosen by the various branches and hundreds of mission-specific applications.

The CGM-based card is intended for than 70,000 ground-embedded platforms — tanks, personnel carriers, and so forth. MGUE would follow on the GPS modernized user equipment (MUE) acquisition now under way.

The Way Things Are
Three vendors — L3/Interstate, Rockwell Collins, and Raytheon — currently are working on MUE technology demonstration contracts from the GPS Wing. Prototype hardware deliveries begin in early Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10).

According to testimony by Maj. Gen. Neil McCasland, director of space acquisition for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, at a May 7 congressional hearing, all three vendors are developing prototype hardware capable of receiving new and existing GPS signals, and each has conducted a critical design review.

"Based on the technology demonstration work, our approach to MGUE development and integration will emphasize modularity in the design to enable integration into the large number of end user applications and platforms. Available in 2015, these lighter, faster new receivers will be reprogrammable and include security and jam-resistant improvements," McCasland said.

In a May 14 presentation to the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee Advisory Board, Brig. Gen, John Hyten, the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) director of requirements, said that an MGUE requirements document entered staffing in May, co-authored by AFSPC and the individual military services.

End user equipment requirements are being documented in operational domains (ground, air, maritime, and space) and will go through an approval process concurrent with an updated GPS III capabilities development document (CDD).

The GPSW would retain responsibility for developing specifications — including a GPS Wing–owned, nonproprietary operating interface — and delivering a baseline CGM. The wing would pay for a limited number of companies to develop the core modules, certify the security components, provide engineering assistance, and oversee technology maturation.

In line with the president’s recent budget proposals, an Air Force research, development, test, and evaluation (RTD&E) “justification” document for MGUE expenditures released in May calls for $80 million in FY09 spending for the MGUE program and $77 million in FY10.

The FY08 expenditure amounted to $106.5 million. Budget for the MGUE effort continues the Y-code/M-code/coarse-acquisition (YMCA) proof-of-concept development initiated with the earlier and ongoing modernized user equipment (MUE) program.

However, large-scale production of the CGM is not scheduled to take place until FY15. That timeline underlies a good deal of the emphasis given by a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) for the Air Force to better “synchronize” the space, ground, and user equipment aspects of the GPS program.

The Way Things Were
In the past, the GPSW’s predecessor organization, the GPS JPO, oversaw creation of platform-specific equipment such as the miniaturized airborne receiver (MAGR), combat survivor-evader locator (CSEL, for rescue of downed pilots), and the handheld defense advanced GPS receiver (DAGR).

A later generation of equipment added more OEM-like form factors including the ground-based GPS receiver application module (GB-GRAM) and the GPS receiver application module–standard electronics module (GRAM-SEM), with the JPO offering development contracts rather than production contracts.

On April 30, Rockwell Collins announced that it had delivered its 300,000th DAGR and recently received a $450 million follow-on contract to provide more of the receivers through 2016.

Despite this widespread availability, however, the DAGR has come in for considerable criticism in recent statements by DoD officials and at the GPS Partnership Council meeting held in early May, reflecting dissatisfaction expressed by soldiers in the field. The complaints reportedly revolve around the number of buttons that need to be pushed while watching the DAGR display in order to get a position fix.

Such sentiments are driven on one hand by technology innovations in commercial and consumer GPS products that have outstripped the more deliberate and bureaucratic processes of DoD acquisition and, on the other, by military users’ familiarity with these consumer products.

The picture of a foot soldier dashing down an Iraqi street or up an Afghan hillside with a rifle in one hand and a Garmin or TomTom unit in the other is no longer the fantasy of a marketing director but daily reality.

The Way Things May Be
Moving further from the one-size-fits-all tendencies of past acquisitions, the new approach appears likely to place acquisition officials in the various services in a stronger position to specify branch-specific needs and equipment designs. Companies would use the operating interface to build products under contracts with the services.

Conceivably, such an approach could widen the number of companies participating in MGUE production beyond the traditional DoD suppliers already involved in military UE programs. (Wussler’s SMC industry day presentation featured the logos of Garmin and TomTom as examples of commercial integrators.)

However, such companies would need to meet the security verification and domestic manufacturing requirements for DoD equipment, as well as the very different contracting processes and timelines of military buyers.

An industry source indicated that GPSW leaders may even be thinking in terms of an intellectual property (IP) licensing approach to future GPS technology acquisition, such as is common in GPS consumer application markets.

As for the concept of a PNT JPO, the initiative is supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD/NII), which was designated by the Deputy Secretary of Defense as the authority responsible for all aspects of GPS. This new entity would restore the multi-service nature of the acquisitions agency under the GPS JPO, which became a predominately Air Force–led effort as the GPS Wing.

Broadening the focus from GPS to PNT also reflects the AFSPC restructuring last year to create a series of “command leads” headed by colonels, including a PNT command lead rather than a GPS command. (A 2004 presidential national security directive had previously replaced the Interagency GPS Executive Board with the Space-Based PNT Executive Committee.) And it aligns with the ongoing effort to create a National PNT Architecture strategy, with proposals expected in August for civil and DoD implementation plans.

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