Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
GPS Space Service Volume (SSV) Requirements/Performance ParametersNew space missions such as the robotic repair and recovery of damaged or errant communication satellites may become possible with the aid of an emerging class of receivers that is able to use GPS signals for navigation in orbits thousands of kilometers above the middle Earth orbit (MEO) GPS constellation itself.
By Dee Ann Divis
Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis has turned much of public opinion in the West against that country, in particular souring the relationship between the European Union (EU) and Russia. And, while the ceasefire signed in September technically is still in force, the EU-Russia rift is far from smoothed over.
By Peter Gutierrez
Tables 1, 2, 3 & 4Q: What are the actual performances of GNSS positioning using smartphone technology?
A: “Where I am?” is the typical question asked by a person when visiting a new city or unknown place. Knowing one’s own location is generally a basic necessity for people, both in indoors and outdoors.
By Inside GNSS
Dennis Odijk, Curtin UniversityThe availability of carrier phase tracking — counting the cycles of GNSS signals between satellites and a receiver — has long enabled high-precision users to achieve greater accuracy than using the navigation messages or pseudoranges. Improvements in high-end receivers and techniques such as real-time kinematic (RTK) and precise point positioning (PPP) have made once inconceivably accurate results almost routinely accessible.
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.
SIDEBAR: Locating a Distress Beacon Activated in Flight
By Inside GNSS
GPS III core structure at Lockheed Martin facility. Lockheed Martin photoThe launch of the first GPS III satellite could slip to as late as March 2017, further delaying a modernization program that already has been pushed back repeatedly by budget cuts and technical problems.
“The first GPS III launch is tentatively considered for the first half of FY17, based on booster availability and Air Force launch priorities,” a spokesman for the Space and Missile Systems Center told Inside GNSS.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. Trade Representative Michael FromanTariffs on GPS devices in more than 70 countries could disappear in a matter of months now that the U.S. and China have worked through an impasse on expanding the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).
By Inside GNSS
Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime TransportationProdded by Congress, the federal government is reexamining its decision to abandon eLoran, a network of ground stations capable of supplying essential timing and positioning data to power, phone, and other critical networks if something happed to GPS.
By Inside GNSS
[Updated December 15, 2014] The eighth GPS Block IIF navigation satellite launched on October 29 has completed its operational checkout and was set to healthy and usable on Friday (December 12, 2014). This brings the number of satellites transmitting the L2C signal to 15 and those transmitting the L5 signal to 8. The next GPS-IIF satellite, IIF-9/SVN-70 is tentatively scheduled for launch in March of 2015.
By Inside GNSS
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General of DG Enterprise. EC photoThe European Parliament voted yesterday (October 22, 2014) to accept President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker’s “last-chance” leadership for the European Commission (EC).
But the 11th-hour reshuffling of posts appears to leave Galileo without a clear-cut leader, at least at the political level — even as the Commission and its European Space Agency (ESA) partner have decided to give up the prospect of a December launch of two satellites.
By Inside GNSS
ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), from Satish Dhawan Space Center last Thursday (October 16, 2014 local time).
By Inside GNSS
Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, logistics and technologyPushed by Congress to upgrade to M-code, the U.S. Army is earmarking money for the new capability even as sequestration is forcing programs cuts, according to the service’s top acquisition official.
“We are heading towards the M-code capability,” said Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology. The Army has worked “our S&T (science and technology) pieces,” she said, noting that the Air Force was developing the necessary circuit cards through is Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) program.
By Inside GNSS
GPS pseudolite used in experiment at University of New South Wales Satellite Navigation and Positioning LabInternational aviation officials have asked U.S. experts to consider updating standards for GNSS aviation receivers to improve their ability to withstand interference from repeaters, pseudolites, and jammers.
Repeaters — generally used to extend navigation signals inside buildings where they would otherwise be blocked — rebroadcast GNSS satellite signals and therefore operate in the same frequency band. Although useful within a building, care must be taken to confined the repeater’s signal lest it confuse other receivers operating nearby.
By Inside GNSS
