Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee today (June 23, 2011) approved action that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from expending any funds related to a conditional waiver it granted a company called LightSquared until all concerns have been resolved about interference with Global Positioning System (GPS).
By Inside GNSS
The report concerns economic effects on high precision commercial uses of GPS, such as precision agriculture. (U Calif. photo)Research released yesterday (June 22, 2011) indicates that interference from LightSquared cellular broadband transmitters could cost manufacturers and users of commercial GPS technology up to $96 billion in annual losses.
By Inside GNSS
Results of John Deere test of LightSquared’s effect on high-precision GPS receiversIn what looks like a pre-emptive strike in the wake of extensive evidence that its proposed terrestrial wireless broadband transmissions will interfere with GPS receivers, LightSquared today (June 20, 2011) proposed to solve the problem by cut the power of its base stations in half and temporarily use a bandwidth further away from GPS.
By Inside GNSS
Hemisphere GPS LX-2Hemisphere GPS has introduced its LX-2, a second-generation L-band differential GPS OEM receiver board.
By Inside GNSS
Las Vegas site for LightSquared/GPS testsTests of GPS receiver vulnerability to transmissions from terrestrial base stations in the proposed LightSquared 4G/LTE broadband service were scheduled to wrap up on May 27, but results as we post this message clearly indicate substantial adverse effects on GPS user equipment.
On June 1–2, the Technical Working Group (TWG) set up by the LightSquared-led working group mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have its first face-to-face meeting since the trials began to sort out the results.
By Inside GNSS
A new report by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) highlights the vulnerability of GPS-dependent critical infrastructures to disruptions caused by solar flares and other space weather events, and sets forth a series of recommendations for building robustness of the GPS service.
Entitled “Satellite Navigation & Space Weather: Understanding the Vulnerability & Building Resilience,” the report is based on a workshop organized by the AMS and held October 13–14, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
By Inside GNSS
NASA’s May 3 announcement that its long-running Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission had confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, mentioned GPS autoland techniques as one of the projects spinoffs.
However, the involvement of GPS technology and GPS experts in the mission was much deeper than the passing reference in a press release.
But first, the news.
By Inside GNSS
The GNSS signal spectrum in neonNavtechGPS, the Washington D.C.-based GNSS technology trainers, will introduce a new advanced receiver course for engineers and designers in their summer seminar series at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland next July 11-15.
The course is called "Using Advanced GPS/GNSS Signals and Systems." Signal and receiver design expert John Betz, MITRE Corporation, and James Sennott, president of Tracking and Imaging Systems, Inc will teach it.
The demand for techniques capable of authenticating the GNSS signals and detecting simulation attacks (spoofing) has increased exponentially in the last years, mainly targeted to financial and safety critical applications.
Associated proposals and developments addressing these issues focused on two different approaches: user segment authentication services that leveraged existing services in order to detect signal spoofing and that integrated signal authentication services into the GNSS system itself.
By Inside GNSS
Working Papers explore the technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
By Inside GNSS
Figure 1. GLONASS-K1 AsteRx3 measurements: C/N0 in dB-Hz of L1-C/A and L3 CDMASeptentrio has announced that the Belgian GNSS manufacturer has successfully tracked the GLONASS CDMA L3 signal transmitted by the first GLONASS-K1 satellite using the company’s AsteRx3 receiver.
By Inside GNSS
NavCom Technology’s SF-3040 ReceiverNavCom Technology, Inc., has launched its 66-channel, SF-3040 pole-mount receiver, featuring StarFire/real-time kinematic (RTK) multi-GNSS capabilities and optimized for surveying and mapping applications.
NavCom says its new product provides real-time kinematic (RTK)–level accuracy up to 40 kilometers away from the base station or decimeter-level accuracy anywhere in the world when using the company’s StarFire global satellite-based augmentation system (GSBAS).
By Inside GNSS
John Porcari, Dep. Secretary of Transportation. DoT photoIn a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, the second-ranking officials from the U.S. departments of defense (DoD) and transportation (DoT) have issued the strongest administration message yet regarding LightSquared’s proposal to build a network of high-powered terrestrial transmitters broadcasting near the GPS L1 and other GNSS frequencies.
By Inside GNSS
