Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Although a substantial market appears a few years away, two market studies are forecasting great things for indoor positioning systems that will augment or replace GNSS in signal-challenged environments.
By Inside GNSS
Averna RP-5300 record & playback systemAverna announced today (June 27, 2013) that the European Space Agency (ESA) has selected the company’s record and playback solution for signal analysis and monitoring of Galileo satellites.
By Inside GNSS
A geolocation industry–oriented nonprofit group is proposing that private companies adopt a set of 13 guidelines to help them protect the public and their bottom lines from breaches of geolocation privacy.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent GSS6425Spirent Communications has launched its GSS6425 multi-frequency GNSS record and playback (RPS) test system, a self-contained and portable unit that allows users to record and play back data in the field without the need for an additional PC or external power.
The GSS6425 provides customers with RF recordings on for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, and QZSS (Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) constellations, including L1, L2, and L5 frequencies representing more than 30 megahertz of bandwidth.
By Inside GNSS
Member states of the European Patent OrganizationThe European Patent Office will award a brand-new prize for the best patented satellite technology in the 2013 European Satellite Navigation competition, or Galileo Masters.
The winner – or winners -will receive a detailed economic study on the market potential of theirinvention. They will also have chance at the EPO’s 2014 European Inventor Award.
By Inside GNSS
A former officer in the Italian Air Force, Antonio Tajani has been vice-president of the European Commission (EC) since May 2008. Tajani is, however, also the current European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, which makes him top man at the European Union (EU) directorate-general that oversees the Europoean GNSS programs, particularly Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).
By Inside GNSS
Three state government associations are teaming up with privacy advocates and drone proponents to craft legislation potentially critical to opening the country to the unmanned aircraft industry.
The effort, which is being spearheaded by the Aerospace States Association (ASA), could be instrumental in heading off a potentially devastating backlash against unmanned aerial systems (UAS) fueled by privacy concerns. GNSS technology is a leading candidate for UAS guidance, navigation, and control systems for many types of unmanned aircraft.
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
1. PESTS
State of California, USA
√ The California Agriculture department is using collective intelligence and GPS to “report a pest.” State residents can download the new CDFA smartphone app and use it to photograph and report bad bugs when they see ‘em. Those with iPhones can choose to send GPS coordinates for quick response to invasive pest emergencies.
Di Qiu at the site of her current employerSIDEBAR: Di Qiu’s Compass Points
Landing all-weather aircraft safely in storms. Protecting sensitive data not only through encryption but based on the location at which it is being accessed. Ensuring that accurate and timely information reaches first responders responding to emergencies.
Although still in the early part of her career, Di Qiu has already made significant contributions to these crucial applications of navigation technology.
By Inside GNSS
It’s all about the backups now. The alternatives. The gap-fillers.
Back in the 1990s, when I first came across the U.S. Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP), I learned that the rise of the Global Positioning System drove the biannual FRP process because of the expectation that GPS would enable the government to shut down many pieces in the hodgepodge of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems.
By Inside GNSS
Q: How do you deal with timing differences between GNSSs?
A: All GNSSs inherently depend on precise timekeeping to measure the satellite/receiver time of flight of signal propagation with sufficient accuracy to compute ranges/distances for multilateration calculations. Each GNSS ground segment therefore dedicates considerable effort to maintaining a highly stable atomic time scale as well as the corresponding offset to global standards such as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
By Inside GNSS
Inside GNSS will host an applications-oriented web seminar on GNSS and inertial integrated systems on Tuesday, June 18.
The free event is sponsored by KVH Industries.
Webinar presenters are Xavier Orr, an R&D engineer of 3D navigation technologies at Advanced Navigation in Australia and Andrey Soloviev, principal at Qunav LLC and a research engineer who focuses on multi-sensor integration for navigation applications.
GNSS Solutions editor and University of Calgary professor Mark Petovello moderates.
Major changes for the annual PTTI meeting this year – it will be held on the West Coast, in the high-tech concentration of Seattle’s east side and it has come under the wing of the Institute of Navigation, the new organizer of the event.
PTTI 2013, the 45th systems and applications meeting for Precise Time and Time Interval managers, system engineers and program planners, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue on December 2 through 5.
By Inside GNSS
