201603 March/April 2016

Galileo & EGNOS Evolution
March 27, 2016

Galileo & EGNOS Evolution

Prof. Dr. Günter Hein

A global navigation satellite system seems like such solid thing, like the pyramids, perhaps, or a mountain. Permanent, fixed, immutable.

Nor is this surprising. After all, GNSS distinguishes itself from many other technologies of the moment by its grounding in a large and widespread infrastructure: a master control station, launch facilities, far-flung monitoring stations, the space segment with dozens of massive satellites that can operate 20 years or more as did a recently retired GPS Block IIA spacecraft.

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By Günter W. Hein
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Sandy Kennedy’s Compass Points

Return to main article: Sandy Kennedy: Here to Stay

COMPASS POINTS

Engineering specialties

Algorithm development, Kalman filtering, GNSS/INS integration, digital signal processing, embedded software, system integration

Favorite equation

Kennedy really likes the foundational differential equation, the basis of Kalman filtering, because it can become so many different things:

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By Inside GNSS
Sandy Kennedy: Here to Stay
March 18, 2016

Sandy Kennedy: Here to Stay

Sandy Kennedy and her husband Arlin Amundrud

>>Sandy Kennedy’s Compass Points

Sandy Kennedy grew up in Miami. Miami, Manitoba, Canada, that is — a town of 150 people with a school, a café, a defunct railroad station, and an ice skating rink.

Now she’s director and chief engineer in charge of receiver core cards at NovAtel Inc., a developer and manufacturer of high-precision GNSS products headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. It’s a long way from where she started, but then again, maybe not.

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By Inside GNSS
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GLONASS and PNT in Russia

The legal and regulatory framework of the Russian Federation covers not only the GLONASS system, but the country’s overall positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system as well.

The term PNT is a synonym for navigation activities as defined in the Federal Law on Navigation Activities. The PNT system in the Russian Federation is defined as the combination of administrative and technical means that provide spatial and time data to all user groups, with GLONASS as a key element.

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By Ingo Baumann
What are the fundamentals of an effective GNSS test plan?

What are the fundamentals of an effective GNSS test plan?

Q. What are the fundamentals of an effective GNSS test plan?  

A. One aspect of GNSS development that engineers often find challenging is the lack of common testing standards and procedures. This can make life difficult for the engineer tasked with constructing a test plan for a new GNSS-enabled system. How much testing is proportionate, at which stages of development? What are the key performance parameters to measure? What apparatus is best suited to the application, and what are the appropriate pass/fail criteria?

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By Inside GNSS
How Privatizing Air Traffic Control Could Affect Satellite Navigation’s Role in Aviation

How Privatizing Air Traffic Control Could Affect Satellite Navigation’s Role in Aviation

The satellite-based NextGen program is in trouble — no question about it.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic modernization effort will likely cost triple its original $40-billion program budget and need an extra decade — until 2035 or beyond — to reach completion, according to 2014 testimony by Department of Transportation (DoT) Inspector General Calvin Scovel.

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By Dee Ann Divis
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Air Force Considers Shifting GPS III Ground Control to Enterprise Ground Services
March 16, 2016

Air Force Considers Shifting GPS III Ground Control to Enterprise Ground Services

As the contractor for the new GPS ground system works its way through a make-or-break 90-day evaluation period, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is weighing whether it should look at leapfrogging past that program and shifting control of the newest GPS satellites to a new common ground system for Air Force space assets.

The Next-Generation Operational Control System or OCX, currently under development by Raytheon, is essential to integrating the GPS III satellites into the U.S. GNSS constellation and operating them at their full potential.

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By Inside GNSS
PNT ExCom to Write Requirements for GPS Backup

PNT ExCom to Write Requirements for GPS Backup

Harold Martin, director of National Coordination Office for PNT, at Munich SatNav Summit 2016

Addressing a long-unfulfilled presidential mandate, the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee (ExCom) has taken on reponsibility for initiating a process to identify and develop requirements for a complementary national PNT, in effect, a backup system to GPS in case of outages from natural or man-made events.

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By Inside GNSS
India Successfully Launches IRNSS 1F into Orbit
March 10, 2016

India Successfully Launches IRNSS 1F into Orbit

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced the successful launch today (March 10, 2016) of the sixth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

IRNSS-1F lifted off at 4:01 p.m. IST from the Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C32). The 1,425-kilograpm spacecraft will be placed in geostationary orbit at 32.5 degrees East longitude.

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By Inside GNSS
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