Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Nominal architecture of a GPS/Galileo PRS receiverThe United States and the European Union are talking about how U.S. agencies might use the secure signal planned for Galileo to better fulfill their various responsibilities.
By Dee Ann Divis
Launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probe satellitesNASA launched its Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) yesterday (August 30, 2012), with a scientific mission to explore the planet’s radiation belts, where solar storms can amplify space weather effects, posing dangers to GPS satellites, communications, and human spaceflight.
By Inside GNSS
A cross-industry group comprising 22 companies has launched the In-Location Alliance to drive technology innovation and market adoption of high-accuracy indoor positioning solutions such as Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi in environments where GNSS has difficulty providing service.
Established August 23, alliance members include leading handset manufacturers Nokia and Samsung as well as chipset providers, among them GNSS and mixed-signal RF companies Qualcomm, CSR (most of whose assets were recently acquired by Samsung), and Broadcom.
By Inside GNSS
Abstract submission for the 5th International Conference on Spacecraft Formation Flying Missions and Technologies (SFFMT 2013) is now open. Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2012. Organized by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Space Operations Center (GSOC), the event is supported by numerous national space agencies and related aerospace organizations. Organizations interested in cosponsoring the event should contact the chairman for SFFMT 2013, Simone D’Amico, of DLR-GSOC.
By Inside GNSS
NavtechGPS will host its 11th Annual Open Mic Night on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, from 8 p.m. to midnight during the ION GNSS 2012 conference at none other than the well-known Cannery Ballroom at the Mercy Lounge on Cannery Row. This musical evening will include performances by ION’s own Augmentations — complete with back-up singers, the Pseudorandom Noise, together with other talented folks from the conference. In addition to live music and a night of fun and Karaoke, five $100 cash prizes will be raffled off.
By Inside GNSS
Applanix POSTrack 310Applanix introduced a new position and orientation system and flight management system (FMS) for airborne mapping today (August 27, 2012) at the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) 2012 Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
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. PAPER CUTS
Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania
√ State transportation departments in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Ohio are printing fewer state highway maps, says the Associated Press. Washington did away with them entirely. Blame it on the double whammy of public sector budget cuts and smartphone, handheld, and in-car GPS. But there are lots of holdouts. As one Indiana man said, without a paper map, “You’re beholden to the GPS lady, you know?”
The nation’s top GPS experts pressed the Air Force this week to turn on the full capability of the L2C civil GPS signal that the military has been broadcasting without a navigation message despite having had signal-equipped satellites on orbit for years.
By Inside GNSS
To help counter pressures from federal budget cutters and wireless advocates searching for more broadband spectrum, the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board is crafting a study documenting the economic benefits of GPS.
“We have a new assignment . . . to discover and disclose the economic contributions of the Global Positioning System,” Chairman Jim Schlesinger told the board at an August 15, 1012 meeting of the advisory board.
By Dee Ann Divis
A new U.S. appellate court decision could bring the issue of warrantless tracking of suspects using GPS and other positioning data derived from mobile phones back before the Supreme Court.
And if the case — United States of America v. Melvin Skinner — is appealed to and accepted for review by the “Supremes,” they would probably have an opportunity to more directly address the question of whether U.S. citizens have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in their personal location information garnered surreptitiously from GPS-enabled cell phones by police.
By Inside GNSS
Spirent Communications has launched of its SimSENSOR MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) sensor simulation software.
By Inside GNSS
China will build a testing and certification network for its BeiDou satellite navigation system over the next three years as part of an effort to make the GNSS system more competitive globally.
By Inside GNSS
L-3 Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC) will conduct an operational demonstration of its new TruTrak Evolution (TTE) Type II Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) GPS receiver at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2012 conference taking place this week (August 6–9, 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The demonstration will highlight the new TruTrak receiver’s multi-use capabilities as a high-performing Ground-Based GPS Receiver Applications Module (GB-GRAM) for use on UAS platforms and precision weapons.
By Inside GNSS
