Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The Global Positioning System and GPS receivers show up several times as items of special concern in a report to Congress submitted Wednesday (April 18, 2012) by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of State. The subject is discussed in an appendix addressing “China’s Space-related Strategic Goals, Capabilities, and Methods for Acquiring Technology.”
By Inside GNSS
Rohde & Schwarz SMBV100A vector signal generator/GNSS simulatorRohde & Schwarz, based in Munich, Germany, has launched two extensions to the GNSS simulator in its SMBV100A vector signal generator: GLONASS and GPS P-code capability.
The SMBV100A already had the capability to generate a range of GPS and Galileo civil signals as well as wireless standards, including GSM/EDGE, 3GPP with HSPA, LTE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
By Inside GNSS
IFEN GmbH and WORK Microwave have announced a new round of enhancements to the NavX-NCS line of GNSS multi-frequency simulators.
Increased usability and control is achieved through the new NCS Control Center software release V1.7, according to the Germany-based companies. The GNSS simulators now feature motion models that simulate the physical behavior of various types of vehicles or vessels, including airplanes, trains, cars, trucks, and ships.
By Inside GNSS
In-home construction of the first civilian-owned civil GPS spoofer.Over the last few years, several of us in the GNSS community have done our best to convince our colleagues, policymakers, and the general public that unsavory characters with GNSS jammers or spoofers are a genuine threat to GNSS and an orderly society.
"But who would want to use a jammer or spoofer?” people ask.
My response? Hackers, because they can. Thieves planning to snatch expensive cargo. A moonlighting employee in the company car. Worse yet, state actors or terrorists targeting our national infrastructure.
By Inside GNSS
Pen EngeStanford University professor and GNSS expert Per Enge has been named chief technical advisor of Polaris Wireless, a Mountain View, California–based provider of software-based wireless positioning.
According to Polaris Wireless, Enge, director of Stanford’s GPS Research Laboratory, will leverage his experience in technology and academic fields “to provide strategic guidance regarding location technology, intellectual property, and research partnerships with universities and other technology vendors.” He will report to the company’s CEO, Manlio Allegra.
By Inside GNSS
Nearly 400 system integrators, equipment manufacturers, product/application designers, and other professionals from around the world tuned into a live broadcast web seminar presented by Inside GNSS on February 28 with the subject, “Challenges of GNSS/Inertial Integration.”
A link to the recorded version is available here. If you already registered and would like to review the webinar, just sign in. If you have not yet registered, you may do so now. Registration is free.
By Inside GNSS
Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Committee have requested additional information regarding the procedures followed by federal agencies in the interference dispute between LightSquared and GPS.
The inquiry also asks about the government plans to develop GPS receiver standards that would prevent interference from “future deployment of terrestrial service in spectrum near or adjacent to the GPS bands.”
By Inside GNSS
IFEN, the Poing, Germany–based manufacturer of GNSS navigation products and services, working in partnership with WORK Microwave, have announced an enhanced version of IFEN’s NavX-NCS Professional, a multi-frequency GNSS simulator.
Optimized for research and development of GNSS safety and professional applications, the enhanced version of the NavX-NCS Professional incorporate the following key features:
By Inside GNSS
Spectracom has announced the GSG-52 RF Signal Generator, a new offering in its line of GPS constellation simulators.
The GSG-52 is designed for in-line product testing of navigation-fix and positioning functions of integrated GPS or other GNSS receivers. In a compact portable form factor, the signal generator offers four-channel simulation and a list price of less than $10,000.
By Inside GNSS
Topcon CR-G5 GNSS antennaTopcon Positioning Systems (TPS) announced the company’s new CR-G5 high-performance, GNSS choke ring antenna.
Based on the company’s new TA-5 full-spectrum GNSS antenna element, the CR-G5 geodetic antenna offers excellent vertical phase center stability over the GNSS frequency band superior performance in tracking low elevation satellite signals, according to the company.
By Inside GNSS
Dr. Andrey Soloviev, QunavGNSS and inertial technologies have a complicated mutual history.
Once competitors for navigation and positioning applications, they now appear ever more frequently in complementary roles — often within the same solution or system design.
By Inside GNSS
FIGURE 1: Competitive group skydiving is currently judged by overlaying a grid on a photo and evaluating location of divers within its cells. Photo by Mark Harris.»NovAtel Inc. wingsuit video
In 1589, at the age of 25, Galileo Galilei toiled up the 294 steps of a 55-meter bell tower in Pisa, Italy, where he was tutoring math students at the time.
According to his pupil and later biographer, Vincenzo Viviani, Galileo carried with him two cannonballs, one twice the weight of the other. When he reached the top of the tower, he went to the lower balcony of the tilted structure and dropped the two balls simultaneously.
By Inside GNSS
Raven Industries Electronic Systems Division has announced a new distributor relationship that will offer the company’s differential GPS (DGPS) products through NavtechGPS, of Springfield, Virginia.
Effective December 15, 2011, NavtechGPS began receiving and processing U.S. orders for Raven StarLink DGPS products, including line amplifiers, Raven Link timing & synchronization system, down/up converters, splitters, and antennas.
By Inside GNSS
