Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
PCTEL, Inc., announced today (January 5) that it has acquired Wi-Sys Communications Inc., an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada–based company that specializes in GPS antenna and receiver technology. PCTEL will pay $2.1 million for Wi-Sys and plans to fully integrate the latter company’s operations into its Antenna Products Group (APG).
By Glen Gibbons.jpg)
Juliana P. Blackwell (NOAA photo)Juliana P. Blackwell has taken up responsibilities as the new director of the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), where she will oversee the nation’s spatial reference system.
Blackwell takes up the post after serving for the past three years as chief of the NGS Observation and Analysis Division. She is the first woman to head the nation’s oldest federal science agency, established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast.
By Glen Gibbons
The space agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has awarded IFEN GmbH a contract to upgrade the signal at the Galileo Test and Development Environment (GATE) in Berchtesgaden, Germany.
By Glen Gibbons
Applanix Corporation has launched the POSPac MMS (Mobile Mapping Suite) 5.2, the latest release of its GNSS-aided inertial post-processing software for mobile mapping and surveying applications in multiple environments.
Applanix has announced that its POS AV products now support on-board OmniSTAR XP real-time differential GPS corrections using a purpose-built GNSS+L-band aircraft antenna and an embedded BD960 GNSS receiver.
By Glen Gibbons
Canadian GNSS manufacturer Baseband Technologies, Inc., has launched a “Build Your Own GPS Contest,” inviting would-be designers to submit brief written ideas for applications of the company’s software-based GPS receiver technologies.
Contest entrants write 500-word descriptions of an original proposal, suggestion, or hypothetical project may include images that help illustrate their concept. The deadline for entries is March 15, 2009.
By Glen Gibbons
Proton with three GLONASS-MsThe Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) successfully launched a Proton-M rocket and three GLONASS-M satellites at 10:53 a.m. (GMT) on December 25 from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft were placed into orbital plane 1 on the GLONASS constellation, where they will occupy slots 2, 3, and 8, according to the Roscosmos Information-Analytical Center.
By Glen Gibbons
Representatives from the world’s GNSS system and augmentation providers spent a sun-laden week in Pasadena, California, recently, advancing aspirations for their separate enterprises while refining the basis for compatibility and interoperability among them.
By Glen Gibbons
Günter HeinThe European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Prof. Dr. Günter Hein to serve as Head of Galileo Operations and Evolution with duties in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and Paris, France.
With an initial four-year term beginning December 1, Hein will report directly to René Oosterlinck, ESA’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities (D/GAL).
By Glen Gibbons
NovAtel has announced its new SMART-AG antenna, an L1 GPS + GLONASS receiver plus antenna system housed in a single, low profile, rugged enclosure, designed for manual guidance and auto steer installations.
SMART-AG features 14 GPS L1 channels, 12 GLONASS L1 channels, and two additional channels for satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) as well as two NMEA 0183 compatible RS-232 serial ports, an NMEA2000 compatible CAN port, plus built-in mounting magnets.
By Inside GNSS
OnPOZ Precision Positioning, a VGI Solutions division, has announced its new EZSurv GNSS Post-Processing version that offers full compatibility with GLONASS satellite signals.
According to the Montreal, Quebec, Canada–based company, EZSurv is compatible with most of the raw GNSS data formats on the market. The software computes high-accuracy geodetic results, enabling seamless data postprocessing among different brands of GNSS receivers and as a companion software for high-precision GNSS OEM receivers.
By Glen Gibbons
Cumbria, UK – Wikimedia Commons imageEven as the United States tries to decide whether to make good on a commitment last February to implement enhanced Loran (eLoran), agencies and private companies in the United Kingdom are demonstrating leadership in the field of modernized positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
By Glen Gibbons
QZS-1 SatelliteEncouraged by continuing progress on Japan’s Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Spirent Communications has announced that its GSS8000 simulation system now supports QZSS in addition to GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) — reportedly the first RF constellation simulator to do so.
By Glen Gibbons
Compass Constellation in 2010(updated 12/8/08) China plans to launch 10 Compass satellites during the next two years in order to create a regional positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010.
By Glen Gibbons
