Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
GNSS signals are vulnerable to interference due to being extremely weak when received on Earth’s surface. Therefore, even a low-power interference signal can easily disrupt the operation of commercial GNSS receivers within a range of several kilometers.
By Inside GNSS
Europe’s 11th and 12th Galileo satellites being prepared for launch in the clean room at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Photo: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Vidéo du CSG/Hrouffie De FrancisciEurope’s latest navigation satellites, launched last December, have been officially commissioned into the Galileo constellation, and are now broadcasting working navigation signals.
Galileos 11 and 12 were launched together on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 17 December.
The satellites’ navigation payloads were submitted to a gamut of tests, centered on the European Space Agency’s Redu center in Belgium, which possesses a 20 meter-diameter antenna to analyze the satellites’ signals in great detail.
By Inside GNSS
The European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2016 — this year’s incarnation of the largest international competition for commercial GNSS applications — is once again looking for outstanding ideas and business models. Entries will be accepted from until June 30 at the ESNC website.
Major institutions and regional partners are set to award prizes worth a total of €1 million in more than 25 categories.
By Inside GNSS
The European Union (EU) has reached a deal with the British Ministry of Defense resolving a patent issue that could have limited the adoption of signals from the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation constellation.
"The European Commission [EC] has secured access to UK-owned patents related to Galileo signal in space technologies which will allow for their use by chipset and receiver manufacturers on a royalty free basis," according to a joint UL/EC statement supplied by a spokesperson for the UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
Dangerous Games in Rio, Animal Trackers, Chinese Logistics and The Radiation Club
By Inside GNSS
Prof. Dr. Günter HeinA 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.
By Günter W. Hein
At the 2015 symposiumThe German Institute of Navigation’s (DGON) 2016 symposium on inertial sensors and systems, ISS, and gyro technology will take place in Tulla Hall at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on September 20 and 21.
As modern systems for navigation, localization and guidance are increasingly making use of supporting data from non-inertial sensors, the conference particularly appreciates papers on hybrid systems, those that fuse inertial with GNSS, visual, infrared, radar or other sensors.
By Inside GNSS
OriginGPS has launched its Multi Micro Spider multi-GNSS module, which features a 5.6 x 5.6-millimeter footprint and 2.65-millimeter height.
Like its predecessor, the Multi Micro Hornet (which measured 10 x 10 x 6.1 millimeters), the ORG4033 uses MediaTek’s MT3333 and is positioned for applications that require minimal power consumption and ultra-small form factors, ranging from wearables to drones. Unlike the Hornet, the Multi Micro Spider supports Europe’s Galileo system as well as GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou.
By Inside GNSS
Representatives of the world’s GNSS providers outlined the current plans and progress of their systems at the 2016 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit in Germany.
BeiDou has entered its transition period from Phase II to Phase III, with test and validation of the next phase with its new signal structures and frequencies taking place through the second half of 2017, said Jun Shen, deputy director for International Research at the China Satellite Navigation Office. In the meantime, “there will be a coexisting of Phase II/III BeiDou signals.
By Inside GNSS
Europe’s Galileo program has advanced the schedule for its 2016 satellite launches. Another pair of Galileo navigation satellites is scheduled for launch by Soyuz rocket in May, ahead of a quartet on an Ariane 5 in the autumn, bringing the Galileo system a step closer to operational use.
The European Commission asked the European Space Agency (ESA) to look into the feasibility of a Soyuz launch in the first half of the year to speed up the deployment of the constellation and to increase its robustness for delivering initial services.
By Inside GNSS
ENAC’s third international technical symposium on navigation and timing will take place on November 15 and 16, 2016 at the French Civil Aviation University in Toulouse, France. The university is at 7 Avenue Edouard Belin in the city’s “Complexe Scientifique de Rangueil. “
The event features presentations by world experts on GNSS and round tables to facilitate discussion between the audience and the speakers.
By Inside GNSS
This two-day GEOMETOC workshop will take place on October 19, 20 and 21 at the PVA Expo Praha in Prague, Czech Republic. It is part of the Future Forces 2016 International Exhibition (FF16) supported by NATO, the European GNSS Agency and other agencies.
The topic areas are:
By Inside GNSS
Old City Hall of The Hague, The NetherlandsUnder the auspices of the 2016 Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU, the fourth edition of European Space Solutions will take place at the World Forum Convention Centre from May 30 to June 3, 2016 in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Online registration is available.
By Inside GNSS
