Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
A proposal now before the European Parliament and Council of the European Union would complete the transformation of the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) from the leading executive agency for the Galileo program into a diminished subsidiary of the European Commission (EC).
By Inside GNSS
Prompted by a congressional footnote in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed into law last month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is soliciting public comment on American industry’s access to the Galileo program and related markets.
By Inside GNSS
Time Series and Power Spectrum of the L5 Demonstration SignalThe GPS IIR-20(M) satellite successfully transmitted for the first time a GPS signal in the L5 frequency band today (April 10), according to the U.S. Air Force operators of the Global Positioning System. L5, the third civil GPS signal, will eventually support safety-of-life applications for aviation and provide improved availability and accuracy to users.
By Inside GNSS
European Court of Auditors, LuxembourgHere’s an interesting document: Preliminary observations on “The management of the Galileo programme’s development and validation phase,” adopted at its January 21–22 meeting by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
If you’re the kind of person who wakes up in a strange room after a night on the town and wonders how you got there, you’ll want to take in the full 50-page report and six addenda.
By Inside GNSS
(This story appears in the "GNSS World" department in the March-April 2009 issue of Inside GNSS.)
Munich’s high-level satnav summit the first week in March opened with a plenary titled, “The Worldwide Race in GNSS” and closed with a panel, “The Competition among the Big Four.”
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
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
Raytheon Corporation executive William Lynn received an overwhelming vote of approval today (February 11, 2009) from the U.S. Senate to become the U.S. deputy secretary of defense. The 93 to 4 vote — with only four Republicans in opposition — did not reflect the considerable controversy surrounding Lynn’s nomination by President Obama.
By Glen Gibbons
A 2008 version of the Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP) has been published by the U.S. government, providing the latest documentation of the policy and plans for radionavigation systems used for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) applications.
By Inside GNSS
Munich Residenz in Germany, site of the ICG meeting.The International Committee on GNSS (ICG) working group on compatibility and interoperability will meet March 2 and 3 at “der Residenz” in Munich, Germany.
The meeting, which takes place immediately before the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2009, follows on the most recent gathering of the full ICG and Providers Forum in Pasadena, California, last month. (Presentations from that meeting can be found here.) The Munich discussions will focus on compatibility and interoperability issues and system/service characteristics, such as current and planned signals, system time and geodetic reference frame standards, performance standards and actual system performance, service provision policies, and deployment and operation timetables.
By Glen Gibbons
An official with China’s main space program contractor told China Central Television (CCTV) on January 18 that the country will complete a 30+ satellite Compass (Beidou) constellation by 2015.
By Glen Gibbons
