Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
L-3 Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC), Anaheim, California, has been awarded a preproduction contract for Advanced Three-Dimension Locators by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advanced Research Project Agency. The contract represents an initial step by DHS to provide a solution for accurately identifying the location of emergency response personnel in disaster or emergency situations.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Air Force has awarded two $50 million contracts to Boeing and Lockheed Martin to execute a system design review for the next-generation GPS space segment program, GPS Block III.
The contracts come on the heels of both companies successfully completing system requirements reviews in November 2006. Those reviews, part of a $10 million follow-on order to a Phase A Concept Development Contract awarded in 2004, assessed Boeing’s and Lockheed’s ability to mitigate development and delivery risks associated with building the Block III satellites.
By Inside GNSS
The Loran terrestrial radionavigation system might well be pulled back from its 12-year-long dance on the brink of extinction, while the Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS) radiobeacon-based augmentation system may have finally been pushed over the edge.
By Inside GNSS
The GPS Block IIF program continues to lose ground, with first launch of a satellite now projected as no sooner than May 2008 and as late as January 2009 in a “worst case,” scenario, according to the U.S. Air Force. Program costs are also increasing.
By Inside GNSS
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors appear to be getting closer to fielding GPS-aided precision guidance systems that can withstand the arduous requirements of artillery shells and other fired munitions.
By Inside GNSS
Okay, now it’s official: The GPS Block III contract award has been delayed from Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) to Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07).
By Inside GNSS
The GPS program appears to be struggling on several fronts recently.
GPS III, the next-generation modernization project for the space and ground segments, is facing renewed uncertainty and possible schedule delays. At the same time, anticipated first launch of the follow-on block of satellites (Block IIF) with the new civil L5 signal has been postponed.
By Inside GNSS
The Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget proposal for the Department of Defense (DoD), announced in February, allocates $315,314,000 in advanced technology development for GPS, including work on the GPS III program. If approved by Congress, that would represent a sizable increase from the FY06 expenditures of more than $85 million and $33 million in FY05.
By Inside GNSS
Civil GPS users now have a second full signal available to them — albeit on only one satellite and “at the user’s own risk” — courtesy of the first modernized Block IIR (IIR- 14M) spacecraft launched last September. And the world’s geodetic community is already moving to take advantage of it with announcement of an addendum to the receiver autonomous exchange (RINEX) format used to combine high-precision position data from different types of GPS receivers.
By Inside GNSS
