Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Steve Koles, Hemisphere GPS president & CEOHemisphere GPS has reported a 35 percent increase in revenues in 2008 — to a company record of US$72.7 million, versus $53.7 million the previous year. According to the company, 2008 growth was driven by strong market fundamentals in agriculture, including higher farm incomes.
By Inside GNSS
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . .
Discovery of a power anomaly in signal generator of the first GPS Block IIF space vehicle (SV) has thrown a new wrinkle into the long-delayed follow-on generation of spacecraft.
Meanwhile, it’s all systems go (and all fingers crossed) for launch of a modernized Block IIR satellite IIR-20(M) with the demonstration L5 navigation payload designed to secure priority GPS access to the frequency.
By Inside GNSS
The tenth International Conference on Precision Agriculture will take place July 18-21 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver, Colorado USA. It is cosponsored by Colorado State University, the International Plant Nutrition Institute, and the Foundation for Agronomic Research.
Papers include those on guidance, autosteer and GPS, modeling and geo-statistics and engineering technologies and advances.
For technical questions , contact conference chair Raj Khosia at the telephone number or email below.
By Inside GNSS
A sophisticated vendor matrix that measures qualitative as well as quantitative factors ranks Broadcom as the leading supplier of GPS chips worldwide.
SiRF Technology and Texas Instruments came in second and third in the GPS Integrated Circuit Manufacturer Vendor Matrix, developed by ABI Research based in Oyster Bay, New York, with results announced today (March 12, 2009).
By Inside GNSS
Paul Verhoef, European Commission (left), and Yin Jun, China Ministry of Science and Technology
Highlights of the 2009 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit (March 3- 5): Russia will place its first CDMA signal on the GLONASS L3 frequency that overlaps the European Galileo E5b spectrum; China plans to launch three Compass satellites this year and seven more next year to provide a regional capability for Compass/Beidou, followed by completion of the full 30-MEO, 5-GEO constellation after 2015 and before 2020; Galileo program discussions revealed tensions around negotiations with China about a frequency overlay of Compass signals on the security-oriented Public Regulated Service as well as the question of whether the costs to build Galileo can be kept within the €3.4-billion limit agreed by the European Council and the European Parliament; the GPS Block IIR-20(M) satellite with an L5 demonstration payload will be launched later this month in what may be the program’s last chance to secure primary GPS access to the frequency.
Ready for another round?
President Obama appears to have weighed in on the long-running Loran/eLoran debate — on the side of terminating the terrestrial radionavigation system and, apparently, its enhanced version that had been proposed as a backup to GPS.
In a February 26 message to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) members, Vice-Admiral V. S. Crea, USCG Vice Commandant and Chief Operating Officer, said the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) budget outlined in a document sent to Congress calls for termination of Loran-C in the coming year.
By Glen Gibbons
Maybe it was just poor timing.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s passing comment that systems for assessing fees based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rather than gasoline taxes was quickly shot down by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs in a February 20 news conference.
On February 26, however, the congressionally mandated National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission (NSTIFC) came out with a recommendation the United States should do exactly that — and pointed firmly to GNSS systems as a key enabling technology for accomplishing such a transition.
By Glen Gibbons
The 2009 GNSS conference will focus on problems and vulnerabilities, and in particular, on developments aiming to improve the accuracy and reliability of the various GNSSes. It will take place on the resort island of Krk during the Adriatic high season.
Two special sessions will be organised in order to address particular causes of GNSS vulnerabilities: Space Weather and Ionospheric Effects on GNSS, and Safety Critical Applications (concerning primarily the ITS).
By Inside GNSS
u-blox PCI-5S and PCM-5Su-blox has announced the immediate availability of a GPS “PCI Express Mini” card. The card enables laptops, netbooks, mobile Internet devices, and “Ultra Mobile” PC OEMs to provide GPS and location-based services such as personal navigation, services/people finder, and geo-tagging.
Sales of mobile PCs with integrated GPS are projected to grow from 3 million units in 2007 to 45 million units in 2011, according to the company.
By Glen Gibbons
CellGuide, a Rehovot, Israel–based fables semiconductor manufacturer of highly integrated host-based GPS/GNSS receivers, has introduced the RAMON GPS module.
Measuring 5.4 x 4.6 x 1.1 millimeters, the RAMON module includes both active and passive components in a single fully integrated package, meeting the demanding design and cost requirements of device manufacturers.
By Glen Gibbons
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHoodOne change that apparently won’t happen under the Obama administration is replacing the federal gasoline tax with a GPS-monitored mileage fee.
In an interview with the Associated Press last week, U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) Secretary Ray LaHood had suggested that his agency should look at a “vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled.”
It was one of the shortest flights of a trial balloon so far this year.
By Glen Gibbons
Rx Networks, Inc., a Vancouver, B.C., Canada–based provider of assisted-GPS (AGPS) technology has announced the availability of its GPStream Secure User Plane 1.0 Light Edition (SUPL 1.0 LE) data service. The company has also announced that Infineon Technologies AG uses an optimized version of the company’s GPStream Mobile Suite to work with Infineon’s next-generation XPOSYS GPS chipset technology.
By Glen Gibbons
Racelogic Ltd., of Buckingham, United Kingdom, has introduced LabSat, a one-box system designed to record and replay real-world GPS data for use in designing and validating GPS products.
By Glen Gibbons
